The Discipline of Grace

Christianity is distinctly relational. The measure of a man's walk with God is determined by his commitment to his brothers and sisters in Christ. Inseparable. You can't divorce your relationship with the saints for a vertical relationship with God. It's amazing in the New Testament over and over again. This is how you judge your own heart before the Lord. It's how committed you are to other people. I've been blessed. I've been the beneficiary of so many precious friendships and and now more and more that's growing. In the early days I was kind of assessed as a very hard-hitting person, you know, that was unapproachable and that was to my detriment. That was really to the demise of future relationships that I'll never have an opportunity of establishing and cultivating again. But I'm so thankful for the body of Christ and how I'm so encouraged and impacted and provoked to love and good works by hanging around people. And some of the people I hang out with are not cool people, not in the world's eyes, not even in evangelicalism's eyes. They're kind of weird, they're strange, but I see the reality of God in them and I never come away from having time with them that I don't tremendously benefit. Many of you know I've been with HeartCry Missionary Society for the last 14 years and I can't tell you the impact that Christ has made on my life through Brother Paul Washer. And there are fun times we have where we can kind of joke and there are other times that are gravely serious. And just share a little thought with you here. Paul was coming through and stayed in our home back I guess a couple of years back and came out to my study and we're talking and he's walking around and looking at different things and he's got this cynical smile on his face. And I said, what's wrong with you? And he's looking at my figurines that somebody gave me of John Calvin and Martin Luther and then I've got these busts there of Bunyan and Spurgeon and William Tyndall and Whitfield. He starts shaking his head back and forth. He said, I'll tell you what's wrong with me. He said, all this idolatry. And I said, brother, you're just jealous because I don't have one of you. And he snickered and moved on. But anyway, we have a wonderful relationship. I learned so much from Paul and I learned so much from you and some of you have become very dear friends here at the church. And by the way, I want to commend you for your labor of love and having us back, Cindy and I, and just what you've done over the years for us. I've really enjoyed a special bond and relationship with Brother Mark and of course, Sister Linda. But thank you, Faith Family of Sovereign Grace Community Church for having us. You've been an immense blessing to us. Now today, if you would, after a lot of struggle as to what the Lord would have me share, because Mike did a wonderful job. I mean, Michael's message, I felt like really just kind of connected with what we looked at last night. And so I'm saying, Lord, do you want us to continue to track along those lines or do you want to go in a different direction? And I feel like maybe this too will be kind of a connection to the two previous messages so far. So I want to speak this afternoon on the discipline of grace, the discipline of grace. And if you would, take your Bibles and look with me in Titus chapter number 2. Titus chapter number 2. And once again, in the foreboding hour in which we live in with all the apostasy and hypocrisy and people departing from the faith over such things as Christian liberty abuse and social justice and abusive spiritual authority and on and on it goes. And perhaps this is a very good wake up call for us. If you would, let me direct your attention to Titus chapter 2. And I'm just going to cut right to the chase here, if you would, without doing any damage to the context. Let me just begin in verse number 11. Titus chapter 2 verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one make you an object of contempt or let no one despise you. The discipline of grace. Now in this next few moments, I want us to look at a few significant things. So to give you a very clear outline as to where we sense God is leading, and of course that's always subject to change, but this is what we really seek to cover with the Lord's help this afternoon. First of all, I want you to see that the idea of godliness is the result of not the believer's self- effort only, but the aid of grace. The grace that saves is the grace that sustains and the grace that motivates. I want you also to see with me that is the best motivator for a life of godliness in the life of the believer. This grace concept, it gives us great incentive to be spirit-owned for the praise of his glory. And then also other purposes we'll include in these next few moments. The defining of the nature of that grace that disciplines toward godliness, very important. Seeing how it teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, but once again, that's not the end. Lastly, how it disciplines us to live holy in a spiritually toxic world. So we look at these things this afternoon, and first of all, I want to say praise be to God for his grace, because it has so many dimensions, it has so many implications, and we need them all as Christians. Now grace is a beautiful thing, brethren. We adore grace. It has been defined as that desire that God gives us to will and to do of his good pleasure. Are you listening? It's God giving us the desire to will and to do of his good pleasure. That is grace. Believers are saved by grace, and they're sanctified by grace. That is the test of true grace is that it sanctifies, it makes a man or a woman holy. It's interesting when the grace principle is properly understood and applied, it affords the best incentive for godliness, and that's what he's talking about here. You see, for most believers, a performance-driven life sadly has been preferred because it seemed like that's a part of our remaining nature as Christians, is we default to performance, what we can do to please God. Because of an ignorance of grace, not a few have chosen the performance-based Christian life. Now watch. Much of my own Christian life, I can testify to personally, has been the result of a low view of God that gave me a nagging sense that I never measured up. Can you identify? I always felt I had to prove myself to gain God's approval. This is important. Now listen. My approach for pleasing Him was thinking that I had to do righteousness to be more righteous. But I've had a radical paradigm shift theologically. I've learned experientially that I'm doing righteousness because I've already been made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, and so are you. You know something of that reality. Now this is what is commonly referred to as a performance treadmill when we're trying to help God, which consists, by the way, of a lot of activity, but very little progress. Hang with me. I live many times with an oppressive sense that I always had to measure up to a standard of perfection to meet Father's approval. Consequently, every attempt to please Him, I found, fell short in my mind of really meriting the smile of God. But we'll be referencing some of what Mr. Bridges said. I'm talking about Jerry Bridges. But understand at this hour that if you're in Christ, every day and every hour is a good day and a good hour. I'm not going to hell. God has placed by His own predetermined sovereign good pleasure to put or fixate His smile upon me because of what Christ has done. So this is great liberty. You see, one of the greatest gifts is a grace that teaches us, watch this now, to be godly. That's the nature of His grace. You'll note once again, verses 11 and 12, for the grace of God that brings salvation, this is out of the New King James, has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Now did you catch that? Grace teaches the believer to be godly in this present world. If it's not, you're not a beneficiary of grace. It is a grace principle that is permanently resident in our lives as believers that affords us the assurance of godliness. Listen, whether we are deliberate in exercising ourself for godliness or not, the discipline that we talked about last night enhances the power, the influence of that grace. But nonetheless, friend, the dynamic is still resident within us. And it manifests itself, it exudes its influence upon our life. The grace of God instills within us a divine nature by which we are enabled to escape the corruption of the world's lust. We are able. In this message now, listen, you'll note that there are three aspects of this grace that every true believer will encounter. They know the experience of this. They are the discipline of grace, the denial of grace, and then the direction of grace. I'm not good at alliteration, but sometimes it happens. And if it helps, okay, fine. I'm not driven by that. But listen, listen to these three points this afternoon. First of all, you'll notice back in verse 12 the grace of God teaches us. And this is very significant. Listen. The expression, the discipline of grace, which I've used in my first point here, seems to be a contradiction. Discipline and grace together? Can they even coexist in the same sentence? How could the words discipline and grace appear in the same statement? You see, the word grace implies a freedom from rules, while the word discipline suggests restraint, or as we said yesterday, even legalism. How can these two words coexist? Now watch this. A proper understanding of these terms in their biblical context, by the way, will show us that they are not in opposition to one another, but rather they complement one another. And let me explain why. You might wonder where I found the word discipline in the text. I use the word the grace of God teaches us or disciplines us. It is found in that phrase. You see, the word teaching entails far more than simply communicating knowledge. It is a Greek word that is packed with implications. More properly defined, it means intuitive conviction or a spiritual dynamic that is supernatural divine. Jerry Bridges, one of the sisters mentioned this to me, said I noticed you had a different take on it. You're talking about the grace of discipline. Have you read Jerry Bridges' book, The Discipline of Grace? And I have. But in that book, here's what he said concerning the discipline of grace. The word translated as teach here means much more than the usual idea we assign to it of imparting knowledge. Originally it was used as a term for the rearing of children and included not only instruction, but also admonition, reproof, and punishment, all administered in love for the benefit of children. You see in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4, Paul says he exhorts the fathers to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And the word nurture there is a word that means educate or train under discipline. Once again Bridges continues to comment. The very same grace that brings salvation also trains us to live lives that are pleasing to God. Did you catch it? It also is training us, disciplining us, to live lives that are a sweet-smelling savor before the Lord. All of God's disciplinary processes are grounded in his grace. We tend to equate discipline with rules and performance. God equates it with firm but loving care for our souls. So listen, while the grace of God does instill a sense of what is good and evil, it also provides a dynamic that trains or disciplines us to say no to evil and yes to good. Therefore, listen, there is a strong suggestion of discipline in the word teaching. It's probably even more accurate to say that this grace disciplines us, and hence Jerry Bridges' book title as well as the content of the book. That's what he expounds on. Now listen carefully. The grace of God that brings salvation also trains or disciplines God's children. It begins to discipline God's people at the moment of regeneration. I don't know about you, friend, but it's a perplexing thing today to see how so many people in their message and in their life, they've taken amazing out of grace. Where is the supernatural? Where is the power of the Holy Spirit? We're not talking about, once again, perfection. We're talking about perseverance. Not everybody brings forth sixty and a hundredfold. Some may only bring forth tenfold, but every child of God yields something that is distinctly other. Every child of God. Although the discipline required for Godness in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 that we looked at yesterday can be neglected by a life. Watch. Why is that? Because while there may be an absence of self-discipline, there is never an absence that grace disciplines. It's always at work. It's aboundingly effectual. This is a principle that must be faithfully taught. Watch, brothers and sisters, because if it isn't, people will assume that they tend to grow by their performance. They default to that. If there's one thing that you should accrue an understanding of above everything that you're pursuing right now is growth is by grace. Real spiritual stable growth is by grace, not our performance. But the foundation of that is something that is divine. Now before we move on, there's something of vital importance here that we need to underscore. There are some in our day who, for whatever reason, seem to divorce salvation from discipline or sanctification. They believe that grace has the power to save them, but not the power to train them. Have you noticed that this is becoming one of the greatest heresies in our hour that's producing so many false converts in the name of Christendom? My son, who's a pastor in Clearwater, Florida, he and a group of his people went to a church down in South Florida, a very large affluent church, very renowned pastor, written a number of books, had this conference. As they were teaching, one of the older men on the platform taught one day about how he had been counseling in the context of that congregation a man who had for 15 years a battle with the bottle. He drank excessively, became drunk consistently. So this man, the minister in the church, had been counseling this fellow, and finally this man died in his drunkenness. And then my son and the others, they heard it correctly as he heralded the fact, he said, I believe one day I'll see that man in heaven. I don't know how in the world he reconciled that assessment with 1st Corinthians chapter 6, that says, know you not, that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This was disturbing. It should be disturbing to us in this hour. Was he truly a partaker of saving grace that teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts? Finally, one more comment from Bridges. He says, the grace that brings salvation to us also disciplines us. It does not do the one without the other. That is, listen, God never saves people and leaves them alone to continue in their spiritual maturity and sinful lifestyle. Those whom he saves, he disciplines. The inseparability, Mr. Bridges says, of grace and spiritual discipline is a sobering truth. Emphasis, sobering. So with that said, here's the second point I want you to see. Not only does it discipline, but I want you to consider with me the denial of grace. Very simply, in verse 12, it says, teaching us, disciplining us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. Now please pay attention for a moment. The biblical concept of the grace that teaches us has both a negative and a positive effect. You see, on the one hand, it is teaching us to deny ungodliness and lust, while on the other hand, it is teaching us to live holy. The word denying here, by the way, means to reject, refuse, or turn away. Divine grace, watch, enables a true believer to abhor that which is ungodly. A true believer cannot freely indulge in evil. While he can sin, he cannot sin freely and habitually with joy. Why? Why is that? Because if he's saved, grace is still tutoring him, mentoring him, disciplining him, it is still exerting its influence upon his life. Walked one morning into a McDonald's to eat breakfast with Brother Paul. I walked up to the counter. I didn't know Paul very well at the time, but I'll never forget this. As we came to the counter and placed our order, the waitress, she put the tray down, and then she put a placemat or a tray mat on it, and I caught a glance of it. It was a female dance team that was very immodestly clad, and Paul saw it at a glance, and he picked it up, and he turned it face down. As I noticed Paul's walk, I noticed that was consistent. It reflected discipline, that he was doing anything he could in the way of discretion, in the way of prudence to make sure that nothing was left unchecked that would cause him to stumble. Yet so many professors, they watch the Internet. They play with vipers on the Internet. They watch things on television that are unbecoming to holiness, and they wonder why God is not a reality. The desire to pursue godliness, friend, is found in grace power to enable the true believer to shun evil. But what, listen, this is important, now listen carefully, what enhances this though, the influence of it, to live for righteousness, is when we take the initiative in faith to discipline ourself to godliness. Once again, grace is resident, but what we do, we seem to enhance the effect, the dynamic, the influence of grace in our life, when we, by faith, exercise ourself to godliness. Let me illustrate. Grace may not be as evident to help us if we are not consistently applying spiritual disciplines. For example, spiritual watchfulness is needed to enhance grace's influence in disciplining us. You see, if a believer deliberately makes himself more conscientious of his carnal tendency to yield to certain temptations by the discipline of watchfulness, he will be more consciously aware of grace's presence. You heard that, didn't you? It's true. You see, to be watchful is to guard against those circumstances that lead to sin. And when spiritual disciplines are applied, brothers and sisters, listen, the believer so quickly and more easily overcomes temptation. It is good for a Christian to enjoy grace's training dynamic when faced with evil. But it is far better, I might say infinitely better, when a believer disciplines himself. Because all of a sudden, the influence of that dynamic of grace that was placed there by the sovereign work of God is expanded. And more and more, my sensitivity to temptation and sin is increased. Don't miss it. We should remember that saving grace is supernatural in its ability to teach us to deny ungodliness. But listen, we need discipline to enhance the awareness of that grace that enables us to endure these enticements and sins of our age. And because of the neglect of that, apostasy is running rampant. I had no condescending perspective of Robbie Zacharias. Consider yourself, lest you also be tempted. Michael, in the last message, one phrase really stood out to me. Perhaps if you're losing the connection, the sensitivity to the Lord, his presence, you need to clear your schedule. You can get so busy for God that all of a sudden you're down on a downward spiral where you start substituting good things for the best thing. And if that begins to happen, friend, you'll start substituting evil things for that which is good. Apostasy. The high road to apostasy comes through the venue of neglect. Thirdly, consider with me for a few moments the directive of grace. Verse 12. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly. That's what he says. This grace is disciplining, it's mentoring, it's training us to say no to worldly lusts, but yes to these things that are marks of fellowship with God. Now here's what I want you to see. The third aspect of the grace that disciplines is what it leads to. Don't miss this now. Once again, you will notice that this saving grace has a twofold effect of teaching. It has a negative and a positive impact as it teaches to deny, but also to live in a godly manner. It's significant, brothers and sisters. When we cultivate greater awareness of grace teaching dynamic for godliness, we not only turn away more easily from evil, but we are much more readily inclined to walk in righteousness. I mean, it just seemed like the Christian life. Yes, it's still a battle. Yes, we have to fight the good fight of faith, but listen, there is a marked difference because you are more readily inclined to be obedient to God and to walk before Him and to know the sweetness of His presence. You don't want to offend Him. Sobriety here, that it leads to, means to be self-controlled. I don't see very much temperance in the lives of so many professing believers in North America today. And once again, I'm talking about Reformed churches, especially among young people. You see, it pictures a man under the influence of grace who keeps his fleshly appetites in check. He knows the grace-giving principle of self-restraint. I'm over in, it was Italy, with a missionary that's not connected with heart cry, sitting down there for a conference, and our dear brother, precious brother in Christ, Keith, twice during the meeting, I started a conversation that leads to one of my tendencies that I have to constantly be conscious of and seek to quickly mortify, and that is to be critical. And on two different occasions, I mentioned some negative comment about a certain person, and both times, Keith said, well, let's pray for them. And so, Don, would you lead us? And man, I'm just rebuked. I'm smitten. The second word here that characterizes the life governed by the discipline of grace is the word righteousness. It is defined as, this is what it means, justly or full of integrity, conveys the idea of something dealing with others in an honest way. That's the implication, dealing with other people in a way that's honest. There is no inconsistency, by the way, between saving grace and preferring others above yourself. You see, once again, dishonesty is a contradiction to a professing Christian that is supposed to be a recipient of this divine dynamic of grace. Then finally, the third word is godly. As it's mentioned, it portrays, once again, the grace dynamic. The term speaks of our relationship with God more vertical. It entails a comprehensive display of holiness as the believer's perspective of life, speech, behavior, where he traffics, what he watches, increasingly takes on the character of a holy God. So here's what we see. The positive effect of the discipline of grace points a real Christian to Christ's likeness. That is what one should expect in the life of a believer, any believer, who is governed by grace and orients himself toward godliness. Brother Durham and I, we seem to have read, tracked in the same area, even when we were very Arminian, you know, and everything we mentioned the way of a book or an author or something, you know, yeah, yeah, I know who you're talking about. One guy that was very precious to my wife and I was a man who wrote the book The Calvary Road by Roy Heshin. And we had the privilege when we were young to do a conference with Roy Heshin. And one night, after the service was over, we went to a local Shoney's or something, some restaurant, Cindy, my wife, had to go back and get the kids down. They were very small at the time. And so I went out and I spent some time with Roy and his wife. And during our conversation, I asked him about a certain English preacher. I said, you know this British preacher? And he said, yes. He said, I do. And I said, you know, he's had a wonderful ministry. I really appreciate his heart and all. And Roy said, yes, yes. And then he proceeded by saying, you know, he is a good brother, Brother Don, but he said he just really hasn't come into the message of grace as of yet. It didn't mean grace for salvation, it meant grace for sanctification. We went on to something else and talked. We talked for about an hour and a half before we went back to the motel. Next morning, I had the first session. This group of preachers and laymen that are in there, and Brother Heshin is sitting toward the front. I preach. Nothing I said had anything to do with the night before. But he comes walking up to me, and he's just a very short little man. You can imagine, I'm six foot seven. And he looks up at me, and he said, Brother Don, could I have a word with you? And I said, yes, Brother Roy, what is it? He said, last night you asked me about a certain English preacher. And I said, yeah. He said, Brother, in my comments, I made a negative remark about him. I was critical. Would you please forgive me? The guy was 80 years old. They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of their God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing to show that the Lord, he is upright. He was still walking the Calvary Road. What do you attribute that to? Grace. So in conclusion this afternoon, let me press this upon your thinking. The foundation of a life that is not wasted consists of a work of saving grace that instills within the heart of every Christian a principle of self-denying discipline. This principle, once again now we're kind of rehearsing, the principle is comprised of a dynamic of conviction that leads a believer to deny sin and to delight in godliness. And listen, men and women, while this dynamic is very powerful in its capacity to enable the child of God to turn away from evil and live holy, it needs the collaboration of our part, our effort, in disciplining ourself unto godliness. You see, such disciplines as reading the Scripture, mortifying sin, spiritual watchfulness, and the worship of Christ serve to strengthen the influence of the grace principle toward godliness. It would be a start for some people if they would connect with the faith family that they are a part of. Church is more than just showing up on Sunday morning, given the hospitality. By the way, for what it's worth, we have folks from our church over to our house. Cindy will fix a really nice meal, and we sit there in the living room while she's finishing up, and then we go to the table, and we'll have the meal, and we'll sit and talk for a little while, and then we have a devotional time right after that. And after the devotion, we play games. So you've got the spiritual aspect, and then, man, all of a sudden you see a whole different person when people get into some game. I can't believe people's competitive nature, and at times I sit there and I say, man, I'm sure I'm glad. I don't know anybody else like that. I'm just as competitive as they are. But it produces something. There's a bonding. There's a special encouragement there using hospitality. So here's what I leave you. First of all, understand that grace teaches to say no. No. They asked Tim Keller, they said, why is it the young generation's having such a difficult time laying their hands on spiritual realities? You know what he said? Noise and distraction, it's easier to tweet than it is to pray. You see, to gain a greater appreciation of the grace that teaches us, we need a broader understanding of sin, what our brother shared in the previous hour. As servants of Christ, we can ill afford, brothers and sisters, listen, we can ill afford for our view of sin to be limited to a few unrighteous sins. Someone said years ago, if one's view of sin were only shallow enough, sinless perfection would not be an impossible attainment. We need to be as conscientious of the sins of disposition as we are the sins of omission and commission. One guy, you know, recently confessed. He said, I let my eschatology divide me with members of the body of Christ. You know what he said? He was a dispensationalist, but he said, I'm convinced that my dispensation was right, but my disposition was wrong. Why can't I see beyond, friend? I mean, these things, social justice and other things, they divide in the body of Christ. Why can't we see beyond that and see the corporate behind it all that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and then see the providential purposes of God, that God just wants me to shore up my relationship with these people and love them more dearly. You see, our view of ungodliness is often limited to that which is immoral, dishonest, or corrupt, but our perspective of sin needs to be broadened. We need to have an expanded comprehension of our own sin, of the acts of disobedience in our life. Watch, and perhaps we need to begin with such self-righteous sins as professional jealousy, selfish ambition, spiritual pride, and sectarianism. You say, how can we, you say to those ungodly sins in our life, how can we really deal with them? How can we cultivate this conscientiousness? Listen, the ability to say no is given to those who do not underestimate the deceitfulness of their own heart, but are willing, men and women, to stand on the abyss of their heart and deplore the wickedness of respectable sins that they have grown accustomed to. The greatest battle I find is not my brothers in Christ or the enemies, the adversaries that God has ordained to perfect the life of Christ in me. The greatest adversary is the man that I battle on the turf of my own heart. It's me. And it's you. So what does it mean to say no to ungodliness and worldly lust when grace helps you to see it? Bridges, once again, one final parting comment says, it means a decisive break with those attitudes and practices. A decisive break. I like that. A brother, a friend of mine who's a pastor, told me he had a beautiful life. I mean, his character was so Christlike, and as we began to know each other more and more, he told me, he said, Brother Don, I don't just casually confess my sin. He said, what I do is I take the time that when God points out something in my life, it's like I put it on the table before me, and I look at it, and then I pray, God, enable me to see that sin the way you see it, and to feel about that sin the way you feel about it. And he said, the more I meditate on it in the process of confession, the more I find glorious help in legitimately repenting of that sin. I don't easily go back to it. Here's the interesting thing about the Puritans and the Reformers. You rarely in their writings or sermons see where they tell people, inform their congregations of people they preach to of what their sin was doing to them, but aboundingly so. They inform people of what their sin is doing to God. You ever think about it? Deprives God of his glory and praise, robs the kingdom of God, and grieves the heart of God. Think about this. How would you feel if you were married, and maybe you are married, you come in unexpectedly one day, and you find your mate in the bed with another person. Wouldn't that grieve you? That's microscopic compared to what your sin does in grieving the heart of God. And I love what the French Bible says. It's translated Ephesians chapter 4, when it says, grieve not the Holy Spirit, it literally means do not make to cry the Holy Spirit. Do you ever think about what your sin does to God? Grace teaches us to say no, but it also teaches us to say yes. This is a beautiful balance. Often in the scripture you will find that a negative and positive admonition are given under divine inspiration, and in the text that we're looking at right here, Paul offsets the negative command denying ungodliness and worldly lust with a positive command to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Now here's my parting comment. When grace is disciplining you and I, we experience self-restraint, honesty, godliness. These virtues, men and women, represent three distinct relationships. Ourselves, other people, and our God. The discipline of grace is not compartmentalized. All these areas reflect the effects of godliness at the same time. In other words, you say, well I'm doing well in my walk with God, but yet I've got some in my church that I just can't seem to communicate with. There's something that's there. There's an existing contempt that we just can't get by. I'm telling you, friend, you're conscious of all three areas. You don't just compartmentalize one over the others. The discipline of grace should never be looked upon as oppressive and legalistic. Both the principle that teaches us and the command to discipline ourselves were provided as extraordinary gestures of God's mercy. Therefore, listen, without their presence, without their presence in our lives, we'll self-destruct. You cannot neglect one for the other. Make sure that you have the fruit of regeneration which indicates the divine dynamic of grace within you. But listen, friend, with all of your heart before the Lord, apply yourself to discipline toward godliness. It'll make all the difference in the world. Grace is beautiful and grace is balanced. Take advantage of it. Let's pray together. So Father, once again we're grateful today that you care for us. Lord, this is no common, no passing remark. Lord, what depth that you care for us. Thank you for the far-reaching effects of this grace that enables us to do the will of your good pleasure. Father, increase our sensitivity to sin, but most importantly, increase our conscientiousness of Christ. May he be the object of all of our affection, our thoughts. May everything center in him. Please help your people. Help me. Lord, we walk very humbly before you in these days. Nothing within our hearts, Lord, we trust. Nothing within anyone's heart that would reek of a censuring spirit that we judge others. We look down on them because they've failed and we haven't. Help us, Father, to be servants of love and epistles of diligence in the King's household in exercising ourself to be godly. We love you. I love you. In Jesus' name, amen.