1689 London Baptist Confession (part 31)

Our Father in heaven, Lord, we have many things on our minds this morning, many pressing issues, things that just demand our attention and consume our attention.

Father, this morning as we've come to worship you, we pray that you would cleanse our minds of other thoughts.

Just allow us to focus on you, your word, and the goodness of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. Father, we praise you and thank you for salvation full and free.

Father, as we study these things, pray that you would illumine our minds and give us a greater appreciation of what's been done on our behalf.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Good morning.

So, last week we were speaking about good works. How many of you this week have been reflecting upon your good works and just thinking, my rest is won,

I've done it? Okay, never mind. Probably nobody.

But we talked about who sets the standard for good works and that would be God and God alone. We mentioned, or we talked about at some length, the story of the young ruler, the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus.

And the interesting thing was that R .C. Sproul just camped out on the word good. You know, when Jesus says, why do you call me good?

And then there was a discussion about what actually is good. And Sproul said, in any study of good works, this should be the major premise, the headline.

Only God is good. Then we looked at Romans 3, Psalm 14, which says that no one is good, no one seeks to do good, etc.

We talked about Martin Luther and his constant confession of sin. And then this quote from R .C.,

and I thought this was really good, and this is something that really has been running through my mind, and I think it's a good thing for us to all reflect on.

R .C. says, I fear the day of standing before Christ and having him look at me and say, here are the gifts

I gave you. Here is the mind I gave you. And here is the sloppy performance you gave me with the gifts

I gave you. And I think, you know what, if you've ever had a job, how many of you have ever had a job where you received an annual evaluation?

How do you feel when you get the evaluation? I mean, do you feel good when you get it?

I mean, I remember the first time I got one, it was my first ever real evaluation. And this became my habit as I got evaluations.

First of all, I started calling them devaluations. But secondly,

I just thought, you know what, I need to think about that. And so I would just put it in my locker and come back and read it the next day and kind of go,

I need to think about it some more, you know? Then I remember the fast -forwarding into my career here.

I had a sergeant who said, Steve, write your own evaluation. I thought,

OK, that's just, that's a, I mean, I was, I would, what would you think if your boss said to you, write your own evaluation?

I think he was postmodern because there's really no standard that matters anyway, so why don't you just write it, right?

But seriously, what would you think if your boss asked you to write the evaluation? OK, that he was lazy, he's not doing his job.

You know what I thought? I was like Admiral Ackbar. It's a trap.

I knew somebody would know. Somebody would remember the World War II Admiral Ackbar. Oh, wait, that's not right.

That's from Star Wars. It's a trap because he wants me to write stuff that, you know, like he wants me to just inflate myself so that he can tear me down, right?

And so I thought about it and I was like, well, I'm not going to fall into that one. And I said, so what is my approach?

How am I going to write this evaluation? And so what I did was I wrote the truth and I turned it in, trying to be as objective as I could about my own job performance.

And he comes back to me and he says, he goes, you are way too hard on yourself.

You know, and so he marked me up and I was like, oh, so it wasn't a trap after all. But thinking about this idea of evaluation, well, what about, you know, as Pastor Mike's been talking about the word, you know, sharper than any two -edged sword and able to do an

MRI on us, you know, and when we stand before God on Judgment Day, here's the spiritual

MRI. Here's the real test. Here's what I gave you. Here's what you did with it. How did you do?

We're not going to be able to say, you know, to paraphrase one famous preacher, look what

I've done, you know, look how good it is. He knows.

He knows whether what we did was good or not good. He knows the extent of the gifts he gave us.

And I mean, I think if we're being honest with ourselves, you know, we're going to write, if we were writing our own spiritual evaluation, what we do with what the

Lord gives us, it would be more of a devaluation. It's a good thing to want to do better, but that's not the issue ultimately, right?

We want to honor the Lord with what he's given us. What's too easy to do is to evaluate ourselves against other people.

We don't want to do that. And Sproul measured himself against these other great men and said, you know,

I'm just a failure, basically. We talked about growing in good works, growing in righteousness, and how we would do that basically by consuming the word of God.

How would knowing the Bible better help us to have more good works in our lives?

Knowing the Bible better, in fact, I would just say, how about this? How would focusing on the gospel more?

How would that help us to do more good works? Okay? Okay.

We'd be focused on others. Okay, I like that. What is it about...well,

let's put it this way. Let me try to reframe it a little bit. What impact, when you really think about the gospel, or even when you...let's

just... when we hear testimonies, when people get baptized, what's your response to that? How do you respond to a baptismal testimony?

When you hear how God has changed somebody's life, what's your response to that? To just sit there stone -faced?

I don't think so. Thanks be to God. Okay, that's one. Do you ever identify with a person getting baptized?

Do you ever think, A, I'm so thankful for what's happened?

Yes, but B, I was a sinner just like that person. I remember how

I felt when I was getting baptized. I remember how I felt when I got saved, and the way my eyes were opened up to my own sinfulness and the holiness of God, and it's that, that focus on the gospel.

When we think about how sinful we are, and how holy God is, what does that do for us?

That's great, it humbles us, right? And I think the thing that's most lacking,

I don't know, maybe it's not a problem for everybody here this morning, but the thing that's most lacking in my life is humility.

And if you're sitting there thinking, I don't have a problem with humility, well, maybe you do. I don't know. It's kind of a catch -22.

Humility is one of my strong points. It's that sense of humility that causes us to serve others, right?

But it also gives us a right perspective and a right motivation for things, right?

It really helps us to think properly, not, you know, what is

God doing for me today? God's done it all. He's granted us far more than what we deserve, right?

But how can I serve the Lord by serving others today? What can I do? Now, back to the 1689

Confession of Faith, it says, talking about good works that believers do. These good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith.

And by them, believers manifest their thankfulness, exactly what we're talking about, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel.

And listen, stop the mouths of the adversaries and glorify

God, whose workmanship they are created in Christ Jesus thereunto.

There's a word you don't see very often, thereunto. That having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end eternal life.

Now, what kind of faith is it that produces no good works?

Dead faith, right? Isn't that what James says? Sproul says this, he says, it is not an accident that this treatment of good works comes after the exposition of justification.

In reformed theology, justification does not flow from good works, rather good works flow out of justification.

It's because we've been regenerated, because we've been declared righteous, because we've been saved that good works are therefore into our lives or come into our lives.

Can you think of a scripture that would teach us that? I mean, even as I was reading the confession there,

I just thought, okay, this passage just, okay, which I think would be maybe in Ephesians 4, but I was thinking of Ephesians 2.

We want the thief to stop thieving, I like that word, to stop stealing, right? And to work.

But if we think about Ephesians 2, in a very familiar passage, and I'm going to skip all the depravity stuff so you don't feel bad about yourselves, and start in verse 4, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works.

So that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, this is exactly

God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus for good works, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, thereunto what?

Thereunto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God has created good works for us to do, our role is to walk in them, to perform them.

Sproul says this, again getting back to the idea of justification and works, and we just read

Ephesians 2, which makes clear that our works have no part in our salvation and our justification, he says the only works that count toward our justification are those that Christ performed in his lifetime.

We are saved by works, as we say around here, but they're the works of another, they're the works of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Good works not only show God is at work in us, but they display the fact that Christians are thankful, that we have gratitude towards God.

And even as I was saying earlier, talking about the gospel and the impact it ought to have, I wrote this question, how can someone understand the weight of the sin they've been forgiven, and yet produce no good works or gratitude?

How can that happen? You know, the grumpy Christian, the begrudging

Christian, the non -serving Christian, did I just say that? What's your ministry?

I have none. Would you like to serve? No. My service is

I drive my car to Sunday school and park. We have spiritual gifts.

We have been granted these things. We are to serve one another. Sproul says our whole lives should be nothing but a song of praise and gratitude to a

God who mercifully bestows every good and perfect gift we receive. I think sometimes, you know,

I'm way, way too cynical. And one of the things that really helps me be less cynical,

I don't know if I'll ever be non -cynical, I don't know if that's possible, but is a constant reminding of myself of the gospel.

I don't have the right really to be cynical. I don't have the right to be ungrateful.

I should be grateful always. And how do I get there? You know, we are to give

Thanksgiving at all times. How do we do that? But I don't like my job.

I mean, I've heard that one, right? I don't like my job. Well, do you have a job? Yes. You should like it.

Why? I don't like it. Well, work isn't supposed to be fun, but it is a blessing from the

Lord. So we should be grateful for it. Well, you know what? I don't like this, or I don't like that.

I mean, sometimes you want to just be blunt, really. Well, how would you like hell? I don't think

I'd like it at all. Okay, well, you've been saved from that, so everything else is gravy. I'm really being too blunt.

We need to have a, you know, like a W -H -I -N -E, a wine check, you know. How's your wining today?

It's at a low level. Well, good. Praise the Lord. Now, how do good works strengthen our assurance of faith?

How do good works help us to know that we are indeed Christians? Is it important for us to know that we're

Christians? Okay, I think so. And, you know, there's, let me just say, before I get back to the other question,

I like to suggest that there's a subjective and an objective sense in which we can know that we're

Christians. What do I mean by subjective? Isn't subjective, I speak for a living, isn't subjectivity bad?

Isn't subjectivity bad? You know, when we think about, you know, well, that's your opinion, that's subjective, right?

Is subjectivity always bad? What's that?

Yes, only by itself, right? He's clearing his throat.

He must be getting ready to say something. Okay, he's got the New England tick line.

He does have a throat lozenge, not a lozenger. Tony, okay, now you're getting objective, though.

I wanted to stay subjective for a minute. Well, somewhat, and you're just jumping ahead here a little bit, a second.

Let's go to Romans 8, 16 for a second. And this is kind of objective, subjective.

There's an objective truth here, but it's something I think you can only sort of,

I hate to say this, experience. I don't know how else to say it.

Would somebody read Romans 8, 16, please? Yeah, go ahead,

Will. Yes. Okay, now, you know,

MacArthur makes it an objective thing in his notes, and I understand why, but there's a subjective sense in which we just know that we belong to God.

Now, there are objective evidences to it, but there's a sense that comes to us, and I think that's what it's talking about there, that the

Spirit testifies to our spirit. Well, how does my spirit receive that testimony? Are there objective ways that I can know that?

Yes and no. No in the sense that I think there is just a subjective knowledge that we have.

Now, are there objective means that we should use? And I think Joni was getting there. And if we look at 2

Corinthians 13, I believe it's verse 5. I could be wrong. I'm just going off the top of my head because this is not my notes.

So if I'm wrong, please forgive me. And if I'm not, then, you know, my good work quota is full for the day.

Yeah, here we go. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test.

So here we are in evaluation. We're writing our own evaluation, exactly what my boss asked me to do.

When you examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith or not, you don't have the kind of MRI -like testing ability that God has, right?

You can't always see all your motivations and all your sins and everything else.

I mean, sometimes we do things that we're not even aware of, right? How do you evaluate yourself and see whether or not you're in the faith?

Test yourselves. How do you do that? How do you examine yourself and see if you're in the faith?

Okay, okay. See whether or not you are entirely trusting in Christ, in his finished work, right?

Is there some sense in which you are not? Okay. Other thoughts?

Will. Okay. So examine how you're doing in your sanctification, right?

Would be a way of saying that. Am I sinning less? I mean,

I would never say that there's a sense in which we should feel that we're delivered from sin because there's always going to be some measure of sin in our lives.

And here's kind of where I want to go, and I think where Will's going too, is we have to kind of look back.

How are we doing over time? Not in this moment, because you know what? As we're going to see, there are going to be peaks and valleys in our

Christian life. And there are going to be some times where, well,

I'll just kind of skip to this. There are going to be times where we're going to feel like, you know,

Nathan, that old prophet is pointing his bony little finger right at us and saying, you are the man or you are the woman.

And we're going to feel absolutely naked before God, ashamed of who we are, what we've done.

It's not that momentary sinfulness. It's not that momentary shame.

It's not that momentary guilt that measures whether or not we belong to Christ, whether we're in Christ.

What measures that is the long haul. Where have we come from?

How has the Lord worked in our lives? What kind of fruit do we see? What sort of evidences do we see?

What sort of good works do we see? And here's part of the problem.

If we can say to ourselves, well, you know what? I think I might be sinning less, but I don't see any good works in my life.

I don't know. You know, should you be concerned? Maybe Sproul says as he says, if we're honest in analyzing ourselves, we have to say, how can

I be a Christian? I say I'm a Christian. I say, I believe that I love God, but I know what

I'm thinking and what I'm doing are often contrary to the law of God.

And he says, maybe I'm not a Christian at all. He says, have you ever had that experience?

I hope you have because we need to experience the terror of the soul or that terror of the soul from time to time.

He says, I remember once walking down the hall in my house, suddenly thinking, what if I'm not really redeemed?

What if I'm on my way to hell? I stood there captive to that horrible thoughts.

If I look at my sin and listen to the accusations of Satan, my assurance will be destroyed.

If we examine our lives, if we really examine our lives, if we start thinking about the thoughts,

I mean, even driving here this morning, I didn't have any thoughts because really I can't remember anybody in front of me.

What a blessing. But if we just think about the way we think about other people and other situations on a fairly frequent basis, if we could take like a little, it wouldn't be enough, like they have the body cams for police officers.

We would not only need a body cam, but we'd need a brain cam. What was my brain thinking? Could I just hear everything that I was thinking during the day and have that played back to me?

I guess we'd probably have to do that. Who listens to podcasts?

Anybody listen to podcasts? I hear tell that there are people who can listen to them at triple speed.

But I've had somebody tell me that they can't listen to Pastor Mike at triple speed because it sounds like...

And I was like, well, that doesn't surprise me. That's what he sounds like at regular speed to me, but I digress.

I have to play him at half speed. How fast would you have to listen to your whole day of your brain thinking to get through it all?

I think it would have to be like 50 speed or something. But here's the point.

The point is, if we are ruthless in our self -evaluation, there are going to be times where we may not feel saved.

And that's when we have to get objective. We have to evaluate what the Lord is doing.

If we make Christianity performance -based... And this is the trick, right?

Because if there's no fruit in our life, well, then maybe we're not saved. But you're saying I shouldn't be thinking that I'm saved by my works.

Well, yes, both are true. We're not saved by our works, but that if there are no works, we should be concerned.

Now, Sproul says something else that I thought was pretty... It's not only true, but it's pretty cool.

Spiritually, who's trying to convince us that we're guilty of sin? Satan.

Okay, that's true. Who else? The Holy Spirit. And I thought, that's pretty cool, right?

Satan wants to convince me that I'm a sinner. The Holy Spirit wants to convince me I'm a sinner. What's the difference between the two?

What's that? To give me a sense of hopelessness, right?

And the Holy Spirit convinces you that you're a sinner to give you hope.

So that you'll think, even though I am this person that I think

I am, Jesus died for me. Jesus paid the price for my sin.

That's amazing. That's objective. Satan can say whatever he wants.

What counts is what the Holy Spirit says. Let's look at Romans 8.

I think Mike and I were just talking about this on Friday. This is just a passage.

There are some passages in Scripture that I just don't think you can read enough. That you could just read over and over and over again, because they're just obviously inspired, but they're just meant to bolster us.

To give us that kind of, not just inner sense that we belong to Christ, but inner sense that no matter what is going on in life, that it's not the circumstances in this life that ultimately matter.

What matters is where we're going. Would somebody read verses 33 to 39 in Romans chapter 8, please?

Romans 8, 33 to 39. Looking for a hand.

Just one volunteer. Go ahead, Mark. Amen. So encouraging to think that we have

Christ interceding for us, no matter what we've done, and ultimately that we cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Now, verse 37 is interesting, because it describes us as more than conquerors.

You ever feel like you're more than a conqueror? You get up in the morning and take your sword and put it on your arm.

I am more than a conqueror. Do you feel that way?

But look back at that verse. There's an objective reason to feel that way. Yeah, it's through him.

It's through Christ. It's not because, you know,

I think it's funny. William Hendrickson wrote a book called More Than Conquerors. The point is not, and this would not be his point either, the point is not that we are great.

The point is we are in Christ, and therefore we are more than conquerors.

It's an amazing, amazing truth. Now, does theology, and we've been talking a lot about this, does theology strengthen our assurance of salvation?

You know, people are like, I don't care about theology. You don't. You don't want to be sure that you belong to Christ.

You don't want to know where you're going. You don't want to know the God who saved you. You don't want to think about the things that are in front of you.

All you want to do is just think, well, I'm saved, and that's good enough for me. If you have any good works in your life, it is because you have been justified.

It is because on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God looks at you and has declared you righteous, not just innocent, but righteous because of his work.

And if you have been declared righteous, it's because you were called.

And if you were called, it's because you were predestined. And if you were predestined, it's because you were first foreloved by God.

And by the way, if you're justified, you will also be glorified. How do I know all that?

The Bible tells me so. I've got Pastor Bob up here in the front. It's the most profound statement in all of theology.

And again, it's in Romans 8, right? Maybe verses 29 and 30, maybe.

Masomenos. That's going to be the new name of my radio show, Masomenos.

Welcome to Masomenos Ministry. Okay. Theology strengthens our assurance.

Now, the confession also says that good works, our good works, edify other

Christians. True or false? Our good works edify other

Christians. True. Now, how about our bad works? Could that have any impact on other

Christians? I mean, what do you think, you know, when you see...

I thought this was interesting. This is almost apropos of nothing but is apropos of something.

Somebody posted a list. Maybe it was on the Gospel Coalition, probably. Probably one of those silly places.

Of the 125 most...125. 125 most influential people in the resurgence of Calvinism.

Okay? And, you know, I think Ann Voskamp was on the list. So I don't know how much credence you can put on it.

And I think she was even ahead of Phil Johnson, which made me laugh. But number 49 on that list was a little bit of a dagger through the heart.

I mean, there were some nonsense people on that list. Number 49 is somebody named

Derrick Webb. How many of you know Derrick Webb? Only the really cool cats, me and Charlie, you know, and a couple of other people.

Derrick Webb is a musician. And I really enjoy me some Derrick Webb.

In fact, a few years ago I was doing an early morning meeting at coffee shops with some of the guys at the church.

And when I say early, I mean early. I think I was leaving the house, I don't know, like 530 or 545 or something like that.

And what I would do to get myself awake was

I would put Derrick Webb on. You know, She Must and Shall Go Free and some other really good songs.

He was number 49 on that. Now, a few years ago, his wife divorced him for adultery.

And I thought, I don't know why you would put him on this list.

But more than anything else, I just thought, you know, I remember being really discouraged when

I read that. Our bad works discourage other

Christians. We wonder, what's going to happen to me?

What am I going to do? But our good works do encourage other

Christians. He gives, R .C. gives the story of Dr. Meredith Kline.

And he and Dr. Kline, Dr. Sproul and Dr. Kline are leaving Dr. Kline's house.

It sounds like Dr. Kline, Dr. Howard, Dr. Kline. They're leaving

Dr. Kline's house and they're going to the seminary, the head of the seminary, his house.

And I think they're up here in, what's that goofy seminary out there on the coast?

What is it? Gordon -Conwell. Yeah, that's it. So back when it was probably a good school.

So they're just driving a few blocks, but it's pouring rain. I mean, they've like run out of the house, didn't even bring an umbrella.

They just run out of the house and they dashed in the car. And Dr. Kline starts up the car. And he's like, wait a second.

Gets out of the car, goes running back into the house, comes back out a second later. Soaking wet.

Dr. Sproul says, why did you go back into the house? Dr. Kline says,

I had to get my driver's license. Sproul says, we're driving two blocks.

Dr. Kline says to Dr. Sproul, he says, you're right.

He says, but God is watching. And if we can't be faithful in the little things, then why would he entrust greater things to us?

Obviously left a mark on Dr. Sproul because he put it in his book. Our good works edify.

They build up other believers. They're an encouragement. Confession also says that good works adorn the profession of the gospel and stop the mouths of adversaries.

Our good works cause others, especially the watching world, to show more respect for the gospel. Now, when we hear terms like good works, respect from the world, what do we start thinking about?

I'll tell you what I start thinking about. And I know what Pastor Bob starts thinking about. What do you think about when you hear good works, the world approving and Christian ministry?

What do you think about? They're giving in the culture.

I mean, right away, I just start thinking there are a bunch of liberals. You know, they're setting aside, you know, they're going to not have church on Sunday morning so they can go out and pick up trash in the neighborhood.

You know, we're gathering together today and we're just going to go out and pick up trash.

And we're going to do this as an evidence of the goodness of God. OK, I just I don't know that that is a biblical or be an evidence of, you know, the fruit of the gospel per se.

But that's not it. There are times, I mean, I really think, you know, there have even been corporations.

I'm not going to hold. What's the chicken place? Chick -fil -A, you know,

I'm not going to say this is a Christian institution. But, you know, when all these disasters, I mean, it's funny because they get a lot of grief.

We're not going to allow Chick -fil -A to be in our city because, you know, they close on Sundays and they don't do this for homosexuals and they don't do that or whatever.

But when some disaster strikes and they're like they they open up the store on Sunday, you know, to just cook and feed people and all that.

Everybody's like, oh, maybe these Chick -fil -A people aren't so bad after all. Right.

There are times where where the church just responds and it makes it adorns the gospel, it strengthens the gospel.

I was reading a newspaper story recently about the wife of a pastor

I know who has cancer. And it's just interesting how the newspaper covered it and was talking about, you know, how there's been this outpouring of love and support for them.

And then it talked about how she went to her daughter's wedding and all this. And, you know, she basically has they're telling her about three months to live.

And I thought, you know, can something like that, you know, living with hope, even in the midst of.

Worldly calamity, can that give the outside world hope? You know, even thinking about Dave Copper and I just I saw that picture.

And. He is so encouraging, you know, how do you do that?

And and he has that same personality when he goes to the hospital in the midst of great difficulty.

He has joy because he knows that it's not his circumstances that determine his joy.

Right. It's where he's going. That's what determines his joy. Now, sometimes can your.

Your good works, the outworking of your faith, can that make the unbelieving world uncomfortable? Absolutely.

Sproul says this, he says, if you're a Christian and have never been falsely accused or slandered.

There may be something wrong with your Christianity. And, you know, this is something

I call, you know, the undercover Christian. You're in stealth mode. Nobody knows.

Nobody can. They absolutely cannot look at your life and tell the difference between you and anybody else. Danger, Will Robinson.

Right. I mean, one of the funniest things that happened to me when

I started going to seminary is all of a sudden people like I'm not even joking. They would swear because they always swore, you know, that the deputies

I work with and everything. And then they would look at me and say, oh, sorry about that. And, you know,

I wanted to say something like, well, that's OK. Say ten Hail Marys and five. Right.

I'm just like, what is this? And I'm just like, I'd look at him like. And so for the people

I knew who would say things like that, I mean, the people that I knew well and I'd go, well, I wouldn't worry about me. I'm not the one that who's who's offended.

What do you mean? Well, you got bigger problems than me, buddy. I'm not the problem.

There ought to be a visible difference in your attitude.

Again, you know, when we go to work, what is our attitude? I can remember walking in the hallway and I'm not saying

I'm the paragon of anything, but there are two ways to to to do things.

I mean, the way our situation work, because we're we were a twenty four hour a day operation. When I'm coming in, somebody is going out.

Right. We were handing keys and radios off to each other. You know, have a nice day kind of thing.

If you come in and you're like this, wherever you work, you come in and you're like this, you know, every day and just like.

I've got the weight of the world on my back. My life's a disaster. My wife is a disaster.

My husband is a disaster. My kids are a disaster. Everything is a disaster. I have absolutely nothing to be joyful about.

I don't like my job. I don't like being here. I don't like you. I think about first Peter three fifteen.

I think about giving a reason for the hope that's within me. And I'm like, OK, I think we need to do that.

Not just when we have cancer. Not just when things are really terrible. Not when we're being persecuted, but just in our everyday life.

Go to the grocery store. I can't believe how much everything costs. I can't believe this.

I can't believe everything is just a weight, a burden. Why? Why? The greatest problem, the greatest dilemma, the greatest weight in your life.

Is the sin that you commit and that was all paid for the

Calvary, the greatest other issue you have, because that paying

Christ paying for your sin brings you up to here. You still need righteousness to get to heaven.

Christ did that, too. He lived the perfect life that you're supposed to and that you didn't.

You don't. We don't have a weight. There's a weightlessness.

We shouldn't have a care in the world. I mean, we do, obviously. But in light of what we deserve, in light of what we've done, we are of all people.

Most to be envied, not pity. We need to share that joy.

We need to share the gospel. We need to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

We thank you for the encouragement we find in it, in the truths of the gospel.

Father, let us not be shy about doing. Evaluations of our lives, our attitudes, just the tenor, the transformation is taking place.

Father, I pray that you would, by your spirit, just urge us on to love and to good works, that we might be encouragements to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And Lord, that we might be puzzlements to the world, that they would want to know how we could possibly be so joyful.