Your Personal Life

Introduction: My Parting Counsel

0:03 Now, I believe that most, if not all of you present here this morning are aware of the fact that in January of 2006, at our annual church business meeting, I announced to you that it was my intention to relinquish my place as one of your pastors and to relocate to western Michigan sometime in the year 2008. Now that an approximate date of June 15 has been set for that move and relocation, looking at the calendar, it's clear that I have but seven or eight more Lord's Days with you. There's one Lord's Day, I'll be out in Michigan to attend the graduation of one of the, no, the wedding, of one of the grandsons. Now since my arrival in North Caldwell in July of 1962, almost 46 years have passed. Forty-six years in which I've sought to serve my Lord Jesus Christ by serving you as one of your undershepherds and pastors.

1:26 I'm thankful that I have never had to serve. As a sole elder, but I've always known the benefit of fellow pastors and fellow undershepherds. Approaching this time when I will leave you and relinquish my place among you as a pastor, I've wrestled much in recent days with the question, what should I say to you in these remaining weeks? That question, I say, has been much upon my mind and heart in these days, and as I've wrestled with the question, I've had some of the following thoughts.

2:04 What can I say that is of any crucial importance that I've not already said, in many cases, again and again over the course of 46 years ministering to you? What subject, what theme, what doctrine can be addressed that has not already been addressed, if not in the preaching? Certainly, in our consecutive reading through the New Testament, which we have done in those 46 years at least eight times, from Matthew 1 to Revelation 22. We've read through the entire Old Testament, coming up on three times in our life together. And whenever there have been issues in that consecutive reading that had application to our life, together, we as pastors have sought to put the spotlight of focused comment upon that issue. So, what can I say that's not been said, in some cases, again and again over the course of 46 years, with the consecutive reading of the Scriptures? And then, we've gone through the entire Psalter at least a dozen times in our calls to worship and in the front end of our worship service.

3:30 Well, you're interested to know how I've answered the question. Well, if I've rightly discerned the mind of God in this matter, what I propose to do is this. In these remaining weeks, to highlight those biblical truths and perspectives, which have constituted the dominant and the all-encompassing passion of my labors among you for these 46 years. And I propose to do that under this general title.

4:05 It's not at all glamorous or catchy. It's very plain Jane, My Parting Words of Counsel to the Members and Friends of Trinity Baptist Church. As I said, it's very plain Jane. There's nothing scintillating.

4:21 It doesn't sparkle. But that's very simply what I purpose to do in these remaining Lord's Days. To give my parting words of counsel to the members and friends of Trinity Baptist Church. of counsel to the members and friends of Trinity Baptist Church.

4:36 And in this final series of sermons, I will not be attempting to prove and establish by meticulous, careful, biblical exposition these counsels. No, there will hardly be a text quoted that has not been painstakingly, carefully, contextually expounded and applied over the course of those 46 years. In some cases, some of these texts and themes have been expounded periodically and repeatedly so that those of you who are newer among us, when such an issue comes forward in our tape library, in our church library, in cassettes or CDs, at your leisure, you can listen to those sermons that I have spoken about. Those sermons in which the issues I'm going to address in a very cursory way are dealt with in responsible exposition. So what I purpose to do is to identify those nerve-center truths that have constituted the heart and soul of our life together and call you as God's people to a fresh commitment

5:56 to those truths for your future. Life and labors as a congregation. And this first word of counsel is both foundational, it's at the base, but it's also overarching as a word of counsel that in a very real sense will bind together all the subsequent words of counsel into an organic whole. And what is that first word of parting counsel that I give to you?

The Foundational Counsel: Cling to Christ and Obey His Word

6:30 It is this. Beloved members and friends of Trinity Church, by faith and love, cling tenaciously to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, while out of faith and love, obey resolutely all of the words of Christ. That's my word of counsel. That by faith and love, that you cling tenaciously to the person of Christ, and out of faith and love, you obey resolutely the words of Christ. Now let me take a few minutes to exegete my words of counsel. What do I mean by the choice of those words? And I've not come to them quickly.

7:28 I've spent many hours laboring. Over this, and yesterday afternoon, totally dissatisfied the way I had expressed it. I totally trashed the former way and came up with what I now have that I believe much more accurately expresses what is upon my heart. What is the meaning of these words of counsel?

Exegesis of 'Cling Tenaciously to the Person of Christ'

7:51 By faith and love, cling tenaciously to the person of Christ. Well, let me explain what I mean by those words. According. According to the scriptures, a Christian man, a Christian woman, a Christian boy or girl, is one who has been united to Jesus Christ by faith.

8:15 The Christian religion is not fundamentally comprised of subscription to a set of doctrines. Though it inevitably involves subscription to a set of doctrines, it is fundamentally adherence to a person who fills up the doctrine with the glory of his own person and the sufficiency of his own work. A true Christian is a disciple according to the scriptures. And a disciple is someone who is attached to a master, to a rabbi, to a teacher.

8:56 And according to the scriptures, a Christian is someone who is. Someone who is attached to Jesus Christ himself by faith. Furthermore, the Bible teaches, whenever someone is attached to the person of Christ by faith, a faith that is the fruit of God's own supernatural working by the Holy Spirit, that faith in Christ always, without exception, that faith always issues, in love to the person of Christ. It is utterly impossible to have true saving faith in Christ and to be a stranger to heart affection for that person who is the object of your faith. Peter forever establishes this in the first chapter of his first letter when he writes to these saints of God in Asia. He writes to Peter Minor and says these words, chapter 1 and verse 8. Whom, having not seen, ye love.

10:12 And the subject of that pronoun, whom, is Jesus Christ at the end of verse 7. Jesus Christ, whom, not having seen, you love, on whom, though you now see him not, yet believing. Here he describes every true Christian, to whom the letter is addressed, those scattered saints of God in Asia Minor, in that first century setting, and he says, all of you, without exception, who truly believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you love him. You love him.

10:51 You believe upon him. Therefore, the Apostle Paul can write, without any sense that he's getting mixed up in his theology, the words of 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22. Listen to these words at the end of 1 Corinthians. Verse 22, chapter 16.

11:14 If any man loves not the Lord, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed of God. Well, I thought we were saved by faith in Christ and not love to Christ. That's right.

11:31 Nowhere does the Bible, say we are attached to Jesus Christ fundamentally and initially by love. We are attached to him by faith. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that no man should boast.

11:51 We are justified by faith. That's clear in the Scripture. However, Paul can say, if anyone loves not the Lord, let him be accursed. As clearly as the Bible says, he that believes not, the wrath of God abides upon him.

12:09 Paul says, if you love not the Lord Jesus, the wrath of God abides upon you. Why? Because if you love him not, you have no real faith in him. All true faith in Christ issues in love to the person of Christ.

12:27 And that's why John can say in his first epistle, 1 John, 4, 10, and 19, 1 John, 4, 10, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and then verse 19, we love because he first loved us. Love begets love. And God's love is funneled through the giving of his only begotten Son, to be the Savior of sinners, and when sinners hear of this Savior, given in the love of God, and they embrace him by a faith wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of God, God's love begets love. We love because he first loved us, but we do love. John assumes that every true Christian to whom he writes has love, for the person of Christ. And when we read the Scriptures, we find the Lord Jesus making it very plain that that love is not a love that is shared with any other creature.

13:48 It is a supreme and an exclusive love if we are truly attached to Christ by faith as his disciple. That's why Jesus can say in those very searching words, of Luke chapter 14 and verse 26, listen to words that could not be more plain. Now there went with him great multitudes, and he turned and said to them, If any man come unto me, and hates not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life, also he cannot be my disciple. Jesus will not own a saving attachment to anyone in whose heart he does not have the place of supreme and unrivaled affection. When he said we must hate brother or sister, obviously he's not saying we must have a disposition of positive ill will and antipathy. What he's doing is taking the most deep, intimate ties of human affection.

15:13 And he's saying that by comparison, our love attachment to Christ must be supreme.

15:25 Now people, if that isn't what the Bible teaches, I'm going to fold my Bible, and I'm going to go out and dig ditches or find another way to put bread on the table.

15:35 That is abundantly clear that all who truly believe upon Christ, as the fruit of that faith, love the person of Christ. and that love to the person of Christ is supreme above all other legitimate loves. I am commanded to love my wife as Christ loved the Church. But that love to my wife must in no way rival my love to Jesus.

16:08 I must hate my wife by comparison. I must hate my children, my siblings, by comparison. That's what Jesus said to multitudes. He laid it out before them and made it abundantly clear.

Exegesis of 'Obey Resolutely the Word of Christ'

16:28 So what is my parting word of counsel? It is this. By faith and love, cling tenaciously to this person to whom you have been joined by faith, and whom you have come to love. And by giving that exhortation, cling tenaciously to the person of Christ, I'm simply giving what could be called a paraphrase of the exhortation that was given to a group of young Christians.

17:02 I want you to turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. When persecution arose in Jerusalem, men were scattered and preached the gospel. Some went as far as Cyprus and Antioch.

17:18 And the word of God was preached at Antioch, and the Spirit of God worked in power. Acts 11, 21. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. Do you see what happened?

17:33 They believed, and their believing is beautifully described as a turning to the Lord. A turning to Him with a view to apprehending Him. By faith, with supreme allegiance and affection. And now, Barnabas is sent up by the church in Jerusalem to check things out.

17:57 And he comes, and now we read in verse 23. Who when he was come, that is, Barnabas. Who when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. And he exhorted them all, that with...

18:15 With the purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. I love that exhortation. You know the word cleave is one of those words that can mean opposite things. You have a meat cleaver that separates meat and bone on a chopping table.

18:36 And yet the Bible says a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife. It means to be attached to, to remain in association. And Barnabas had seen the work of God that had turned their hearts to the Lord. They were now united to Him.

18:54 And now he says, I want you to cling tenaciously to the Lord to whom you've turned. A beautiful summary of what is one of the tap roots of ongoing spiritual life and vigor. By faith and love, cling tenaciously to the person. To the person of Christ.

19:17 But then secondly, what did I mean by the words, out of faith and love, obey resolutely the word of Christ. By faith and love, cling tenaciously to the person of Christ. But out of faith and love, obey resolutely the word of Christ. You see, scripture will not permit us to separate these two things.

19:46 Attachment to the person of Christ himself and strict adherence to the words of Christ. There are many who talk of their mystical experience of communion and intimacy with Christ. But when you check their lives by the words of Christ, you see that the words of Christ are not governing and shaping their lives. We cannot separate attachment to the person.

20:15 person of christ and resolute obedience to the word of christ let's look at a couple of texts that demonstrate this turn to john chapter 6 john chapter 6 jesus had fed the multitudes given what is commonly called his bread of life discourse and then as a result of the things he was teaching we read in verse 66 upon this many of his disciples people who seem to be attached to him seem to be they're called disciples they went back now notice and walked no more with him they severed their attachment to the person of christ up until now they had been literally following him as disciples in that day were able to do you you they were following following eating the bread that he multiplied and the fish that he multiplied and listening to his words but when they heard the words recorded in this chapter upon this many of the disciples went back walked no more verse 67 jesus said therefore unto the

21:34 twelve will you also go away will you sever your attachment to me will you turn heel and leave me also simon peter answered him verse sixty eight lord to whom person shall we go you have the werr shift of eternal life and see what peter understood if we leave you and separate our relationship to you we leave the very words which are the medium of conveying eternal life to moonshell we'd go you have the word of eternal life. Attachment to you in your person, Lord Jesus, means attachment to your words which alone give eternal life. No separation of attachment to the person of Christ and to the words of Christ. Look at Mark chapter 8 for another example of this principle. Mark chapter 8

22:39 and verse 38. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, my person, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Here the Lord Jesus brings into an inseparable relationship attachment to him and to his words. To be ashamed of him and of his words. Can't separate them. Then again in John 17 and verse 8.

23:24 One other example just to establish by two or three witnesses. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus says to the Father, for the words which you gave me, I have given unto them and they have received them and knew of the truth that I came to you. And they have come forth from you and they believe that you did send me. He says the mark of those, Father, whom you've given to me, to whom I've given eternal life, is that they've not only attached themselves to my person, but the words that I have given them, they have received them.

Implications of Resolute Obedience: Thoughts and Behavior

24:04 They have embraced them. So when I say, exhorting you as the people of God, by faith, in love, cling tenaciously to the person of Christ and out of that faith and love, obey resolutely the word of Christ. I say it because attachment to his person and strict attachment to his words are inseparable in all saving experience. Now what will that mean if you, if I, am resolutely committed to obeying the word of God? If you, if I, am resolutely committed to obeying the word of God? If you, if I, am resolutely committed to obeying the word of God? Then it will mean two things, very simply but very profoundly. All of my thinking concerning all things must be brought into conformity to the wisdom of Christ. All of my thinking concerning all things must be brought

25:06 into conformity to the wisdom of Christ. Colossians two and verse three, has this very simple but amazing statement. In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. In Jesus Christ and what the Scripture reveals about Him and what He reveals to us concerning every realm of created reality, all of our thinking must be brought in conformity to the wisdom that is hidden in Christ and is unfolded out of Christ as we shall see in the pages of Scripture. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5 has a very vigorous military imagery of the same thing. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse number 5. Casting down imaginations or the marginal reading reasonings, casting them down.

26:17 You've got two wrestlers in the middle of the mat and one's going for a takedown. He wants to put the other guy on his back. We are to cast down its military imagery. All of my thoughts about a host of things that would go this way and this way and that way and the other way and come to judgments and assessments of reality, detached from Christ.

26:41 Those thoughts, casting them down and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Every thought active to the obedience of Christ. You say that sounds like brainwashing. Yes, it is.

27:07 It's having my brain. I'm being washed of all of my native carnal thoughts about myself, who I am, why I am here, what is my identity, how should I function, all of my thoughts about others, all of my thoughts about right and wrong and human relationships. All of my thoughts must be brought captive to the obedience of Christ. And then secondly, it means all of my behavior, concerning all of life, must be brought into conformity to the will of Christ.

27:46 All of my thoughts about everything brought subject to the wisdom of Christ. And then all of my behavior concerning all of life brought into conformity to the will of Christ. The wisdom of Christ in my mind. And the will of Christ in my life.

28:10 That's what it means. That's what I mean when I exhort you as a people, by faith and love to cling tenaciously to the person of Christ, and out of that faith and love to obey resolutely the word of Christ. Matthew 28, verse 19 and following. Going therefore, make disciples of all the nations, by the preaching of the word, with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, bring men into a personal intimate life of commitment to my person and trust in my work, make disciples, baptizing them into the name of that one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and what follows, teaching them to observe, notice, the practical emphasis in the commission of Jesus, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, intensive and extensive. He doesn't say teaching them to think right thoughts about religious matters, but when it comes to personal relationships and social relationships and assessment of

29:37 the world around you, the physical world, the psychological world, look to the experts in psychology. Look to the experts in geology and paleontology. He says, no, they are to be brought to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you. John 10, 28, Jesus said, I have a people that I call my sheep. He says, you want to know what?

30:08 My sheep look like I'll tell you. My sheep hear my voice. Present tense verb, they are continually hearing my voice, and I know them, and they are following me. See the inseparable relationship between person and words? They hear my voice. They listen to my words. But they not only listen to them, they keep them. They follow me. They obey me. They obey me.

30:38 They plant their feet in the path marked out by my words. Furthermore, Jesus said in John 15, 14, you are my friends if, if you do whatsoever I command you. And then that searching passage in Luke chapter 6, let's turn to it together. This is what I mean when I speak of out of faith in love, obeying resolutely the Word of God.

31:09 The Word of Christ, Luke chapter 6 and verse 46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why do you take upon your lips the language of attachment to me? You call me Lord. By your language you're saying you're not on the throne that you have capitulated the right to me. You have capitulated the right to me. You have capitulated the right to me. You have capitulated the right to me. You have capitulated the right to rule from yourself to me. You call me Lord. And you repeat it for emphasis and to underscore the truth and reality of it. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not the things which I say? And as though this might be regarded as, well, that's just

32:04 a little piddling thing. The Lord says, no, every one, every one that comes to me, every one that comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you to whom he is like. He's like a man building a house who digged and went deep and laid a foundation upon the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well-builted. But he that hears and does not, he hears.

32:37 He sits in Trinity Church month after month. Week after week, year after year, decade after decade, he hears. But he does not implement by resolute obedience to the word of Christ. How shall I liken him? He's like a man that built a house on the earth without a foundation. It looks good from a distance. It looks good in ordinary days. But a day is coming when the stream will swell with spring rains. And this man, he said, is without the foundation against which the stream broke. And straightway it fell in. And the ruin of that house was great. God says the house of your profession will be nothing but rubble in the day of judgment unless that professed attachment to the person of Christ in faith and love produces a resolute obedience to the Word of God.

The Authority of Christ's Word and the Danger of a Sham Profession

33:43 of christ now when i say the word of christ i do not mean that if you've got a red letter addition to the bible you seriously do what's in red according to first peter chapter one the whole bible is the word of christ it was the spirit of christ in the prophets that move them to write as they wrote and the words of apostles first corinthians 14 37 paul says if any man seems to be spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that i write unto you are the commandments of the lord i mean the word of scripture properly interpreted and applied all of it in its entirety is the word of christ and my exhortation to you dear people of god professing christians at trinity is this that out of faith and love you obey right resolutely i've used that word deliberately with determination with unwavering principle commitment that you obey resolutely the word of christ now by way of application before i move into an area of some specifics lest someone think that this word of counsel then can be

35:07 treated with indifference let me remind you of the simple biblical truth that it contradicts and it's this any professed attachment to the person of christ that does not issue in love to christ producing a life of resolute obedience to the word of christ that profession is a sham it's a sham any professed attachment to the person of christ that does not issue in love to christ producing a life of resolute obedience to the words of Christ is a sham. It's bogus. Such a person has no part in the salvation of Christ. And I want you to look at two texts that make this as plain as the nose on your face. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, we read these words concerning our Lord Jesus,

36:15 probably referring to the experience of Gethsemane, verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been made perfect, that is, a perfect, suffering Savior, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation. One of the few places where the term eternal salvation is found in Scripture, and in this Scripture it is said Christ went through all that he went through in his suffering obedience to procure a salvation that will be for all. The evidence in a people who obey him. That's the mark of their lives. Obedience to Christ. Not an

37:26 obedience that is perfect, but it is principled. It is the pattern of their lives. What God's Word says must be implemented in my life. These things are not optional. I don't weigh them and say, well, this seems to be, important, all things whatsoever I command you. That's the rule of Holy Scripture. And the second text is 1 John 2, verses 3 and 4. Again, language could not be more clear.

38:05 Hereby we know that we know Him. If we can point to a day when we had a marvelous experience, no. No. Hereby do we know that we know Him.

38:17 If our lives are reasonably respectable and our theology is reasonably orthodox, no. Hereby do we know that we know Him. If we are keeping some of His commandments, no. Keeping His commandments.

38:37 He that says, oh, I know Him. Nobody's going to shake my confidence that I know Him. I know I'm a Christian. He that says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in it.

38:56 Dear people, that language is simple, clear. It cuts cleanly through all the nonsense of any so-called participation in the saving grace of Christ that does not produce a life in which the hands, the feet, the life are planted in the way of the precepts of Christ. That's clear. Now, what I want to do this morning is I want to make some specific applications of this first word of counsel.

Application to Personal Life: Universal Holiness

39:33 This word of counsel is, Dear members and friends of Trinity in the days to come, I urge you, I entreat you by faith and love, cling tenaciously, to the person of Christ, and out of faith and love, obey resolutely the word of Christ. There are three and possibly four major areas in which I want to make application of this word of counsel. But this morning I take up just the first. And it is this.

40:10 I'm exhorting you to do this in your personal life. Then we'll take up your domestic life, and then take up your ecclesiastical life, and then take up possibly your work life, God willing, next Lord's Day. But to embrace this word of counsel in your personal life. And I have three subheadings with regard to your personal life.

40:34 Here's the first. To render to the Lord Jesus out of faith and love resolute obedience to the call for a serious pursuit of universal holiness. To render to Christ resolute obedience to the call of His word for serious pursuit of universal holiness of life. You all know the text.

41:08 I'm not going to quote a text you haven't heard and heard dozens of times over 46 years. These have been the dominant issues of my ministry among you. Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Follow after the Greek verb dioko, the word used for persecute.

41:29 Track down with intense concentration peace with all men and the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Pursue actively, diligently, deliberately that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. That is, see Him with delight and joy and exultation. You'll see Him with dread and horror in judgment but not in mercy.

42:05 2 Corinthians 7.1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves of all defilement of the flesh, the outer life, and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That's what the old Puritans meant by the term universal holiness of heart and life. The apostle says in the light of the marvelous promises at the end of chapter 6, let us cleanse ourselves.

42:44 Now it's the blood of Christ that cleanses us from our sin. It is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from our sin. It is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from our sin. It is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from our sin.

42:49 It is the power of the spirit of Christ that gives us enabling grace. We by the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh. Paul wrote those things. He knows them, but it didn't bother him to write, let us cleanse ourselves.

43:07 In other words, there is an engagement of the entirety of our redeemed humanity. And then he goes on to say, we not only cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and the spirit, we aim at perfection, carrying to completion a present tense. I believe it's a participle, but it's a present tense. Carrying to completion this holiness in the fear of God.

43:37 Under the eye of God before whose eye all things are naked and laid bare, and therefore every aspect of my heart and my life, all that makes me flesh and spirit, is to be pursuing energetically, deliberately universal holiness of life. John Owen said many things for which I am eternally grateful. And I'll never forget when I first read his statement. He said there are no greater undoing lies than these two lies that destroy the souls of men.

44:19 Number one, that we may be in the kingdom of God, Number two, that we may be in the kingdom of God, Number three, that we may be in the kingdom of God, Number four, that we may be in the kingdom of God, Number five, that we may be in the kingdom of God, Number six, that we may be in the kingdom of God, while strangers to the new birth.

44:27 Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Owen says, it's a great delusion that men think they are in the kingdom who are strangers to the new birth. That's the first lie. You know what he said the second one was?

44:44 To claim that we have a heavenly birth and we are not marked by universal holiness.

44:54 Oh yes, I've experienced the new birth. But do you know what it is with all of your being consciously, deliberately, passionately to pursue a life of universal holiness? Owen would say, you're as much deceived as a man who thinks he's in the kingdom has never experienced the new birth.

45:17 Peter is very clear in his first chapter of his first epistle. Like as he who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in every, manner of life. Be ye holy, for I am holy. I beseech you as strangers and sojourners to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

45:49 These are the texts you've heard many, many times. But I wonder, I wonder, I wonder how many live by them.

46:02 How many live by them? How many sitting here this morning, know what the wrestling is, the brutal dealing with the offending eye and with the offending hand and the offending foot? Do you know what it is? Deal radically and brutally with your remaining sin.

Application to Personal Life: Radical Separation from the World

46:27 My exhortation is out of faith and love. Obey resolutely the word of Christ, that word that calls you to a serious pursuit of universal holiness of life. Secondly, that word that calls you and calls me to resolute obedience to a life of radical separation from the world. That calls you and me to a life of radical separation from the world.

47:05 Not a separation from the grossly sinful, lecherous, wicked acts of worldlings, but from the world in all of its subtle influence with its standards of what is right and wrong and what is worthy of the expenditure of our money and of our time and of our pursuits. You've heard these texts quoted times without number. Be not conformed to this world, but be continually transformed by the righteousness and renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12, 2.

47:48 You've heard James 4. You adulterers, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 1 John 2, 15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

48:09 For all that is in the world, the lusts, the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, the vainglory of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lusts thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever. The only one who does the will of God is the one who heeds the call to a life of radical separation from the world and its things.

48:37 Love not the world, neither the things that are of the world. Those things that come out of the world's system under the control of the devil and driven by the passions and lusts of men who are strangers to the grace of God. Jesus could say in his high priestly prayer of all for whom he prays, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Paul writing to Titus, opening up our glorious salvation, says that God's salvation has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil age, looking for the glorious appearing of our great God in our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, purify unto himself a people his own possession, zealous to do what? Zealous to push the limits of their so-called liberty in area after area after area. No, never, never! Zealous of good passion to be separate from a world's system

50:06 marked for destruction, finding no delight in its toys and in its trinkets and in its babies and in its I don't understand it. I don't understand it. Why you've got to have your hours at your computer and tracking down YouTube and MyFace and someone else's blog when your Bible's Bible lies closed?

50:58 This world's system driving you and squeezing you into its mold.

51:07 And the word of Christ calls us to a life of radical separation from the world. And I'm not talking about putting on gunny sacks and little house on the prairie dresses and living like we were dropped off another planet. Don't go out and charge me with that nonsense. You know what I'm talking about.

51:28 You know the issues where the world sucks your time and shapes your perspectives.

51:38 And God calls you to a radical separation from it. To the end that you and I may be what? You are the salt of the earth. That our lives are so radically different that they are sprinkled upon the putrefaction of society and they have a checking restraining influence on us.

52:00 And I'm not talking about And Peter assumes people will see something different in us and ask a reason of the hope that is in us. You mean your life is fulfilled and enriched and you're not spending hours in front of your computer screen tracking down this blog and this social interaction. What in the world makes you tick, man? And you tell them you have fullness in Christ and in the work of Christ and in the people of Christ and in the service of Christ.

Application to Personal Life: Resting in Christ for Acceptance and Strength

52:35 And then thirdly,

52:38 under this matter of our personal lives, Christ calls us to resolute obedience to a life of universal holiness. He calls us to a life of radical separation from the world. And then He calls us to resolute obedience to this call. And to me, this has been one of the tap roots of my ministry over all these years.

53:03 To live a life to live a life to live a life to live a life to live a life resting solely upon Christ for your acceptance with God while drawing all your strength from Christ to live a life pleasing to God. You got it? Let me give it to you again. Christ calls us in His Word to resolute obedience to this.

53:34 To live a life resting solely to this. To live a life resting solely upon Christ for our acceptance with God while drawing all our strength from Christ in order to live a life pleasing to God. As I say, the combination of these two things has been a constant emphasis of my labors when you and I contemplate this haunting question. How shall sinfulness of God's image be accepted with a holy God?

54:13 To put it more personal, how shall I, in union with Adam in whom I fell, conceived in sin in my mother's womb, brought out of the womb speaking lies? Sins as a toddler, sins as a kid, sins as a preteen, sins as a teenager, sins when after conversion, sins after conversion, sins to this day, how can I hope to appear before the God who says He is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity? How can I appear before this God who has said the wages of sin is death? How can I think of standing before Him in the day of judgment with anything but dread? Ah, here's the answer. In the person and work of Jesus Christ, by His life of suffering obedience and by His death of obedience suffering, He's provided a righteousness in which I can wrap myself and appear before God. With Romans 8, 1 in my hands, there is therefore now no

55:28 condemnation. To them that are in Christ Jesus. And God calls us to live in that resting solely upon Christ for our acceptance with God all along the way to be able to say with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me. And gave Himself for me. He never forgets, I live by faith in a crucified, risen, exalted Savior in whom I have a perfect righteousness. Toward the end of His life, He can write to the Philippians and say, here's my passion that I may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is from God by faith. That's my resting place. In Christ, in Christ alone, while at the same time drawing from Christ the strength to live a life well-pleasing to Christ.

56:45 John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. Without me, you can do nothing. But abiding in me, you will bring forth fruit, much fruit, more fruit. The progression is there when Christ who is.

57:02 For life shall appear. Colossians 3, 4. Colossians 2, 6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him. That's what I'm talking about.

57:17 On the one hand, clinging to Christ alone for my acceptance with God. Drawing from Christ all of my strength and nourishment to live a life that is well-pleasing to God. Dear people, that's my passion for you. That in this place, in the days to come, Christ in the sufficiency of His work for sinners will be more and more precious. Christ as the source of your strength and vigor to live a life well-pleasing to God will be more and more an internal and blessed reality. Let me say by way of closing application, when I came to North Jersey, I was a Christian. I was a Christian. I was a Christian. I was a

Concluding Exhortation: The Narrow Gate and Way

58:03 Priest. I was a Christian. I was aacionist. I was a pastor. I was a Pilgrim. I was a pastor.

58:07 And I came in from North Jersey in 1962. And God made it plain that I was to become pastor of those people who eventually constituted Trinity Baptist Church. My intention has always been to live and to die among you or be put out to pasture if I lost my physical and mental ability to shepherd you. However, God's providence has ordered my life in a very unexpected direction.

58:32 And as you are still Bible, consider this in the manner of your ownцу. As Deshalban and mortal, how much more powerful do you want to be according to God? Or rather, how much more I are to meet one another in a better world, though I hope to be seeing you periodically, coming back for pastor's conference and modules and other events, if we're to meet in another world, a better place, it will be because we've come through the narrow gate of true conversion, where by God's grace we've repudiated our own righteousness as the ground of our acceptance with God, we've repudiated sin as the delightful practice of life, we've repudiated self as the governing principle of life, and we've repudiated the world as our companion, and then we've walked together upon the narrow way of pursuing universal holiness, pursuing radical separation from the world, and resting only in Christ as our righteousness. And . . Christ is our strength.

59:36 If we're going to meet in another world, that's how we'll get there. That's how we'll get there. You won't get there by missing the narrow gate, or saying you're through the gate and you're not on the narrow way. Folks, Jesus made it plain.

59:50 Enter in by the narrow gate. Wide is the gate. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrow is the gate.

59:59 Compressed and straightened is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Gate, way, and life.

60:08 No other way. Gate, way, and life.

60:14 And if I do meet you in that day, then I can say with Paul, what is my joy and crown of rejoicing at the coming of Jesus are not you. But I fear, I deeply fear for some of you.

60:33 You've heard, you have sent, but you don't obey. May God have mercy on you. Give you to no rest or peace until by his grace he moves you from that place of spiritual inertia into the orbit of a true disciple of Christ who by faith in love clings tenaciously to the person and work of Christ and out of faith in love obeys resolutely the word of Christ. Let's pray.

61:19 Father, we pray that you would take your word, many portions of which have been read and quoted, and make it a sharp, two-edged sword. We pray that you would cause your truth to fasten itself upon every heart and mind and life and bring forth eternal fruit to the praise of the glory of your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.