Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

Let's take just a moment and prepare our hearts for worship. Grace and peace to you in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand.

Praise the Lord, praise, oh servants of the Lord, praise the name of the

Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the

Lord our God who dwells on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that he may seat him with princes, with the princes of his people.

He grants a barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children. Praise the

Lord, amen. Please pray with me now. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we joyfully, with thanksgiving, enter into your presence asking you to bless us, asking you to meet with us here and we know that you have promised to do it and in this we rejoice.

We pray that our worship would be pleasing in your sight, that it would be acceptable and we have great hope because we have a great savior and mediator who is

Christ the Lord who makes our worship, our lives acceptable to you. I ask that you would bless these your people today and I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Please kneel if you're able for the corporate confession of sin. Let us join together with one voice confessing our sins.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your set -fast love, according to your abundant mercy, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Purge me with his blood and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones of your broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my treacheries. Create in me a clean heart,

O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your

Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a living spirit.

Amen. Please stand. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the

Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

O people of God, take heart today. If you be in Christ, your sins are forgiven.

Amen? Amen. Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 295.

The only appropriate way to sing crown him with many crowns is with great volume and zeal and joy in our hearts.

Number 295, crown him with many crowns. Please take up the bulletin and find the insert for, many of you have remembered this from our psalm of the month.

We just played it a few moments ago. So we're relying on a few of you to help us get started.

Psalm 84. How lovely, Lord of hosts. Please remain standing for the reading of the word from Genesis 16.

Genesis 16. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children.

And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto

Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid, and it may be that I may obtain children by her.

And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took

Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian. After Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband,

Abram, to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived.

And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid into thy bosom.

And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes.

The Lord judged between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand.

Do to her as it pleases thee. And when Sarai dwelt heartily with her, she fled from her face.

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness. By the fountain in the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go?

And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the

Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name

Ishmael. Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man.

His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me.

For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

Wherefore the well was called Bir Lahai Roi.

Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And to Hagar and Hagar bare

Abram a son. And Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare Ishmael.

And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare

Ishmael to Abram. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you.

Please be seated. This is a very exciting day for our church, and also for the

Stephens and the Almeidas and their friends who have come to visit today.

We're thankful that you are here. The ordinance of baptism is administered by the church in obedience to the command of Christ that the nation should be converted, baptized, and taught all that Christ has commanded.

Baptism represents and seals our union with Christ, represents the outpouring of the

Holy Spirit and resulting regeneration, adoption, and cleansing from sin.

By baptism, we are admitted into the covenant community and made members of the body of Christ.

Underlying the biblical revelation is a unifying singular covenant of grace.

Abraham had the gospel preached to him, it says in Galatians 3.

He believed God, his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he entered into a covenant with God signified by the sign of circumcision.

Yet he was commanded to apply this sign of his adult faith to his infant child and all infant children thereafter.

And the question has to be asked, why? It's because of God's promise.

Genesis 17, 7 says, I will be a God to you and to your children.

The saving purposes of God include the children of believers. Because he is their

God as well as their parents, the children also receive the sign of the covenant and are admitted into the covenant community.

When we come to the New Testament, no new principle is introduced. Children are not now excluded from the covenant community.

Rather, in an era in which we rightly speak of a greater covenant with better promises,

Hebrews 8, children have not a reduced but a more privileged status.

At Pentecost, in the delivery of the first Christian sermon, Peter said, for the promise is for you and your children and for who all who are far off, as many as the

Lord, our God shall call to himself. The echo of the promise made to Abraham is clear.

Children have the same covenantal status in the new covenant as in the old. They are set apart.

And even if one parent is a believer, 1 Corinthians 7 says they are holy and members of the covenant community and recipients of the sign of the covenant.

Households were baptized, Acts 16. When Jesus took infants into his arms and blessed them, he demonstrated not only that passive infants may receive grace, but also that God continues to love our children through us.

What a great promise. For all of you who are baptized, whenever you are baptized, whether you be a child, an infant or an adult, you need to be reminded of your own baptism, of God's grace confirmed, of the privileges of the covenant into which you entered and of your responsibility to live holy lives and serve

God with thanksgiving. Let the parents here assembled be charged to not neglect the means of grace.

Be sure that you provide a godly example, that you pray with and for your child, that you instruct them in the word of God and that you make use of the catechisms of the church, that you bring them weekly to public worship for their benefit and the glory of God.

I'm going to ask you to pray with me now. Oh Lord, we give thanks to you today for Thomas Christopher Almeida Stevens.

We thank you for your covenant promises. We pray that you would grant the inward reality that corresponds to the outward washing, that this covenant child would be received into the protection of care and care of Christ in his church, that even as he has been the

God of the child's parents, that the Lord be faithful to be the child's

God, that Thomas would be granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, that his heart would be renewed and regenerated, that he would grow up never knowing a day apart from Christ, like John, filled with the

Holy Spirit from the womb, like David, trusting God while still a nursing infant.

I'm going to ask the Stevens, Mr. Stevens, Almeidas, Pastor Almeida, the

Vanuses, if you would come up, come all the way to the front.

I am going to do the covenant vows.

I'm going to ask Pastor Almeida to take it, take over and baptize the child.

Everybody come on this side of the rail, please. What a great gathering of people, so great your family can be here.

We're very honored that your dad is a faithful minister. David and Sarah, do you acknowledge your child's need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the renewing grace of the

Holy Spirit? Do you? We do. Do you trust in God's covenant promises on Thomas' behalf?

And do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation as you do your own?

Do you? We do. Do you unreservedly dedicate your child to God and promise and humble reliance upon divine grace that you will endeavor to set before them

Christ and his gospel, that you would provide a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy faith, and you will strive by all means of God's appointment to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord? Do you? We do. I'm going to ask the congregation now to stand.

Congregation of Ascension Presbyterian Church, do you as a church body undertake the responsibility of assisting these parents in the

Christian nurture of this child? Do you? We do. Amen. You may be seated.

Beloved Sarah and David, today as we come together to witness the baptism of your dear son

Thomas, you are reminded of the sacred responsibility entrusted to you as his parents.

This holy sacrament is not just a moment of blessing, but a solemn commitment to nurture

Thomas in the ways of the Lord. First, you are called to teach

Thomas to read the word of God. His scriptures are the lamp of our feet and a light to our path.

It is true, then, that Thomas will come to know the wisdom and guidance of our

Heavenly Father. Secondly, you must restructure him in the principles of our holy religion, as they are faithfully contained in the scriptures of the

Old and New Testaments. An excellent summary of these principles is found in the

Confession of Faith and the larger and shorter Catechism of Westminster Assembly.

These documents, which have been adopted by our church, will serve as invaluable tools for you, guiding and assisting you in the critical study of spiritual instruction.

Third, you are exhorted to pray for Thomas. Prayer is the lifeline of your faith, connecting us to the grace and mercy of God.

Through your prayers, may Thomas be continually lifted before the throne of grace and may he come to know the power and presence of God in his life.

Fourth, you must set an example of piety and godliness before him.

Children learn not only through instruction, but also through observation.

Your lives should reflect the love, humility, and devotion that you desire to see in Thomas, providing him with a living testimony of what it means to walk with God.

Finally, by all the means of God's appointment, endeavor to bring up Thomas in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord. Whether through family worship, participation in the sacraments, or daily acts of faithfulness, may you continually point

Thomas to Christ, encouraging him to grow in grace and in knowledge of our

Lord and Savior. May God grant you the strength and wisdom to fulfill these duties with joy and steadfastness, and may

Thomas be blessed, growing in faith and love under your care. Thomas, I baptize you in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Shall we pray again?

Almighty and everlasting God, our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of this precious child,

Thomas, whom you have now baptized in your holy name.

We acknowledge your covenant promises in rejoicing your faithfulness to us and to our children.

Lord, we pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon Thomas. May he grow in the knowledge and grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Grant him a heart that seeks after you, a mind that delights in your truth, and a life that is devoted to your service.

We ask you, Lord, that you would strengthen Sarah and David as they raised

Thomas in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Equip them with wisdom, patience, and love as they fulfill their calling as Christian parents.

May their home be fulfilled with your peace, and may it be a place where your work is cherished and lived out daily.

We also pray for the congregation that they may support this family with their prayers and encouragement, walking alongside them with faith and love as they nurture

Thomas in the ways of righteousness. Finally, Lord, we commit

Thomas into your loving hands, trusting in your promises, keeping your care all the days of his life, and may he grow to be a faithful servant of your kingdom, bearing much fruit for your glory.

We pray all this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen. Amen. Thank you.

So glad to be here. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stevens. I'm going to ask the congregation now to stand, just as you got comfortable, sorry, as we confess our faith in the singing of the

Apostles' Creed. Let us begin. I believe in God the

Father, almighty. Jesus Christ, his only begotten

Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born was crucified, dead is his spirit.

The forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body.

Please take up the hymnal now and turn to number 111. This is my

Father's world, and whether the culture recognizes it or not, it belongs to the

Lord, to his Christ. Let us sing with joy, this is my

Father's world. Let's begin. Be seated, or just as I say, prepare yourself for the prayers of the people.

Let us pray together now in unison. O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsel and all just works.

Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments, and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ, our

Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, God forever.

Amen. For the church of Jesus Christ, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming, we pray to you,

O Lord. For all ministers, missionaries, and the mission of the church, that in faithful witness the gospel may be preached, we pray to you,

O Lord. Continue the good work.

And Father, I pray you would continue to build your church as profitable. Correct me if I'm wrong. Pray for those in positions of public trust that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.

We pray to you, O Lord. Lord, hear our prayers. Specifically this morning,

Lord, for those who serve over this community of Longwood, those who are on the council, our police officers.

Lord, we also pray for the surrounding counties and areas. We pray, Lord, that not only would they not only would they follow your natural law of how you created the world and that they would do justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person, but they would also acknowledge

Christ as Lord. We pray, Lord, that you would bless them, that you would prosper them, and that they would, like Nebuchadnezzar, declare that you are the one true and living

God and that they would rule justly over us. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer, for refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you,

O Lord. Comfort those people that you would set up the institutions of public trust that would protect them from the wicked ones.

And Father, I pray you would also relieve those who are in prison and who are God -seeking, who are serving sentences unjustly, and pray you would comfort them, that you would allow them to have peace and affliction, and that their testimony would be something that brings more peace.

Amen. For this congregation, for those who are present, and those who are absent, that we may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory in all that we do, we pray to you,

O Lord. We know,

God, that we cannot create this, but we ask that you would create it inside of us, and that this would bring you much glory, and that you would grant us great unity, and that everyone would look and say,

Oh, how they love one another. And we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Please take up the insert and find Psalm 127. It is the Psalm of the month, and we really need a

DJ today, but we are going to try to press on without him. Just to remind you, for our guests and members to be reminded, the part that says

D -E -C, that is the men. The C -A -N parts are the ladies, and that goes through the first two pages.

When we get to the back, everyone is together. It says full, I think, there.

And then it goes to the men at D -E -C, and then it does the C -A -Ns again, and it ends with everyone together.

So this is Psalm 127. Let us begin.

Please take up your Bibles and turn to 1 John 3. I'm going to read verses 1 through 9.

This is God's holy and infallible word. 1 John 3, beginning at verse 1.

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin.

Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the

Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God.

Please pray with me now. O Lord, I pray for your blessing upon our study of your word.

Holy Spirit, we ask that you would supply light and heat, conviction and comfort, that your church would be edified and built up.

And we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Today we'll be considering verses 4 -9 in our section.

The title of the message is, Born of God. And the simple statement that tells us about what we're going to be learning about in this section is the believer in sin.

The believer in relation to sin. I put this on our channel, but I'll give you a quick overview of the outline.

The first point is committing sin is lawlessness. This is derived from verse 4.

Second, Christ came to take away our sins. Hallelujah. The gospel.

In verse 5. In verses 6 -8 we have a question to be answered.

Are we abiding in Christ or abiding in sin? And finally, in verse 9 .4.

Those born of God cannot remain in sin.

When we read a text like this, it causes us to wonder if anyone can be saved. It says in very stark terms that people who sin are not reconciled to God.

When we read this text, we often look for a way to minimize its force.

We are urgent in our desire to seek a reprieve from the harshness of the tone.

We look for an exception or an explanation that makes sinning more palatable.

This is an error. There is an explanation, but we need to receive the correction.

We too quickly say, well, we're all sinners and Christ died for our sins. We need to be corrected by the scriptures today.

Let us now accept the weight of its correction. Let us receive the chastening of the

Father that loves us. Do you remember our text from last week?

I just read it. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

Hebrews chapter 12, it says, My son. Do not despise the chastening of the

Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And scourges every son whom he receives.

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us. I will pause here.

Fathers, you better be correcting your children. Fathers who love their children correct their children.

And now when we're older, the scripture continues, we paid them respect.

We didn't enjoy the correction when we were young, but now we enjoy it. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the

Father of spirits and live? This is all from Hebrews 12. For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them.

Fathers, the time of chasing is now because the days are few.

There's only a few days you get to chase in your children. Pretty soon we'll be going to Thomas's wedding.

And Thomas will have grandchildren. It all happens very fast. God has done this for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

It seems that verses four through nine are a direct application of the great idea that we were rejoicing in last week.

Beholding the great manner of the love that the Father has us, that he calls us children of God.

Let us be those faithful sons who spurn not the

Father's correction, knowing he loves us too much to leave us in our sin.

I encountered it this week. The spirit of the church of the age seems to ask, what can

I do and still be a Christian? What can

I get away with and still profess my faith in Christ? It's a horrific question.

It's a wrong question. What a rebellious question. What an abomination.

The proper question is, oh, merciful God, what ought

I to do to be faithful to you? Oh, God, what sins must

I repent of? What righteousness should I hunger and thirst for?

Not how much can I get away with and still be a Christian? Let us consider what it means to be born of God, to be his sons, to answer the question, at least in part, how is the believer to view his sin?

It's been famously said a few different ways back to the church fathers and through the

Puritans. Sin must be bitter in order for Christ to be sweet.

Sin must be bitter in order for Christ to be sweet. Now let's continue with the exposition of the text in verse four.

It says, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness.

If I were to do a poll before the service today, I would ask the question, what is the antithesis of law?

We might have had the answer with grace or gospel. The antithesis of law is lawlessness.

It's different, isn't it? You see, grace and law are compatible. Law and lawlessness are not.

This term, anomia, and it sounds like very familiar to us, doesn't it? Like antinomian, it's a similar root.

Nomos being law, the absence of law. Here in John, it is the utter disregard for God's law.

It is the condition of one without law. This is what characterizes the reprobate and all who hate

God. Here in our text, it means to do iniquity, to act wickedly.

Brethren, to show contempt for God's law is to show contempt for God.

Sin, by definition, is the rejection of God's law. John has already reminded us both in his gospel and he does here in different ways in the epistle, echoing Christ's words.

If you love me, keep my commandments. Children, you say you desperately love your parents.

You are in love with your parents. You adore your parents. Do you obey your parents? You see, sentimentality will only go so far.

Oh, I love God. I just I love worshiping him, but I don't want to live as a Christian.

I don't want to live according to his word. That's a duplicitous kind of living.

And John is trying to arouse us out of that, that we would not have that duplicity in our lives.

Sin is lawlessness. The last phrase in verse four. This is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self -originated nature.

It's not a faith. It's not originated or empowered by God.

This is that which is a doing of a wrong and offense, a violation of divine law in thought or act.

And so John is asking the question, how do we as Christians reconcile being lawless and sinners and having faith in Christ, abiding in him, being born of God?

And he is saying to us, he's urging us to not reconcile what is irreconcilable.

First question I have for you today. Is what areas of your life are you compromising in?

Or are you compromised in? How do you reconcile praising the name of God on the one hand and then perverting that faith with a life that doesn't match it?

Don't worry, the gospel is coming. But we're really quick to rush off of this, aren't we?

I need this to be explained away. John's speaking in harsh tones. We don't like our church services to have this edge, this hardness.

John is saying that sinning and lawlessness is inconsistent, incompatible with faith in Christ.

The church today has made them compatible. If you're a sinner practicing sin, you commit lawlessness.

What takes us to the second point? He gives us a breath of air and it's Holy Spirit air.

It's refreshment. It's a bomb to the soul. He hits us with reality.

You call yourself a child. I've declared you to be a child of God. Oh, what manner of love that Father has shown on us?

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness. Look at verse 5.

This takes us to the second point. And you know that he, you referring to Christ, was manifested to take away our sins.

And in him there is no sin. When I think about Christ and his sacrifice on the cross,

I'm led, first of all, to think of Christ paying for the penalty of my sin and my guilt.

But I forget often that he goes to the cross and he is my mediator.

That sin might be put to death in my life in a very practical sense. That I might be a righteous one, that I might have his righteousness and walk in his righteousness.

Christ has come to take away the presence, the penalty and the power of sin.

And we like the penalty part. But are we denying the other two?

Christ has slain the power of sin in the life of a

Christian. Our doctrine of total depravity is so far much better than us being new creatures in Christ.

Isn't it funny? We defend our total depravity stronger than we defend our new nature in Christ.

We are no longer under bondage to sin. We've been set free from it in Christ. Why do we go back and put the shackles on again?

He's unlocked them. And yet we go and we bind ourselves to them again.

Christ came not only to remove the penalty of sin, he came to reduce, remove the presence and the power of sin in our lives.

How are you responding to this great work of Christ?

Christ has come to cause our sins to cease. Heaven will be the cessation of sin.

Because we enter into a fellowship with Christ who is free from sin.

And because we then begin to abide in that fellowship, you should be taking ground away from sin in your life.

You should be putting sin to death. You say, well, I've been doing the same sins for 20 years.

I haven't really restrained or changed them. I would urge you. To be chastened today.

To be corrected. Christ has come.

He's come without sin to be sin for us. He appears to take away our sin.

He comes in the incarnation that we might be freed from sin. Not just its penalty.

We love that. And I want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven. But what about its practical power and presence?

Are we impotent to act against our sin? Apparently not. According to John. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

How can the Holy Spirit live within us and flourish our lives if there be sin?

Practiced, cherished, coveted, residing in our hearts.

It causes us to get back to this question.

Look at verse 6 of abiding in Christ. This will cover three verses.

This idea. Are you abiding in Christ or abiding in sin?

To abide, you'll remember, means to be knit to him by the Spirit. I love that idea of knitting.

I've never knitted. But I love the idea of the thread and the needle and going from one person from Christ and going to the believer and then back again and binding himself to us.

Christ has exercised himself in such a way.

We're going to learn later that a seed has been planted in us. There is a permanent difference for the child of God who's been united to Christ.

They are now fully knitted together. They abide. They stay with Christ.

And this power of Christ exerts itself in the heart of the believer.

But apparently there is some responsibility on the part of the Christian to stoke these holy flames, to not quench the spirit, not throw water on it.

Renewing grace is an abiding principle. The regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God.

That is our testimony, isn't it? There's conviction. There's mourning over sin.

There's repentance. The child of God cannot continue in that perpetual state of sin.

There is a light in his mind which shows him plainly and gives him the ability to distinguish between evil and righteousness.

I have two questions for you. Do you hate sin?

We don't hate it that much. The hardest question. We hate sin in the culture.

We talked about this recently. Do you hate your sin? You hate the sins that you don't perform.

You hate the sins that are performed against you. Do you hate your sin? I can see some room for growth in us.

For me, for you. And our hatred of sin. We don't hate it that much. We learned in Sunday school today.

We don't love Christ. We don't love his church. And we don't love one another as much as we ought.

We certainly don't hate sin. And we really don't hate our sin. In fact, we protect it.

We cherish it. We excuse it. Do you hate your sin?

Little children, don't let anyone deceive you.

Whoever continues in this sin has neither seen him or known him.

Oh, little children, that term of endearment. No one deceive you. The false teachers are saying it.

And they're rampant in our age. Morality is not so important.

The standards of scripture and the church historically are antiquated. We're living in a new time now.

The standards of sexual ethics. The way we use our mouths. Our view of every area of life.

Those things are old fashioned. John says, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous.

I told you at the outset that I wanted us to feel the weight and conviction of this text.

I think the language in English, practices righteousness, gives us a clue, an insight.

John is not calling us to sinless perfection. We don't have that. It's not possible. Only Christ is.

But is your life characterized by a practicing of righteousness or is it something else?

Righteous people perform righteous deeds. They do it because Christ enables them to.

They are righteous because they've been united to the one who is righteous. Look at the end of verse seven.

Just as he is righteous. He's the one who performs all righteousness.

He that does righteousness is a righteous man, a woman, a child. And to be a follower of Christ, it shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings.

One commentator has said, and I love this, I hope you catch it. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts.

Hypocrites make an allowance, not the sons of God. Man cannot act like one under the sway of the devil.

At the same time, be a disciple of Christ Jesus. And if Christ came to take away sin, we have to say, let us not serve or even indulge what the son of God came to destroy.

You and I have to shed our duplicity. We have to repent of every known sin and.

We take comfort because we have a savior who is Christ, the Lord, who forgives us all of our sins.

He cleanses us. From all. Unrighteousness.

The section concludes with this verse eight says he who sins is of the devil.

For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the son of God was manifested.

It says in verse five, he was manifested to take away our sins. It says in verse eight, he was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Why do we tolerate sin in our lives? There's something so much better for us.

We can walk in faith. We can turn away from sin. We're not enslaved to sin any longer.

That is a great lie. We have been set free in Christ. This is the very purpose for which he came.

Into the world, and finally, in verse nine, something very exciting happens here.

It says whoever has been born of God does not sin. And again, we're terrified because we've sinned.

Does that mean we're not born of God? No, the idea here is pattern, unrepentant pattern of life.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin for his seed.

And the Greek word is sperma. Remains in him. When conception happens, a baby is produced.

And in the spiritual conception that John here speaks of,

God has planted his holy seed in his people, and they cannot continue in sin because they have a new nature.

They're new persons. They've been born of God. So how's your sin today?

What sins are you cherishing? We confess corporately some categories of sins today.

You need to confess and repent particularly. Right now, there are sins in your mind that you perform and commit.

You need to turn from them. You need to repent of them. You have a

Savior to forgive you and a Holy Spirit to work within you that you might be able to mortify and put to death these sins in your life, that you might more consistently walk as a child of God.

Today, it's coming into sharper focus. I saw

Thomas when he was, the first day he was born. And now as we have a few weeks have passed, his distinctive characteristics.

I see Mr. Stevens and I see David Stevens and Mr. Stevens. I see both parents of Sarah in Sarah's face.

When I look at the Zenos, I see Zeno characteristics. Let us to bear the family resemblance of the people of God.

We're different. We've been born of God. Sin has no allure for us because of what

Christ has done. You need to preach that to yourself because your flesh tells you something different.

I don't understand the idea of getting high, but the heroin addict loves getting high.

It feeds something in him. He loves it. He pursues it. It's sin. He's got to put it to death.

You and I have our own heroines. And we need to see it no matter how pleasing it is to our senses.

We need to put it to death. Let us to bear the family resemblance.

A few words of application and we'll conclude. We have to be honest about our sin and not coddle it.

Our counsel to one another shouldn't be, oh, it's okay that you've sinned. Our counsel to one another should be you need to repent of your sin.

Let's be honest about our sins. Let's also be honest about the power of Jesus Christ, the power of the

Holy Spirit to break the yoke of sins, presence and power. It seems fitting for us to show our gratitude for this great gift of salvation that we would walk in the light to abide in Christ and that we would love his righteousness.

We love his forgiveness. Do we love his righteousness?

You love daddy's money, but do you love daddy? It's very different, isn't it?

Third, abiding in Christ is characterized by conquering sin.

Some of you today have been bound by sins, and I'm telling you that you've given yourself a pass.

You have said that these things can't be beaten. I promise you today that today could be the day that those sins could be overturned in your life, never to be returned to.

It's possible with the active working of the Holy Spirit in us. Christ came to take away sin.

Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. It seems that Christ is able to help us put sin to death.

Abiding in Christ is characterized by this conquering and saving faith is an abiding principle.

It knits us to Christ never to be severed, never to be let go. It may weaken, but it never fails.

Those of us who are born of God cannot remain in sin. It's in time for us to live lives of continual repentance.

Your confession of sin should not be limited to Sunday morning. You should be confessing your sins daily, hourly, moment by moment.

He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And finally, if you are uncomfortable today, and parents, this little practical parenting advice.

When correction happens, we want there to be a restoration. We want there to be repentance.

We want that child to know just how much we love them. We want them to come back. But sometimes we rush as fast as we can through the correction.

Sometimes we learn that the child doesn't want real repentance. They just want to be relieved of the correction.

Fathers, you must be those who receive chastening from the Lord and are changed as an example to your family.

Your children need to see you waging war with sin, enduring the chastening of the

Lord happily. Joyfully accepting the correction of your

God that they might understand how they're supposed to repent. Same for moms.

Same for older siblings. We need to receive the chastening of our

Heavenly Father and not rush really quick through it. We need to receive it. We need to be instructed by it.

Are you being corrected of the Lord? Do you model repentance and become exemplars of this to your children?

Are your children rebellious? Is it because covenantally you've been rebellious?

Have they learned their rebellion from you? All of us have to receive correction from the

Lord. All of us need to make progress in the faith and to grow in Godliness.

Are you applying the word from your devotions? Will you apply the word of this sermon?

Are you willing to submit to the discipline and correction of the church?

All those should be yes, yes, and amen. I'm going to close with that passage

I started with, and this will be our conclusion. It starts in Hebrews 12, verse 3.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, referring to Christ, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

You've not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons.

Here it is again. Listen carefully. My son, do not despise the chastening of the

Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. Thomas needs to be chastened by his parents and by the

Lord because he's loved. The congregation needs to say,

Thomas, you can't do that because we love him. He scourges every son whom he receives.

Now listen carefully. If you endure chastening, children, do not rebel against your parents' correction.

You have to endure it. Dads, you have to endure the chastening of the Lord for the good of your family.

If you do this, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the

Father of spirits and live? They indeed for a few days chastened us to seem best to them, but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness.

See, if you love Christ and you love righteousness, then that excites you. You want that. You want holiness.

Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present. But painful.

Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

O Lord, train us by your word. Train us to see that sin is incompatible with our lives.

Help us to cherish and love Christ and his righteousness far more than we could ever cherish our sin.

Let's pray together now. I'm so thankful for your salvation,

O Lord Jesus. What a wretched man I am.

O Lord, I pray that your love would be the impetus to my growth in godliness.

That your forgiveness and the security of your love, the permanence of the sonship you have given to your people, that this would be an encouragement to me to walk in your ways, to look more and more like Christ.

O Lord, I pray that in the power of your spirit, that you would bring heavy conviction upon your people who are cherishing sin today.

That you would press down on them until they repent to never do it again.

To turn from their cherished sins, O Lord, that they might be set free to walk in the liberty you have supplied in your son.

O Lord, we ask for you to make us uncomfortable today, not from a manipulative standpoint, but because we love righteousness.

We want to be trained. We want to be instructed by it. We want the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

We want to be those who are easily recognizable as those who have been born of God. We ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's continue our worship with the reception giving of tithes and offerings.

Please stand and let's pray together now. O Lord, we thank you for the work you've given us, the stewardship, the resources.

We ask that you would use these tithes and offerings for the advance of your kingdom.

We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. It is a glorious thing to be here on a day where there's a baptism.

We've heard many things in our singing. We've heard some challenging things from the word today.

But we have great cause to give glory to God in all things, don't we? Let's respond now by singing the glory of Patria in an appropriate way.

Let us begin. The Lord be with you.

And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the

Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should, at all times and in all places, give thanks to you,

O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God. Because you have sent your beloved

Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may, without shame or fear, rejoice to behold his appearing.

Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

Please be seated. Please pray with me now.

O Lord, I'm so thankful for water and bread and wine. I'm so thankful for creaturely things that speak of heavenly things.

O Lord, we ask that we would be so united to Christ and he to us, so perfectly assimilated together.

It would be like the eating of bread, that we would be washed from our sins and that it would be so deep down and so comprehensive that it would go down our throats and into our bellies like the wine.

O Lord, I pray that these signs and seals would be effectual for your people, that they would be nourishing to their souls, that it would bind them closer, knit them closer to you and to one another.

We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to his disciples saying,

Take, eat, this is my body. Likewise, he took the cup after supper saying,

This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drink from it, all of you.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.

With humility, sobriety and expectation, let's pray together now.

We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son,

Jesus Christ, and to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, he in us.

Amen. Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feasts. The gifts of God for you, the people of God.

Thanks be to the Lord. Covenant blessings require covenant obligations, so let's make this commitment together sincerely and earnestly in faith.

Almighty and ever -living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your

Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your

Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And, O Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to say these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in faith, which hath work in every good deed.

And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, in honor and glory, now and forever.

Amen. Please stand and let us give glory to God in the singing of the doxology.

Let's begin. Praise God! To God's presence.

There's a progression of things that happens. We are confronted with God and His holiness.

We confess our sin to Him. We're assured of His pardon. We're consecrated to Him through the preaching of the

Word, and it culminates in the feast at the Lord's table. But we've come in, and now we leave with the

Lord's blessing. Receive it now. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the