Gospel-Produced Humility

Though troubles assail and dangers of fright, Though friends should all fail and foes all unite, Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide, The Scripture assures us the Lord will provide.

The birds, without barn or storehouse, are fed. From them let us learn to trust for our bread. His saints, what is fitting shall ne'er be denied, So long as it is written, The Lord will provide. No strength of our own or goodness we claim, Yet since we have known the Savior's great name, In this our strong tower for safety we hide, Almighty His power the Lord will provide. I trust that you, resting in a God like this this week, that you have found Him to be exactly who He has declared Himself to be, Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides, He provides for His children. And when we have questions about that, and we doubt that, and we're perplexed, and we're facing, and we're up against a wall, we need to reason the way the Scriptures reason. If God did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not freely with Him give us all things? Everything we have need of, He's going to provide.

And we reason that if He provided the greatest thing, the best thing, the thing that met the greatest need we have, why would we think that He would withhold anything from us necessary for our advancement, and for our trust, and for our honoring Him in this life? So I'd like to begin with that this evening. Let me tell you what I plan to do. We'll go over a few announcements. We've got quite a few prayer requests, some urgent ones. I've got two missionary prayer letters, and then Carly and I were at a pastors conference in Cary, went over there Monday afternoon and drove back this afternoon. I want to give you a bit of a report on what we enjoyed there, the preaching, some resources that I brought back, and then we'll spend some time in the Word and also in prayer. So that's what we're going to do this evening. In terms of announcements, really no change in our church schedule. People present service Sunday morning, live stream only Wednesday night, live stream only Sunday night for now.

No children's church, no impact clubs, no Sunday school, no nursery. We're just waiting for direction from the Lord to move beyond what we've been doing. Pastor Barkman and Marty have left for Maine to vacation and spend some time with their married daughter Bethany and her husband, Bethany and Warren, and their three boys. They needed to get COVID tests and were able to do that, and that's what I think the airports are requiring so that they're not having to be quarantined and they can go and visit and return. So they're away and we're grateful for their getting clearance to be able to do so. Yeah, really nothing, no other announcements, but quite a few prayer requests.

So let me go over those with you quickly. We're praising the Lord that Tiana Bethea is doing well from shoulder surgery. Trinity French recovering from COVID.

That's a granddaughter of Eddie and Clara Driver. Their married daughter Dawn Hammond is home from the hospital, and we're thankful for that. Diane Michaelhannon is doing well from recent surgery. Mary Shaw, her shoulder surgery went well, but she's facing a pretty long and difficult time of recovery, so continue to remember her in prayer. David Slauson came through his back surgery. Doctors were encouraged with the procedure, but the concern with him is infection.

So we need to trust the Lord in that regard, and Shirley Watkins is home from a short stay at Peak Resources. Ken Elliott is recovering from COVID. I'm thinking that Sue also had COVID, but I don't see her name here in that regard, but I was thinking they both had contracted COVID.

Nellie Hunter had surgery on her elbow, and she's recovering from the repair of her broken elbow. Jane Latour, let's see, she's in California to be with her sister-in-law, Becky. Jane's brother, Dr. John Johnson is in California.

He's had quite a battle with COVID. This is from Jane. She writes, this was around 1230 this afternoon, my niece Jessica and I arrived in California safely yesterday. Thanks for many who prayed for our safety.

We arrived to meet Becky, Jennifer and Dennis. That's Jennifer's husband bearing encouraging news from the doctor. Though John was fighting an infection, probably lungs over the weekend, a broad spectrum antibiotic has brought his white count down significantly.

They have the ventilator on its lowest setting, and John has been able to maintain an oxygen level in the 90% range. He's on a different dialysis machine, which he is handling better. The doctor told Becky that he would likely be on dialysis for quite a while. She said he's moving in the right direction.

We're thankful and trusting the Lord to do his work in his way. So that's an update from Jane concerning her brother, Dr. John Johnson. Richie Mearns, who's been attending here for a number of years faithfully and consistently, had extensive dental surgery this week and is recovering. So pray for him.

I've already mentioned Isaiah Slauson to you. Nancy Verdi's brother-in-law, Tim, in Ohio, he was cutting a tree and a tree fell, a portion of the tree fell on his head. He suffered some broken bones in his face, a small brain bleed and a gash, but he was released from the hospital on Monday and is recovering at home. So that's a kind mercy that God spared his life.

Under missionaries, let's see. Well, I'll get to that in a moment. We're expressing our heartfelt sympathy to the families of Linda Bruner, sister of Wendy Lynch, who died last week, a friend of Larry Norris, Herman Holifield, passed away last week. I'll be reading a letter concerning Ruth Bixby's father, who died rather suddenly here stateside, Richard Pank, Sr. And then Jim Trulick, husband of Larry Norris's cousin from Georgia, also passed away last week.

So there are four families that are grieving and sorrowing that we want to stand with and ask the Lord to minister to their hearts. Under cancer, Ken Elliott's brother, Russ Elliott, will have surgery on Friday, this coming Friday, to remove a tumor in his lung. This is the fourth surgery on the same lung. So he's been through a lot.

So Ken is asking the Beacon Saints to pray for his brother. And then Lee Ann Michaelhanen's father, Gaylord Remmel, he had a bronchoscopy last week, and it did determine he has stage 1 cancer. However, it's limited to just the one tumor found in his lower right lung. Nothing was found in the lymph nodes or the upper lung. His oncologist feels the best treatment is to have arthroscopic surgery to remove that portion of the lower right lobe where the cancer exists.

Complete removal means no chemo or radiation is necessary. He has to have tests done before they can determine his heart and liver can sustain the surgery. So that's all good news for which we are rejoicing with Lee Ann in God's mercy. And then to tell you concerning Ben Vestal, I've got this email that came early this morning from Ben's daughter, Courtney. She says, as you all know, Dad's health has been declining. Over the weekend, he has reached what the health experts refer to as the transitional stage in his battle with cancer. The hope is that he will be able to live to celebrate his 66th birthday this October 30 as he shares this birthday with his grandson who will be turning 1. We are praying for this gift for him and the family. Dad has been in incredibly positive spirits.

His faith has been unwavering. He has had hospice care here in the house since August. Mom has been very busy with her full time job from home and now full time care for Dad. Prayers for her as well. The four of us kids and the grand boys have made many visits to come help and have had many sweet times with Dad. Please join us in prayer for Dad that the Lord will continue giving him peace that surpasses understanding. Pray with us that the nurses will be able to manage his pain with medication in order to finally get him comfortable and enjoy time with family and friends in these last days or weeks. And we also pray that he is able to pass away here in the comfort of his own home without struggle or pain. So that's an update and description of the needs there in Ben Vestal's life.

So a lot, an awful lot of prayer requests and as I'm thinking through let me mention a need in our family. Carly has a cousin, Dale Blosser. Dale is my age. He's 64 years of age when we went to school together. Dale's been a logger his whole life working in the woods and he's suffered dementia and told his family, you need to do something for me.

I feel like I'm going to hurt myself. So he's a veteran. They got him into the veteran hospital and they overmedicated him and he's gone into a coma. He's on a ventilator and it's looking like the family is going to have to make a decision of when to remove him from a ventilator. So pray for that family and for his wife and he's got a couple of children and it's a difficult, difficult situation.

Well, those are our prayer requests. Let me at this time cover some news concerning Tony and Kathy Payne and then Tim and Ruth Bixby. This is from the Paynes. They write, Dear friends, we arrived in the states on August 10, drove from Atlanta to Taylor, South Carolina, where we spent two weeks in required self-quarantine. Appley, Amy and Emily and the seven grandchildren in South Carolina did not wait for the two weeks to visit us.

We socially distanced, wore face masks, visited outdoors. We visited my mom in Griffin, Georgia, as soon as quarantine was over. She was recovering, they say, from a broken ankle, but managed to prepare wonderful meals from her wheelchair.

Sounds like a mother. A few weeks later, we were able to go back to celebrate her 85th birthday, held in the Fellowship Hall at Faith Baptist Church of Zebulun. We got to see Claire and Roman in Chesapeake, Virginia, over Labor Day, after stopping in North Carolina to visit the grave of Kathy's brother and to stay overnight with his daughter, Amber and family.

Sounds like a lot of running around. They had somebody in the church that was at death's door before they left South Africa. They did pass away. Tony's very encouraged by the men in the church who conducted the funeral service and ministered to the family in his absence. They got a good report concerning the men who stood in Tony's place while he was stateside, so that's a real encouragement, I'm sure, to Tony in that situation. He says, our coworker, Bill Knipe, phoned me early in September 18 to inform us that someone had broken into our garage to borrow some of my tools to use to pry open the thief-proof Spanish bars from the bathroom window. They used my crowbar to break open the safe. They made off with the church's offering from March, the one before lockdown, our tithe in small marked envelopes for April through August, as well as the cash from the last lady's retreat. They ransacked the entire house, carried away ministry items including two cameras, portable speakers, an iPad, an iPod, and other ministry electronic items. We will not know exactly what was stolen until we return home.

Now listen to this perspective. What the thieves did not realize was that we had given all of those items to God long ago. They robbed him, not us.

I greatly rejoice in two things. Number one, we were the ones robbed and not the ones doing the robbing. Number two, eternal treasures can never be stolen. They're safely laid up with God. Everything that was stolen will return to dust.

What a perspective. Last week we placed ourselves under another two-week quarantine because of COVID exposure. Presently we are quite well. Our plans have been to fly back to South Africa in early November, pray for wisdom for us, fitting in the time we desire with family, especially with my mother. We're thankful for the wonderful times with them and also with supporting churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. We're thankful that we could meet new pastors at four of our supporting churches, continue to pray for the church plant in Edhoven Delf, who is feeling the pain of not being allowed to gather for church services.

It underscores to these believers their need to erect their own building. So that's from Tony and Kathy Payne. And then this from Ruth Bixby. She says, Dear friends, it is nearly 2 a.m. and I promise that this will be very coherent.

I had planned to write to you today, Monday, to ask you to pray for a very important meeting with the building's owners on Wednesday, but God has sovereignly rearranged our plans. Our family spent this morning at church participating in a five-day English club that our co-workers, Christy Cole, is leading. Ruth was in charge of teaching the Bible story on creation.

She spoke mostly in French so that the children would understand the Bible truths using key words in English as a language teaching tool. We ate lunch with the other workers before returning home. It was then that we received a call that Ruth's dad was probably dying. We found ourselves suddenly thrust into nearly the same situation we had known on the day my father died, learning suddenly that he was at death's door but unsure of what the outcome would be. We gathered as a family in the exact place we'd prayed three years ago for my dad and committed Papa to the Lord. A second call a few minutes later confirmed that the Lord had taken Richard Sr. to himself. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer just last week. But no one expected that he would suddenly pass out and never wake up. He was known as a hard-working airplane mechanic and a very generous man, especially to anything that concerned missions.

As a bona fide jack-of-all-trades, he made innumerable short-term mission trips in the States and internationally during his 69 years to help various ministries with physical needs. Our first thought was that COVID pandemic and the resulting prices would make it impossible for us all to fly back. But God opened up one door after another, allowing us to purchase tickets for the whole family to return for the funeral. We leave in a few hours, our Tuesday morning at 1030, to head to Raleigh, North Carolina. Please pray for much grace, strength, and wisdom during our 10 days in the States.

We'll have to get negative COVID tests in order to return. Please also pray for Christy and Melody, who will be teaching all week in the English Club. This providentially falls during a two-week school vacation, so the children's school is not disrupted by this. That's something they're giving thanks to God for. He says, please also pray for God's blessing on our church family and our desire to purchase the building.

God knows the end from the beginning, and we must walk in childlike trust. So there's the pains and the bixbys and the needs in their ministry. Well, this is the seventh year that Colonial Baptist Church has hosted a pastors conference in Cary at the church there. I was uncertain whether they were going to be able to have it because of COVID restrictions, but they went ahead and they had 600 men and wives present and quite a few others who participated virtually.

It began Monday afternoon and concluded this afternoon. Let me mention some of the speakers that we heard. Dr. Erwin Lutzer spoke on Monday afternoon. His talk was on pandemics, plagues, and natural disasters. What is God saying to us? Basically, he gave an overview of this book that he has written. Basically, his points were the chapter titles. Anyway, I won't read those chapter titles to you, but we're going to secure some copies of this book and make them available to you in the book room because of its timely message.

Pandemics, plagues, and natural disasters. What is God saying to us? And I enjoyed very much hearing him. Dr. Al Mohler spoke on last evening and brought a wonderful message just making an assessment of where we are in the culture and what are the concerns that the churches should have and how we should be responding. He has written a new book that's just out called The Gathering Storm, Secularism, Culture, and the Church.

Again, we'll secure some copies of this. Here are some of the chapters in this book. The Gathering Storm Over Western Civilization, The Gathering Storm in the Church, The Gathering Storm Over Human Life, Over Marriage, Over the Family, Over Gender and Sexuality, The Gathering Generational Storm, The Gathering Storm and the Engines of Culture, The Gathering Storm Over Religious Liberty. This was a free book that they gave to us as attendees. Back in the room on Monday night, I read the appendix where he speaks concerning the storm over the courts, and the Supreme Court, and all that's going on there. So it's a very, very timely book and very, very needful for the church.

This afternoon, the last message I heard was again from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. He has written a new book that will not be out until the day before election, November the 2nd. And the title of that book is, We Will Not Be Silenced, Standing Courageously to Our Culture's Assault on Christianity.

And he followed a similar format to the other message I heard, basically walked us through the chapters of the book, and I will mention the titles of this book because I don't have a copy of it and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Got an overview today, but chapter number one, Understanding Cultural Marxism. If you're not aware of that, that's what's going on in our culture. Chapter number two, Rewriting the Past to Control the Future. This revisionist history and denying our history and so on.

Number three, Using Diversity to Divide and Destroy. Chapter number four, Freedom of Speech for Me, but Not for Thee. Chapter number five, Sell Evil as a Noble Cause. That's what's going on in our culture, selling evil as a noble cause. Chapter six, Sexualizing Our Children.

And he spoke at length about some various things that are going on in the culture. Chapter number seven, Capitalism is the Disease and Socialism is the Cure. Chapter eight, Joining with Radical Islam to Destroy Christianity and Capitalism. Chapter nine, Villify, Villify, Villify. Arguments are not settled by discussion. You are evil. You're an evil person because we disagree with you. We're not going to discuss anything.

There's simply this spirit in the culture where people are vilified who don't agree with you. And then chapter ten, A Word for the Church from Revelation chapter two where Jesus is speaking through, I think, the church of Smyrna. Strengthen what remains.

Strengthen what remains. So, I heard some excellent, excellent preaching. I heard some men that I had no exposure to. I was blessed by them and it was very, very worthwhile. I saw David Morris and his wife there, Terry, Dale Wallace, who comes here to the tri-state and has become a friend. He was there, Mike Morrison, who attended here for a while but left here and now is pastoring Agape Baptist Church. He was there with some of his church leaders.

So, saw some folks, Greg Allison from Bible Baptist was there, spoke with him and some other men that I know. But it was an excellent, excellent conference. It was packed. There were ten general sessions in the two and a half days.

There were four workshops, choices in the workshops that you could go and choose from. So, really from Monday afternoon all the way up until 8.30, Dr. Steven Davey spoke the first night, opened church service to the community. It's a huge facility over there. There were the 600 or so conference attendees and I'm sure some folks from the church. But it was not congested.

It was not crowded at all. The church did an excellent job hosting the conference, observing precautions, provided breakfast in the morning, really did an outstanding job. So, it's an excellent conference to attend, as close as it is, 45-50 minute drive over there. So, it's been very, very beneficial. Let me just mention some books that I've picked up. I'm anxious to glean from and learn from. Here's, again, a man I don't know, Gavin Ortlund.

But the forward to the book was written by D.A. Carson, Finding the Right Hills to Die On, the Case for Theological Triage. And he makes distinction. He says, in theology, just as in battle, some hills are worth dying on and others are not.

How do we know which ones? When should doctrine divide and when should unity prevail? Just as a medic on a battlefield treats the severely wounded first and then moves on to the less serious injuries, we must prioritize doctrine in order of importance. So, he has prioritized doctrine in the four ranks, essential, urgent, important, and unimportant.

I'm a little curious about any doctrine that's unimportant, but you understand what he's driving at. Here's a book by Derek Prime. I've got a commentary of his, one on the book of Proverbs.

A Good Old Age, an A to Z of loving and following the Lord Jesus in later years. I'm looking forward to checking that out. Here's a book by Elise Fitzpatrick that our ladies are familiar with, Good News for Weary Women, Escaping the Bondage of To-Do Lists, Steps, and Bad Advice. Here's a book, Grand Parenting with Grace, Living the Gospel with the Next Generation.

So, that really intrigued me, the title. Again, I haven't read anything by Larry McCall, so I'm looking forward to that. The first speaker that spoke on Monday afternoon is Costie Hinn, and he is the nephew of Benny Hinn. God has saved him out of that prosperity gospel mess, and he's written a book, God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel, How Truth Overwhelms a Life Built on Lies. And that's what he confesses. He was building his life on a lie, he was deceived, he bought into the whole thing, and God broke in upon his life and saved him and has made him a preacher. So, I'm looking forward to reading that. God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel. And then this book, entitled For All Who Grieve, For All Who Grieve, Navigating the Valley of Sorrow and Loss. And I'm anxious to read that. Heard a lot of good preaching, came away very encouraged and helped and edified and challenged and pumped up, which is what you go to those conferences for.

Preachers need ministered to, preachers need refueled, preachers need that kind of intensified exposure. So, it was an excellent time. And I was thankful that Carla was able to go with me. I allow wives to come for like $50, so it's wonderful that she could go and enjoy.

She set in on some workshops that I didn't, which allowed us to expose ourselves to more than if it was just me there. So that was good. Well, tonight, I'd like to turn your attention to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 for some time in the word before I lead us in prayer. Ephesians chapter 3.

Let me read verses 1 through 9. Again, Paul's the author of this letter, wrote it to the church at Ephesus. He says, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Paul says there in verse 8, To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Those are remarkable words when you consider who it was that wrote them. Paul, the great apostle Paul, whose preaching and ministry turned the world upside down. The founder of many churches wrote 14 of the inspired epistles, worker of miracles, a man who suffered beatings and stonings and shipwreck and many other dangers for the sake of the gospel.

Notice what he says about himself. He says that he is less than the least of all the saints. What Paul says about his authority to preach, that it's from God, the grace that's been given and what Paul preaches about, what is the focus or the object or the subject of his preaching. He says that it is the unsearchable riches of Christ. That's what he delights in, that's what he's been commissioned to do, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. So first what Paul says about himself.

Less than the least of all the saints. Part of us says, come on Paul, you're one of the greatest of the greats. What is this? Veiled pride masquerading as false humility?

No, that's not what this is. Paul had an accurate assessment of himself in light of God's perfect righteousness and holiness. He knew what he was. He knew what he was, was because of the mercy and grace of God. Anything that he had accomplished, anything that he had done, anything noteworthy, he owed it all to the grace of God.

He says similar things other places, but we won't take the time to look at those things. But here in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 8, he refers to himself as the least of all the saints. In 1 Corinthians 15, 9 he refers to himself as the least of all the apostles. And in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15, he refers to himself as the chief of sinners.

So what do we see here? We see that Paul did not have a big head. Paul wasn't full of himself. Paul did not have an inflated opinion of his accomplishments. He knew that he was who he was by the grace of God. And in anything that he had been privileged to accomplish, he owed all of that to the grace of God. You see, humility will keep us seeing and assessing our lives correctly.

Pride, on the other hand, distorts, deceives, and causes a man to have an inflated opinion of himself. Paul did not. I'm keeping an eye on the time here, trying to make room for all that I care to say and time also to pray. But you see, Paul had a desire. His desire he speaks of in numbers of places, but what comes to my mind right now is Philippians 3, 10, where he says that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

Paul says that I might know him. Well, Paul, you do know him, but Paul says that I might know him in a deeper way, that I might grow in my knowledge of him. The more knowledge of God we have, the deeper will be our sense of sin and personal unworthiness in the presence of this thrice holy God. The more we understand the holiness of God, the more conscious we become of our own unholiness. Luke 2, verse 5, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

What mind is that? This spirit of humility manifested, demonstrated to us in the person of Jesus Christ. You see, it's evident that Paul regarded the main work of the apostles to be that of preaching. The good news of the gospel. You recall there the record of his conversion and it's almost simultaneous that his conversion and his call to ministry are simultaneous.

They take place at the same time. This grace was given, he says, that I should preach. Preaching is a great privilege, a serious responsibility, a sacred trust in stewardship. And as an ambassador, our responsibility is to be faithful, to represent and deliver the message that's been entrusted to us. We're to herald, we're to preach, we're to declare a message. And we have, as a herald, no authority to change the message or augment the message or delete the message or choose what we think is more important about the message than others. No, we have a message that we will be held accountable for in our distribution of it. We're to say no more and we're to say no less than what God has said.

And because He said so much, we better get busy declaring what He has said. There's no room for foolishness and other things. Because the message that Paul is preaching is what? The unsearchable riches of Christ. The subject is Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ.

You can't exhaust this subject. So, I want to ask a question and then give you an answer, not the only answer, but an answer. Someone were to say to you, and you were in a conversation with somebody, about the gospel. And that's what Paul was declaring. He was declaring the gospel. The gospel had been entrusted to him and he was preaching it. But if you were in a discussion with somebody, you were witnessing to somebody, and the question came up or it became apparent that you had to define what it is that you were talking about. And the issue is, well, what is the gospel? Where would you go? What would you say?

Where would you point to give a clear, definitive, concise answer to that question? What is the gospel? Well, the gospel is good news. It is the good news. And when we say news, that helps us, I think, to get our mind around that we're talking about something that has transpired in history. This is news.

It's worthy to report. It's historical fact. And my mind goes to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let me read four verses there in 1 Corinthians 15 from the English Standard Version. Paul, again, he's the writer there to the church in Corinth, and he says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

And there's more there about the resurrection and His appearances and His ascension, but we'll stop there. But there is a concise description of the gospel. The gospel is the good news concerning Jesus Christ, and it relates to His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And Paul says this is something that needs to be preached, this is something that needs to be heralded, because it's good news, and it's something that when people hear it, they are enabled by the Spirit of God to receive it. And that's what he's saying to the church at Corinth.

I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. Now that helps, I think, clarify, at least in our minds, the essence here of the gospel. Some people have this idea that the gospel is the entry point to the Christian life.

It's the ABCs. And once you have received the gospel, then it's time to go on to deeper things. And depending on the church you're in, and depending on the culture and the history of the church, the deeper things can be a variety of things.

The deeper life and the deeper things could be the issues of eschatology and so on and so forth. But I want you to see what he says here to the believers there in Corinth. The gospel is something that Paul preached, it's something that they received, and it's something in which they stand.

They're standing before God is rooted in the gospel. It's not in what you do, it's what Christ has done for you. That He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He paid the penalty for our sins and secured our forgiveness.

But He's done more than that. Our sin was imputed to Christ. He died as a substitute in the place of sinners, but the other aspect of imputation is that His righteousness is imputed to us. And that's why we can stand before a holy God. Because we stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now I think most of you have probably heard justification described this way, that justification is just as if I'd never sinned. And that's true, that much of it is true, but there's more to it than that.

That's only the first aspect of imputation. Our sins are forgiven, they've been cast into the deepest sea, they've been hidden as far as the east is from the west. So God makes a declaration that we are accepted, we are made righteous before Him and He sees us just as if we'd never sinned. But the fact that the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account, God sees us not only as if we'd never sinned, but God sees us as if we'd always obeyed every command that He had given. That Christ has secured for us a perfect record of obedience.

And therefore we have been delivered from a performance mentality. And there's a lot of people who profess to be believers who begin every day wondering, I wonder how God will view my life today. And they have in their mind this image of God and God saying, okay, let's see what you've got today, let's see how you're going to live today. And by how you execute your day, how you live your day will depend on how I view you at the end of the day.

And you see, that's a horrible perspective. It does violence to the gospel because our acceptance before God is not based on how well we live today. Our acceptance before God is based on the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So when we come to the end of our day and pillow our head, we are pillowing our head comforted by knowing that we are accepted in the beloved.

That God has received us through the merits of His Son. And God is smiling upon us. God is not frowning on us. God is not reviewing our day and say, well, you know what, you did pretty good, but what about this and what about that?

And I wish you'd have said this and I wish you hadn't have done that. Some of us entertain thoughts like that and our theology needs to get corrected. God couldn't be any more pleased with us if we've believed on His Son. Now, does that mean it doesn't matter how we live?

No, it matters greatly how we live. Notice what it says here. You've received this gospel in which you stand and by which you are being saved.

Well, what is that? If I've been justified, what is this about being saved? Well, that's progressive sanctification. That's making progress in conformity to Christ's likeness by which you are being saved. This is how we cooperate with the indwelling Spirit of God and our life begins to manifest more and more evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. We are changed from one degree of glory to the next.

So, there's both aspects here. We are striving after holiness. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. We're seeking to honor the Lord and please the Lord and demonstrate our love for Him by keeping His commandments, but we're doing that not to earn favor but because we've received favor. We've received merit and our efforts are motivated by gratitude for what God has already done for us.

So, there's far more to be said but time has gotten away from us tonight. Pray for me as I stand here, Lord willing, on Sunday morning to preach to you. It's a busy week but God's sufficient, His grace is sufficient and I'm confident that I am prayed for, that you do pray for your pastors.

Let me lead us in prayer as we consider these needs that are before us. Father, we bow to give you thanks and praise. We love you today. We love you this evening for the revelation of yourself and the person of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, our God. We marvel that we are accepted in Him, that we have been received by you through Him and that we have this standing before you.

And what a standing. How the ground of our profession is Jesus and His blood. There isn't a better place to be standing in this sinful, corrupt, wicked world than there. So, we thank you, God, for placing our feet on the solid rock of Christ Jesus. We thank you, God, that you are mindful of us and our needs. You've asked us to pray. You've commanded us to pray, to bring our petitions before you, our prayers, our petitions. And we ask our God that you'd be mindful of us tonight, that you'd hear us as we intercede for the needs of others. We pray for Ken and Sue Elliott and their needs and ask you to return them to a full measure of health. We rejoice in what you've already done for Tiana Bethea, for Trinity French, for Dawn Hammond, for Leanne Michael-Hannon. We pray that you'd help Mary Shaw as she recovers from this shoulder surgery. Draw near to her and make this process a speedy one in her circumstances. For Isaiah Slauson, Lord, please keep this young boy from infection.

Cause this surgery to accomplish the things that doctors have purposed for it. Thank you that Shirley Watkins has returned home and has regained strength and you've protected her from COVID infection. Thank you for Patty, who loves her mama and cares for her so diligently. Lord, we pray for Nellie Hunter tonight and ask you to help her in this healing of her elbow. We thank you, God, for what we've heard concerning Dr. John Johnson in California. We pray that you would continue to bring renewed health to him, that he'll soon be able to come off the ventilator. Thank you that Jane was able to go and be with Becky and to see her brother, or to hear about him, not be able to see him because of the COVID.

Lord, we've been reminded that Lillie Norris has fallen and cracked her left wrist and a bone in her arm. We pray that you'd help her to deal with the pain and discomfort here. We thank you for Larry and Lillie and their love for you and this church and the ministry that they carry on. And we love them, God. We thank you that they're friends and that they're her brothers and sisters of ours. We thank you for Art Pope. We ask you to strengthen this dear brother. And Lord, we thank you that Richie Mearns, we thank you that he was able to have this surgery that was needed, dental surgery. We pray that you'd help him to heal.

Lord, we're mindful of Ben Vestal and the fact that he's come to the end of his life or is very much fastly approaching the end. We pray you'll give him dying grace and we thank you for the evidence and this correspondence from his daughter, Courtney, that you've done very much that. Help him to finish well, Lord. We thank you that his reward awaits him. And what is that reward? We talk about rewards, but what is that reward?

It's eternal enjoyment and communion with the Father and with the Son. Lord, help him to fix his eye and hope upon that. And Lord, may it be wonderful consolation to him. And Lord, may you allow him to receive the medication, to manage his pain, to be able to stay at the home until you call him away.

We just commit him to you. And for the Bixbys as they've come here to the States, we thank you for the way you've arranged for their travel. And we ask our God to keep them healthy and spare them this COVID infection. We pray for the memorial service for Ruth's father. We thank you for this man and his testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you, God, for saving this man, for making him a blessing.

And Lord, nothing catches you by surprise. We thank you that these are opportunities for your grace to be on display in our lives, for us to show to a watching world what hope looks like, what real, true, biblical hope looks like. Lord, they're going to sorrow, and they are sorrowing, but not as those who have no hope.

So we rejoice in the hope that we have in our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We pray for these who have been called away from family, Linda Bruner and that family, and the family of Herman Holifield and the family of Jim Trulick. We pray that you'll minister, Lord, to these families who've been affected by the passing of these loved ones. For Ken Elliott's brother, who's facing yet another surgery on his lung, we ask you to cause this to accomplish what the doctors are wanting to do. Thank you for the good report concerning Lee Ann Michael Hannon's father, Gaylord Remo. Thank you that he's apparently is going to be spared of chemotherapy and radiation.

We pray that he'll be strong enough to endure this surgery, to remove that portion of his lung that's cancerous. Lord, thank you for your kindness in this. Lord, we are mindful of the needs of our country, and, Lord, we pray, our God, that you'd show yourself to be strong on behalf of those whose hearts are made right toward you. Give boldness to the churches and your people as they stand. Help them not to be timid. Help them not to be cowardly. Help them to speak a word in season. Help our lights to shine.

Help us to be salt in this decaying culture. And, Lord, if it would please you to preserve this United States of America, that you'd bring peace to our streets and to government. Lord, we pray that your will would be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Lord, we thank you that you are our God. We thank you that you are everything that we have need of. Help us to have and find our satisfaction in you.

Lord, we thank you for the pains, for allowing them to come stateside and see their family and see this 85-year-old mother. We thank you, God, for how your word instructs us to hold loosely to the things of this world, that we're, again, been reminded that we're nothing but a steward of the things you've entrusted to us. And we would ask you to minister to the church there in the absence of Tony and his wife as they've labored in that place. Grow your church, Lord, there we pray. We pray the same for the churches in Zimbabwe and for gospel-centered, Bible-believing churches here in Alamance County and in areas that we know. We pray that you'll bless the preaching of your word, that it would go forth with power, that it would bear fruit, that it would save the lost, that it would build up the churches, that you'd fortify and strengthen for the battle ahead. Lord, hear us. Hear us, Lord, through your son, your only son, your lovely son, your son who gave himself for us, we pray in his name, amen and amen.