In Robert Bosley's sermon titled 'Indifference to the Means of Grace,' the speaker explores the concept of the ordinary means of grace, which include the word of God, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer. These means are described as channels through which God's grace is extended to believers, enabling them to grow in faith and holiness. The sermon emphasizes that a mark of spiritual life is a love for these means, while indifference to them indicates spiritual death. The speaker explains that these means require faith and the work of the Holy Spirit to be effective, as they are not inherently powerful. Bosley uses the analogy of a power cord to illustrate how grace is transferred from God to believers through these means. He also warns that neglecting the means of grace reflects a lifeless soul, urging individuals to examine their hearts and seek a genuine relationship with Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to cherish and actively participate in the means of grace as a sign of true Christian faith.

Acts chapter 2 verses 41 and 42. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3, 000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And with that, let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you for this time that we can Consider your word, consider what you have done for us in Christ, and consider these wonderful gifts you have given us in the ordinary means of grace.

Lord, may you bless this means of grace now. Amen. So my topic is the ordinary means of grace. On the one hand, a mark of spiritual death is to be indifferent to the means of grace. And on the other, a mark of spiritual life is to love the means of grace, to love the Word of God and the ordinances, to love the gathering of the church, the fellowship, the singing.

So we have again before us consideration of death and life. And when we think of the idea of the means of grace, we have to ask ourselves, what is meant by the phrase the means of grace? That may not be a phrase that is very well known to all of us. Well, the Baptist Catechism asks in Question 93, it asks, what are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? And the answer is, the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer, all of which means are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

And so what we have here is the idea that these benefits or the blessings of redemption, the whole system of salvation, not just your justification, but all the benefits of redemption, are given to God's people through means, through the means of grace. And what this means is that the grace that we have to even believe, the grace to persevere in our faith, the grace to grow in our faith, to grow in love and holiness, all of these graces come to us through the ordinary means of grace. In other words, it is through these things that are called the ordinary means of grace that God makes a sinner into a Christian, and it is through these ordinary means that God keeps him a Christian. When we talk about the ordinary means of grace, don't misunderstand and think ordinary means dull or uninteresting. The word ordinary in this sense means that they are the ways in which God ordinarily or commonly extends His grace to His people.

They are the common means by which God's people receive God's grace. We are not promised any extraordinary means of grace. We are not promised to have a burning bush experience, a temple vision, or a blinding voice, or a blinding light and a voice speaking to us. Those things only happened in unique times and unique places once. They were unique, but we are given the ordinary or the common means of grace.

Now there is a sense in which we can think of ordinary as in that they are not externally impressive. There isn't anything about the means of grace that makes them look powerful. Preaching is a man standing before people and speaking words fundamentally. There's nothing outwardly that looks impressive. That's why Paul said that it is foolishness to those who are perishing.

There is nothing significant about the water itself in baptism. It is simply physically a body getting wet in going under the water. The supper is bread and wine. There is nothing special in the bread and wine themselves. All these things are common experiences to human life, and yet God has chosen these common, simple things to be the means, when done in faith and obedience to Jesus, he has chosen these things to be the means by which he does the miraculous.

They become the reliable and enduring channels of his grace. And this is what the means of grace are. They are the channels or conduits of God's grace that comes to us and makes us to be more like his son. And if this idea, boys, of a channel or a means of grace is a little fuzzy, think of it like this in an analogy of a power cord. There's this stuff called electricity, and it's in one place.

Say it's in the outlet in the wall, and you want it in another point. You want it in a lamp to light up the room. How do we move the electricity from the wall to the lamp. You have a power cord. It is the means by which the electricity gets from point A to point B.

It doesn't jump on its own. It needs, the electricity needs the cord to flow from one point to the other. Now that's not a perfect analogy, but hopefully it helps you begin to get the idea of what is meant by a means of grace. God extends his grace to his people and the cords that move his grace from heaven into our hearts and our lives are the ordinary means of grace. And what are those means?

Well, the Catechism pointed out at least four. The word of God, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer. Others will argue for additional means such as singing, fellowship, confession of sin as other means of grace, and I think those are have good arguments behind them. But the means of grace don't happen automatically. They require faith and the work of the Spirit, The exception being that the very first work of grace to even have the ability to believe the gospel is the sovereign work of the Spirit through the means of grace of preaching or proclamation of the gospel.

But beyond that, the means of grace require faith and the work of the Spirit of God. They do not happen automatically. Just by going in the water, that does not mean you are baptized. Just by consuming bread and wine, that does not mean that you are partaking in the Lord's Supper. They require faith and the work of the Spirit.

And that is why in 1st Corinthians 10, Paul says that the supper is the participation or the communion in the body of Christ. And then in 1st Corinthians 11, he says that there are unworthy partakers who eat and drink judgment on themselves because they do not partake rightly. So the means of grace work not because they and themselves are special, but because they are God's chosen instrument and He makes them effective in getting His grace to us. So we have the Word of God and while yes we can talk about your time of reading, your time of private worship, but primarily what is meant by the Word of God as a means of grace is the public preaching of the Word of God. That is primarily what is meant.

When the Bible is opened and the preacher explains the Word of God and applies it and exalts Christ in his Word, that is a means of God's grace to you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. A sinner doesn't just wake up out of the blue and decide he will have faith in Jesus. No, the word of God is preached to him and the Spirit takes that word and creates in him a new heart, gives him the gift of faith and he then becomes a Christian. And on and on that Word of God comes over and over as the Christian hears the Word of God it comes again and again to convict them of sin and to lead them to greater love and faith and obedience toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

In baptism, you receive grace as you publicly testify to your faith in Christ in going under the water and rising up out of it. It is not merely getting wet. It is not simply being dunked in a pool. It is a sign that you are in fellowship with Christ and that His death, burial, and resurrection are yours and that through His work you have received the forgiveness of your sins. In the Lord's Supper, you receive grace as you're reminded again and again of Christ's body and blood broken and shed for you.

In this ordinance, Christ is with us spiritually and we receive grace to grow in our faith and in our holiness as we are again reminded of what our salvation cost. Through prayer, we communicate with God and make known to Him our desires and we confess to Him our sins, not that He doesn't know them already, But he hears from his people and he responds in not only answering our prayers and giving us the desires of our heart, but also giving us his grace to endure, to carry on, to continue in what he has called us to do, to persevere in trials. And he gives us the grace of forgiveness to know that our sins have been paid. Loving the means of grace is a sign of spiritual life and it is the normal Christian experience. What did we read in Acts chapter 2?

He says in verse 41, those who gladly received his word, So they received the word, the means of grace of preaching, they received that word, and they were baptized, the means of grace of baptism. And that day about 3, 000 souls were added to them. They were added to the church. But they were not satisfied just to hear it once, and to be dunked and to go on their way. It transformed them.

They continued steadfastly. Some versions read they devoted themselves to the doctrine or the teaching of the Apostles. So the ongoing regular consumption of the Word of God as a means of grace, week in, week out, Sunday after Sunday, they got the means of grace of the Word of God. And the fellowship, the gathering of the church, and the breaking of bread, which is almost certainly a reference to the Lord's Supper, a means of grace, of spiritually partaking of the body and blood of Christ. And they devoted themselves to the prayers, the means of grace of being in communion with God.

We see that this is from the very beginning, a mark of true Christianity, a mark of true faith is this ongoing desire to have the means of grace. The Word of God, the Lord's Supper, prayer, baptism, all these things, fellowship, singing, all these things have always been a mark of true faith. You love the means of grace and you come to them over and over. And so if this is true, if that's what the means of grace are, what does that mean for you if you are indifferent toward them? What does that say about the state of your soul if you have no concern about the normal ways in which God gives grace to His people?

The soul that has no concern for the ordinary means of grace is a soul that has not been touched by grace. If you have no desire to hear and see, taste, and experience these channels of grace, it is a sure sign that you have a lifeless soul that is dead in its sin. If you have no love for the means by which you grow in faith is because you do not have faith to begin with. The one that is indifferent to the means of grace is the same one who is indifferent to the Lord of grace. And so if we continually neglect these things, What does that say about the state of your soul, the state of your heart toward the Lord?

If you constantly find an excuse to avoid the preaching and the gathering of the saints, what does that say? What do you really love? What has actually occurred in your heart? Has anything occurred in your heart if you have no love for these things? Tomorrow is the Lord's day.

Are you, boys and men, are you eagerly anticipating this day? This glorious opportunity to once again be with the saints of God and Hear from God in his word to feast on Christ in the supper and to commune with him in prayer Are you looking ahead to tomorrow? With the same words of David I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Is that the desire of your heart looking ahead to tomorrow? Or is your heart lifeless and dead toward these great gifts that God has given his people?

And this is so vital for us to understand and consider right now especially. We have seen churches in our country and around the world shut down or heavily restricted for a year and a half or more. Now most are opening back up in the states, but so many of these churches have opened back up and they're looking around and wondering where their people went. The doors are open, but no one's coming. Because the government has hammered into their heads for months on end and said, no you don't need the ordinary means of grace.

And these masses of churchgoers have said, yeah I guess you're right. I don't need the supper. I don't need the Word of God preached to me. That's frightening. What does that say about the state of their souls?

If you can leave a church and not return for months on end, and you have no desire to come back, What does that say about your relationship with Christ? But listen, boys, even if you sit under the preaching and you partake in the ordinances and you engage in prayer and you're brought to church every week by your parents, that is no sure sign that you are actually a recipient of grace. You can go through all the motions. You can do all the things, indifferent, unconcerned, and unconverted. You can eat and drink judgment on yourself.

You can do all these things and it will profit you nothing. If there is no love for God, no desire for Christ, then the water of baptism will be of no value to you. The bread and wine will turn to dust and accomplish nothing if there is no heart for Christ. And so if this is you, young men or older men, and you are indifferent to the means of grace and you are indifferent to the Lord of grace, call on Christ. Call on Him to save you.

It is so easy, especially for you little boys, It is so easy for you to just to get in the habit of going to church because your dad says it's Sunday we're going to church. I know it's easy to fall into a routine but do you love it? Do you love it because you get to hear God speaking to you? Or do you just go because you're made to? Or you go because you get to see friends?

It's good to see your friends. It's good to enjoy that time. But do you love the preaching even if you don't understand it? Do you love the prayers even if you don't understand it? Do you love the ordinances even if you don't understand them perfectly?

Does it make your heart happy to hear about Jesus and what he did for you on the cross. Do you love the prayers knowing that you have a good Father in heaven who hears them and answers exactly in the way that you need to be answered? If you don't know Him, if you don't love these means of grace, and if you don't love the giver of grace, call on Him to save you. He is a powerful Savior. His grace is greater than all your sin.

And turn to him and you will find the forgiveness and the new life that you so badly need. You will run to him and you will find a never ending well of grace every day for the rest of your life and into eternity. Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you that you have given us your word. What an extraordinary means of grace.

God, we pray that you would make it effective, that by your Spirit you would grant us greater and greater grace to grow in our love for you. God, do an amazing work among us. We pray Lord that he would save our children, that these young boys who do not yet know you, God that by your grace you would bring them in, change their hearts and give them new life in Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.