I Endure All Things #1

So this morning, we're going to be continuing on in our study of 2 Timothy in chapter 2. We've been studying verses 1 through 7. This week we're going to be moving on to and reading verses 8 through 13, though my sermon is largely just from verse 8. We'll be going into the following verses in weeks to come. Up to this point in 2 Timothy, this whole epistle has been aimed at moving Timothy To be willing to suffer hardship along with Paul and along with Jesus Christ. To be faithful in his work as a minister of the gospel. As I consider this passage and the baptisms that we have coming up later, I've become convinced that second to baptism, suffering is God's mark that he places on his people, on his chosen ones. And he does it for many reasons. He does it to purge us of our sins, to make us more holy.

He does it to make us feel our daily need of him and his mercy because of how quick and how often we are to go astray. He also does it to reveal himself to the watching world as they observe his faithfulness being demonstrated through his people as they suffer. And so as we come to our text this morning, I want you to know that the theme of this book has been suffering. And this morning, what we're going to be considering is that suffering is often the instrument that's in God's hand as he works on us and makes us more like his son Jesus. And so Paul's been driving at this point. And in our text this morning, his argument comes to its highest point. He's called Timothy to be like him, be like me, suffer hardship like me, to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He's used military service. He's used athletes as an example. He used farmers as an example, all with the focus of getting Timothy to be willing to be faithful and to suffer. This morning, he moves beyond all of those arguments to the height of his argument, the pinnacle of it, and he calls him not to be like Paul or any other man, but to be exactly like Jesus Christ as he considers the cost of faithfulness to the Lord. And so this morning, as I said, we'll be focusing on verse 8.

And my hope is that as we work through this passage, you'll be strengthened to suffer as our Lord did, having the same hope as he had. Would you please stand now as we read the word of the Lord? From 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 8 to 13. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal, But the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement. For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

for he cannot deny himself. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Now, if we were to consider Timothy and his temperament going back into the book of 1 Timothy and this far in 2 Timothy, it would be fair to say that Timothy was in constant need of strengthening. He was probably a timid man by nature. He was not the kind of guy who would have said, yes, put the spotlight on me and I'll stand there and bear it. And that way, perhaps he was different than Paul. And so you can understand in Timothy that the thing he would have been most averse to, the thing that would have been the hardest pill to swallow in suffering was that suffering often leads to death. Sometimes that suffering leads to death in the instance, you know, as Paul's suffering has led to death. Paul has suffered as he's proclaimed and he's imprisoned and he writes this letter as he's about to, about to suffer death.

for his faithfulness. Sometimes suffering precedes death in that we're faithful, we seek to be faithful in our suffering throughout our lives, but it culminates in our death at the end of it all, sometimes near and sometimes far away. And so as Timothy's being called to be a faithful minister, his and ours greatest aversion to suffering is that it leads to death. Whenever we suffer, And then under whatever terms we suffer, the thing that comes to the forefront of our minds is our own mortality. This is what pain brings to our face and makes us look at it. Whenever you've had pain, even if your pain was simply physical pain and was not the result of your faithfulness to God, if you just had broken a bone in your body, you would think this is suffering and this hurts.

and I'm not going to die. And so suffering always brings with it the thought of death. We work hard to divorce the two, to separate them, to think and to speak of suffering as though what it will produce in us is a victory. And it is true that it does produce victory, as we'll see later. But a part of that victory is death, and it's inescapable. And so it hangs over our heads as a cloud and as a weight that we try to free ourselves from. And so this is Timothy's greatest hurdle to his faithfulness, he has to consider his own weakness, his own suffering, and ultimately his own death. When we think of death or suffering, oftentimes it's easy to think of our suffering as being random, or maybe we consider it as being out of our control. We don't know why we're suffering. Though if we were to think about it, not always, but many times, We could trace the line of our suffering back to decisions and choices that we've made in our past. And as I said, not always, but sometimes. And so our choices and our actions, they accrue over time and eventually bear the fruit of our suffering that reminds us of our death that's to come. And so we work daily to avoid the thought of it. And because this type of suffering is often gradual in our lives, we try to negotiate our way through it, making small changes, just enough.

Just enough change along the way so that we can circumvent the worst possible outcomes, the worst types of suffering. But Paul calls Timothy to a different type of suffering. He doesn't call him to a suffering that's random, that's out of his control. He says, no, I'm calling you to a type of suffering that's voluntary, one that you choose. To suffer as Paul had, to suffer as Timothy's being called to do, is, in other words, to be... to intentionally put yourself in harm's way for the sake of others. Paul tells us just in a few verses later, in verse 10, as he writes this letter, as he sits in Roman prison awaiting his execution for proclaiming the gospel, he tells us why he suffers. He says, I suffer, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with an eternal glory. In other words, he says, I'm willing to suffer.

Even unto death for the sake of others. The other choice, of course, is to say, my life is precious to myself. Suffering is too high of a calling, too difficult of a burden. I cannot bear it. And so the others will have to find their own way. That Paul calls Timothy not to think of himself, but to think of others. And to join with him, voluntarily putting his life in harm's way so that others might hear and believe. And so Timothy can see the cost of faithfulness. a letter coming from his spiritual father. He's about to die, and he says, this is what you want me to do. Your desire is not first and foremost that I would live a long, happy life, but that I'd live a faithful life however long it may be, and that the length of my life should not be the determining factor of my faithfulness. And so this is the backdrop to Paul telling Timothy to remember Jesus Christ. Jesus is a better example of suffering than Paul or any of the others he's given up to this point.

First, because Paul writes as a man who hasn't yet died. And I want you to consider, if you were Timothy for a moment, if you were his son having come to faith through his ministry, and he sat in prison, condemned to death, what would your singular desire have been for Paul? Would you not have wanted him to, by some miracle, to be freed from prison and to continue to live because of your love for him? Rescue him, Lord. Through whatever means are possible from the hand of his oppressors and allow him to continue to live and to minister. This would have been Timothy's desire. The very fact that Timothy's heart would have been inclined in this way is the first reason Paul tells him to remember Jesus Christ. Because when we remember Jesus Christ, we remember that even at the last hour, he was not delivered from the hand of his oppressors. But that he was faithful even unto death. Even as he prayed.

to his father in heaven. If there be another way, may it be done. Nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. Paul calls Timothy to look at Jesus Christ to remember that suffering does lead to death. And wherever your desires may lie for me as your father, we can see that Jesus has gone before and the love of his perfect father in heaven didn't bring him to a save at the last second. Instead, When we remember Jesus Christ, we remember that God poured out all of his wrath reserved for us on his own son. And so remember him, Paul says, who bore the sins of the world. Remember him and see what your sins rightly deserve. And what those around you who don't know Jesus Christ, what their sins rightly deserve. Remember Jesus Christ as you consider the cost of suffering. Now I think when we are told to remember Jesus Christ, What I've just said to you is often what we remember. We remember his death. And it's appropriate that we would. But it's inappropriate that we would divorce or separate his death from his conquering of death. Which is exactly what Paul calls Timothy to remember. Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. If we only consider Jesus' death, which one of us won't be reduced to a heap on the floor of sorrow and grief?

with no strength in us. So Paul calls Timothy to remember Jesus not in his death only, but primarily in his resurrection, his victory over death. Now throughout history, there have been heresies of various sorts that have arisen concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some of the heresies would arise and they'd say, Jesus, there is no resurrection. All of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul aims at dispelling this idea that there's no resurrection for the dead. In that chapter of Scripture, Paul says, if there's no resurrection, if Jesus is not raised from the dead, then we above all men are most to be pitied because we're still in our sins. Others have argued that the resurrection had already happened and that we were to live as those who were left behind in this world. But today, these are not the arguments concerning the resurrection. Today, our interaction with the resurrection is simply to ignore it.

to not consider that it's happened and what the implications are of it are in our lives. When we think of Jesus Christ, we think often of his death, perhaps of his mercy to sinners, of his miracles, of his teaching, of his strength in opposing those who would do him harm. There are many things that we can remember, but I think too often we leave aside the resurrection not remembering it. And that's exactly what Paul, in the face of suffering, calls Timothy to remember. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. And so we live in our day with a resurrection that if it's to be, is very small. And even if it's to be big, it has little impact on our lives and the way that we live. This is the best motivation, the best lever that Paul has to give to Timothy.

to goad him to be faithful to the Lord and to suffer and to endure hardship and to love God and his kingdom. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. Make your decisions about what you will say and what you will do and what cost you will pay, remembering that the thing you're most afraid of is that your suffering will lead to death. The thing that you're most afraid of, even that, Jesus Christ overcame and laid it at his feet. And Paul writes this as a man who's not speaking theoretically or primarily theologically, but personally, as he considers his own end. He doesn't call Timothy to believe this as a theological truth to be at work in his head, but as a dying man to his son, join with me. Follow in my train as I follow in Jesus' train. And so if our lives are marked by suffering, whether our suffering is acute, or whether our suffering is chronic, it will attend us in some form or another until we die. And whatever circumstance our suffering finds us in or carries us through, however long it lasts, when we face death as Christians, we ought not to think this is the loss. This is the end. This is the fruit of having done something wrong. There's a song I wish we were singing today. We're not. The song is Jesus Lives and So Shall I.

And toward the end of that song, you find this verse, and I'm not going to sing it for you, but I'll read it to you. Jesus lives and death is now. But he's not saying death is now upon us, oh no, we're about to die. He's saying Jesus lives and death is now. Death now has become, through his resurrection, death has now become my entrance into glory. Courage then, my soul. Take courage then, my soul, as you suffer, for thou hast a crown of life before thee. Thou shall find thy hopes were just. Jesus is the Christian's trust. And so what does this verse call us to do? We sing it often at Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What does it call us to do? It calls us to do exactly what Paul is calling Timothy to do here, which is to lift our eyes above this world and above the things of this world and the people in this world and the cares of this world, to not fear death, because death is no longer able to hold us, able to hold God's people, and that is because Jesus was not able to be held in its bonds. And so we as Christians have to work. day by day, to remember Jesus Christ as we suffer, particularly his resurrection from the dead. So that when we face the prospect of great hardship and sorrow in our own lives, and we say, there's no strength left within me, which is often the feeling. And it would be nice if we would wait until our 50s or our 60s or our 70s in life to get to the point where we think, there's no strength left in my bones. But what child hasn't felt that in this room?

I don't have the strength to bear the hardship and the sorrow and the grief such as it is. So Jesus lives, and death is now but my entrance into glory. Take courage then, for you have before you a crown of life. And you'll find that when you face death, you'll find that your hope and the sufferings that you've endured have been worth it. That God has been alongside you the whole way through, caring for you. strengthening you, bearing you through probably many dangers that you're unaware of, and through death has brought you safely into his kingdom and away from the harm and the sorrow and the pain that marks our lives as Christians. And so this verse of this song captures precisely what Paul is working to communicate to Timothy and to us. Paul meets Timothy at his most vulnerable concern, his own death, and answers it by drawing Timothy's eyes beyond this constraint, encouraging him to entrust himself to his father's care, realizing that even if he dies in service to his Lord, it will not separate him from the love of God, which Paul tells us as much in Romans. Now, what's the temptation when you think of Jesus and the way that he suffered and the way that he bore and him being raised from the dead? I think commonly what we would think is, I can't do that. I don't have strength in me to do that. And what's underneath that temptation

to believe than that lie is to think he's different than me he's the son of god he's perfect and it's true he is perfect in that way he is different than all of us and so paul goes on and says of jesus christ remember him risen from the dead and then says descendant of david now there are many titles that could be given to jesus christ and scripture gives many of them to him a lamb a door a savior a redeemer a king the son of god but here paul gives him The title, Son of David. Why? Because David was a man. David wasn't perfect. David was like Timothy. David was the kind of man where you may hate his sins as you read about them in Scripture. However much you hate them, you can understand them. And so while Jesus is perfect and we are not, he is fully man and understands our weaknesses and our sorrows. Hebrews 4.15 says, cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. And so while it's true that Jesus was perfect and he never succumbs to his temptations, it wasn't that he didn't face them. The very same ones that we face or that Timothy would face as he considers the work before him. Jesus was tempted in just these ways because he was fully human and can sympathize with us and our weaknesses. I think too often when we suffer, we think this is

just God has no place for my weakness, no way to process it, no way to bear with it, no desire to bear with it. And yet Jesus Christ bore with our weaknesses, not as they existed in us, but as they existed in him. And so these words are meant to encourage us and to strengthen us, to take root in our hearts, to be faithful to God, to endure suffering as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, as Jesus himself. did before us. When difficulty comes and suffering comes, I've often used running as an example. And I say, what happens when you get tired of running? I'm no runner. It's obvious. But you set out and you're running and you have a runner's gait. And then your lungs start to burn and your legs get sore. And what happens is you stop breathing well and you start shuffling. You lose strength.

What does a runner need to see when his lungs and legs are burning? He needs to see the finish line. Why does he need to see the finish line? Because he doesn't think he's going to make it there. And that's what suffering does to us. Suffering brings our world from way out there into right here and right now. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow because I can't even bear today. Jesus, knowing our weakness in another place, tells us. Don't be concerned about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own. He understands our weaknesses and our temptations to be overwhelmed and overcome with the prospect of a lifetime of suffering. And I'm convinced that it's his kindness that he doesn't tell us all at once at the beginning of our lives what we'll have to endure. When he came to Ananias and spoke of Paul, and Ananias says, I don't want to go to him. He's the one who kills us all. He says, Ananias, go to him.

I'll show him how much he has to suffer. And as Paul's life was lived on from that point, his suffering was being revealed to him over time. And when he met with the Ephesian elders toward the end of his life, he still was not clear of what his suffering would be. He says, all I know is that I'm bound for Jerusalem and that harm would become him there. So remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David. And Paul says, because this is my gospel. And it's a strange way to say it. You'd think he would say, this is the gospel. But he says, this is my gospel, for two reasons at least. One is, this is the message he proclaims. But Paul's work is not simply to proclaim the truth and to say, here's the truth for all to know. He claims it as his own because, as you remember, he's writing this from a jail cell, imprisoned as a criminal. And so he's not simply saying, here's the truth of it. He's saying, it's true and it's mine.

As the testimony of my life bears out, I think one of the sweetest things he says in chapter one before this is, I know whom I have believed. I know who I have believed. With all of the suffering and the hardship that he endured and the death that he was about to face and the thought of calling his son to the same work. I said earlier, no son wants to see their father die. But what father wants to call his son to this work? one who's believed the gospel and has made it his own and who will follow the Lord through whatever valleys the Lord takes him through so that he might be received safely on the other side into his rest, receiving his crown and his glory. This is the reason Paul wants Timothy to remember Jesus Christ. He doesn't want to lie to him. He doesn't want to mislead him. He doesn't want to tell him the suffering's not that bad or the suffering's not that long.

Instead, he says, the suffering will lead to your death, and that will be your victory. In the weeks to come, down in verse 12 or 13, it says that if we endure with him, if we endure with him, we will reign with him. We endure now. We'll reign for eternity. And so the question to each of our hearts is, will you endure now so that you can reign later? Will you stand with Jesus now? Suffer alongside of him, remembering his resurrection so that you can stand with him for all eternity. When you suffer, these are the questions to ask yourself. When those that you love suffer, these are the truths to comfort them with. This letter is an intensely personal and sweet letter. Paul is not walloping Timothy with truth. He's pouring out his heart to him and calling him to join him in glory.

I asked earlier, how could a father want his son to suffer in this way? And I say, well, simply, he wants his son with him in glory. And he understands the path and the hardship that it entails. Let's pray. Father, these are heavy things, weighty things, scary things for us to consider. We don't have strength in ourselves to look on this hardship with any confidence. that we will endure. And so we ask, Father, that you would preserve us and give us strength day by day as we need it. As we ask for our daily bread, we ask for daily strength to bear up under the burdens and trials of today, entrusting ourselves to you, who has loved us, who's cared for us, who's blessed us, who's given your only son, that we might become your sons as well.

Father, equip us to do your will, to suffer hardship, to endure it, to rely on you, to take refuge in you and to find our strength from your hand. We pray that as we endure these things, that you would make us faithful, faithful even unto death as our Lord was, who's now risen from the dead, seating at your right hand, preparing a place for us that when he returns, he might welcome us into it. Help us to be faithful in this area, in this regard. Help us not to shirk our responsibilities or redefine faithfulness for the sake of our comforts or according to our fears. Father, we pray that you would help us to bear good fruit. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So now we have the joy, and it is a joy, to witness and participate in a number of baptisms.

And so I want to explain to you what's about to happen. First, we have an infant baptism. Taylor and Reza's daughter, Caitlin, will be baptized. And then we have a number of new members who are going to be received into formal membership in our church. And two of those new members are in need of baptism, Micah and Cain and my two sons. And so we'll have an infant baptism. Then we're going to have a public reception of new members. Then we're going to have Two believers baptisms. This is a joyful thing and a sweet thing to see God working in our church and in the families of our church, giving faith and life where there wouldn't be otherwise. And so it's a sweet thing. And yet I don't want us to lose sight of what we're witnessing. When we are marked with the waters of baptism, We're testifying to the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all of the things that we've just considered. We're about to witness a baby and two young men marked with the sign that their lives will have suffering in them. And as we participate in this, we ought to consider that we have a great privilege and a great responsibility in seeing to it that they, like we, are faithful. Because what they profess now,

is a good thing, but will lead to some difficulties in their lives, we can be assured. And we ought to pray for them and strengthen them and encourage them and their parents to be faithful and to suffer hardship. I'd like to read to you sort of the quintessential or the ground zero text of why we baptize. And I'm sure if you think for a second, you can guess it. I want to read to you the Great Commission. where Jesus commissions his disciples to do the very thing that we're about to do. It says this, Jesus came up and he spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Now, if you've been here at our church for a while, or if you haven't, I'd like to explain to you our conviction and our practice here. If you grew up in a Presbyterian church or a Baptist church, you've probably never seen an infant baptism and a believer's baptism on the same day. And that's a strange thing. Or unique, maybe. oftentimes Presbyterians or Paedo-Baptists and Credo-Baptists have not been able to see their way clear to exist in harmony in a church together. And yet, in our church now for 11 years, and in our ascending church for over 25 now, Tim, we found our way to set aside our different convictions in humility for the sake of serving the Lord together.

And yet we make room both for the consciences of our members as well as the consciences of our ministers and her elder and the elders to obey their consciences. And so in that vein, I'm a cradle Baptist. So my sons, upon profession of faith, are being baptized. There are those among us whose convictions lie in the other direction, believing that infant baptism, that baptism is appropriately applied to their children. as babies. And so, as a kindness to me, our presbytery has always been willing to have men who are paedo-baptists come and perform the rite, to do the baptism. And so I'm going to ask Pastor Tim Bailey from Trinity Reformed Church to come up and to lead us through the baptism of Taylor and Reza's youngest daughter. Pastor Dave, If you'd come over and face me here, please. Pastor Dave said a couple of minutes ago that there's nothing we desire more than the salvation of our children. And many of you are having children for the first time. And you realize that you thought you were vulnerable at several times in the past in your life, but it was nothing like the vulnerability you have now.

that you would die for this little child. And so, of course, what we do is we teach our children immediately to pray to God, but we don't ask them to pray, oh, God. We say to them, pray, Father in heaven. And we don't do that because we want them to think of us as God, but we do that because God is our Father, and we want them to have the same Father. And so whether or not you believe in infant baptism as you live together as a church, you will see constantly, whether it's the Abbasars or the Baileys, you will see the same thing, that all our children pray to God as Father. And then if an older member of the church disciplines our children, we teach our children to love that discipline and to submit to it, whether or not we're Baptists or Presbyterians.

You know, the Baptists don't say, oh, they're not a covenant child, you know. Keep your hands off my children until they decide they want to be subject to Pastor Dave. Do you understand what I'm saying? We all live together in harmony, and we give our children to each other, and we make vows to help parents with their children because the parents will need it. And so, yes, we do differ over when to apply the covenant sign to our children. But I want you to understand that in the larger scheme of things, don't ever quote me as saying the sacraments are insignificant. But the sacraments are insignificant. As a matter of fact, you can make that case from the New Testament, that there's very little said about the sacraments. Pastor Dave just read Jesus commanding that we mark our children.

And so what we all need to agree on is that the children of believers are raised to look to God and to pray to him and to worship and sing to him as their father. And they're to be under the discipline of the church. And they're to be exhorted and encouraged by the fathers and mothers of the church. And so there is a biblical basis for that, which is found in the Old Testament, where God said to Abraham, I will establish my covenant between me and you. And then it says, and your descendants after you, throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. I remember one of the descendants of Abraham was Esau, and God was not a liar. And so mothers...

Always pray that your child will be saved by God. Don't be presumptuous. To be a God unto you and to your descendants after you. For this reason, the Old Testament, God commanded the covenant infants to be given the sign of circumcision. The covenant is the same in essence in both the Old and New Testaments. The grace of God for the consolation of believers, the comfort of believers, is even more fully manifested in the New Testament. He declares the promise is for you and your children. He promises, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, you and your household. He affirms that if even one parent is a believer, the children are holy. And our Lord Jesus took the little ones into...

His presence and he picked them up and he hugged them and he blessed them. He touched the children and he said the kingdom of God is made up of such as these. And so in the New Testament, no less than the old, these children of believers have an interest or an investment or a claim on you that you will do everything you can to lead them into the kingdom of God. Now I ask you, Taylor and Reza, do you reaffirm your own faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? And do you acknowledge Caitlin's need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit? Do you claim God's covenant promises on her behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation as you do for your own?

And do you now, without reservation, dedicate Caitlin to God and promise in humble reliance upon God's grace that you will seek to set before her a godly example, that you will pray with and for her, that you will teach her the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive by all the tools which God has given us to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What about you? Are you going to help with that? Yeah, how about you, Emmy? Yeah, okay. Now a question for you as a congregation. Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of little Caitlin? And you do do this. I watch you from afar. And it's very sweet how you give yourselves to each other. Let's pray. Father, we know that unless the Holy Spirit works, our efforts are dust. We thank you that you lower yourself to give us physical signs to strengthen our faith. We thank you for this water of baptism, and we pray that you will set it aside from a common use.

to the holy use that you have ordained it, and that you in heaven will confirm by the power of the Holy Spirit what we here do on earth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. She's out like a light, but she's about to wake up. Yeah. Father, name your child. Caitlin Reese Bailey. Caitlin Reese Bailey. I baptize you in the name of the Father. and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit descend upon you and abide with you forever. Amen. I have a charge for you guys. I have a written one here, but instead I want to speak to you as parents. It's a joy for us as a congregation, as it is for you to have your daughter born healthy and alive, and we pray that she'll grow, not just physically in strength, but spiritually.

And my exhortation to you as her parents is to not despise the imperfect help that comes to you through the body of this congregation. In marking her for baptism, you in a sense are giving her to the Lord to be saved and to be nurtured and to be cared for, not just by you. You'll want in time for her to say, yes, I'm a Bailey, but at a more foundational level. I'm a daughter of the most high God. He's my father. And so you'll need help with that. And it's hard to ask for help with it. Not just for you, but for any of us as parents to say, we don't know what to do. Rely on God through relying on those he's given to you. None of us are perfect. You'll get good counsel. You'll get bad counsel. But God is at work in the midst of that to save us and to save your daughter. And so I exhort you to submit yourself to that and to her and to teach her.

both through your words and through your actions, to love the church and to submit her will and her desires to the Lord for his using. Let's pray now. Father, we do thank you for giving the gift of life physical, and now we ask most especially spiritual. Father, it is not our desire that our children would be as Esau's. And so we ask that you would be merciful to Caitlin, to her siblings, to Taylor and Risa, that you would give them the joy of seeing you work faith out in her heart, giving her a heart of flesh that she might serve you her whole life. We pray that you would equip them as parents to set before her a godly example, to instruct her in your ways, to discipline her, and to train her up.

Especially, Father, we ask that you would help them to teach your word to her, praying for her that it might take root in her heart and define her as one of your children. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. He will stay. So now what I'm going to do, we're moving on to our public reception of new members. And so Jackson is one of those members. I'm going to invite the rest of those who are coming into public reception as new members to come forward now. And so just a word about public reception of new members. At our church, to come into membership, you would express interest first to say, I'd like to become a fully communicant member of the church. And then what would happen is you would go to a membership class, which typically lasts 12 weeks, taught during our Sunday school hour. And then after that, if you're still wanting to come into membership, you would apply for membership and you would be interviewed by our elders. And our elders are going to take, they take their work and their responsibility before the Lord as those who will give an account for the souls they keep watch over. They take their work seriously and they're conscientious in it. And so what they do is they'll interview those who have been, who've applied for membership as to the condition of their soul and their faith in Jesus Christ.

My experience has been largely in those interviews that they're very encouraging because you get to see how God has worked in times gone by and in other places and through other churches, how he brings his people to faith in Jesus Christ. And so that's been the case for each one of these members. They've gone through a membership class. They've been interviewed and recommended for membership to our session, and our session has approved their membership. And so what we do here now is receive them publicly, restating their vows that they've made before you as full members of our church. And so I'm going to ask you guys now, really their baptismal vows.

So for Canaan and Micah, they'll be baptismal vows. For the rest of you, you'll be reaffirming your faith. Where they're professing their faith, you'll be reaffirming, yes, I believe those things. I have believed them. I continue to believe them. They're still true of me. So I'm going to ask these questions to you, and I ask that you respond, I do. Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit? the Lord and giver of life. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his wrath and without hope apart from his sovereign mercy? Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the infallible word of God and its doctrine of salvation to be the perfect and only true doctrine of salvation? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of sinners?

And do you receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he has offered to you in the gospel? Do you now resolve and promise in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit that you will endeavor to live as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ? And do you promise to support this church and its worship and the work to the best of your ability to submit yourself to its government and discipline and to strive for its purity and peace? And now to those of you who are members of this congregation, do you, the members of this congregation, welcome these disciples and promise by your fellowship to strengthen their ties with the household of God? If so, say, we do. Let us pray. Father, it is a joy to us as it was to those at Pentecost that you add to their number daily those who are being saved. Father, continue to do this work.

Equip these new members in this church with gifts and graces sufficient to build up your kingdom and to strengthen your people. I pray that you would give them soft and humble hearts, that they would be attentive to your word, that they would humbly submit themselves to it and to the government of this church, and that you would grow them up in all aspects, into the head, even Jesus Christ, that they might be fitted for glory, having labored. in this life under the hope of the life to come. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I encourage you as a congregation to take time after the service to greet and to encourage our newest members of the church. And now what I'm going to do is ask everyone except for Micah and Canaan to go ahead and be seated. Now I'll tell you that there was a question weighing in my mind about my own son's baptisms. And the question was, should I do it? And the answer,

Now is, yes, I'm going to do it. Now, what I want to make clear to you as a congregation and you as boys is that I love you and I'm your dad, right? And you're my son. You know that. And you all know that. But I'm functioning now as a representative of the church of Jesus Christ. What I'm doing now, I'm doing because I'm a pastor, not because I'm a dad. And so in your profession of faith, what you're professing is the same thing we've spoken of earlier. That you have loved and come to faith in Jesus Christ. And that you're submitting your life to his rule and to his reign. That you're not doing it because your daddy's a pastor. But because you've come to see your sins and love the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read to you two passages. One from Matthew 16 and one from Romans 9. Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself.

and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. What I'd like to do now is Pray for you guys, and then we'll move on. So would you please pray with me? Father, it gives me joy and us joy to see you at work in the lives and hearts of the children in our congregation. Father, we know as older men and women that there are temptations and trials that they'll face in this life that they're, as of yet, not aware of and have not faced. And we pray, Father, that this profession of faith would take root in them.

that your spirit would dwell in them, and that as they grow and mature and as they face new temptations, we pray that you would be merciful to them, that you would equip them with your strength to give glory to you, to deny themselves, to take up their cross, and to serve you. We pray, Father, that your words, the beautiful words of salvation and freedom from sin, and the judgment of God would be on their lips because they're in their hearts. And we pray that you would make them ambassadors for your kingdom, that they might speak your truth to others as well. Have mercy on them. Help us to minister to them as they grow. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So now what I'm going to do is baptize Canaan first. So we're going to come back here.

A couple of instructions. Step in. I'll take your hand. Is it cold? I'm left-handed, so you have to stand over there. Thanks, Luis. They thank you. Warm water here. So what we're going to do is I'm going to put my hand on your back and your hand on your face like this. You're going to grab my wrist like you're going to do a pull-up, okay? All you do is hold on to this and don't breathe water. I'll take care of the rest. I can lift you up. You're not that big yet. This is Kanan Daniel Abusara. Cain and Daniel, Abu Sara, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit descend on you and dwell in you forever. Amen. Are you nervous? Why are you nervous? What are you scared of? The water. He's pulling my hand. He's like, get it over with. Listen, same instructions. I'm okay. Just hold on to my wrist.

This is Micah David Abusara. Micah David Abusara, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit descend on you and dwell in you forever. Amen. You need this. Amen. You are responsible to the church. And what I have seen across my life is that whether you're baptized as a baby, Or you're baptized as young men, as adults. It's a pretty well equal thing, the number of children that have to go under discipline. And, you know, you've agreed to it this morning in your vows. But I'm telling you, when it happens, it is really not easy. Because you're supposed to be perfect as pastor's children. And you're actually not. You're sinners.

And sometimes your father will get mad at the elders, okay? Because the elders decide to discipline you and your father will think that they don't understand your tender needs. And so when you sin and the elders discipline you, submit to them. Sometimes they'll be wrong in some of the details, you know? Don't worry about it. God sees what's true. demonstrate a humble and submissive attitude to the discipline of the church and love the church. And don't use you being the pastor's kids as a way of being superior to other kids, you know, but I haven't seen that in you, right? Okay, yeah, all right. Let's pray. Father, it is a joy and a privilege to be able to baptize these young men. We pray that you would bless and keep them, strengthen them to do your will.

and that you would be at work in them, changing them and making them new. Give them soft, humble hearts, we ask, that are submissive to your word and to your church, that they might bear fruit in areas where they don't think they can bear fruit or where they need to bear fruit. Father, help them to be faithful to you as you have been faithful to them. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.