Well, we return this morning to our series on Colossians 1, 28 and 29, a text that so succinctly captures Paul's understanding of Christian discipleship. Colossians 1, verses 28 and 29. Paul says, we proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." This passage concisely summarizes what Christian ministry is about. What drove Paul to enduring ministry, even in the midst of all the conflict that he faced, was his earnest passion to see every Christian made complete in Christ, for every believer to be brought to perfect maturity and complete conformity to the image of Jesus. That is to say that Paul's philosophy of ministry centers on discipleship, on seeing each believer follow Jesus more faithfully. And I mentioned last week that in these two verses, we find five elements of Christian discipleship that will equip us to faithfully engage in the work of the Lord's great commission to make disciples of all the nations. And we got through one and a half of those five elements last Sunday. And the first was the scheme or the purpose of discipleship. Middle of verse 28, we proclaim him so that we may present every man complete in Christ. Into verse 29, for this purpose also I labor. the animating principle of Paul's ministry, the passion of his life was to see every Christian under his care progress in sanctification and finally be brought to perfection in glorification. Paul was not satisfied with making mere converts. He wanted disciples. He wasn't content with entry-level Christianity. He wanted to see believers strengthened in their faith and brought to maturity so that Christ would be presented with the pure bride that he is worthy of. And we learned from this that the holiness of the church ought to be our great passion and preoccupation as well. We ought to know something of the anguish of childbirth, as Paul calls it in Galatians 4 19, because we long to see Christ fully formed first in our own souls and then in the souls of our brothers and sisters. We ought to be acquainted with what he calls the daily pressure of concern for all the churches in 2 Corinthians 11, 28, that feels the pain of spiritual weakness in the body of Christ as our own weakness. We ought not to be content with shallow notions of sound doctrine, but we must long to see God's people, first ourselves and also one another, attain to all the wealth of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are bound up in the person of Christ. This is to say, we must devote ourselves to discipleship, to investing in the body of Christ in this place, to living life alongside one another and helping each other follow Jesus better. And then having seen that the scheme of discipleship is to present every man perfect in Christ, we asked, how are we to accomplish that? What did Paul do to ensure that his goal would be met? And that brought us to the second point, namely the substance of discipleship. First the scheme and then the substance. Verse 28, we proclaim him. admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. Amid the seemingly infinite number of tasks and responsibilities of church ministry, Paul boils down the essence of his ministry to one thing, the irreducible minimum, the very sum and substance of Christian discipleship is we proclaim him. The proclamation of Christ to one another causes his people to be transformed into his image because the preaching of his person and work displays his glory. And as we behold that glory by faith, second Corinthians 318, we become what we behold. The beauty of Jesus so satisfies the soul that we have no need to seek satisfaction in sin. The pleasure of Christ that comes from obeying all he has commanded makes holiness a delight. And so whether in preaching or in counseling, at Bible study or in everyday conversations, the heart and soul of all discipleship is the proclamation of Christ to one another. And we saw last week that there is no shortage of material. Jesus is God. Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all things. He is the Lord of glory who concealed that glory behind the veil of his human nature in the mystery of the incarnation. He is the one mediator between God and man whose life of perfect obedience to the law is credited to us by faith and whose substitutionary death paid the full penalty for our sins as he bore the wrath of God in the place of his people. And he rose again on the third day in victory over sin and death, ascended to the right hand of the father where he rules the world and intercedes for his people. Then he is returning soon to destroy his enemies and to reign on the earth in righteousness. It says, we proclaim him, that Christ to one another, that the body of Christ is built up and strengthened and transformed into his image. But you'll notice that the verse doesn't end with, we proclaim him. Paul expounds further on what it means to proclaim Christ. Look at verse 28. We proclaim him. How, Paul, what do we do? Admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. The substance of discipleship, which is the proclamation of Christ, is carried out through the ministry of teaching and the ministry of admonition. And it's the ministry of admonition that we will focus on this morning. In Romans, chapter 15, verse 14, we find Paul placed a high premium on a church's ability to wisely and benevolently admonish one another. He says, and concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. That's a bit of a counterintuitive word choice, isn't it? I think if we were writing that verse, we might have said, I'm convinced that you're full of goodness and knowledge and able also to love one another, or maybe encourage one another, or serve one another, or maybe even teach one another. But Paul says, admonish one another. I'm convinced you're able to admonish. The Greek term is nutheteo, which comes from the word nous, which means mind, and the word titheimi, which means to put or place. So nutheteo literally means to put someone in mind of something. One commentator defined it as setting the mind of someone in proper order. It means to bring correction or rebuke, or even to warn someone of the consequences of foolish conduct or wrong thinking. Paul regards the capacity to wisely and benevolently admonish one another as a virtue worthy to be praised in a congregation. In fact, from what Scripture says about admonition and correction and rebuke, we could say that if a church lacks the competency to biblically admonish one another, we do little more than play church. We fool ourselves into thinking we're experiencing genuine fellowship when really we're little more than a social club. A healthy biblical church is able to admonish one another, to correct one another when we're in sin, to warn each other of the consequences of errant doctrine or sinful conduct. Why such a high premium? Because if we are to have any hope of presenting every man complete in Christ, of helping one another make progress in sanctification and Christian maturity, we have to know how to deal with sin in the church. Sin in the body of Christ is like spiritual cancer. If left untreated, it infects the whole body until it destroys all spiritual life. It was John Owen who wrote the famous line, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. And so the ministry of admonition is absolutely essential if there is to be health and growth in the church. And because Paul's great passion was to present every Christian perfect in Christ, he engaged in this ministry of admonition. Turn with me briefly to Acts chapter 20. to Acts chapter 20, the passage where Paul is speaking about his ministry to the Ephesian church, whom he loved and served for three years. And in that farewell address to the elders, he says in verse 20 of Acts chapter 20, you yourselves know how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house. Verse 26. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. And then in verse 31, night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. Paul says, if there's one thing that's characterized my ministry among you, it's that I didn't hold back anything that was profitable to you, even if it was difficult for you to receive. He says he admonished each one daily for three years. Paul refused to let the fear of man hinder him from actually benefiting his brethren by admonishing them. You say night and day for three years, they must have been happy to see him go. But the opposite was true. Look at verse thirty six. When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all and they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, then repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. That's heartwarming affection. from someone who corrected them every day for three years. The result of Paul's tireless ministry of rebuke and admonition was genuine and loving fellowship. These brothers knew that Paul was benefiting them by proclaiming Christ to them, even and especially in his rebukes and confrontations and warnings. And this love manifested in his maturity of night and day admonition produced in them great and overwhelming love for him because he helped them see their savior more clearly. Sin clouds your vision of Christ. And so the one who serves us best and loves us most is the one who proclaims the most of Christ to us, the one who helps us see the most of our Savior. My most treasured friends are those who are faithful to bring me correction, who regularly offer loving biblical admonition when I need it, so that I would not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, Hebrews 3, and so that I can love and serve my Savior more faithfully. We need to lay hold of this kind of blessing. We cannot forfeit the blessings that result from a ministry of faithful admonition in the local church. And therefore we need to recalibrate our thinking concerning the giving and receiving of correction rather than bristling at it or being offended by it or by dismissing it as the overbearing judgmentalism of busybodies. We need to cultivate the instinct to humbly receive and even invite correction from our brethren. And rather than fearing the offense that we might give, we ought not to shrink back from declaring anything that's profitable to one another, just as Paul didn't shrink back. To put it in the language of Colossians 128, if we're serious about proclaiming him in order to present every man complete in Christ, we must be faithful to admonish every man with all wisdom. A key feature of genuine Christian discipleship, part of its very substance, is the ministry of admonition. And so to equip us for that this morning, we're going to examine four aspects of this biblical ministry of admonition. And that first aspect is every Christian's responsibility, number one, to give admonition. to give admonition. Again, Romans 15, 14, full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. Now, some of us love this responsibility a little too much. Some of you are too eager to pick the specks of sawdust out of your brother's eye. All right, who can I admonish this Sunday? There's a problem there, and we'll talk about that. But I would guess for most of us, when it comes to addressing sin in our fellow believers, we can tend to be timid. We don't want to be perceived as the arrogant speck picker. Or we might be fearful. We may have good intentions, but we're afraid our friend will take our correction the wrong way and think us unloving. Maybe that it'll damage the friendship. And so we rationalize not saying anything and we call it love covering a multitude of sins. And while we certainly should be quick to overlook personal offenses against ourselves, if a pattern of sin is taking root in a brother's life, scripture tells us that we must be faithful to give admonition. Turn back with me to the book of Proverbs and chapter 27. Proverbs. Chapter 27, we'll look at a few Proverbs, some in 27, some in 28, and some in 29. But in Proverbs 27 in verse six, Solomon gives us a proverb that we should all, we should commit them all to memory, but this one's at the top of the list of memorization. Proverbs 27, six, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Hear it again. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. What's that mean? It means, friends, that friends afflict with faithful wounds. Enemies deceive with flattery and kisses. You may think that if you minimize or downplay the sins of your fellow believers, you're being magnanimous or merciful. You may think it's more loving to flatter and compliment your friends by telling them how great they're doing spiritually. And of course, it's good and right to encourage one another. But if there's something that's actually wrong, if there's sin that's actually taken root in a person's life, you are an enemy to your brother if you fail to wound him faithfully. Turn over to chapter 29 and verse five. Proverbs 29 5 says a man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps. If you gloss over sin and puff your brother up so that he thinks he's more godly than he is, you're setting a trap that will ensnare him spiritually. And then back up to 28 and verse 23. Proverbs 28 23 Solomon says he who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue. For all of our concern about what other people are going to think of us if we bring them correction. Scripture promises that when all is said and done you will find more favor than if you only sweep things under the rug and give your brother a false assurance of his sin. And now, if you would turn with me back to the New Testament, Second Timothy, chapter three. Toward the end of the chapter, it's that familiar verse, Second Timothy 3, 16. Where we learn that the Lord has given us the scriptures for this very purpose of giving faithful admonition to our fellow believers. Second Timothy 3, 16. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for. teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness. And then look down to chapter four in verse two, where Paul charges Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. The Holy Spirit inspired scripture to be profitable for reproof and correction. Timothy is to preach the word with an eye to reproving, rebuking and exhorting. If the wounds of a friend are faithful, scripture is the sword of the spirit that faithful saints wield as they aim to sharpen their brothers and sisters to present them complete in Christ. And as we've seen, Paul was no stranger to this ministry of giving admonition in his own life. Galatians 2, 11 to 14, he opposed Peter to his face and rebuked him in the presence of all. That wasn't Paul being overly scrupulous or excessively harsh with somebody he didn't like. No, that was love stretching to very uncomfortable and unpleasant lengths to serve a brother in error. It was taking seriously the stewardship that we have as Christians to bring correction to a sinning brother. Because by his sin, he cuts himself off from the blessings of God that flow from obedience and love yearns for the beloved to enjoy the best of God's blessings. Or consider 2 Corinthians 2. In between Paul's first and second letters to the Corinthians, he had written them a severe letter, sternly rebuking them for being duped by the false teaching of phony apostles and for failing to deal with sin in the church. And of course, that reproof caused them sorrow. But in 2 Corinthians 2, 4, he explains why he admonished them so severely. He says, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you. Paul wasn't just venting. He wasn't just a tyrant who took some perverse delight in confrontation. He says he admonished them so that they would know that he loved them. And that love would be apparent when they considered what extraordinarily unpleasant lengths he was willing to go to in order to protect them from the effects of sin and false teaching. It's as if he said, well, sure, it would have been easier for me to avoid the situation entirely, but I love you all too much to abandon you to the damning doctrines of the false apostles for the sake of avoiding a difficult conversation. I love you all too much not to confront you about your sin. See, discernment properly identifies sin for the cancer that it is. And love constrains us to have the difficult conversations with our brothers and sisters in which we lovingly explain that though they might not be aware of it, they've got spiritual cancer and they need to do something about it before it ravages their soul. Sure, it's easier to ignore sin in one another. It's easier to not have people call you judgmental and arrogant and holier than thou because you've brought sin to their attention. It's easier to avoid resolving conflict in a big church like this. You can pretend like the other person doesn't exist. It's easier to write people off and terminate relationships. But dear friends, that is not ministry. That is not love. It's not discipleship. It's not Christianity. The loving servant of Christ's flock, the one committed to presenting every man perfect in Christ, is willing to endure all manner of difficulty for the sake of one another's mortification of sin and joy in Jesus. The wounds of a friend are faithful because those wounds work in the soul a godly sorrow, 2 Corinthians 7 says, that produces a repentance that leads to salvation. And so we must be committed lovingly with all goodness and according to knowledge to engaging in the ministry of giving admonition. Secondly, we are also commanded to receive admonition. Well, not only are we to give admonition, we are to receive admonition. As I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons it's so difficult to be faithful in giving needed admonition is because those on the receiving end can receive it very poorly. But that should not be us. We ought to resolve to not put any stumbling blocks in the way of our own correction by means of a bad attitude. We want to be corrected when we're wrong. And so we must be intentional about rooting out any bad attitudes that would cause one of our brothers or sisters to hesitate to come to us in love and open our eyes to our sin. Somebody thinks about you and says, man, I wanna help them, but I just, I don't want the fight. I don't want the pushback. I don't wanna have to go 15 rounds before he finally says, all right, all right, I see it. We ought not to project that to one another. It should be easy to come to us for our benefit. Let's turn back to the book of Proverbs and consider what the scriptures say about those who receive admonition well versus those who receive it poorly. Start with Proverbs chapter 9 in verse 8. Proverbs 9 8 the second half of the verse. Reprove a wise man, and he will argue with you for about an hour about how your correction isn't technically biblically accurate. No, that's not what it says. Reprove a wise man, and even though the substance of your correction is justified, he'll pick apart how you said it. That's not it either. Proverbs 9, 8. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Is that how you react when you're admonished by faithful brothers and sisters? To love the one bringing correction? If not, are you a wise man or woman? Turn over to Proverbs 10 verse 17. The text says, he is on the path of life who heeds instruction. But he who ignores reproof goes astray. And then chapter 12 in verse one, this has always been one of my favorite proverbs because of how squarely it smacks me between the eyes. I am dull enough to need God to be blunt with me and he obliges. Proverbs chapter 12 verse one. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Chapter 13 and verse 10. Through insolence comes nothing but strife. But wisdom is with those who receive counsel. What's insolence? Well, it's the attitude that says, I didn't do anything wrong. That can't be my fault. You think I'm sinning? You've got no discernment. It's the attitude that's, you know, I'm always right, and if there's a problem, it's always the other guy's fault. Anyone can see that he's the problem. What's that get you? What does the scripture say that gets you? What's the fruit of that in your own life? Look at it. Nothing but strife, contention, quarrels. But those who are wise receive counsel. End of chapter 15 verses 30 and 30, 31 and 32. Solomon says he who's ear listens to the life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself. But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. Do you hate yourself? Paul says no one ever hated his own flesh. But you sow to your own destruction when you refuse admonition. When you receive counsel, you sow to your blessing. And then just one more, because I think you're getting the picture, Proverbs 1710. A rebuke goes deeper into one with understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. So what do these proverbs teach us? Summarize. If you love discipline, listen to reproof, receive counsel and rebuke, well, then you are wise. You will have you have wisdom. You love knowledge. You're on the path of life and you'll acquire understanding. On the other hand, if you refuse to receive admonition, you will go astray. You'll know nothing but strife. You effectively despise your own self and you are a stupid fool. Strong language from Solomon, but there it is clear, inescapable, gracious revelation from God for our benefit. Which one of those people do you want to be? The stupid fool who hates himself or the wise lover of knowledge who is on the path of life? It's an easy decision now when we're in the proper frame of mind, informed by scripture, but those are the questions you need to ask yourself the next time a brother or sister comes to you with correction. Brother comes to you and says, hey, thanks for meeting with me. I've been praying about this and I believe the Lord would have me bring this to your attention. I've observed this in your life. And right then you have this twinge in your heart that goes, he's gonna correct me, he's gonna nail me, right? And you realize, I don't like this. But in that very moment, you need to rise up and battle the temptation against pride, battle the temptation to be foolish and insolent and to reject counsel. You need to ask yourself in that moment, do I want to be the stupid fool or do I want to be the wise lover of knowledge? You need to put the defenses down and humbly listen to the admonition your brother's bringing you. Now that doesn't mean that you always have to agree. We are not slaves to the whims of every legalist with a weak conscience. It may be that this person has seen something that isn't there. Maybe it's a misunderstanding. And in that case, you'd hear them out. You acknowledge that you're not above sinning in the way that they've suggested. But for integrity's sake, you explain the misunderstanding. Or you may not agree right away, but you commit to examining yourself. Brother, thank you for bringing this to my attention, for your loving concern for me and my walk with the Lord. I'll be honest and say it's not something that I discern in myself right away, but I'm going to take some time and consider this before the Lord. Would you pray for me this week as I do that? And friends, as sinful as we are, I'd say that even if our brother isn't 100% right about what he's brought to our attention, or maybe the way he's done it isn't perfectly biblically sound, more often than not, there's something in that correction that we can receive. There's some benefit to be wrung out of that rebuke. And the wise man or woman wrings it out. They hunt down the benefit of all correction. We need to receive admonition well. That's why we're here, isn't it? Why do you come to church for four hours every Sunday morning? Yes, to worship Christ as he is worthy of to celebrate the resurrection. Yes, to hear about the savior who has conquered sin by his cross and forgives those who repent and trust in him. But also we come. as believers to be equipped to kill remaining sin in our hearts. We want the training and the weapons that will help us make war on the fleshliness that remains in us. Just as Christ has conquered sin for us on the cross, now he means to conquer sin in us as we progress in sanctification. And so we come Sunday after Sunday to be equipped to press after that sanctification. And sometimes it comes through the ministry of one another to one another. And in fact, scripture goes further than requiring us to receive admonition well. It also tells us that godly people go out of their way to invite admonition. Lest they go astray. That brings us to our third point. We are to give. Receive, and now number three, even to invite admonition. I want you to turn with me to Psalm 141. Psalm 141, where David is calling on the Lord for help as he's being pursued by his enemies. And he's praying for integrity in his own life so he doesn't forfeit the Lord's blessing. And in verse five, he says something that is just so instructive for us. Psalm 141 verse five. David says, Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me. It is oil upon the head. Do not let my head refuse it. Now the word smite is not a dainty word. The same word appears in Psalm 74 six where it's translated smash with hatchets and hammers. And yet David is inviting this. Let the righteous smash me over the head with the hatchet of rebuke and the hammer of correction. He says, being struck with this heavy blow from the righteous is a kindness done to him. It's oil upon his head. Spurgeon comments on that imagery of anointing oil and says, as oil refreshes and perfumes, so does reproof when fitly taken, sweeten and renew the heart. See, the wise man or woman loves the admonition of the righteous. It refreshes and perfumes. It sweetens and renews. A wise man or woman invites the admonition of other wise men and women. Now note again, let the righteous smite me in kindness. There are qualifications for smiting other believers with correction. You must do it in righteousness. Remember again, Romans 15, 14, you need to be full of goodness and filled with all knowledge. You can't just run around like a bulldozer running everybody over. Well, scripture tells me I can smash people and you ought to love it. No, this is for the righteous, not the wicked. This is for those full of goodness, not full of malice. This is for those filled with all knowledge, not those full of ignorance. But the metaphor is striking. It's not dainty. As I said, let the righteous massage my ego in kindness. No, let the righteous smite me. And even though it stings, it's oil on my head. That ought to be part of our discipleship relationships with one another. Each one of you should be able to name three people in the church, in addition to those in your immediate family, who know you well enough to be regularly speaking into your life, helping you expose and mortify sin, sharpening you against the dangers of false doctrine. If you don't have that, you need to go to your brothers and sisters, people you trust, and you need to invite their admonition into your life. Say, brother, I really value your friendship and I respect your grasp of the scriptures. I just want to invite you. If you see anything in my life that's not honoring to the Lord, please bring it to my attention. By God's grace, I'll do it. I'll do my best to receive it humbly and not make you regret that you brought it to me. Could you imagine all the sin that would get mortified if we were faithful to invite admonition into our lives from our fellow church members? Our sin would not be able to hide. And you understand one of the greatest advantages that our flesh has against us is the dark. We are so often blind to our own errors. Psalm 19 verse 12, David says, who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Psalm 139, 23 and 24, David prays, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me. We need God to reveal sin in us because we don't always see it in ourselves. It's like our flesh has this self-preserving mechanism in us to cause us to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. And so it's the wise man or woman who invites the correction and the admonition of their fellow believers who may be able to see a hidden fault or a hurtful way in us better than we can see it in ourselves. We need to have those kinds of genuine relationships, and so we ought to seek out and invite the admonition of the righteous. Well, we've seen our responsibility to give admonition, receive it, invite it from those we trust to smite us in kindness. We come now number four to the goal of admonition, the goal of admonition. And for this, I'd like us to turn to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. The author of Hebrews is writing to this band of persecuted Jewish Christians to encourage them to remain faithful to Christ in the midst of the conflicts that they're experiencing, which the author ultimately attributes to God's chastening of them. And in Hebrews 12, the author quotes the book of Proverbs to show that the Lord's discipline is a mark of his grace to them because he disciplines those whom he loves. Starting in verse five. He says, You've forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. It's for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you're without discipline, of which you've all become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. See what he's saying? Don't faint under the Lord's discipline. Sons and daughters get discipline. It's a blessing. It's a mark of your adoption. And then the author tells us the purpose for God's discipline. He explains how it's loving. Verses nine and 10. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. That is a staggeringly glorious truth to hear. God disciplines his children for our good, for our benefit. And what is that good? It's that we might share his holiness. That discipline is not always pleasant at the present time. He says that in verse 11, but it comes to refine us. It comes to purify us so that we might be increasingly conformed, increasingly presented more perfect in Christ. The greatest benefit we could ever receive is to share in the holiness of God himself. And so the Lord disciplines us oftentimes by means of the admonition of other believers to make us more like him. You say, listen, I'm happy to receive discipline from the Lord, just not from you. But don't forget that God is sovereign over all things and he is providentially ordering every circumstance in your life. He's put you in this church with these people. And often he will use the admonitions of our brothers and sisters as the instrument of his discipline. And then look at verse 14, the author of Hebrews tells us why we should be concerned about sharing in God's holiness. He says, pursue the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. I hope that lands on you. We are commanded to pursue sanctification precisely because if we don't have it, we will not see God. Mike, are you saying our holiness merits heaven for us? No, not at all. But when God saves you, he opens your eyes to see the filth of sin and the loveliness of Christ. And so it's not perfection. But if the direction of your life is not decreasing patterns of sin, If you have no taste for the loveliness of Christ and the pursuit of more of him on the path of holiness, the author of Hebrews is saying you may not have ever been a Christian at all. And so you won't see the Lord. That is what presenting every man perfect is about. It's about finally beholding without the hindrances of sin, the most lovely and beautiful and satisfying thing that can be beheld. the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. What are the first words spoken in the new creation? Revelation 21 3, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them. You see, discipline and correction and admonition when they're founded upon the word of God and delivered by those full of goodness and knowledge are means by which we lay hold of the sanctification which fits us to see Christ face to face in the glories of the new earth. And so if it's seeing Christ that's at stake here, Paul is most certainly going to celebrate the Romans competence to admonish one another. He is most certainly going to admonish every man, not hesitating to admonish each one night and day for years. So that he might present every man complete in Christ, put into possession of the holiness, without which no one will see the most magnificent thing there is to see. And if that's his passion, that's our passion. We ought to do the same. As we consider this great philosophy of ministry from Colossians 1, 28 and 29, this focus on Christian discipleship, we must not shy away from admonishing one another in accordance with the truth. Friends, don't hate your brothers and sisters by hiding instruction from them. Don't sabotage the health of this church by letting sin go unchecked. First of all, in your own heart, that's ground zero for each one of us. We see the log in our own eye before we pick the speck in our brother's eye. But then who recognizes that we are our brother's keeper. And so we seek to confront sin in the lives of fellow believers as well. And if someone has the courage to admonish you, receive it graciously and gratefully. Don't hate discipline and instruction and earn the reputation of a fool. Instead, seek out admonition. Desire correction. Invite rebuke and reproof. There are oil on the head that refreshes and sweetens. Hate sin enough, friends, and love Christ enough to seek out ways of having sin exposed in your own life. Because we're bad at that by ourselves. Pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord because that is what the whole of the Christian life, it's what the whole of life is about, rightly seeing and knowing and enjoying and worshiping the Lord Jesus. And if my sin clouds my sight of him, I want someone to come and tear that sin out of my sight so that I can have a clear and accurate and perfectly contoured image, view of the glory of Jesus that transforms me. into that very same image of glory. If you're wise, you want that as well. And if you don't want it, it may be that you're not a believer at all. If the prospect of beholding Christ more clearly isn't thrilling to you, causing you to be willing to suffer the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that you may gain him. It may be that you've never beheld him with the eyes of faith. But I entreat you to see him now. And trust in him now. Put away any hope that you have in your own righteousness to get you into heaven. And put all your trust in this Savior who has lived and died and risen again in the place of sinners. He will avail for you before the bar of God's righteousness. Trust in him and then be gathered into his family. that's devoted to presenting every man complete in Christ, to the degree that we will admonish one another to do so, come and find the blessing that God intends for his people to enjoy when sin is put to death. Let's pray. Father, we do pray that you would open the eyes of the blind and that you would grant salvation to those who stand in need of it. cause them to turn away from their own good works, their own bad works, to run into the arms of Jesus, whose own works, his works alone avail before your bar of justice. We do not trust in ourselves. We say to you, we trust alone in Christ. We pray that you would receive us for his sake. But the one who has accomplished righteousness for us, is now laboring to work righteousness in us. And so I pray that you would make us a holy people, that you would be kind to your church, not for our sake, but for your own sake, because Christ is worthy of a bride without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So would you purify us? Would you make us more holy, more mature? so that we would be what you are worthy of. And we know that on that path, there is joy and blessing for us as well. Pray that you would accomplish what we cannot. In Jesus' name, amen. For more information about the ministry of The Grace Life Pulpit, visit at www.thegracelifepulpit.com. Copyright by The Grace Life Pulpit, all rights reserved.