1 Timothy 4.11-16 A Faithful Minister

[0:01] Some churches have a very small confession that have minimal details in their confession.! Maybe if you look up a church online and pull up their website and it says Our Beliefs and! you pull it up and it's maybe five short statements and you look at the statements and the statements! themselves are good and you think well that looks pretty good but there's nothing else there's nothing else describes how they practice this doctrine or further doctrine which which they hold to and they have minimal confessions of faith that don't go into detail and you maybe you watch a sermon or you go there and you notice that in their sermon there's there's hardly any reading of scripture in the service so instead of scripture they spend more time in singing but the songs that they sing you notice are lacking depth or they're lacking in meaning and the preaching seems to be without any substance remember once somebody sent me a link to a sermon and asked if i could check it out they said this seems wrong and i started to watch it and the the guy whoever he was he was just sitting on a stool on a on a stage wearing his jeans and some sort of trendy t-shirt and i remember he started off by saying if if you're not a christian you do you and if you are a christian and and then whatever he he preached on there was no biblical substance substance to it so some some churches you'll notice that instead of doctrinal fidelity they're more concerned with being contemporary instead of doctrinal fidelity they're more concerned about being progressive or being post-modern they set aside doctrinal fidelity for being culturally inclusive or for being innovative or creative or novel so as christians as believers we need to ask the question is this being faithful as the church conducting itself in this way is the church being faithful is this being the pillar and the ground of the truth is this how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of god is this according to divine testimony well in asking the questions it's rhetorically implied that no it's not so as christians we should ask the question how did it get that way particularly as a church plant seeking to be faithful it is very relevant and important for us to ask especially in today's age when we look around and see the significance of how many churches there are where their doctrine is more like water and nothing stated and no substance to the preaching it is important for us to ask how exactly did it get that way now i want you to imagine a church the building and it has the the name of the church on it and it has um one of those signs in the front with the church names and the times of the services and a pithy statement that they put each week and i want you to imagine a time lapse so week after week there's a new pithy statement and then snow comes and then the snow melts and then the leaves turn green and the leaves die off and fall and seasons come and seasons go and then the members have children and then the parents hairs turn gray and then the children grow up and then their children have more to their own children and generations come and go and the time lapse continues and generations continue to come and go and then where the time lapse ends what there is for members is completely different people than there was for members when the time lapse started now when the time lapse started let's say it was a faithful church with faithful ministers and faithful members but where the time lapse ends it's not faithful it's more of what i described it's not concerned about doctrinal fidelity it's more

[4:01] concerned with the other things that i described so how did the church get that way and how did churches today that are like that come to be this way let's take a look in first timothy chapter four we're going to focus on verses 11 to 16 which is the end of the chapter but we will read all of chapter four now the spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy having their own conscience seared with the hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which god created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth for every creature of god is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of god and prayer if you instruct the brethren in these things you will be a good minister of jesus christ nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed but reject profane and old wives fables and exercise yourself towards godliness for bodily exercise profits a little but godliness is profitable for all things having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come and this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living god who is the savior of all men especially of those who believe these things command and teach let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word in conduct and love and spirit and faith and purity till i come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership meditate on these things give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all take heed to yourself and to the doctrine continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you let's pray our great god we thank you again for this day in this time that we have on this lord's day to be the ministry of the word we thank you for your word that we have divine testimony that we know from your word how the church ought to conduct itself as the house of god the church of the living god the pillar and ground of truth i pray that by your spirit you would illuminate your word to us and that we might grow in our knowledge of your word that we might grow in understanding of it and wisdom and that we might grow in in doing your word i pray that you would bless the preaching of the word that you would use even me this morning i pray that you would bless the hearing of the word and that you enable us to free ourselves from from distractions and all the thoughts of the week which compete for our attention and i pray lord that you would forgive us of all of our sins and help us to to focus on you and to look to you and to to marvel and be in wonder of your excellencies and wondrous works pray these things in jesus name amen now as i said our focus will be in verses 11 to 16 and you might be thinking didn't we look at 11 last week and we did we did look at 11 but i want to start with 11 as we look at today's text so today's text being 11 to 16 what's going on in this section is this is that a faithful minister must take heed to exemplary maturity and life and doctrine making progress evident to all i'll say that again

[8:05] a faithful minister must take heed to exemplary maturity and life and doctrine making progress evident to all so this text will divide into into three parts we'll divide it into faithful ministry faithful start and faithful finish so again the three parts we'll divide it into is faithful ministry faithful start and faithful finish so first of all faithful ministry going back to verse 11 timothy is told these things command and teach now these two words that he's told to do his duty to command and teach these are words that carry the weight of authority he is to hold authority in commanding and teach the things which are contained in god's word or specifically in this context and what paul has outlined in first timothy which covers a number of things the right the right use of law the gospel how how women are to their role in church the the qualifications of deacons the qualifications of elders so when timothy is to command and teach he is to do so with authority now that being said it goes on to say let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word and conduct and love and spirit and faith and purity now to command and teach from god's word from the authorities from god's word if a man is to do something that he knows is wrong then um he's required he requires a command because he already knows it's wrong he requires a command to stop doing what is wrong if he if he does something wrong in ignorance then he needs to be taught his error so timothy needs to command and teach and both of these two things which is his duty assert authority now the thing is is that people tend to not enjoy being told that what they're doing is wrong and people tend to not enjoy being told that they are in error about something especially when it's from someone who is younger to have someone who is younger to assert authority and to tell you that what you're doing is wrong or that you are in error is not something that people tend to enjoy hearing so there may be a tendency to despise somebody because of their youth or to respond with with contempt it just is easier for us to hear these things from somebody who has who has more gray hair than us consequently somebody more youthful speaking authoritatively is apt to be despised and is apt to be treated with contempt and perhaps the fleshly desire would be to respond in kind to respond with contempt also but that's not what he is to do he's because neither responding with revengeful language nor with cowardice will build rapport and trust with the people with the church rather what it will build is injury but authority is necessary authority is necessary when what is at stake is the honor of the name of christ or the health of the church or the salvation of lost souls there these are very important things and if that is at stake then authority is necessary so timothy do command and do teach with authority but he goes on to say let no one despise you for your youth now that's not exactly something that somebody like timothy can just tell people not to despise them because of his youth

[12:06] sounds like something that's much easier said than done especially when the fleshly inclination that people have is to despise someone's youth when they speak authoritatively telling us that we're wrong that we're an error so exactly how do you propose that this be done to not let people despise you for your youth well the answer is by being an example example by being an example in maturity and he says in maturity in speech and maturity and contact in conduct so that is by his maturity right words and right actions and his right words and right actions it says is to be governed if you see by love spirit faith and purity now some manuscripts have a variant reading where spirit is not included for example if you have an esv bible it won't have spirit it'll just say love faith and purity but some some do so love spirit faith and purity love for god love for god's people love for god's command love for god's people to be to be in a right relationship with god and and knowing god's will and spirit what it means by spirit is zeal is a warmth for god's glory and faith faith requires knowledge ascent to that knowledge and confidence in the trustworthiness of god and his word and the gospel promises and purity purity is something that can sneak by being unnoticed and you've probably heard especially with the the fast spreading of news through the means we have today such as social media social media you probably hear of times where somebody who is a minister falls into immorality and this type of thing doesn't just happen out of nowhere it starts with with a small compromise a small compromise in things in which nobody sees and that compromise leads to more compromise and that compromise eventually leads to the public display of what has been going on privately so this example of maturity is to be governed by love spirit faith and maturity so it may sometimes be easier to be rebuked by an elder but regardless of our age we do admire maturity regardless of the age of the person who exemplifies maturity so paul then says till i come paul being an apostle desires to come to ephesus to come to timothy and the office of apostle which paul had is an extraordinary office it's not an office that continues today but it was for the purpose of laying the foundation of the church and the inscripturation of the word of god and the extraordinary office of apostle was one of authority and the authority that the apostle had comes from the one whom sent who sent them with that message so paul's authority as an apostle was from christ and as i said that authority was to set the foundation of the church and inscripturate the word of god so paul certainly has authority over how the church is to conduct itself by that which christ had passed to him but what is the church to do when there is not an apostle present paul said till i come paul desired to come but he might be delayed he might not come and as we know he did not make it there so for ephesus for timothy and ephesus what is he to do what is the church to do when there is not

[16:07] an apostle an extraordinary office of apostle with the authority present or since the death of the last apostle all the way till today until christ returns what is the church to do without the presence of the extraordinary office of apostle in other words what are we to do today because we don't have apostles today and we don't have apostles apostles apostles here says give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine give attention to reading to the public this is the public ministry of the word to the public reading of god's word to exhortation to explanation of the meaning of it and how people are to receive it and what they're to do and to doctrine doctrine being the teaching of what scripture contains teaching the word of god um publicly to the congregation give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine so for timothy and ephesus while paul is not there till i come give yourself to reading to exhortation to doctrine and for any faithful minister in any church where there is no apostle present which today is everywhere in every church give attention to reading to exhortation and to doctrine and this encompasses the work of preaching and teaching this is about the public ministry of the word of preaching and teaching that is public doctrinal instruction and practical exhortation what exactly does that look like keep your finger here and flip over to second timothy 4 2 second timothy 4 2 preach the word be ready in season and out of season convince rebuke exhort with all long suffering and teaching and then what he continues this is this is interesting because today in our age with these churches that i described in the introduction these um post-modern progressive emergent church the way that they see doctrine is that it's it divides and it needs to be set aside and it really it seems to have no place in the the public ministry of the word and in the church and doctrine is referred to almost as though it's was as a negative thing as though just as just saying it leaves a bad taste in the mouth notice what he says after he tells them to preach the word in second timothy 4 3 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables if you remember the introduction the time lapse of the church where seasons come and seasons go and generations come and generations go and it's no longer a faithful church it's no longer the pillar and ground of truth and we ask what happened i think second timothy 4 3 and 4 gives us a pretty good understanding of how it got there of of how this happened so give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine and this isn't merely just a running commentary not just reading scripture and um explaining what it says but the the preaching of the word is is is making it relevant delivering the message contained it is an explanation of the text but it's also a delivery that calls to action with authority with authority of the author of scripture who's the author of scripture god it's not based on personal opinion or experience or seniority so in these instances where doctrinal fidelity is not their their concern not their primary concern and their confessions of of faith could be fit onto one sheet of paper and it's just five short statements and doctrine divides so we're not going to worry about that and and then everybody's welcome with all of their ideas regardless of whether they're good or bad and it tends to be actually if they're if their theological ideas are good then they're encouraged not to speak them because

[20:10] well that's being doctrinal and dogmatic and that divides so what ends up being standard of what is taught is who has seniority or who is most popular or personal opinion or or experience instead of god's word and doctrinal fidelity to god's word so give attention to reading to exhortation and to doctrine now there it is again that word doctrine it is in the bible we can't escape it that the word doctrine is in the bible and it's there imperatively and that there is a task behind the use of the word doctrine and that a faithful minister is to give attention to doctrine so to give attention to doctrine we've seen it mentioned before doctrine must be known doctrine is not some foreign concept that we just can't figure out because good men disagree so we'll set that aside but doctrine can be known because in order to give attention to it give attention to the public ministry of the word doctrine it must be known must be understood and it must be incorporated into the public ministry of the word in order to be faithful not only for the time but also for the preservation of the church so this moves us to our second division of the text a faithful minister is not self-appointed remember the three divisions of the text faithful ministry faithful start faithful finish we've looked at a faithful ministry we'll now look at a faithful start you've probably heard or maybe you've seen videos of uh some people who uh who go out to be street preachers and they're not a part of a church they just it's they think that they should be preachers and maybe a church won't take them in so they go out and they start preaching on the streets self-appointed to do so but they haven't gone through the process which scripture outlines to meet the qualifications or to be affirmed by the church or to be sent by the church so these people are not exhibiting the faithful start which we see in timothy if you'll notice it's uh says in verse 14 do not neglect the gift so we'll start with that statement and examine it a bit but the gift what does that mean by the gift timothy has this gift whatever it is and he's told don't neglect it so what is he not to neglect what is this this gift there's um there's there's many different views about spiritual gifting and um all these different surveys that you can take to find out that perhaps you have some some gifting that you don't know about and you need to figure it out through the survey in order to be doing what you were intended to do but what this gift is that he's getting at here do not neglect the gift this gift is the ministry of the word that was entrusted to him if you remember from ephesians in ephesians chapter 4 um there's christ's victory gifts which he gives to the church there's the extraordinary and the ordinary office gifts of the ordinary being pastor and teacher this is christ's gift to the church and the gift is the ministry of the word it's the enablement and ability for the ministry and the enablement and ability is god given it's not self-appointed it's god given as in ephesians 4 christ's victory gifts that he gives to the church by the holy spirit so he says do not neglect the gift given to you by prophecy now this is a this is an interesting statement um oh john chrysostom in his commentary who would have been fifth century so

[24:16] that's going back a long time and you might think why why read old guys from from so long ago when there's all sorts of new stuff today well if something's lasted that long and it's always been referred to as as good and as sound then it's for a reason and there was all there also would have been um further insight by tradition of what was passed down in the early church so in the early church era chrysostom on this text he wrote that here he calls teaching prophecy do not neglect the gift given to you by prophecy now it says do not neglect the gift given gift given means that the minister here is chosen and enabled right it's not self-appointed it's given it's a gift chosen and enabled by god and affirmed by the church so the church doesn't give the gift the church doesn't give a power the church doesn't pass on some sort of divine power by eldership succession but what's going on is from the church it's a public declaration affirming the gift of teaching and preaching given by christ by his holy spirit now to dwell on this text a little bit longer do not neglect the gift given to you by prophecy this is what chrysostom puts on it and many commentaries would assert it being the the preaching and teaching ministry which is um declared by the church affirming that the gift is there there are some commentaries such as john gill who who outlines that it could be a prophetic declaration which certainly is a possibility because this um is a time of the apostolic era where there was the extraordinary office and paul was involved so it very well could have been uh when we think of a prophecy as a prophetic declaration it very well could have been uh but it doesn't give specifics of you know what exactly or where or how so either or probably both um is is a valid reading and understanding of the text but it's not um it's not that the church gives the power to the ministry of the word it's not that timothy wasn't able to preach and then as soon as they laid hands on him then he had the power to preach that's that's not what it was but that um gift given by christ through the spirit and the church affirms it and declares it and um and so forth which we're moving into here so given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership so again when the eldership lays their hands on timothy what's going on what this is is a public corporate declaration affirming his gifting so his gifting was there by christ by the spirit from christ by the spirit so they're affirming the gifting and calling to ministry and today what would we we would see is uh ordination so the church is ordinate the ordination in the church is the church is affirming that the gifting is there christ's victory gift of of preaching and teaching that it is there and the calling is there to the ministry and the church affirms and the church sends them into the office like in acts 13 1 to 3 acts 13 1 to 3 is where we see um many a few faithful men who have been called and separated for the work one of them being paul so faithful men called and separated to the work and then it concludes by saying

[28:18] then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them they sent them away so a faithful minister is gifted and abled and appointed by christ's victory gift to the church by the spirit but it is affirmed vetting process and testing is affirmed by the church and the church sends them into to office so um street preachers that have not met qualifications who have not been vetted who have not been affirmed by the church they do not um they do not meet this or somebody who wants to be a missionary just for the sake of being missionary um but they they haven't been tested they haven't been vetted by the church they haven't been affirmed with the gift they haven't been um publicly declared to to demonstrate the gifting and sent out into the ministry these are problems so in acts 13 1 to 3 we see this with faithful men and in acts timothy arrives on the scene but in in acts it doesn't tell us about this event of the laying on of the hands of the eldership but it is referenced in second timothy 1 6 where paul says therefore i remind you to stir up the gift of god which is in you through the laying on of my hands for god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind so timothy had a faithful start timothy start was was right and we can say biblical timothy had a faithful start and this is important because timothy is young and timothy has to confront false teachers false teachers false teachers false teachers who some of them would be older than him and who would despise him for his youth and he has to tell them that what they're doing is wrong and that they are in error so when there is conflict who is right what authority does timothy have if he's just the new guy if he's got the least seniority if he's doesn't have the age of these false teachers which he is to confront and stop so this brings us to our third division of the text we've looked at a faithful ministry a faithful start and now to the third division a faithful minister is not a flash in the pan a flash in the pan is uh is a saying that it's basically it's it's all show with no results it's it's all show with no substance the origin of the saying a flash in the pan is of a flintlock um firearm where there's a pan with with powder which is to be charge and the flintlock sparks it and then that's to ignite the main charge and the main charge is to drive the projectile out of the barrel but if for whatever reason perhaps the powder got wet um then the the the primer there's a there's a flash there's an impressive flash of flame and a puff of smoke but there's no shot so it's all show and no substance a faithful minister is not a flash in the pan so our third division is a faithful finish faithful ministry faithful start and faithful finish so let's look at our text verse 15 meditate on these things from all of what paul outlines in first timothy doctrine and life right words right conduct and even timothy's faithful start he is to meditate on and these aren't just things that are to be drafted up as a

[32:19] document to check it off and to put in a file cabinet and to never remember it again but meditate on these things that is think long about these things that the truth contained in it is to permeate your very thoughts your very speech and your very actions your very conduct so that when timothy who is younger we don't know exactly he doesn't say despise you because you are 31 years old we don't know his exact age but he's probably in his early 30s and when he is to confront false teachers and when he is challenged about his authority when confronting false teachers because of his age remember his due installment into the office and work his due installment to the office of teaching and authority the office of elder the authority comes not because of age but by the authority of christ through his word which he was duly installed with a faithful start so grow and progress and it grow and progress and faith in faithfulness says give yourself entirely to them or be in them if you've been on a hike and you've come to a small lake you're wearing flip-flops maybe taking your flip-flops and dip your toes in to test it out and carry it on your way this is not how a faithful minister is to be in good doctrine and the words of faith in the word but to be in them maybe it's hot instead of dipping your toes in the water you've jumped entirely into the lake you're immersed in it that is what's in view here give yourself entirely to them be in them with diligence persistence like athletic training the metaphor which we saw last week like athletic training to compete as one who competes to win the prize martin lloyd jones who is known for his preaching he he delivered a series of lectures to preachers about preaching and believe it or not it's called preaching and preachers and it was such a good um series of lectures that it was put into a book and that book is available today i recommend it to anybody you don't have to be a preacher to read it it's good for any church goer to understand um the church the ministry of the word preachers and preaching and it's very easy to read and if you prefer actually if you prefer listening it's it's available as a podcast each lecture because it was recorded you can hear the recordings and each recording each lecture is a podcast series that's available to listen to but anyways and martin lloyd jones lecture series and the book preaching and preachers he explains and he lectures these pastors that when they finish seminary they're not done with reading and learning theology that's not something that's only to be done uh in seminary but that's that pastors the preachers are to be always reading theology and keeping their minds sharp on it and increasing in good doctrine to take heed and to continue so give yourself entirely to them as in this is to be their chief and principal business to be always thinking of it to be always reading and learning and growing and getting sharper to be always thinking about these things attentive to them exercising improving and growing and making progress progress give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all now going back to that training metaphor if somebody trains to compete and they compete to win a prize then they're going to have to make progress or else they're not going to be able to

[36:22] to out compete those those whom they are competing against they must always be making progress and so also a faithful minister is always to be making progress that your progress may be evident to all and growth in these things will not go unnoticed in his life and his conversation as well as in the pulpit then it goes on to say take heed to yourself and to the doctrine continue in them for in doing in this for doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you now this is a curious statement isn't it it's something that could be very easily misinterpreted and misapplied but timothy does not have the ability to appoint souls to salvation that's not what's intended when he says for by doing this you will save those who hear you timothy is not able to appoint souls to eternal salvation nor does timothy's justification depend on his faithful preaching of the word continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself it would be a wrong interpretation in a way in which is not harmonious with the rest of scripture or with the gospel that timothy's justification that timothy's salvation will depend on his works depend on his faithfulness and that at the end if he's faithful then he will be justified and saved and scripture does not contradict itself because god is the author of all of scripture god does not lie so we need to understand this not in a way which is faulty but in a way which is harmonious with all of scripture so what he's getting at here is a faithful ministry and a faithful ministry is the instrumental means by which god calls sinners out of darkness into marvelous light so with that illustration in the beginning in the introduction where we saw that church and the sign in the sign in the front and the the seasons change and and the uh the generations come and go and with all of these changes throughout multiple generations we saw the effects that not holding to doctrinal fidelity had on the succeeding generations a faithful ministry is the instrumental means by which god calls sinners out of darkness into marvelous light john gill in his commentary on this text um he he wrote he put it very well he said a minister is the means of saving and preserving those that attend on him from erroneous principles and immoral practices and by faithfully preaching the gospel to his hearers he is instrumental in their eternal salvation for through jesus christ is uh for though jesus christ is the only savior the only efficient and procuring cause of salvation yet the minister of the gospel ministers of the gospel are instruments by which souls believe in him and so are saved the word preached by them being attended with the spirit of god the word becomes the engrafted word which is able to save and is the power of god unto salvation now romans 10 actually i'll have you flip over there to romans 10 verses 13 to 7 we see how the preacher is the instrumental means in presenting the gospel which attended by the spirit calls sinners from out of darkness into marvelous light uh romans 10 13 romans 10 13 for whoever calls on the name of the lord shall be saved

[40:29] how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed that's a good question and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard it's another good question and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace who bring glad tidings of good things but they have not all obeyed the gospel for isaiah says lord who has believed our report so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god so some some concluding uses out of our text first of all why like that church we saw in the time lapse why do some churches start off on the right path but they end up going off course their ministers don't take heed of themselves and their doctrine their doctrinal fidelity is more like water and when their doctrinal fidelity is more like water they are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine to the point where there really is no doctrine to stand on in practice and then where does it end so some churches start off on the right path but they end up off course so it is very relevant and it's very important for us to think why do churches go that way and how does the church remain as the pillar and ground of the truth how can we avoid going off course first of all the significance of the ordinary means of grace the ordinary means of grace is as it sounds it is ordinary it's not something special or unique or novel but week after week on the christian sabbath on the lord's day the ministry of the word is the ways in which christ builds his church and the ways in which christ feeds his flocks next is the primacy of preaching the preaching of the word is the primary means through which lost sinners are called out of darkness into marvelous light the preaching of the word is the primary means of salvation the preaching of the word is the primary means of building of the church the preaching is the primary means in which the saints are edified next is the centrality of the word that the word is central to the entirety of the means of grace it all revolves around that the the singing is to have the depth of the word to be about the word the preaching is to be praying the word the sacraments is a visual representation of the word of somebody going down in baptism being united to christ in his death burial and then resurrection coming up out into new life it's visualizing the word visualizing the gospel and the lord's supper the word is to be central in the means of grace and then the necessity of right doctrine in all of these things it is absolutely necessary for right doctrine doctrine can be known and must be held to and what is at stake with these things the primary means of grace if it's not done right what's at stake if preaching isn't primary in the church what's at stake if the word is not central in the church service what's at stake if right doctrine isn't seen as necessary what's at stake what's at stake is the eternal salvation of souls hence at the end of our text continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and

[44:29] those who hear you being the primary means through which god advances his christ advances his kingdom through which lost souls are saved and transferred out of darkness into marvelous light the preaching of the gospel of peace the preaching of of the person and work of christ of christ being the son of god how he became flesh how he took to himself human nature and his perfectly obeying and obtaining a perfect positive righteousness and his suffering and dying as a substitute for the people of god to satisfy divine justice and his his dying his burial his resurrection from the dead victorious over sin and death and hell and satan his ascending on high and his reigning with all authority and that he will return the work of redemption accomplished in christ for the salvation of lost souls but that's a perspective more of how god saves sinners but if you are not a believer if you have not yet received christ and rested on christ and wondering how can that work of redemption be mine be personable or be personal it is by receiving christ by resting on christ by apprehending christ by apprehending the promises of the promises of the gospel with your whole soul personally and applying it by laying hold of christ by embracing christ by embracing christ and by then saying that christ death is a substitute for divine to to satisfy divine justice satisfy divine justice satisfies divine justice for my sins my sins are paid for my sins were nailed to the cross i have a full pardon of sins christ's righteousness christ's perfect righteousness is mine it's been accredited to my account so when i am before when i am brought before god to give account what will be seen is not my works but christ's righteousness christ's righteousness is mine i am clothed in christ's righteousness the mediation of christ is mine the merits of christ is mine christ's meriting and earning glory is mine in christ so receive christ rest on christ embrace the lord jesus christ as offered in the gospel and all the promises of the gospel let's pray our great god we thank you again for this day we thank you for the lord's day we thank you for the means of grace we thank you for the the ministry of the word we thank you for your word and we thank you for the holy spirit which makes the word effectual to our hearing and we pray lord that you would indeed make your word effectual to us for everyone who's here that you would grow us and enlightening our minds and understanding your word your truth that we might not only love it but that we might live accordingly and as we desire to see a faithful and healthy new testament church with the pure preaching of the word the due administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline i pray lord that by your grace we might be a faithful church and i pray that by your grace that faithfulness would endure different seasons different hardships and that faithfulness would endure different generations that your that the name of christ would be held high and with honor and that the church would remain healthy and that the kingdom of christ would be advanced pray these things in jesus name amen