Responsibilities to God, Part 3

Introduction: Review of Church Membership Responsibilities

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 15, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that we may know His blessing in our meditation upon His own holy and infallible Word. Let us pray.

0:33 Our Father, we have been reminded as we have sung this hymn, deriving all of its lines of thought from Your Word, that once again we are utterly dependent upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit to cause any profit from the preaching of the Word. And we pray that He would be presently and powerfully operative in the heart of everyone, every listener, making each heart good soil for the reception of Your Word, that it may bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Help him who attempts to sow that Word, that he may do so accurately, that he may do so under the control of the Spirit, that he may do so in such a way as there will be no misrepresentation, but that it may be a representation of Your mind from the Scriptures. O Lord, come, bind the powers of darkness, bind the evil one, who like the birds that follow behind the sower seeking to snatch up every seed that is not enfolded by the soil. May he not be able to snatch away the Word sown, but may our hearts enfold it and under the influence of the Spirit,

2:02 may it indeed be a priceless blessing, The Holy Spirit is our only salvation and refuge, and God's glory is our only salvation and our life. may He not be able to snatch away the Word sown, but may our hearts enfold it and under the influence of the Spirit, may it indeed be a blessing, germinate and spring forth in the fruits of righteousness, we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Now those of you who regularly attend upon this ministry will know that for several weeks we have temporarily broken off our consecutive expositions in the Gospel of Mark in order to address ourselves in a topical way to the very vital, albeit unglamorous, subject of some major principles or perspectives of the Word of God concerning the privileges and responsibilities of church membership. And we have done this because in recent days we have had an unusual amount of influx into the Church of God. And we have had an unusual amount of influx into the Church of God. And we have done this because in recent days we have had an unusual

3:01 influx into the Church of God. And we have had an unusual amount of influx into the Church of God. Before us, today is the fifth in this series of studies. In the opening studies, we sought to establish from Acts 2, 41 and 42, the Bible's answer to these two simple questions. Who was admitted into the apostolic church and what happened to them after they were admitted? And then we began in our third study to consider together the specific, responsibilities and privileges of church members. And acting on the principle taught in Scripture that the duties and privileges of church membership derive from the nature of the church, I have attempted to set forth those duties and privileges

4:22 within three basic categories. Some of them are directed primarily to God. Some directed primarily to one another. And some directed primarily to the world or to those outside as the Scripture describes them. Now with reference to this first category, what are the responsibilities of church members with reference to the Lord or to God himself? I established from the Scriptures that our first responsibility is to be a church member. And that is to be a church member to God, not to the elders, not to one another but to God, is to be present at the gatherings of the assembly of God's people. And then our second responsibility is to be present at the gatherings of the assembly, having made appropriate preparations for the various spiritual activities anticipated by the Lord, the Savior of the children. And that is to be a church yer chap

5:31 and the one member of the prayer group number one, following His Goo-tist's plan of getting is to reprisal, and to submit to the Lord Jesus, or啊 administration of the church, in which mungkin we will also put some paper in order to look after achselace every day. In at each gathering. And last Lord's Day, I established from the Word of God the crucial importance of appropriate preparation for the gatherings of God's people. And I sought to demonstrate from 1 Corinthians 11 that failure properly to prepare oneself for the gathering of the assembly can turn what should be a gathering unto blessing into a gathering unto condemnation and judgment. And then having established from the Word of God the necessity of preparation, I began to address the second heading, the primary aspects of appropriate preparation for the gatherings of the assembly, and time ran out after I gave you two of them. I'll only give you the heads and then...

6:26 And today we'll complete this dimension of our study by giving the third and fourth headings. What are the primary aspects of appropriate preparation for the gatherings of the assembly? The first is this. We must cultivate a present consciousness of what we are actually doing when we gather. We individually must cultivate a present consciousness of what we are actually doing when we gather. We are responding to the call of God himself to gather with his people. We are coming to the place of his special presence, which is not a building, but his gathered people. And we are coming to render the spiritual sacrifices and perform the spiritual activities of his own commanding. And we are coming to the place of his special presence, which is not a building, but his

7:26 own commanding. First Peter 2 and verse 5, we are built up a living temple out of living stones, and we are constituted a spiritual priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we saw, secondly, that we must cultivate a present disposition of thankfulness, of reverence, and of gratefulness. And we must cultivate a present disposition of thankfulness, of reverence, and of all. And I expounded a number of passages in the Old and the New Testaments which demonstrate that any gathering to the special presence of God was always a summons to holiness. And I expounded a number of passages in the Old and the New Testaments which demonstrate that any gathering to the special presence of God was always a summons to holiness. Fear and reverence as well as holy thankfulness. Now then, that's the review. We come to consider

Third Aspect of Preparation: Whole-Souled Engagement in Worship

8:35 the third aspect of this matter of coming to the gathering of God's people with appropriate preparation. And I am stating it this way. We must cultivate a present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity in every activity of our gathered assembly. We must cultivate a present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity in every activity of our gathered assembly. If we ask, what does God demand of us when we have gathered, conscious of what we are doing, responding to His call, coming to the place of His special presence, coming to bring the things He requires of

9:45 us in His Word, having sought to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness, reverence, and of awe. How does God want us to render those spiritual sacrifices unto Him? Well, perhaps the best way to answer is simply to quote what our Lord says is the distillation of the law of God in its requirements of us. What is the first and great commandment? The answer of our Lord, as given to us in Matthew 22, is this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. This is the first and great commandment. In other words, we are to love God with the entirety of our being. That's the duty of every single creature made in the image of God. Now, obviously,

10:52 before we become Christians, we have... We have no desire to keep that commandment. And even after we have been accepted in Christ for all of our sins, our sins are forgiven, and we are accepted in Christ and accounted as righteous, and we have a desire to obey that commandment, we never perfectly obey it. But the commandment is nonetheless the standard that God requires of us. And if ever we ought to be conscious that...

11:26 This is our duty, to love God with all the heart, no divided affection, the totality of the heart's affection, all of the mind, all of the mental faculties, focused with pinpoint concentration upon God, His presence, His truth, the great realities of redemption. If ever we are to love Him with all the heart, with all the mind, with all the spirit, with all the soul, all the faculties of the emotions and reflection, and with all the strength, that is, with our bodily faculties, our lungs, our diaphragm, our arms, our hands, our feet, with all of our appropriate preparation for worship, surely involves cultivating a determination to engage... To engage...

12:36 To engage... To engage...

12:38 To engage... The whole...

12:40 The whole... And I'm going to keep saying that until you go home. The word, the whole, I hope, is...

12:42 Has dug a H-O-L-E in your head. The whole of our redeemed humanity in all activities of our gathered assembly. You see when we turn to the Scriptures, we find that in the Old and the New Testaments, there are many things that God abominates in the formal stated worship. And the things that God abominates in the formal stated worship are indeed things that worship of his people. But perhaps one of the things he abominates above all others is the absence of the whole-souled engagement of his worshipers when they come to bring him worship. Turn to several examples of this in the Old Testament, then we'll turn to the New. In the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, so if you're in Matthew, just flip back a little bit and you'll be shortly there in

God's Abhorrence of Half-Hearted Worship in the Old Testament

13:47 Malachi. In chapter 1, God has just spoken of his intention to have a worshiping people from among the Gentiles, a glorious gospel promise, verse 11, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place, here's where he likens. You see, the spiritual worship of the new covenant under the images and figures of old covenant worship. In every place, incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the Gentiles, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it, that is, you profane my name, you Israelites, in that you say, the table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its fruit, is polluted. And you say, the food is contemptible. Now notice, you also say, behold, what a weariness is it. And

14:58 you have snuffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick. Thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand, says the Lord?

15:17 Do you see the picture? He says, a time is coming when my name will be great among the Gentiles. And a pure offering, albeit a spiritual offering, by a spiritual priesthood, in a spiritual temple, will be offered unto me. But by contrast, he says to these Jews, what do you do? Well, he says, first of all, you come with an attitude in which you despise your holy privileges in worship. You say, these things are contemptible. Furthermore, you come with an attitude, ah, this is weariness, boredom. And if boredom is anything, it is the absence of whole soul engagement of all of a man's faculties in whatever he's doing. And how did they express it? Instead of going out and saying, we're

16:15 going to the place of God's appointment, we are privileged to be welcomed into his presence by his own Word. And through his own institutions, by his established priesthood, and by his own ordained sacrificial system. And he's demanded that we find the pure, the spotless, the untarnished lamb. What did they do? They said, a lamb, God wants a lamb. Ah, let's go out and they find the lamb that's been rent by a ravenous beast. And they pick up its carcass. And they come and they dare to offer that to God. That's what God is saying here. He says, you are going to offer that which was taken by violence. You go out another day, and the nearest little lamb is the one that's broken its leg and isn't out with the rest of the flock. So you grab the one with the lame and broken leg. You offer it to me. What is God saying? He's

17:08 saying, you're just going through the motions, and you've got an attitude that anything will do for God. You see that in the passage? Anything will do for God. And then God asks the question, shall I accept this at your hands?

17:26 Do you think I'm so stupid as to take this as the worship that I've commanded? Do you think I'm a fool, God says? May I be borderline coarse and say, God says to his people, do you think I'm a jackass? Do you think I'm a donkey? Who in the world do you think I am? That I will accept worship that represents weaning half-hearted. Do you find a similar complaint in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 64? Isaiah chapter 64. Remember

18:30 the point we're attempting to make now, that it is our duty and privilege to cultivate a present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity. God wants us in his worship, if ever we do it, to set ourselves to love him with heart, mind, soul, and strength, so that we may be able to worship him. How does he feel when his people worship with something less? We've seen the witness of Malachi, now look at the witness of Isaiah chapter 64. Having stated in verse 5 that you meet him, that is, Jehovah meets him that rejoices in works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways. Behold, you were wroth and we sinned. In them we have been of long time, and shall we be saved? For we are all become this one that is unclean.

19:22 And all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment, and we do all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind take us away. Now here is the text, and there is none that calls upon thy name, that stirs up himself to take hold of thee. You see what the indictment is? That in the midst of tremendous need, God does not find us.

19:54 And people stirring up themselves to take hold of God. Oh, yes. Read chapter 1. They were going to church, and they were going through the motions. They were keeping special fast days and feast days and all of it. So in gain of the whole of their faith. There was no stirring of the living God in the midst of his institution. There was contending in the right places and do the form of the right thing. But there There was no determination to have the engagement of the whole people in the worship of God. You find a similar complaint in Isaiah 43, but I don't want to preach as long as I did last week. So I'll just mention Isaiah 43, 22 and 23, Micah 6, 3. But now turn over into the New Testament.

God's Abhorrence of Half-Hearted Worship in the New Testament

21:03 And we find our Lord speaking to His own generation.

21:08 And what does He say of them? We studied this some months ago in Mark's Gospel, chapter 7. So we'll simply read the passage with little comment. Speaking to an excessively religious generation, our Lord quotes from the prophecy of Isaiah and says of this people in Mark 7 and verse 6, And He said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors Me with their lips.

21:41 You see, there was an engagement. It was part of their humanity, their lips. And to some degree, unless you're really doing something that is completely rote, there has to be a little engagement of the mind. See, like in the hymns we sang this morning, unless you knew all of them by heart and had sung them so frequently that you could be thinking about the roast at home or something while you were just mouthing them, it took a little engagement of the mind.

22:08 So apparently, there was a little engagement of the mind. There was the engagement of the lips. But you see, God was not content with that. He says, They honor Me with their lips.

22:19 The lips were framing the right words. And perhaps the minds were thinking to some degree right thoughts.

22:26 Heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship Me. One of the horrible and dominant elements of vain, empty worship is worship that does not engage the whole humanity of the worshipper. And so God complains about His ancient people.

22:52 He complains through the person of His Son about the generation of that day. And we could move on into the epistles of the New Testament and simply take a text like this, whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, as unto the Lord and not as unto men. If that's true, when a slave is emptying the slop bucket of his master, that he's to do it with the endangering of his heart, that he's to do it with the endangering of his heart, that he's to do it with the endangering of his heart, that he's to do it with the endangering of his heart, that he's to do it with the endangering of his heart, that he's to do it with the endangering of his lung, that he's to do it with the seed, that he's to do it with the seed, that he's to do it with all stem, and that His Father must alwaysでign based on the seed. As they pleasing the man of the Lord God, He is to say, Navel's master says, Hey, boy,

24:05 He is to say, Yes master, In the name of the Lord, Now that's true, Let your conscience work and let it bring home its infallible answer. If God says whatever your hand finds to do in the context of the biblical worth ethics and in the context of a slave-master relationship, how much more has Christ freed men? Those who are under the canopy of all the privileges of His grace, accepted in the Beloved, saved on the basis of the doing and the dying of another, saved by sovereign mercy, worship Him with our spiritual sacrifices. He expects nothing less than doing those things with all of our might as unto Him and not as unto man. So, my brothers and sisters, I say as members of Christ's Church, those whom He has quarried out of the mass of humanity and made living stones in His living temple, those whom He has constituted His spiritual priesthood

25:33 to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ, if we would fulfill our privileges and responsibilities as church members, we must not only cultivate an awareness of what we are doing, but we must also cultivate an awareness of what we are doing in any given assembly, not only cultivate a present disposition of thankfulness, reverence, and awe when we gather to our assemblies, whether for worship or for the enactment of discipline, but we must cultivate a present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity in all of the activities of our gathering, whether it is as we pray that we might agree together on earth. That demands the engagement of all of our faculties. My mind must lock into the thought patterns of the mind of my brother as he is the mouthpiece of the congregation in prayer. I must give my heart, as it were, to ride upon the streams of the holy emotions that are pouring out of his heart that I may be caught on the crest with them as together with one another, mind and heart.

26:52 We lay hold of the living God. You don't do that passively. You don't sit back and just wait for some divine zapping to give you the spirit of prayer. There is none that stirs up himself to take hold of you.

27:07 That's why prayer, even congregational prayer, is work. It's hope for all what more blessed work than to come before the God of the universe and to spread our needs before him to worship. And bless and praise him and to seek his face. So whether we gather for worship, for prayer, for discipline, for praise, whatever it is, there must be that cultivation of a present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity in all the activities of our gathering.

The Practical Implications of Whole-Souled Engagement

27:47 Now, if we're going to do that, you see the implications, don't you? Yes. It means that the mindset with which we come to the assembly will generally mark our entire time in the assembly.

28:07 Now, thankfully, there are exceptions. We may come utterly indisposed. We may have blown it over, slept on the Lord's Day morning, had a fuss in the car on the way to church and come in and take our place carnal as goats. And in the opening hymn, in which the Lord says, in which there is a thought about God's mercy to needy sinners, you may be shut in with God while the rest of the congregation is one voice, is lifting up praise and you may be in the trauma of present contrition and confession and God draws near and revives and quickens you and by the second hymn, you're at the front ranks of those who are bringing the sacrifice of praise.

28:50 Thank God that there are those wonderful interventions of grace and I'm not disappointed in discounting that. But generally speaking, the disposition with which you come into this place,

29:04 you will conduct yourself in this place and you will leave this place. So it means, dear people, that the battle will be generally won or lost Lord's Day evening, I mean Saturday evening, with regard to the following Lord's Day. If you do not have sufficient grasp on the ordering of your household to guard the use of the TV and to secure sufficient rest for the family and for yourself, then you come to the Lord's Day so mentally and physically and emotionally drained. God just gets the pickings and the leftovers from the world of mine.

29:55 And all God gets is the weary, torn land of the pickings and the leftovers.

30:04 My God is... My God will not accept less than what He demands.

30:13 Now I know that even when we've rendered to the best of our strength under the influence of the Spirit, whole-souled worship to God, the engagement of all of our faculties, we have fallen far short of the standard of His law and that worship is only acceptable in the language of first people. Peter 2, through Jesus Christ. I know that. And I know that Hebrews 13 tells us by Him or through Him, let us offer the sacrifice of praise.

30:55 I am not in any way suggesting that my worship can come naked and stripped of the mediation and the virtue of Jesus and be acceptable with God on the basis of my energy and bringing. I am not that. That would be heresy. Our worship is acceptable only in the creation of Christ in the blood of...

31:24 only presented through the intercession of Christ. But is not our Redeemer and His Father and our Father worthy of worship that engages the totality of our being? Did not our Lord in 424 the Father seeks worshipers to worship Him? In spirit and in truth.

31:55 Worship that is bounded by God's revelation of Himself. Truth. But worship in spirit. Worship that engages the whole of a man's inner being and what has your heart will have you.

Personal Application: Giving God Our Best

32:10 People ask me sometimes and some people actually suspect that because I preach with some degree of energy and intensity that that's contrived. That's no more contrived than a sneeze is. Before I was converted when I was out on the ball field I didn't play 80%, 90%, 98% if I had a football under my arm and there was that much of a hole in the line and a couple of linebackers there was one thing I was determined to do it's me at all and trying to make that extra yard or two. That's what I did for a dumb piece of pig skin.

32:59 Shall my God get less than a football did? Shall He?

33:07 I courted my wife. I didn't court her with half my heart.

33:11 I wanted the whole woman with my whole heart.

33:17 She's not here so I can say it. She'd be embarrassed. She's homesick.

33:23 Shall my God get less than my beloved?

33:30 Oh dear people let us not have God say to us shall I accept this at your hand? What a difference it would make, wouldn't it? After the first few strands of every hymn we'd hear God saying shall I accept this? And you answer in your own heart no Lord that was a shameful thing to bring before you.

33:49 Forgive me I'm going to start all over again Lord. And you throw back your shoulders and you fill up your lungs and you plant your feet and you shake the cobwebs out of your head and you throw yourself into the praises of God.

34:08 And when someone starts to lead in prayer and your head's bowed and you begin to nod if you've got to open your eyes and stare at the floor if you've got to pinch your cheek if you've got to do anything you say no! I'm not going to have God have the torn and the rent and the lame half distracted prayer of my mind come into His holy presence. No! I'm not going to do it!

34:35 ...of your mind and you stop the distraction of your mind.

34:46 I'm going to give my God something better.

34:54 You think I have to stir myself up to preach? You think after the last hour and the hours of wrestling with that matter of children and dealing with them I felt like preaching back to back? You think I felt like it? You think I feel like throwing myself into the preaching of the Word?

35:09 No! I feel like going home and going to bed!

35:14 But I am called upon to offer up to God a sacrifice of the proclamation of His Word! And I will not dishonor Him by giving Him anything less than the impagement of my whole being my mind my soul my strength.

35:33 And after I've done all of that while I'm walking down those stairs you know what my prayer most frequently is? I'll tell you. Lord, wash my efforts in the blood of Jesus because I know I wasn't as fervent as I was when I was a child. I ought to be!

35:48 I wasn't as accurate as I could have been! I wasn't as tender and passionate as I know I should be! Lord, wash my efforts in the blood of Your Son.

Pastoral Efforts to Aid Whole-Souled Engagement

36:06 Dear people, you've got to do this. I can't do it for you. And the life and blessing of our corporate gatherings will in great measure be determined by the degree to which the grassroots membership of Trinity Church cultivates present determination to engage the whole of our redeemed humanity in all the activities of our gathering. I'm going to be very pastoral and intimate with you.

36:37 Do you wonder why before the hymn I often make little remarks about the hymn and before we read the passage? Why do you think I do that? You think I like the sound of my own voice? Come on, be honest.

36:48 Some of you are shaking your head yes. No, I really don't, honestly. No, you know why I do that? Do you have any idea why I do that?

36:55 I'm trying to help engage your mind so that when it comes time to sing, it'll be easier because the words are not hitting your mind for the first time. You already have an idea of the road map, of the patterns of thought, so it's much easier to throw your soul into it because your mind has already gone ahead and your soul can follow with the appropriate emotions. Why do we outline what we're going to pray for? So it doesn't smack you like a ton of bricks.

37:24 It's more like, all right, now, let us pray. And I start praying for Pastor Nichols. You say, Pastor Nichols, where's he? I thought he was here.

37:30 Oh, oh, he must be. Oh, and then you're trying to figure out from the prayer why I'm praying the way I'm praying. That's right. That's why we take time to tell you, dear people.

37:40 Don't you know? That's all an effort at a practical level to help engage your mind. Why do we tell you what we're about to read in the scriptures? Not because we're frustrated preachers and we want to get in another little mini-sermon.

37:56 No, we don't. We don't. We don't. We don't.

37:56 God knows. That's not our motive. Our motive is we want you to be able to follow the reading of the Word and not get hung up after the second verse saying, why does this come here and where does this go? You have a sense of where it's going.

38:09 And I saw some of you this morning, the sheer excitement on your face as you saw God at work working with Peter and working with those guys and working with Cornelius. That's the way it ought to be so that your heart could run out with thanksgiving to God. Dear people, there's a reason for all of that. There's a reason for that.

38:27 And that's the reason. We don't want mere faunty lit worship in this place. God is infinitely worth far more than that. And we're determined to see Him have it.

Fourth Aspect of Preparation: A Conscience Void of Offense

38:45 But then I hasten to the fourth and final dimension of preparation.

38:52 And it's this. We must cultivate a present determination to gather with a conscience void of offense to God and to one another. We must cultivate a present determination to gather, whether we gather for prayer, for discipline, for praise, for worship, for ministry. We must cultivate a present determination to gather with a conscience void of offense to God and man.

39:29 Now again, Old and New Testaments are equally clear that God that God's formal stated worship to change the terminology the appointed assemblies of His people for spiritual service always have ethical implications. Always. Always.

39:55 Psalm 66, 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear. Psalm 15 and Psalm 24 Who shall ascend into the hill of God? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart and hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.

40:19 You see the ethical implications of coming into God's holy place? Standing in the place of His special presence? You find it in the New Testament. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount If you are coming to bring your gift Matthew 5, 23 If you are coming to bring your gift to God here you are offering a gift at the altar in the place of God's special presence the temple and there remember your brother has ought against you leave your gift before the altar go your way first be reconciled to your brother then come and offer your gift what does God say? He is saying that the exercises of vertical expressions of devotion to God are unresolved horizontal inequities and relationships isn't that what He says? If it means anything surely it's telling us that bring a gift at the altar it's an act of worship directed to God but there as the conscience is sensitized by the concentration that you're drawing near to Him whose eyes there is a flame of fire before whom all things

41:46 are naked and open you remember there's an unresolved controversy with your brother Jesus said leave your gift before the altar don't put it on in other words God isn't ready to accept it yet go get right with your brother then He says right with your brother God will accept the offering upon His altar now dear people if we took that seriously do you see how could it be that people as I had to shockingly find out this week can write cryptic letter of resignation apparently no real problem and then when they apply to another church and they get interviewed you find that they've got the garbage of months and years of bitterness and ill will to people that they've never once addressed in a biblical way God does not accept that worship you may put it on the altar but He wipes it off and says I don't accept it be reconciled to your brother look at Mark 11 suppose we gather to pray and here's the picture of corporate prayer a man is standing to pray Matthew I'm sorry Mark chapter 11 and verses 24 and 5 Mark 11 verses 24

43:15 and 25 therefore I say unto you all things whatsoever you pray and ask for believe that you receive them and you shall have them and whensoever you stand praying forgive if any have ought against anyone that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses what's he saying someone leads us in prayer in the midst of our corporate worship or corporate prayer time and part of that is confession oh Lord forgive our sins we have not loved you as we ought we haven't served you Lord forgive those things that only you know and we're too embarrassed even to confess publicly Lord forgive us can your heart enter into that prayer of confession if you have unforgiveness in your heart to a brother or sister not according to Jesus he says when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against anyone that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses in other words prayer is not just a matter between you and God it involves your brethren as well and God does not accept the prayer that comes from the heart of one who is willfully resolutely determined to nurture a spirit of unforgiveness Paul's great concern for the church at Rome is beautifully expressed in chapter 15

44:44 in verse 4 in the context of mutual acceptance and mutual reception he says in Romans chapter 15 I'm sorry it's verse 6 we're back up to verse 5 now the God of patience and of comfort grants you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus why in order that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ isn't that a beautiful picture he says oh you saints there at Rome I beseech you and I pray that the God of patience and comfort so work in you that there be this symphony of spiritual agreement and concord no dissonant note of a jangling spirit of ill will and suspicion and bitterness and resentment why that with one accord you may and he likens the congregation to being one body with one mouth that glorifies God oh dear people that must be our goal in this place that we are one mouth when we praise

46:13 and when we pray one mouth because we are of one accord one accord because we are of the same mind toward one another we are not grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit we are not

46:29 grieving this is meant for me on more than one occasion between church and Sunday school seeking out a brother or sister in this place whom I had reason to believe I may have offended some instances where perhaps I knew I had offended and not daring to come and be the mouthpiece of God in this place till the issue was made right and that's not preacher's rhetoric I've lived long enough to know that when I say some of those things there are usually a few who sit there cynically saying ah that's all right that's a lot of below me the witnesses are here and if I wanted to call them forward they could they could come my friend your cynicism doesn't negate the reality though I've not perfectly kept this I sincerely attempt to are you do you well you say well I'm just one among five hundred and fifty what's it matter it doesn't matter if there's five hundred and fifty thousand and fifty numerics do not enter into it it is this great principle that we come to our stated gatherings with a present determination to have a conscience void of offense to God and man that we may offer up acceptable worship in concert with his people that means we've got to learn the discipline

47:58 of short accounts with God going to Christ again and again and again and again do you find yourself going to Christ for cleansing times a dozen times even in the midst of a worship service confessing the lustful thought that crossed your mind confessing the distraction well if you don't dear friend learn to do that go to Christ if you need to a hundred times in an hour and a half away he knows the sin and go to your brethren as oft as you must so that at any given point you could stand right now this morning in a prominent place and look out over the world and see what God has done in this place and look out over this congregation as I am and say to the best of my knowledge I harbor no ill will to anyone in this place now that's your duty that's my duty and if we don't do it by degrees we'll sing the same hymns they'll be the same form but the life and power and presence of the Spirit will leave for the Holy Spirit is grieved and he is like and not to be he is like and not to the eagle that pounces on its prey and digs its talons deeper the more the prey squirms and seeks escape but he is like and to the dove who comes and gently rests in the context

49:28 of peace some of you think maybe we're a bit excessive in our emphasis upon church unity no that's the emphasis of Psalm 133 it is where brethren the Lord commands a blessing even life forevermore and if this place is to be both a deposit and a conduit of life it will be as it remains a people who meet with conscience is void of offense to God and to one another so I leave you then with those four very simple but what I see in Scripture prominent aspects of the glory of Christ verse to be told of himself we shall at his name be remembered by him for his grace and the love of his Son and his name of his tree and of his bread and his Rather, with a conscience void of offense to God and man. But now someone objects. Pastor, that sounds awfully legalistic to me. Does it?

Addressing Objections: Not Legalism, But Love

50:58 I thought I was just supposed to come and get a thing. Oh, you show me your passages for your position. And then show me the use I've made of all these is wrong. Then I'll give the case to you.

51:13 Now, this is not legalistic. Is it legalistic to entreat that those who are washed in the blood of Christ, made living temples, living stones in the living temple, a royal priesthood, who are privileged to offer up spiritual sacrifices, should offer them up in a way acceptable to God? That's legalistic only to the one who knows nothing of the glory of God's redemptive mercies in Jesus Christ. To say that you must engage the whole of your being in the worship and praise of God is legalistic?

51:46 Legalistic is only to confess, my friend, that you know nothing of love to God. For the greatest burden of every true Christian is that he doesn't love God with the whole of his being. He would if he could. And he makes every effort to do so.

52:02 And knows that meanwhile all of his shortcomings are washed in the blood of Jesus. Someone else objects and says, oh, that's too difficult. Is it? How do you know? You've not tried.

52:14 No, the objections all pale into insignificance. When our hearts are fixed upon the great privileges that are ours as a redeemed people, and as we, the Lord's people, meditate upon all that we are and all that we have in Jesus Christ, then surely we will not regard it too difficult or legalistic to take whatever time is necessary to cultivate that consciousness of what we're doing, to cultivate that disposition. Of thankfulness, reverence, and awe. To cultivate that present determination to engage the entirety of our redeemed humanity and to cultivate that determination to gather with conscience void of offense to God and to man. My sinner friend, you unconverted man, woman, boy, or girl, you probably sit there scratching your head saying, what in the world? A man talking about? And I can only say, if you saw and knew what we see and know, you'd understand.

53:27 You see, you've never seen yourself as under a canopy of divine wrath. You've never seen yourself as one who's held out of hell by a heartbeat. And having seen your tragic state, you've never fled for mercy in God's appointed way, going in repentance and faith to God through Jesus, Christ, and finding in the doing and dying of another all that you need to answer to all the demands of God's law. You don't know what it is to be adopted into God's family on the basis of the work of Christ.

54:06 You don't know what it is to have the spirit of adoption enabling you to cry, Abba, Father! It is all those realities of salvation in Christ that lie at the basis of our assessment that this is all very much so. It is all very reasonable and rational and right. Oh, my friend, until you know Him, until you go to Him, and there is no preparation He demands of you, you go as you are, where you are, right now, and you will find Him to be just the Savior we have found Him to be.

Illustration and Concluding Exhortation

54:41 I close with a little story. I don't often do that, but I read this to the men in the academy the other day. A short way from here, there was a man who was mightily used of God in another generation. And when he first came to his pastoral charge, a strange thing happened.

55:01 He was preaching one of his first sermons. He was seeking to stir up that particular church to help plant another church. We call it a church planting ministry. And in the middle of the sermon, a strange thing happened.

55:15 An elderly gentleman suddenly stood up over in one part of the congregation. He stood up in the congregation. He laid his cane on the pew, and put his hands on the pew in front of him, and stood as erect as a ramrod. Well, the young preacher was a little bit unnerved, but he went right on preaching.

55:34 Well, upon inquiry, he found out who this man was. He was a venerated old saint in that congregation, known for his godly walk with God for many years. He was living on the benevolence of the church at that time, and he entered into conversation with this young preacher, and said some things he's never forgotten. But this was the thing that struck me.

55:56 When the young preacher asked about this man, what was he doing? They said, oh, he's been known to do that many times. In his old age, having a tendency to get a little dopey, he is so determined that he will profit from every word the preacher brings that when he feels drowsiness overtaking him, he puts his cane down, stands up straight as a ramrod, grabs the back of the pew in front of him, and stands. He stands there that he might keep alert and not lose one word that falls from the mouth of God's servant.

56:30 Legalistic? My friend, if you could have godly people say of you what godly people said of him when he died,

56:40 the fragrance of his walk with God permeated every place he went. And one of the reasons was, he was determined every time he came to the gathering of God's people to engage the entirety of his redeemed humanity in hearing the word of God.

57:03 So if I see some of you in the future quietly stand up, I will not be offended. Now, if you start waving your hands, talking in tongues, I'll say you're out of order. Sit down.

57:17 But I'm serious. I'm dead serious. If it takes that, and it's a pattern, then at least have the decency to sit toward the back so you won't distract. I've talked to a lot of other people, but I'd far rather see a dozen people standing here this morning than one person.

57:39 Do you want to know anything? It cuts the heart out of a servant of God. That'll do it. You pour out your mind and spirit in hours of preparation.

57:50 You seek to be clear. You seek to throw yourself into the preaching, to engage the eyeballs, to be totally involved in what you're doing. The word excites your own spirit. And you see people, and you know what they're doing.

58:04 Now, I know at any given time there can be unusual circumstances. That's why God is witness. I don't judge anyone who falls asleep at any given time as an exceptional thing. Oh, my friend, when there's a pattern, something's bad, bad, bad, bad.

58:23 May God give us grace that in this place we will fulfill above all else not primarily our obligations to one another, but our obligations to one another. May God give us grace that in this place we will fulfill above all else, but our obligations to the living God by being present at the stated gatherings of His people and being present appropriately prepared. Let us pray.

58:54 Our Father, how we thank You for Your Word. Thank You that it is indeed adequate for all of life. Thank You for its instruction on what You require of us as Your people. Oh, write these truths upon our hearts Give us grace ever to bring them to remembrance when we most need them.

59:19 And then, oh God, have mercy upon those to whom these things seem so strange because they are strangers to You and to Your grace and to Your salvation so freely offered even to them in the person of Your Son. Bless this Word that it may bear abundant fruit for many years to come. For many years to come in this assembly for Your glory and for our good through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.