Salvation Truths | Part 2

I want to start this morning, I had an interesting

thing happen this week in class. As some of you

know, I'm teaching a church history course at

Masters right now, and I did not plan this at

all, but we're at that point in the semester

where we're wrapping up the Reformation. We're

getting to the very end of the Reformation, and

I was teaching the students about the Reformation

that took place in England, and I said to them,

notice the things that were highly precious to

the English Puritans. And I listed six things.

Now listen to these six things. Number one, that

they could worship freely without the state being

involved. Number two, to have their own independent

self -governing congregations. And number three,

to have the word of God in English. And number

four, to be free to teach and preach a reformed

view of salvation. Number five, to have a very

simple biblical polity of elders and deacons.

And number six, to live under the terms of a

covenant with loyalty first to Christ and then

to other members of the local body. And as I

finished that list, I looked at the students

and I said, that was the year 1620. And 400 years

later, I've just described the very things that

we desire today at Oak Hill Bible Church. 400

years later. This is our spiritual heritage.

Today, we're going to continue our discussion

of where we left off last Sunday. We're talking

about various aspects of salvation. In particular,

I want to talk about how the people who are at

the center of our historical Thanksgiving holiday,

what they thought about salvation, what was important

to them as it relates to not just salvation,

but how to live out that salvation. Now, traditionally,

we call those people this sort of funny name,

the pilgrims. The pilgrims. But that's a term

that was applied to them later in history, and

it really doesn't explain who they were, what

they believed, or why they were willing to risk

their lives to get on a ship and sail all the

way across the Atlantic to the New World 400

years ago. But trust me, they had strong convictions.

They had strong beliefs. And this may come as

a shock to some of you. They had a solid doctrinal

understanding of what the scriptures taught.

Now, last Sunday, me, Grant, and Adam took the

time to define 10 aspects of salvation according

to Scripture. Here's that list. I'll walk through

them really quickly. Effectual calling, justification,

faith, adoption, sanctification, repentance,

good works. perseverance, assurance. And finally,

we talked about the death of the believer. And

you guys were so patient with us. You hung in

there through 10 of those things. And I think

it was encouraging to the body to know that's

what scripture teaches. Now, here's the thing.

The pilgrims would have affirmed everything that

we taught last week about salvation. They were

men and women who were schooled in the Genevan

theology of men like Calvin and Beza and Knox.

And their view of salvation was very much reformed.

So today, I want to share with you four areas

of practical theology that drove the pilgrims

in their view of salvation and how it should

be lived out. But first, let me just ask our

acorns real quick. Is that the image of the pilgrims

that you are often taught in school and church?

Yeah, that cute little picture? What if I told

you they didn't quite look like that? I know,

shocking, right? It's okay that we use images

like this, but what if I told you they looked

a lot more gritty than that cartoon image? And

I know some of you have studied what life was

like for these pilgrims in the New World when

they arrived. So who were these people? They

were English Puritans. English Puritans, a group

of devoted Christ followers who happened to live

in a very turbulent time. in terms of religion

in English history. Very difficult time. 85 years

before the Mayflower set sail, King Henry VIII

had severed England from the Roman Catholic Church.

Now, not because of doctrine. Henry was committed

to Roman Catholic teaching, but he did that because

it benefited him to become the supreme head of

the Church of England so that he could do as

he pleased within the boundaries of his kingdom.

Nevertheless, the boldness that he had in divorcing

England from Rome, because of that, the English

people then got caught up in this sort of game

of religious ping pong after his death. When

Henry passed away, England was first ruled by

his Protestant son, Edward VI. But after Edward's

tragic death, they then became ruled by Henry's

oldest daughter, Bloody Mary Tudor, who was Roman

Catholic to the bone. So they went here, there,

and back again. And then in 1558, about 60 years

before the Mayflower set sail, Queen Elizabeth

came into power. Now, by that time, the English

people were ready for a peaceful, moderate Church

of England. Nobody being arrested anymore, no

more executions, no more blood spilled over doctrine

and church polity, just middle -of -the -road

religion. And Queen Elizabeth was happy to oblige.

She was a moderate herself. She had no desire

to take the church back to Rome, but she also

didn't want any more reformation within her kingdom.

What she wanted was this. Are you ready? A carefully

structured brand of religious ceremony led by

state -approved bishops reading from a state

-approved book of common prayer and preaching

middle -of -the -road homilies. And that was

it. And from that sad state of affairs, what

blossomed in England is what we call the Puritan

Movement. And that name simply refers to what

those people wanted. They wanted a Church of

England that was purified from its lukewarm nature.

And especially they want it purified from sort

of the remnants of Roman Catholicism that were

still hanging around. And in the early years

of Elizabeth's rule, there were three types of

Puritan groups that began to organize themselves.

First of all, there were the so -called Presbyterian

Puritans who wanted to build up the Church of

England, but reform it from within, especially

in terms of church polity. They wanted to see

bishops being replaced by a biblical structure

of elders and deacons. Then there was the Independent

Puritans, and this was the largest group of the

three. They also wanted reform and change, but

they wanted more. They wanted each congregation

to be independently governed. No state oversight,

no monarch telling them how they have to pray

or what they have to preach on. And this group

of Puritans became known as Congregationalists.

And then finally, there was the last group, the

most radical group, the Separatist Puritans,

and this is where the pilgrims come from. They,

too, wanted thorough reform and independence,

but they'd given up on the Church of England.

They thought it was too corrupt, too controlling,

too misguided, and too similar to the way Rome

had once oppressed them. And so the separatists

wanted exactly that, complete separation from

the state and complete separation from ever being

a state church. Now, all three of these groups

had much in common, including the fact, and this

may come as a surprise, They were led by significant

men of that day, men who came from the highest

levels of English society. Some were members

of parliament. Others had teaching positions

at places like Oxford and Cambridge. And the

queen may not have wanted Reformation ideas in

her country, but they'd already arrived. They'd

already infiltrated every level of English society.

So the ideas that were promoted by men like Luther

were now being discussed from the universities

down to the taverns. And as they say, once the

toothpaste is out of the tube, you can't put

it back in. From her perspective, from the queen's

perspective, this wasn't just about religion,

it was political too. Because too much freedom

causes people to ask questions about government.

And Elizabeth came to believe that if the Puritans

actually got their way, they might just try to

do away with the monarchy altogether. And so

she ended up doing what kings and queens always

do when they feel threatened by loss of control.

She clamped down on the Puritans and persecuted

them in a number of ways. She had their gatherings

raided. She had their printing presses destroyed.

Leaders who held academic positions were removed.

Get this, she imposed licensing rules for sermons.

And if you were a non -conforming preacher, you'd

be arrested. She had their property confiscated.

Even a handful of them were tortured and put

to death for refusing to recant their beliefs.

And this in a moderate England. So it was a constant

struggle for freedom of conscience and freedom

of worship in England during Elizabeth's 44 years

on the throne. And then in the year 1603, when

King James came to the throne, yes, that King

James, hopes were high again. But guess what?

Very quickly, the Puritans found out. King James

was no different from Elizabeth. He was going

to protect the monarchy and protect the status

quo. And so the time had come, and the Puritans

had a big decision to make. They weren't going

to wait any longer. Five years after the disappointment

of King James, a group of Puritans from the town

of Scrooby in northern England gathered their

belongings, and they set sail for not America,

but Holland. Now, why Holland? Well, 20 years

earlier, the Dutch had won their independence

from Spain and they had established the Netherlands

as a Calvinist land. And that sounded good to

the Puritans. So the scrooby Puritans set sail

for Holland in 1608 and they settled in this

little town of Leiden and they thought they could

restart their lives. But guess what? Planting

churches is hard. especially in a foreign land.

And over the next 12 years, they struggled culturally,

and they struggled economically, and they recognized

that their children were growing up Dutch and

losing connection with their English heritage.

So in the year 1620, after much prayer, they

made a very difficult decision. 102 brave souls

boarded a ship called the Mayflower, and they

sailed for 66 days across the Atlantic Ocean.

aiming for the mouth of the Hudson River, but

getting blown south, ending up in Cape Cod, where

they settled in a town called Plymouth. And over

the next 20 years, from 1620 to 1640, wave after

wave of Puritans would arrive in the same way,

establishing what they called New England. Now,

that's a very short history of the Puritans,

very, very quickly. What I'm more interested

in is what did they actually believe? What do

they believe about salvation? So that's what

we're going to talk about this morning. And it

begins where it should begin with principle number

one. Authority. Authority. Now, acorns. What's

the most important thing about this book? Acorns.

Parents. What's the most important thing about

this book? Good. Yeah, it's God's word. It's

who wrote it. Correct? God wrote this book through

his human servants. And if he's the author of

this book, that makes a big difference, doesn't

it? This is what the reformers called the first

principle of the Reformation. Everything about

the Christian life is ultimately built on the

issue of authority. Let me say that again, because

this is for all of us. Ultimately, everything

about the Christian life is built on the issue

of authority. What authority can be trusted to

tell us what salvation is? Good. He said God.

That was a good answer. And how it's received.

What's the authority that tells us how salvation

is received? Now, prior to the Reformation, the

answer to that question was defined by the teaching

office of the Roman Catholic Church, which for

centuries had strayed from the very simple, straightforward

answer in the Bible. They had promoted a synergistic

system of salvation that combined a whole bunch

of things. First of all, God's pervenient grace.

But then second, being incorporated into the

church through baptism, the regular partaking

of the seven sacraments of the church, particularly

the Mass and the Eucharist and Penance, all of

which in their mind kept adding to your account

of grace, and then striving to have enough faith

and enough good works to please God so that at

the end of your life you might qualify to enter

into his eternal presence. That was the system

that they had set up. That's what they were teaching

to the people. And by the way, if you still weren't

good enough, they had option number two, right?

Option B, which was purgatory. Purgatory, where

in some undefined way, which still can't be explained

to me, you can be purified over some undetermined

amount of time, which has not been laid out to

this day, until the moment that God says you

are cleansed enough to be in his presence. So

pre -Reformation, what was the authority when

it comes to defining salvation and how it's received?

It was the church. It was the church. And specifically,

it was a class of clergymen within the church

who were said to have the authority to act on

behalf of Christ. Men who could read Latin, the

only language the Bible was allowed to be written

in, and who believed that the average person

did not have the right or the ability to read

the scriptures for themselves. and know what

it says. So salvation was defined by the clergy

and available only through obedience to the church's

prescribed system. Now, here was the problem

with that from the reformer's perspective. So

little about what I just described about the

church's teaching about salvation actually lines

up with what the apostles told us in the scriptures.

There's a massive disconnect between what the

apostles said about it and what the church was

saying about it in the year 1500. And as the

century passed, what happened was the Roman Catholic

Church took on all these little accretions that

grew and grew and grew. One dogma after another

was added to the church by cardinals and bishops

and popes and then passed on to the next generation

as if they had come from God. When they hadn't.

So logically, the reformers had to start with

this issue. Authority. Where do we turn to to

know what is true? And they boldly declared that

scripture alone, sola scriptura, is the only

infallible source of truth because it comes from

God. Now that's a logical argument, is it not?

If you're going to rely on one authority in your

life, are you going to take what God has clearly

said or are you going to take the interpretations

of fallible men? It must be the authority for

all matters of faith and practice. for those

who profess to follow Christ. And all other writings,

and all other traditions, and all other spiritual

authorities, including what the clergy say, including

what I say this morning, all of it must be held

up and tested by the standard of Scripture. And

ultimately, all of it has to be subordinated

to the infallible Word of God. This is what the

Puritans believed. And, of course, this principle

is drawn from Scripture itself because Scripture

is self -authenticating. It tells you what its

source is. Peter, of all people, Peter tells

us that the Scriptures have not come to us by

an act of human will. Rather, he says, the biblical

writers, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from

God. In 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, Paul says that

all Scripture is inspired by God. breathed out

by the Lord himself, and it's profitable or useful

for everything we need, for teaching, for reproof,

for correction, and for training in righteousness.

To what end? That the man of God might be adequate

or fit, equipped for every good work that God

has laid out for us to do. It's very clear in

scripture. Scripture is everything that we need.

Now, that does not mean that traditions are meaningless.

It doesn't mean that creeds and confessions don't

matter. It doesn't mean that quotes from church

fathers can't be used. It doesn't mean that we

can't read books written by contemporary pastors.

It doesn't mean we can't have certain practices

in the church. All of those things can be very

helpful, but only as long as they're in agreement

with Scripture. Only as long as they are subordinated.

to the authority of the infallible word of God.

Does that make sense? The Westminster Catechism,

which we talked a lot about last Sunday, puts

it so well. I'll put this quote on the screen.

It says, by good and necessary consequence, may

be deduced from Scripture, and nothing at any

time is to be added, whether by new revelations

of the Spirit or by the traditions of men. That

is a brilliant quote. It goes on to say this,

the supreme judge by which all controversies

of religion are to be determined. and all decrees

of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines

of men, and private spirits are to be examined,

and in whose sentence we are to rest can be no

other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures.

Sola Scriptura. This is what the Puritans saw

as the primary doctrine of the church. Sola Scriptura.

Make sense? Okay, principle number two that the

Puritans held to. The perspicuity of scripture.

That's a great word. Say it. Perspicuity. Very

good. Acorns. Acorns. Parents. Can you understand

what this book says? Good. Because there's actual

words in it, right? Do words have meaning? Good.

So you can read it and understand it, correct?

Do you realize that was a big question in 1500?

That was a big question. Can a lay person pick

up a Bible and read it and understand what it

says about salvation? In 1500, the Roman Catholic

Church said no, no, and no. And that's a sad

state of affairs. Once again, the medieval Catholic

Church said no. Latin, they said, is the only

legitimate biblical language. Because it's the

language of the Roman Empire and the language

of the original Church of Rome. But more importantly,

Latin was seen as the language of learned scholarship

and advanced theology in that day. And so to

have the Bible translated into a common language

like German or English was blasphemy against

the sacredness of the text, they said. And this

in spite of the obvious fact that the New Testament

was written in Koine Greek, which is the common

man's language. In the first century. Do you

see the disconnect? So here was God purposely

choosing to use his servants to put down his

word in a common language in the first century

only to have the medieval Roman church say, no,

that's not acceptable. That's a disconnect. The

fact is by controlling the text, the church was

able to control the people. Just listen to what

your priest says. He'll tell you what to believe.

He'll tell you what to do. And if you obey what

we tell you, the church, then you'll make it

to heaven. But the reformers knew otherwise.

They knew otherwise. And by the way, sometimes

the reformers are mischaracterized as men who

were just simple. Did you know almost every single

reformer that we ever talk about was an absolute

scholar? These were men who came out of universities.

Men who studied the classics, men who taught

rhetoric and law, men who studied, yes, Latin

and Hebrew and Greek and knew what the Bible

actually said. They weren't uninformed. And they

knew that if the common people could read the

scriptures for themselves in their own language,

see it with their own eyes, hear it with their

own ears, see what God has actually said about

salvation, then that would break the power that

the church had over them. William Tyndale once

said this. This is a great quote. He said, if

God spares my life, I will cause a boy who drives

the plow to know more of the scriptures than

the Pope. And then years later, Luther would

add to that statement. He said, the plow boy

with the scripture is mightier than the greatest

Pope without. Because it's God's word. So the

Reformers declared that in all essential matters

regarding salvation, the message of Scripture

is not hidden, it's not obscure, it's perspicuous,

it's clear. And because the Holy Spirit lives

within the believer and is literally given to

each one of us as a guide to illuminate Scripture,

then it has to be understandable to every Christian,

not just clergy. Not just clergy. Even in ancient

Israel. This was known to be true. That's why

it says in Psalm 119, your word, Lord, is a lamp

to my feet and a light to my path. That's why

Jesus constantly challenged his enemies with

this phrase, have you not read? Have you not

read the scriptures? That's why the Bereans in

Acts 17 were called noble -minded because they

not only received the word with great eagerness,

but they examined the scriptures every day. To

make sure what was being taught to them was true.

That's why Paul told Timothy to continue in the

things that he had learned, in the things he'd

become convinced of, the sacred writings which

are able to give you wisdom that leads to what?

Salvation. That's why he told the Colossian church

to let the word of Christ richly dwell within

you with all wisdom, teach and admonish one another.

And yet here was the church in 1500 withholding

that from the people, saying you can't read it.

All of this, the Bible says, is because it's

the word of God that changes lives. And the people

need it. They need to be fed by it. It's a lamp

and a light and a guide. It's the path of wisdom.

It was designed by God to be received with eagerness,

to be read, examined, and understood apart from

any mediating clergyman, but by every single

believer. Now, we talk about the perspicuity

of Scripture. It doesn't mean that every part

of the Bible is equally clear or that every part

of the Bible is easy to understand. We all know

that there's some difficult passages, right?

And that's why principles of sound interpretation

are important. It's why believers need to dig

deeply to study the word. But the plow boy can

look at the core truths required for salvation

and understand it. The plow boy can see what

the fall brought about. The plow boy can understand

how God defines sins. He can understand the good

news that God sent his one and only son to bear

our sins on the cross as our substitute, to pay

the ransom for our sins. That can be read in

plain language. But the people needed to see

it. The plow boy can know how he is saved because

it's clearly revealed in God's word. And so this

is what the Puritans became known for, education.

Education at every level of life. And it was

biblical literacy that was the priority in every

Puritan home. They encouraged children to learn

reading and writing primarily so that they would

have access to the scriptures. And what they

did in the church and in the home was what we

call catechesis. It was designed, it was intentional.

We're gonna catechize our children. This concept

of teaching them systematic biblical doctrine

with the goal to lead our children to salvation

and to help them to understand what a full Christian

life looks like in the spirit. Catechesis. The

Puritans even passed laws which required every

town and village to establish and fund schools

to teach reading, writing, and Christian virtue.

Huge emphasis for them. They developed primary

schools and advanced grammar schools. They taught

Greek and they taught Latin and they built into

these schools the concepts of hard work and discipline

and Christian virtue. And they didn't stop there.

They founded university. Harvard. Harvard was

a Christian university. Did you know that? John

Harvard was a Puritan pastor. and a scholar who

left England for the Massachusetts Bay Colony

in 1637. He only lived one year in the New World

before he died, but he left half of his estate

and his entire library to the college that bears

his name. And he intended that so that there

would be a faithful theological education that

could be passed down to future generations of

Puritan ministers. That's our Harvard University,

you guys. Amazing. Here's the other thing to

know about the Puritans in education. And parents,

I want you to listen carefully. Biblical education

was not left up to the schools or to the church

in Puritan communities. It was seen as a communal

activity and the most basic duty of parents.

The most basic duty. Just faithful moms and dads

catechizing their children. That's our spiritual

heritage. Have we lost some of that these days?

We have. We need to get back to it. Okay, principle

number three, the Drove the Puritans. The priesthood

of all believers. The priesthood of all believers.

Acorns, question for you. Zion, you ready? He's

my answer guy. When you pray, who do you talk

to? We talk to God. Directly? Oh. I hesitate

to ask for more information from that answer.

You know what they say, never, yeah, never ask

questions like that. Okay, yeah, we speak directly

to God, right? Through Jesus Christ, right, we

speak directly to God. That's right. Well, part

of the Reformation, the Catholic Church promoted

its priests as the mediators between God and

the faithful, serving what they said was in persona

Christi, standing in the place of Christ and

acting with his authority. Did you catch that?

Priests standing in the place and acting with

his authority. How is that possible, you ask?

Well, the church declared it so. By the sacrament

of holy orders and ordination, they said this

is so. So here's what this means. Now catch this

now. Representatives of the church declared their

authority and their control over the forgiveness

of sins. The church controlled forgiveness of

sins. Through the sacrament of confession, the

priest sits in the place of Christ and he either

declares forgiveness or withholds it. The priest.

So in the year 1500, if a believer wanted to

confess his sin and repent and seek forgiveness,

where would he turn? Not to God, but to the church.

And that was a huge red flag in the minds of

the reformers. Now, does a believer need a mediator

to come to God? Absolutely. The scripture says

yes. Not me, not the church. The scriptures say

yes. We need a mediator in order to have access

to the throne of grace. But that's not through

a human fallible priest. As in the days of ancient

Israel, that day was a foreshadowing of something

far greater to come. And with the arrival of

the new covenant, you and I as believers, we

have a new single mediator, a great high priest

who has, ready? finished the work of atonement.

He's finished it. This is the argument of Hebrews

7. The priests of the old covenant, it says,

were weak and fallen sinners. They had to offer

up sacrifices for themselves before they could

deal with the sins of others. And then they died,

which means their ministry ended. But Jesus is

different. Jesus is one of a kind. Because he

lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.

He's able to forever save those who draw near

to God through him. And on behalf of the elect,

he lives to make intercession for us. A high

priest who has no sins of his own to repent of.

A holy, innocent, undefiled mediator, the very

son of God, exalted in the heavens at the right

hand of power. Now, with that clearly stated

in scripture, that cannot be missed. It is perspicuous.

With that in mind, why would anyone then turn

to a fallible earthly priest to seek forgiveness

when the Son of God has rendered that office

obsolete and has made himself available? Why

would you go back to a priest? Why? The Reformers

saw all of this in the Bible, plain as day. And

then they said, look at 1 Timothy 2 .5. There

is one God, it says, and one mediator, one. between

God and man, the man Christ Jesus, just one.

And since we have such a great high priest, it

says in Hebrews 4, we can now draw near to the

throne with confidence to receive mercy and find

grace in our time of need. And we can do that

directly. Without a human priest is a go -between.

Because there, listen now, there is no elite

spiritual class of men within the church who

have exclusive authority to mediate God's presence

or his forgiveness. There is none. Rather, and

this is what Luther first argued, he said, all

true believers, male, female, Jew, and Gentile,

we all belong to a class of priests who have

access, direct access, to the heavenly tabernacle

where Christ intercedes for us. We, all of us

together, have been made into a holy priesthood

serving our great high priest. And ironically,

it's Peter who says this. The Catholic Church's

favorite apostle. Peter, who makes this case

in 1 Peter 2, he says, you also, speaking to

the church, as living stones, every one of you

are being built up as a spiritual house for a

holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices

acceptable to God through our mediator, Jesus

Christ. We make sacrifices as priests. That's

amazing. He goes on, you're a chosen race, church.

A royal priesthood. Not some of you, not an elite

class. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

a people for God's own possession. Why? Why?

So that you may proclaim the excellencies of

him who has called you out of darkness and into

his marvelous light. And so each and every Christ

follower is a priest and a minister to this day.

Each one of us offering spiritual sacrifices.

of worship and prayer and praise and the proclamation

of the gospel and a life lived for God's glory.

Good morning, priests. I think I should start

with that beginning next Sunday. Just good morning,

priests. This is a truth, you guys, that the

Puritans absolutely saw in scripture and said

this is part of how we need to reform the church

moving forward. Okay, final principle. That the

Puritans really cherish. This one's a little

less theological and a little more practical.

And it's the idea of ambassadorship. It's the

idea of ambassadorship. Acorns, question. Do

you love Jesus? That's an easy one. Do you let

his light shine in your life? Good. People can

see Jesus in you? Good. That's what I want to

hear. That's what I want to hear. The Puritans

thought long and hard about this. What should

a committed community of Christ followers who

are living life together and loving each other

well, according to the instructions in Scripture,

doing it according to the Bible, what should

that look like to the outside world? Jesus talked

about it, didn't he, in the Sermon on the Mount?

You're the light of the world, he said. You're

the light of the world. A city set on a hill

cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp

and then put it under a basket. Puts it on a

lampstand. It gives light to all who are in the

house. So let your light shine before men in

such a way that they may see your good works

and then glorify, not the church, glorify your

Father who's in heaven. Jesus talked about it.

In the year 1630, 10 years after the pilgrims

came to the new world, There was a Puritan governor

by the name of John Winthrop, and he preached

a sermon on the deck of a ship called the Arbella.

They had docked in Massachusetts Bay, and they

were about to row ashore, but he stopped, and

he turned to the people, and he preached a sermon.

And here's what he said. This is just a portion

of what he said. He said, we must consider that

we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of

all people are upon us. So if we shall deal falsely

with our God in this work we've undertaken and

so cause him to withdraw his present help from

us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout

the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies

to speak evil of the ways of God. We shall shame

the faces of many of God's worthy servants and

cause their prayers to be turned into curses

upon us till we be consumed out of this good

land. Therefore, let us choose life that we in

our seed may live by obeying his voice and cleaving

to him for he is our life and our prosperity.

Amen, right? He was right back then and it's

still true today. All eyes are upon us. Whether

we like it or not, guys, we are ambassadors for

Christ in everything that we do. We're either

good ambassadors or Poor ambassadors. But our

lives say something to the people around us.

A church that's set apart for the glory of God,

that is living life together, that is loving

each other well, ought to reflect the precious

values that we find in Scripture. In Scripture.

Anything less than that, and we risk doing what

Winthrop talked about, undercutting our testimony

to the goodness of God and to the power of the

Spirit in our lives. And every single one of

us, not just leadership, every one of us bears

this responsibility to let our light shine before

men, to show them what it means to know Jesus

and to have a transformed life. We all bear that

responsibility. Now, what does that mean in a

practical sense? Guys, this is a big reason why

we have a church covenant because it spells out

exactly how we're to live life together as a

city on a hill. It talks about unity in the spirit.

In forgiveness and reconciliation and rejecting

harmful gossip. It talks about walking together

in brotherly love. Having an affectionate care

for one another. Having a watchfulness over one

another. It also means faithfully admonishing

one another when that time becomes needed. It

means gathering together regularly. It means

praying for one another. It means delighting

in one another's joy. And when things get difficult,

bearing with one another in their burdens and

sorrows. It means discipleship and evangelism

and cheerful giving. And of course, it means

striving to lead new and holy lives as ambassadors

for Christ. All of that is spelled out in our

church covenant for a reason. Because we're to

let our light shine before this unbelieving community

that we live in. Christians, we are the light

of the world. We are that city on the hill. And

so this is the Puritans. I know they get a bad

rap, don't they? Sometimes we hear the word Puritan

and we get a negative reaction. Don't let it

be so. Know your history. Know your theology.

This is our spiritual heritage. Let's remember

that on Thursday. When you go to eat that turkey,

when you dig in and you bite, remember. Remember,

right? Remember your spiritual heritage. May

we truly be thankful for those who've gone before

us. Men and women who suffered and battled and

bled so that we can worship freely. here together

this morning, so that this congregation can govern

its own affairs as the scriptures tell us, as

the Spirit leads us, and not according to what

our government says we have to do. All praise

to Christ for the beauty and the preciousness

of the salvation we have because of his sacrifice

for us. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Father, it's

a blessing to be able to look back in history

and to see how you've worked through the church,

Lord. But as we talk about Puritans, as we talk

about people who have suffered, Lord, we're most

grateful just to you, Lord. Just grateful that

here we are now praying directly to you through

our great mediator, our high priest, Jesus Christ.

That we're not lining up in a confessional booth.

That we're not lining up to talk to some human

fallible priest priestly mediator but that you

incline your ear to your children because you

love us because we belong to you and you want

to hear us pray and so father father we thank

you we thank you for your word this morning we

thank you that it it is sufficient we thank you

that it is perspicuous that we can read it and

understand it and we can see what salvation is

in our own language even lord What a blessing,

Lord. You have taken care of us in so many ways.

So we praise you right now this morning, but

we also, Lord, ask that you go before us as we

celebrate Thanksgiving this week, that we would

really be thankful for the things that matter

most. So guide us in those celebrations with

family, friends, and Lord, if we're coming to

a place where there are unbelievers, help us

to maybe share a little bit of this message about

what you have done in church history, what you

have done in the lives of so many saints who

have gone before us. Give us wisdom in that,

Lord. We praise you again for this morning. In

Christ's name, amen.