Benefits of Christianity

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians in chapter 2 is where we're at today. Chapter 2, verses 17 to 22. I'd like to preach to you today on the subject of benefits of Christianity. The benefits of Christianity are immense in this passage, and if we get through them all, we'll just simply say praise the Lord. If we don't get through them all, then we'll come back as regular scheduled next week to finish this passage.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 17 is something that you can see as a believer in Christ. You have immense benefits and blessings, and let me introduce the passage through this concise paragraph. We gain peace with God in verse 17, and the Spirit of God in verse 18, and access to the Father in verse 18, and a ton of new family members of God in verse 19, and a life built on the Word of God, and an increasing amount of holiness in God in verse 21, and becoming a dwelling of God in verse 22 when Christ saves us. So let's see these things in the text today.

Read with me if you would in Ephesians chapter 2 starting with verse 17. The Bible says, "And he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household." That's family. Verse 20, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

Pray with me. Father, thank you for these verses, and I pray as we go verse by verse You would help illuminate to our minds the truth that You would have us to know from the passage. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

The first thing that I would like for you to see is that the peace of Christ replaces the hostility and the enmity that is in you from original sin. So peace replaces hostility. Point number one, peace replaces the hostility.

Here I want you to notice the reference back in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 17, "As he preached peace to those who were far away," that being a reference to the Gentiles, "and peace to those who were near," that being a reference to Israelites — both were needing to be saved, and the inner hostility that was in them was replaced with the peace of God. And so Christ is the one who is our peace. Look with me in chapter 2 verse 14, "For He Himself" — that being Christ — "He is our peace." And that was made possible to both groups as you see in verse 14. Both groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, were made into one, and that broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, abolishing in His flesh the enmity. Your translation may say the hostility. And so that hostility and that enmity that resides in us from the beginning is hostile toward God.

Jesus took on the wrath of God on the cross — that hostility that exists in us that deserves punishment. He took on that punishment, and He replaces that hostility, that enmity that's in us, with Himself, which is our peace. So Christ is our peace. He replaces that which is vile and unacceptable inside of us with He Himself. And it's a beautiful thing. So both groups have original sin, which is enmity, and the peace of Christ replaces that enmity. It's wonderful.

So what is enmity? Well, it's the opposite of love. And it is the hate and hostility in us that opposes the Lord. In Romans chapter 8 and verses 5 to 10, listen to how all of this makes sense in regards to the enmity inside of us toward God as being replaced with the peace of God. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 5, the Bible says, "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace." And so you have peace when your mind is set on Christ. In verse 7, "Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness."

And so peace replaces hostility. When the peace of God replaces hostility, that is a reference to the fact that you've been saved and you're no longer condemned. And if you have not been truly saved and you do not experience the peace of God that resides within you, then there's a need to repent and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15 says to repent of your sin and believe the gospel.

Furthermore, if you've been saved and have not peace of mind, then I would say perhaps according to Romans chapter 8 you're not disciplining the mind in accordance with what the Spirit would have you to dwell and to think on. The subjective peace of Christ perhaps has been robbed because of the things that you're dwelling on. And so you can lose your peace because of the things that you think on. The mind set on the flesh is death, Romans 8:6, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

And so for those of us who enjoy the peace of God, then we're focusing on Christ and we're thinking on the things of Christ and we're dwelling on those types of things. Christ is our peace. Ephesians 2:14. To obtain Christ is not only to be saved, but to dwell upon Christ is to protect the peace of God that's inside of you. It's not just having peace, it's not just canceling the sin debt on your behalf. It is also raising you from death to salvation. Note the progress here. And it's also the continuation of life in Christ, more abundant and free. This is truly peace like a river. This flows through you in such a way that is lovely and gentle and kind and wonderful. And if the opposite of that is happening in your life, it really is something that is subject to you submitting yourself to the Word of God and becoming more and more like Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control, according to Galatians 5:22. And when you are submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ, then His attributes and His love flow through you in those ways.

And so here is where we must grow in our faith. Oftentimes we're so feeble and we lose our peace when things get uncomfortable. We're such a slave sometimes to our own comforts. And as soon as things get uncomfortable for us, then we lose our peace. We get crotchety, we get defensive, we get ugly at one another. All of a sudden the lips that you have are no longer seasoned with wholesome words and your tongue becomes sharp. Sometimes when we are uncomfortable, and sometimes when we are perhaps having the things robbed from us that we think we deserve, then we're ugliest to those who are closest to us.

Now theologically, our peace is based and sustained in Christ. And I would say that everyone here understands that theologically. However, many of us are guilty of allowing our peace to be based and sustained upon experiences. And so that which you are experiencing in the moment would determine whether or not you are at peace or acting in peace.

Ephesians 2:14 through verse 16 establishes a harmony in the body, and individual Gentiles and individual Israelites and the entire body of Christ must be at peace. Read with me in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 17. Verse 14 says, "For He Himself is our peace." We've been talking about that. Christ is our peace, "who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace."

So I want you to see that an overflow of the peace that you have in your heart and mind is in the church body. What you have inside of you — the Bible says in Matthew chapter 12 verse 37, "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" — and so the condition that you are on the inside, internally, between you and Christ, that is kind of spread and it's contagious through how you are, your light shining there. You're either a dim light or a bright light, and the things that you say and do really, really make a difference. It establishes peace among the brethren. In verse 16 it says, "And they might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." So any hostility between the two groups of the Gentiles and the Jews was to be removed, especially since the enmity between those individuals and God has been replaced by Christ Himself.

In verse 17, "And He came and preached peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near." So this is not just an internal peace with God but it's also an external loveliness and external peace. So, applicationally, you should have peace with God and with the family of God. You should be maintaining your peace not only with Jesus but maintaining your peace with others as well. God selflessly put you at peace with the Father. Now it's your job, in honor of that, to put others at peace with you. Go and do likewise. Since Jesus went out of His way via the cross to put you at peace with the Father, do you think it's not your job to make sure that you are at peace, to the best of your ability, with others?

And so you would easily be able to know whether or not you're at peace with somebody because of the lack of peace in your heart if that be the case. And then, therefore, knowing that, you can go out of your way and say, "Brother, sister, I want to put you at peace with me and me at peace with you to the best of my ability." And to be transparent and to confess your sins to one another and to be gentle and kind and to maintain this aura of unity is important to Christ. It's important. So remove the hostility the best you can and initiate unity among the body. Psalm 133:1 says, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity."

And so peace is a benefit of Christianity. Point number two today is that both have the Trinity. And if you look with me in verse 18, you'll see the entire Trinity in one verse. This is great. Verse 18 says, "For through him," — that's a reference to Christ — "we both have our access in one Spirit," — a reference to the Holy Spirit — "to the Father," — that being the Heavenly Father. And so the Trinity here is in the verse. And verse 18 is talking about Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God. And so there is complete unity between the Trinity here and a complete peace among the Trinity. And now we have access to the Father in heaven through Jesus Christ.

John 10:7 says, "Jesus said to them again, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door.'" In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." So we have this benefit of having access to the Father. And then in Ephesians 4:4, there is one body and one Spirit. John 6:37 says, "All that the Father gives me will come to me." And then in verse 44, "No one can come to the Father unless the Father who sent me draws him." So you see here a reference to Christ in the work of salvation, a reference to the Holy Spirit in regards to salvation, and the work of the Father drawing people unto Himself in the work of salvation to bring peace and unity.

What a benefit of the Triune Godhead drawing those who would repent and believe unto Himself for salvation. So this work of salvation, it's wholly a work of God. It's of the Triune God — God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so not only do we see that peace, the peace of Christ, replaces hostility or enmity that's inside of you, but now we see both groups — both Gentiles and the Jews — have the Triune God. They have Christ in them as the hope of glory. Ephesians 1:13–14 praises the Trinity for salvation as well. In Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, "In him," — a reference to Christ — "you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of His glory." Here Paul is wrapping up a major treatise of salvation and praising the Triune God for the work of salvation. What a benefit of Christianity to have been saved, gloriously saved.

Point number three is that Christians are family. And this is important to see this in the text for yourself. Look with me in verse 19, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens." Now, I know about you, but I know a stranger when I see one. I don't know their name. They're not welcome to just barge into my house and eat the food that my wife cooks. They can't just sit down and put their arm around one of my children. That's a stranger. Strangers are not welcome just to come right into my family. But here you see strangers and aliens — listen — "but you, you, are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household," God's family.

What a benefit now to no longer be a stranger like a Gentile who was far away from God. What a benefit not to be like an Israelite underneath a false religion. Did some of you perhaps grow up in a church atmosphere or maybe a religious atmosphere? And you were close, but you weren't saved.

What a benefit now to have been saved, gloriously saved. Both groups — those who are barbarians and Scythians and heathens, the Gentiles — have been brought into Christ. And even those who were near but not saved, not true believers in Christ, have also been brought in through repentance and faith in the gospel into Christ. And so what a benefit we see here. Now we are the family of God. And these Gentile believers and Jewish believers make up what is the Ephesian church. You've got two different family traditions, two different cultures, two different kinds of foods, people wearing different kinds of clothes, people saying things in different ways, people speaking different languages. It reminds me of Central Florida. I love it. Aren't all the nations going to be worshiping God around the throne in Revelation? This is a foretaste of heaven. We have a family among us that truly is a foretaste of heaven.

I've got family here with you guys. I absolutely love my church family. I've got brothers and sisters from South America and Brazil. I've got brothers and sisters from South Africa. I've got brothers and sisters — and you do too — from Canada, even California. Go figure. We have wonderful brothers and sisters and even from a stranger land, Kentucky. Yeah, I'm picking on an elder there. You know who I'm talking to. But I'm kind of picking on myself as well because being from North Carolina, whatever you say. Oh, Pine Hills.

We have truly become family because it's been a work of God here at Beulah Baptist Church. It is amazing, all the nationalities represented within our church. I know we have a lot of people on vacation and traveling, but we have truly brothers and sisters here. I mean, our secretary is from Montenegro. This is wonderful. It's so beautiful to have a sister in Christ from around the country. It is so wonderful to have brothers who are closer than blood family.

It is because we worship Christ together. We take the holy ordinances together. We pray together. We feast upon the Word of God together. We have been made family. Not only do I love my church family, I love loving on my church family. It is one of the greatest joys of being a pastor just to be able to love all my brothers and sisters and meet needs and do everything that I possibly can. And so you see in this text so many wonderful truths on how now we have extended family. It's wonderful.

You know, have you ever been shown up by someone theologically? I remember when my daughter Abigail got saved. Through the tears in her eyes and the comprehension that Christ had saved her, she said, "Dad, you're not only my father and you're not only my pastor, but now you're my brother." Oh, that'll bring tears to your eyes.

This is a beautiful concept — to have been made a family and to operate as a family and to be there for one another, to set our differences aside and to love one another without any type of hostility, without any type of judgment. We're all trying to get closer to Christ and be conformed to Christ. We're all trying to shed off this evil thing called sin. We're all trying to please God. We're all trying to love one another. None of us are perfect. But as we continue as family, we can move through anything in this world. We're now, I believe, foxhole buddies. We've gone through some wars together and some battles, and we've got each other's back. And we're there for one another where our weaknesses are. We're not pointing out our weaknesses, we're helping one another. It's wonderful. So not only in this text do you see that peace replaces hostility and therefore the result is unity among the brethren.

And now we also see that both groups have the Trinity, which equips unity. What benefits! But also we see that Christians are family, which produces a deep sense of love among the brothers and sisters, of acceptance, a whole new door of friendships — true and genuine friendships, companionship, brotherhood, sisterhood. It promotes security. You have a place that you truly feel like you're safe. You're protected. You're loved. You're not judged here. Not only that, in the family of God you have purpose. God's given you a gift, a way to be able to serve Him. And now you are equipped and encouraged to have your purpose in life in Christ, to be executed, to be exercised, to be equipped. And that's where you thrive, by the way. I've seen most Christians come alive in their walk with Christ after they get saved. They start growing in their faith. Boy, they come alive when they start serving.

It's beautiful. They have a place of belonging. And most of us have a real inward need to be needed. You want to make a difference. You want to help. And when you're able to help and when you're able to meet a need, all the joys that come are unspeakable. So these benefits are amazing.

And so feeling like family — it doesn't happen overnight, by the way. If I'm speaking to some of you who are like, "Yeah, y'all got it going on, but I feel like an outsider still," I would say to you, keep being consistent in Christ. Because trust takes time. And it's right for people to, above all else, guard their heart, for it is the wellspring of life, Proverbs 4:23 says. It's right to take your time with folks and to see whether or not their consistency in Bible study is true. To see whether or not their consistency in humility is true. To see if their consistency and their reliability in coming to this as their preferred place of worship, being a member, is true. To see if their consistency and authenticity as a Christian is true. To see if their consistency in caring for the brothers and the sisters in Christ is true. And to see if their consistency and their reasoning and sound judgment is truly there. It takes time to build trust with one another. It takes time to establish what has been established here at Beulah Baptist Church. And it takes time to get in on these wonderful benefits. All it takes, however, is true consistency. You don't have to be perfect, but you just simply need to be consistent.

Now for a legalistic Jew — think of it in context of our text — for a legalistic Jew, one who has been saved but comes out of legalism, to be trusted and accepted by a Gentile, that takes time. Because a Gentile would be apprehensive of being legalistically judged by a Jew, right? So they're both worshiping together, they've both been saved, but it would take time for a Gentile to trust a Jew. And the same in the other direction — for a heathenistic, polytheistic Gentile to be trusted by whom they would think of as a faithful Jew, that takes time. A Jewish person who's been faithful perhaps all of their life and been near to Christ, it would take time for them to trust someone who's been far away as they come into Christ.

And so I am overwhelmingly impressed with what God has done here to establish such peace and such unity as we all collectively submit to the authority of the Word of God, as we all continue in the Word, John 8:31, as we all are conformed to Christ, Romans 12:1–2, as we all simply continue in our walk with Christ and are humble and reliable and authentic and caring, and we do our best to be sound in our reasoning as we just simply continue in our faithfulness to Christ. These benefits of Christianity are insurmountable. I mean, literally, many of us have wrapped our lives around this local church, and we are reaping benefits that we will yield for eternity. This church means so much to our family and many of the families that are here, and it's all because of what God has done to establish this. I truly look at this and see that not only are we citizens in heaven, according to verse 19, but we are of God's household, of God's family, as a true benefit of Christianity, and I'm grateful for it.

It's all because of point number four, that our lives are built on the Word of God. In verse 20, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone." So point number four is that our lives are built on the Word.

If you have a life that is built upon the stable Word of God, then built carries the idea of being built up and strengthened. Your life is being consistently built up and strengthened. You're no longer as weak as you once were in regards to giving in to sin, but you are being built up in your holiness, in your sanctification. You're being strengthened in that way to be able to deny yourself and take up the cross and follow Him. You're being built up in the family of God in a way that you are being discipled and able to execute the Great Commission in your context — evangelizing and discipling. Perhaps you're even teaching by now what the Word of God has to say. You're being built up because we are founded upon the Word of God. We're built upon the solid, unmovable, unshifting, unchanging apostles' teaching.

In Acts chapter 2 verse 42, it gives us the main ingredients for church. I'll read them to you. Acts 2:42 says, "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer." And so these four main ingredients of what church really is, is what we do on the Lord's day when we come here. Now, a result of doing these things is that we, by way of overflow in verse 45 of Acts chapter 2 — not just we take up an offering, but we give of ourselves, we're giving, we're serving, we're loving, we're doing things like that. And then as well, in verse 47, an overflow of doing these things right is praising God. So we praise Him and we worship Him. The Word of God is our foundation in the church.

Now I want to talk to you briefly about these in reverse and what we see generally in American Christianity today, which is a pseudo-Christianity. The apostles' teaching has been replaced with shallow stories and humor and all kinds of — you know, just take a cherry-picked verse and you're off to the races on whatever that perhaps false preacher is saying. And then as well, there's not a real fellowship among the brethren. There is just a quick in and quick out and you're not involved in people's lives. There's no accountability in your life and there's no depth there. And the same thing with communion — you can take it on the way out if you would like, or anybody can just come and take communion, and that is a disgrace to a holy ordinance. And there's simply a shallow prayer that is not necessarily a scriptural prayer for unity among the brethren or for the things that the Bible talks about, but more like a gimme prayer, as if God is a Santa Claus God and you're praying for God to use His power and His abilities to make you wealthy or to bless your life. And that is just simply church in reverse.

And when you take the things that are supposed to be and you reverse them, even the overflow of what should be happening is backwards. You no longer are giving to ministries — you're giving to whatever that false church goal might be. And no longer are you praising God, but most of the time non-believers don't come to church to worship God. They come to watch a show or something that's entertaining. And so when lost people come and flood inside of the church and the church changes all of these necessary elements to appease them, then all of a sudden you have church in reverse. You don't have preaching the Word, you have something else. You no longer have good, solid songs talking about the attributes of God and worshiping God. You have songs that perhaps are even secular or emotionally driven to manipulate you into giving more. No longer are you truly praying to God and honoring Him and confessing your sin and getting right with Him, but you have simple, shallow, and even selfish prayers.

And so the Word of God is no longer the foundation in the church. And the Word of God is no longer the foundation in people's lives. It takes a coming out of that. And the guilt that lies on behalf of the church growth movement is making and conforming the local church — the house of God — into a gimmick, church growth, health and wealth type of place where people are not truly expected to be conformed before they become members or converted before they become members. They say, "Now just stay just the way you are. We want you to come." And then they're not transformed. They're not converted. They're not Christians yet. But just come, and we will give you a Judaic-like religion that will make you feel like you are truly saved and will appease you and love you and do all of these things and not preach repentance and holiness, but we'll just simply cater all of the things of church. Folks, this is the exact opposite of having your life built upon the Word of God, submitting to the authority of the Word of God. This is actually using the bride for profit. This is actually using people. It's actually using the name of Jesus for earthly means. It's so sad.

But when Christ is your foundation, all of these things become detestable. I mean, they'll actually make you feel sick inside when you see these things happening. When Christ is your life, when you're in Christ, in the peace of Christ that you love and cherish so much, the unity between you and Him is violated because of something like that. You just simply cannot stay in that type of atmosphere. It burdens you so much you have to come out of what would be a false church. You have to come out of that and seek and find a true church — preaching the Word and worshiping Jesus and praying together, studying God's Word, having true fellowship, and handling the ordinances correctly. These things are non-negotiable.

And so the Word of God is the foundation, so much so that it's mentioned that Christ is the cornerstone. Now in building terms, the cornerstone determines everything. The strength of the building is based upon how all the other stones are connected to that cornerstone. How the walls are straight and therefore stable is based upon how they align with that cornerstone. A cornerstone can even be at the top of the center of a bridge, and all of those stones go into that cornerstone. Everything — all the weight, all the integrity — is on that cornerstone. Christ is our cornerstone. And when He is our foundation, everything else falls into alignment.

And so Christ — He is the Word of God, He is our foundation, He is our cornerstone — which denotes the fact that He is first. He is the stone which all the other stones align themselves to. "He Himself will come to have first place in everything," Colossians 1:18 says. Christ is second to nobody. He's the head of the church, He's the cornerstone, and as the cornerstone, everything, everything hinges on Him. The cornerstone also means chiefest. He's the chief of chiefs. He's the highest principled thing. And so the foundation here is Christ. He is the foundation. He's the creator of the heavens and the earth and the foundation of everything.

So what benefits then do we have in Christianity? We see that our hostility toward God — and His hostility in reverse, the wrath of God that resides upon those who have not repented and believed — has been replaced with Christ. He is our peace. And then we also have the Trinity. We have Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee and a guide, and we have access now to the Father.

Not only that, we have a wonderful Christian family who cares, who prays, who is faithful and humble and reasonable with one another. And now we have the Word of God as our benefit, as our foundation. We have a standard. We have a center point to be able to reference our morals, our mouth, and our lives off of. Everything has a center point to where we can be guided and experience truth, truth in Christ.

And so you'll have to come back next week to get point number five and point number six. We'll wrap up there. I want you to know that sin is the enemy and Christ is the answer. If you have not had this sin enmity — this enmity toward God — removed from the inside of your heart, if you have not received a new heart, if God has not given you a new heart and a new purpose in life rather than self-seeking, rather than seeking the flesh, rather than a mind set on earthly things, if you have not been radically changed, if you're not abiding in the vine, if you're not a Christian, if you're not denying yourself regularly and taking up the cross and following Him, if you are not struggling against the old man, if you're not regularly becoming more and more frustrated with your failures, if you're not regularly confessing your sins as you do them, if you're not burdened when you fall short — if you're not a Christian — Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." You can have peace and rest with God through Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through Him. So I encourage you today to come to Jesus. You don't have to crawl down the aisle and cry your eyes out on the altar. You don't have to do that. You don't have to work your way to Jesus inwardly.

The Bible gives us a picture of what salvation is and how it happens. In 2 Corinthians 7:10, the Bible says that godly sorrow — that sorrow is you recognizing that your sin put an innocent one, Jesus, on the cross. He stepped in front of God's wrath for you. He took on your punishment. Sin has a punishment — it's called death. He took on that and He died for you. And that makes us, on the onset of understanding the gospel, very sorrowful. And so according to 2 Corinthians 7:10, godly sorrow leads to something. You know what comprehension of the gospel leads to? Repentance, repentance. Do you know that John the Baptist said in Matthew chapter 3 verse 1, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? That's how he preached. He used the word repent. And then the first words that we have written by way of preaching by Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 — Jesus' own words — "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He used the word repent. And so we must truly, according to Mark chapter 1 verse 15, repent and believe the gospel.

There are many who have believed Christ. Yeah, he was a real person, God in the flesh. Yep, he was born of a virgin. Okay, I get it. He died for me. Oh, how convenient is that? I believe because he died for me, I get to now — oh, great — that's convenient. I don't have to go to hell and I can live however I want. There are many who have believed without repenting. But the first step, according to Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, the Word of God, is repent, repent.

Romans chapter 10 and verse 9 says to confess, confess. Get this out. Get it laid on the table. "God, I am a filthy sinner and I need to be saved. Please save me." As you confess, "I have sinned against You. Your moral law, I have violated it. Look at the Ten Commandments and I broke them all. You said to be holy, for I am holy." I am not holy. When you see your sin in light of God's holiness — and not comparing it to, "Perhaps I've never murdered somebody," and justifying yourself by trying to be a good person — listen, good people don't go to heaven. Saved people go to heaven. And it starts with the true, authentic gospel: repent and believe the gospel.

Folks, I share this with you week in and week out as much as I possibly can. But if you would be a faithful parent, then you would also drive this home in evangelizing and discipling your own. Most of the time, true, genuine, authentic salvations, they happen at home. So I pray that you parents would also get to the point where you have studied out the true gospel and you're living out the true gospel and you are practicing and preaching this true gospel — not just with your life, but with your lips as well. You are articulating this. Get it to where it is normative in your family to be able to go through the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for those who would repent and believe.

Pray with me if you would. Father, thank You for today. Thank You for this time together as a family discipleship church. Lord, we just want to circle around Your Word and worship You. Preach the Word, learn about who You are, conform our lives to the best that we possibly can to the things that You have told us to do and to be. I pray, Lord, if anyone here has never been saved, by the conviction of Your Holy Spirit upon their heart, I pray You would draw them unto sorrowfulness. And I pray, Lord, that that sorrowfulness would not stay in a sorrowful state, but it would prompt them to repent, to actually confess their sin.

I pray, God, that as they repent, it would lead into a genuine conversion for them to be saved. God, I pray that they would transform their lives in honor of You. They would conform to the best they possibly can to the Word of God, that they would study themselves full of You and straight and right with You. And I pray that if anyone here has not had a radical transformation in their life — that they can see who they once were as compared to who they are now — that they would recognize that they have not been given a new heart with You. If they don't desire to know You and Your law, I pray, God, that You would help them to see that they're not a Christian. And I pray that they would come to You in the sorrowfulness of their heart and confess their repentance in prayer and believe. And, Father, if they would do that now, to You be the glory. If they would go home and need further counsel from Your Word, I pray, God, You'd nurture them — to God be the glory. And I pray, Lord, that You would continue to encourage the saints and wherever they are, that You would lead them to their next step in faithfulness to You during this time. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.