Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library: Recent Episodes
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Women in John’s gospel
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryAHiggins04172025.m4a[0:00] Now, again, a very, very warm invitation and appreciation for all who have taken time to come, and also a very genuine expression of thanks to the assembly for your kindness in inviting me to be with you these four nights. I often think the responsibility of a man who comes to preach the word of God to the people of God is to leave you better than I found you. That’s a very, very high standard. I trust there’s been something of Christ and something in the ministry that has been a help in some way to all. Now, John’s Gospel, chapter 20.
[0:43] This is, of course, the resurrection morning, and verse number one tells us that the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early while it was yet dark. Again, he’s using physical conditions to give us some type of insight into spiritual conditions, unto the sepulcher, and saw the stone rolled away. Of course, then she runs, and Simon Peter and John come. Drop down to verse number 11. They leave, but Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, seeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, but knew him not, that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say teacher or master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not. I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren. Saying to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
[2:06] We trust God will add his blessing to the public reading of his word, and we’ll make mention of other scriptures as well. Now I mentioned, I think, in the first night, but if I didn’t, I’ll mention it now, that the resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus can be placed alongside Psalm number 23. We have at least five of those here in this section. For example, we have someone whose cup is running over with joy as the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to Mary Magdalene. My cup runneth over. Then when he appears to Thomas, or rather appears to the Twelve, he…
[2:40] It uses the, or it doesn’t use, but it fulfills the expression found in Psalm number 23, waters of rest, fear not. He calms them, brings them beside waters of rest to enjoy peace and rest despite all of the worry and concern. Then, of course, he deals with Thomas and we see he restores my soul. We mentioned as well, when you come to chapter number 21, you have the Lord preparing a table before his disciples in the presence of all his enemies.
[3:08] Bread and fish already prepared by him for their enjoyment, for their nourishment. They had gone out for fish. He had bread and fish. They would have had to clean them and cook them. He had everything ready already. So he’s showing he can do far better for us than we can do for ourselves if we allow him. So he prepares a table. Then, of course, you have the Lord Jesus saying, follow thou me. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. And also you would see him telling Peter and John, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? There he’s reminding us of a home in heaven. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, if you add to that, very quickly your mind can run through these. Luke 24, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, two walking under the shadow of death on the road to Emmaus. Remember as well in Matthew 28, thy rod and thy staff. Lo, all authority is given unto me. that’s the rod of authority. I am with you always. That’s the staff to comfort and protect. So we have all of the teaching of Psalm 23 contained in the resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus. Now, that’s not just a nice way of looking at them, but keep in mind, what he is displaying is what he is doing right now at God’s right hand as our shepherd.
[4:22] The Lord Jesus has many offices. He is our great high priest. He’s our advocate. He’s our friend, but he’s our shepherd. And so as our great shepherd, he is still caring for us in the very same way all of these appearances
[4:37] reveal him to be caring for his own. So just to mention that as far as that is concerned. Mention as well, to show us the unity of the word of God, which is a tremendous thing to note, the link with Genesis and John. Now we had mentioned many, many links with Adam, the side of the Lord Jesus Christ being riven, Adam’s side being opened to provide a bride, the Lord Jesus Christ having a seamless garment, Adam having a garment with many seams, all of that. But I want you to think, first of all, of this. What we come to in John chapter 20, where we read is a garden and a woman and a gardener. So that’s John 20. That’s Genesis chapter three. A garden, a woman, and a gardener. But it’s so different in this garden. This woman is loyal. This woman is faithful. This woman does not seek in any way to undermine leadership. And she willingly bows to the one who is her Lord. And so we see the wonderful contrast with the Gospel of John, and rather with Genesis, and the picture of the garden. I want to just send in my remarks about three things.
[5:50] Mary Magdalene, her history, her heart, and her honor. So it would be very easy to remember her history, her heart, and her honor. As far as her history is concerned, we know three things. She was demon-possessed, she was delivered, and she from that moment on became a devoted follower and servant of the Lord Jesus. Now, we read that she had seven demons. The Lord Jesus cast out of her seven demons. Now, we have no idea and can’t speculate what form that demon possession took. In some instances, demon possession, for example, was marked by the ability to be a seer, a foreteller of the future. Acts chapter 16, and the woman who was delivered by Paul on that occasion, she had brought her masters much gain by her soothsaying. So demon possession there led to the ability to foretell the future. But then, of course, you have the madman of Gadara who was possessed by legion, and he didn’t foretell the future. He literally destroyed himself and everyone else he could find. So the violent as well as the prophetic or prognosticators, whatever it may be, demon possession took different forms in different individuals.
[7:04] It’s interesting that the very first place we find Mary Magdalene mentioned is in Acts chapter two. She was among the women who ministered unto him. She appears suddenly out of nowhere. However, just suggesting, just suggesting to you that the woman at the end of chapter seven, who comes in and to Simon the Pharisee’s house and anoints his feet, watches them with her tears, kisses them, anoints them with oil. I wonder, could that have been Mary Magdalene in her appreciation for the Lord Jesus? From that moment on, she’s going to devotedly follow him and minister to him. But that’s as far as we know of her history. And we can possibly suggest that she was the woman of chapter 7. And then, of course, we see her in Luke chapter 8 as the one devoted, serving the Lord Jesus. She was delivered. We’re not told exactly when she was delivered. We know she was satanically oppressed. We know that she was demon-possessed. And while none of us likely were demon-possessed, although some of my parents may have thought so.
[8:06] You’ll understand that all of us have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the son of his love. So we’ve all had a deliverance. We’ve all been delivered from satanic power. One of the great aspects of redemption, Luke at Colossians chapter one tells us, giving thanks unto the father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. So one aspect of redemption is that we have been transferred out of one kingdom into another. We’ve crossed the line never to go back. So we are reminded just like Mary, we have all been delivered. She then began to serve. So I want to talk to you then about her devotion. She ministered. Prior to the cross, all we know is that she and other women ministered of their substance to the Lord. They enabled the Lord and his disciples to carry on their ministry and enabled the Lord Jesus to serve others and carry on as he did as we read of him in the Gospels. But then the next place we find her standing at the cross, identified with the cross, standing there with likely three other women and John. The disciples had fled.
[9:20] Some had cowered in fear. Here are women standing by the cross, devoted to a crucified Savior. We next find her following the body to the tomb. Interesting, the cortege that followed Christ. It’s interesting that the most despicable people on earth usually have a half dozen or a dozen people following their burial. The Lord Jesus had Nicodemus, Joseph, and two women. That was the funeral person that he had. In devotion, she’s there following the body. Then we’re told that she watched where the body was laid. She knew exactly where the tomb was. So there’d be no, all of this is of course to give credence and to give validity to her account of the resurrection. She knew the tomb he was in and we find her then first at the tomb in the morning, more devoted than the disciples, more concerned than the disciples. We don’t know. She came with women who brought spices and ointments.
[10:20] But she gave her all. One of the great examples of devotion in the Old Testament is a man named Jonathan. Everything he had, his royal robe, his sword, his bow, everything laid at the feet of David when he came up out of the Valley of Elah as a victor. His right to the throne, that was his kingly robe. His skill and ability, his bow and his sword, everything laid at David’s feet to be used by him. Here is a woman, and she is giving everything over for him for his glory and honor, her history. Something about her heart.
[10:56] As I mentioned already, in her devotion, she is first to the tomb. Before the disciples, before others, she comes to the tomb and finds the stone rolled away. Now, this woman was so occupied with Christ. She sees two angels. They don’t attract her attention. I mean, most of us, if we knew we were looking at angels, we’d have a great conversation. Not this woman. Something is greater than angels. Something is more important than angels. She wants to find the Christ, my Lord.
[11:28] She comes and again we’ve mentioned in contrast to Eve she’s faithful she’s devoted she’s sincere she owns him as her Lord. There are five individuals in scripture who call the Lord Jesus Christ my Lord. Only five, interesting where they you have David in the Old Testament right before Christ David ever came the Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand so before ever he came, David owned him as Lord, my Lord. The next one, of course, is Elizabeth to Mary with the babe in the womb. Allow me to use the term reverently, the fetus growing in the womb. From whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord comes? So she owned the babe in the womb was her Lord. Then you’ve got Mary here, assuming him dead. She still thinks he is dead. And she’s owning the one who is dead is my Lord. Then you have Thomas at the end of this chapter my Lord and my God seeing him in resurrection and of course the fifth one is the Apostle Paul, he counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So before his birth at his birth, at his conception in the womb, as he is thinking he is dead in resurrection, in glory all of these individuals own his absolute supremacy and lordship My Lord. So we see her devotion, a heart that was occupied with Christ.
[12:58] He is moving here as the great high priest.
[13:04] You know what the first words the Lord Jesus Christ ever spoke in resurrection glory? We read them here. Woman, why weepest thou? A resurrected, glorified saint, interested, concerned with the tears of a woman in the garden.
[13:27] I said that the link with Psalm 23 is not accidental. It’s giving us some insight into what our shepherd is like right now. He’s interested in the tears of his people. He’s interested in the grief and the sorrows and the burdens and the cares, the tragedies and the unexplained issues of life that cause us to wonder at times. All of that comes for his attention, his concern, his care. Woman, why weepest thou? Imagine one resurrected in glory and honor, now just caring for a widow, rather a woman and her tears on this occasion. Three great statements punctuate the epistle to the Hebrews relative to the priesthood of Christ. He is able to sympathize. He is able to succor. He is able to save.
[14:16] Now, sometimes he saves us out of the trial. If he doesn’t do that, he may sucker us in the trial, giving us strength and grace. If he doesn’t do that, he sympathizes with us in the trial. So we have a high priest. You have a high priest. You have someone at God’s right hand who cares, who is able to sympathize, able to succor, able to save from every trial. So we’re reminded here of this high priest and his care and his suitability for every need. Of course, Hebrews reminds us that in the days of his flesh, he offered up strong cryings and tears. He knew what it was to endure trial. He knew what it was to shed tears. He knew what it was to face tremendous suffering, tremendous disdain, reproach, and shame. All of that he knew that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. So we’re reminded here, we’re getting a glimpse and insight into his high priestly ministry in his dealings with Mary here in the garden.
[15:19] Think of the concern she expressed. Now, we don’t know anything about Mary’s physical appearance, physical stature, but she tells the man she thinks is the gardener, tell me where you’ve laid him and I’ll take him, I’ll carry him away. She’s not thinking of herself, not thinking of her limitations, such is her devotion to Christ. She overlooks all of her own limitations, all of her physical inability. She’s just set on trying to be able to serve and honor the Lord Jesus Christ in the way she could.
[15:50] Let me talk to you about her honor. We see her heart, absolutely devoted to Christ. Heart devotion to what she felt, what she knew was a dead Christ, a crucified dead Christ in it somewhere, his body lying somewhere else. She didn’t care. He was still her Lord and she still was devoted, still loved and still cared and would serve him any way she could. So it’s a challenge to us in our devotion. But then I want you to think about her honor that was given to her. Now, here’s where we come to what we’ve been mainly dealing with this week, the Lord Jesus changing relationships.
[16:31] Remember that he changed the relationship with his mother from a natural to a spiritual relationship, changed the relationship with the woman at the well from an unsatisfying relationship to a satisfying relationship. Six husbands or five husbands, one man, never satisfied, water of life will satisfy her now forever. The woman at the taken in adultery in chapter eight, the Lord Jesus Christ said, they’re go and sin no more. So he brought her into a sanctified relationship.
[17:00] And we’ve skipped over the two sisters, Mary and Martha, who thought if he had just been here, he could have saved their brother from death. He is going to show them he’s far greater than that, able to bring him out from the tomb, able to raise him from the dead. And then of course there is the supper, In the home, and Mary takes the pound of ointment and spikenard and anoints his feet, kisses them and so on, wipes them, all of that. So the Lord Jesus Christ there is shown to be more worthy than her brother. She could have used that ointment for her brother at his burial. More worthy than herself. She could have used it for herself. But she has saved it for the Lord Jesus, who is significant and special in her life. Then at the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, again, the sixth woman is his mother again, Mary, at the cross. And the relationship he had with her, caring for her, likely responsible for her well-being, if indeed Joseph had died and she was a widow, now that’s going to be exchanged and given over to John to care for, and she will have a very supportive and secure relationship for the rest of her life with John. Let me just mention one thing about that before we leave John. And just as a help to younger believers, these are small indications of the absolute inspiration of Scripture.
[18:15] If I were John and I got Mary home in the home and we’re sitting out over a cup of tea or whatever, we’re drinking together. First thing I would ask Mary is, what was it like raising a perfect child? What was it like having a child that never disobeyed? Having a child that never said no? Having a child that never got its anger up? What was it like having a child like that? I know some of you have had those and it’s to your credit, the Lord bless you. But I think I would have asked Mary all those questions. And yet, John never records one detail about the life of the Lord Jesus prior to what we have in John chapter 1. Of course, he tells us of eternal being, but he never goes into any details about his childhood. Luke does that. John doesn’t. So the Spirit of God was controlling what he was writing, evidently and very, very definitely. So those are things that help us appreciate the very, very definite character and of inspiration in the Word of God. So let me talk to you then about her honor. First of all, her perception. She thought he was the gardener. Again, I’ve linked this with Genesis 3, but more than that, there is a sense in which he is the gardener of our souls.
[19:30] Both Isaiah and Jeremiah speak about our souls being like watered gardens, full of fragrance rare, we sing. He is the gardener who knows how to pull weeds. Now, the first thing he’s going to do is pull the weeds of ignorance. The disciples knew not, they didn’t believe yet. He’s going to have to deal with that weed. Here, he’s going to deal with another weed altogether, the need of needless worry and watching, the weed of unbelief, the weed of arrogance in Thomas, the weed of self-centeredness in Peter. He’s pulling weeds constantly. You remember the lovely illustration, Proverbs 24. Where he says he learned a lesson. He went by the field of the slothful and was overrun with weeds. The wall was broken down. The weeds were growing.
[20:22] That garden needed a wall, first of all, because what was outside the wall had come inside the garden now because the wall had gone down. So it needed the wall rebuilt. It needed watering. It needed weeding. It needed working. Reminds us, if your soul and my soul is going to be a well-watered garden, there needs to be a wall.
[20:43] Limits, separation. There needs to be watering. The Spirit of God needs to be work done, pulling weeds and recognizing what is hindering growth, what is contrary to God. Would you like your soul really to be a garden for God, fragrant, giving him pleasure, giving him delight as the fruit of the spirit is developed in our lives and all of that? So we’re reminded of that here. He is the gardener of our souls and he is able to indeed produce well-watered gardens by those who submit to him. So he was a gardener and he’s gonna pull weeds and all of the incidences that follow here in John 20 and in John chapter 21. As well, just notice with me as well that the Lord Jesus was standing and she didn’t recognize him. Now that’s interesting because in John’s gospel, we mentioned last evening, postures of the Lord Jesus. Wherever the Lord Jesus is found standing, he’s not recognized. Go back to chapter one. There stands one among you whom you know not. Okay? Okay, chapter 21, the Lord Jesus standing on the shore. The disciples knew not it was Jesus.
[21:53] Everywhere he’s standing, he’s not recognized, unknown. Here again, he’s not recognized. She was so overwhelmed with her grief. Now, whether it was that or just the fact that her eyes were holden for a moment that she couldn’t recognize him, perhaps her grief was overcoming her. And we learn a lesson.
[22:10] She did not recognize him until she turned from her grief. Now many times when we are in trial we get so occupied with our grief and our problems we fail to turn. You recall that Abraham turned to find the ram caught in the thicket, the Lord Jesus turned to look upon Peter when Peter was denying him in the high priest’s court. But different individuals had to turn. Moses had to turn aside and see this sight, the burning bush. We become so occupied, so obsessed with different things. Sometimes our problems, our grief, wondering why has the Lord done this? Why this trial? Why this burden? Why do I have it? We fail to turn and see the Lord is there all the time. He’s with us. So we’re reminded here that she didn’t recognize him at first, and she had to turn to see him. Certainly this woman was not spot on doctrinally but she was head of the class as far as devotion was concerned her heart was there. So I want to talk to you then about this new relationship that she is going to be charged with.
[23:25] The Lord Jesus Christ tells her, touch me not, don’t detain me. Now, it’s not the idea that he didn’t want to be touched because you recall later on, he says, touch me and see. A spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have. So it isn’t that there was something going with this touching her. She wanted to detain him. She wanted to keep him in the same relationship she had while he was here alive on earth prior to the cross. I want you just to be the same. Do you know that we are infinitely blessed by the fact that Christ has ascended and gone back to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. There has become infinite blessing to us. Put another way, we are far superiorly blessed by a risen ascended Christ than if he were here with us on earth today. If he had stayed on earth, I should say. If he had stayed on earth, never ascended, never occupied his place at God’s right hand, we would be much the poorer for it in all of the life that we enjoy now. There are four times in the epistle to Hebrews where we are reminded of a risen, seated, enthroned Christ.
[24:36] Interesting that Hebrews only once mentions his resurrection. Chapter 13, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep. It’s the only mention of resurrection, but his ascension, his glory, his enthronement, four different times. What is interesting is this. In all of those different times he ushered himself in. That means he on his own volition, walked into the throne room of God and sat himself down at God’s right hand.
[25:08] None of us would go into the Oval Office and sit ourselves down, right? I mean, first of all, if I’ve ever had an invitation, we do so very hesitantly, very gingerly, very apologetic. The Lord Jesus just walks right into heaven, into the throne room of heaven, sat himself down at God’s right hand, owned by God. So just mention these four different times. Chapter 1 of Hebrews. You recall how Hebrews begins. When he had by himself made purgation for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God from henceforth and so on.
[25:41] Hebrews chapter one tells us, first of all, here is the sovereign fit to reign. He sat himself down at God’s right hand. He has God’s final word, God’s finished work, the one who created the world. Now he comes and sits down at God’s right hand. He is fit to reign. He is the one who will one day take the authority, the reins of government and rule this world for God. He’s fit. Then you come to chapter number six, or rather chapter number eight, and we find he has sat down. This is the chief thing I want to tell you, Paul says. Here’s the chief principle I want to leave with you. We have such a high priest sat down on the right hand of the majesty of the throne on high. What’s he dealing with there? The covenant and all the blessings we have. Every blessing we have is guaranteed by the fact there is a man who was here, went to a cross, was buried, rose again, ascendedis at God’s right hand, and his presence there is the absolute guarantee that God is going to fulfill every part of his promises to us and all the covenant blessings. Now, I know covenant made with Israel, primarily we have come into the spiritual blessings of that covenant and all those blessings are guaranteed to us. From their sins and iniquities, I’ll remember no more. A new heart I will give them. We’ve come into the good of that now, the spiritual blessing of it, all because he has ascended and seated at God’s right hand enthroned there.
[26:59] Chapter 10 tells us that he sat down, not the idea never to rise again, but sat down forever at God’s right hand. The idea that he never will rise up to do that work of salvation again tells us the work is finished, a completed work, an exceptional high priest, the eternal rest he gives, efficacious sacrifice. So the man at God’s right hand who is seated on the throne, he’s there as proof the work is done, that your salvation and mine is complete. Nothing can ever touch it. Hebrews speaks of an eternal salvation, an eternal redemption, an eternal inheritance, an eternal covenant.
[27:37] You can’t get much more than that. All because he is seated at God’s right hand. And then in chapter 12, that chapter that complements chapter 11 of the long list of heroes of faith, reminded of Lord Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of a life of faith, who now has endured the cross, despised the shame, sat down at God’s right hand. What’s he telling us there?
[28:01] All the heroes of Hebrews 11, great men, lovely, and women as well. But there’s one who eclipsed them all. Not a moment of faith, not an act of faith, but a life of faith, constantly. He willingly endured the cross. Now, when it says he despised the shame, it’s not that he hated it. He thought little of it. Despising the shame is the idea of not counting it very, very much because of what would come from it. Because he was able to sit down at God’s right hand, God is reminding us there is compensation for a life of faithfulness. There is compensation for faithfulness and suffering and being faithful to the will of God. He has sat down at God’s right hand, the perfect example of a life of faith, the prospect that enabled him, the price he paid, all of that there. He is the one who sits at God’s right hand. Because of that, now Hebrews opens up to us other things as well. Chapter 10, having therefore brethren boldness for an entrance into the holiness by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh. Because the Lord Jesus Christ took flesh into heaven inside the veil the veil is not the flesh the veil is that tabernacle separating separation he took flesh within the veil a real man in heaven that means you and i can move freely in the sanctuary above.
[29:21] I know we lose sight of it. I lose sight of it. I’m sure you do as well. But when you bow your knee by your bedside, or when you gather together on the Lord’s Day morning, you are not remembering the Lord here in this hall in Midland Park. This is not our sanctuary. Our sanctuary is in heaven.
[29:40] It’s because he’s there that’s become our sanctuary. I have to confess to you, I had an electrician. This is a long before my son-in-law was able to do these things. He was looking at our hall and looking at something that had to be fixed. And he says, let me see your sanctuary. And I should have told them, our sanctuary. I can’t show you it. It’s above. It’s not here. But you understand. I knew what he meant. But anyway, when you bow your knees, you are actually in the presence of God. Now, I know we can hardly begin to grasp the reality of that. We become so accustomed just going through the motions. But when you bow your knee, you are in the presence of your father because he has made it possible for us to enter because he brought flesh, a man in heaven. So a man in heaven has given me absolute freedom to move within the presence of God. A man in heaven taking a body into heaven assures my future. He brought a body into heaven. He’s gonna bring other bodies into heaven someday. All of that is assured by a living man in heaven who’s there now for us. But come back with me now to what the Lord Jesus Christ says. In chapter 10, there as he speaks, or rather in chapter 20, as he speaks to Mary, he says, touch me not, I have not yet ascended to my father. Go to my father, go to my brethren, I ascend to my father and your father, my God and your God.
[31:06] The Lord Jesus Christ gives Mary Magdalene the honor of being an apostle to the apostles. She has a message to bring to them. Now, we may not think this message is so great. I would take it this is the first time the Lord Jesus Christ clearly indicates, the fatherhood of God for all believers. Now, I know he spoke, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount, other places, you know, your father in heaven knows you have need of these things. More of a general idea. And of course, when you come to the nation of Israel, no one in Israel ever spoke of God as my father. He was a father of the nation. No one ever spoke of him as being my father. But the unique relationship that now exists between believers and God in heaven, ushered in by the resurrection and ascension of Christ. I ascend to my father and your father. As a result of my ascension, spirit of God will come, gifts poured out, but also this, this wonderful relationship individually. My father, your father, my God, your God. So let me just mention a few things. The fatherhood of God, I enjoy an established relationship. I enjoy an established relationship with the Father in heaven.
[32:17] He’s given me the spirit of sonship. We’ve been indwelt by the spirit of his son. John writes, truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then Jude reminds us we’re sanctified by the father. So here’s a relationship I’m able to enjoy all because Christ has ascended and he has announced, don’t detain me. Our relationship is gonna be different now. It’s no longer a relationship of a servant and someone you serve, but I am now going to ascend into heaven and you will have a totally new relationship with divine persons. You will have a father personal interest in you, a personal father. So he established a relationship that I enjoy. Think of the enjoyment of the blessings that we have because he is our father. He is our father. Now you can, it’s hard to begin yet enumerating them. Just mention a few, for example. First of all, Ephesians three and one, Ephesians one and three rather, who’s blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Now, don’t gloss over that too quickly. What that is actually saying is that because of Christ and his relationship established now as our father, he is able to bless us with every blessing, the infinite heart of God, the infinite wisdom of God could ever give to human beings.
[33:37] That means no big surprises when you get to heaven. God has given us every blessing he can give us. Now, we haven’t entered into them all yet. We don’t appreciate them all yet. We don’t live in the good of them all yet. But he’s given us every blessing he could possibly give. Nothing’s been held back. Nothing is somehow in reserve if we’re good boys and good girls. Remember that we stand on God’s mercy and grace every step of life. Never do we merit anything. And so we’re reminded then of the enjoyment of the blessings we have. 2 Corinthians 6, recall after Paul enjoins the believers, come out from among them, be separate, touch not the unclean thing and all the unequal yokes that he speaks of there. Then God says, I will be a father unto them. They will be my sons and daughters. What’s he saying?
[34:21] Anything that an individual sacrifices out of devotion and faithfulness to God, God will compensate, compensate. Now it doesn’t mean he’ll compensate in the same currency that you lost. For example, you may give up a lucrative position in a job somewhere so that you can be close to an assembly. You can be a help in the assembly. You may give up a promotion because it’s going to take too much of your time and you want to give more of your time to the Lord. It doesn’t mean the Lord’s going to give you money as a compensation, but he will compensate. It may be with opening truth to you. It may be opening doors of usefulness for you, whatever it may be. God will always compensate. So we’re reminded there, he will be a father unto you and you will be my sons and daughters. Then again, 2 Thessalonians chapter two, reminds us he has loved us with an everlasting love and as well through consolation and good hope. 1 Peter has begun to sing unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. So you go on and on. The relationship that’s established, the enjoyment of blessings that we have, the experience of liberty. Paul reminds us that in one spirit, we both have access to the Father. Access to the Father. I don’t even have access to the mayor of my town, much less the governor or the president, okay? We’ve got access to the father, liberty to enter because of Christ because of an enthroned living man in heaven of course.
[35:48] Giving thanks unto the Father who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Our Father, the fatherhood of God, embraces the fact he has made us absolutely fit for his presence eternally.
[36:03] No apology, no brushing up needed, nothing needed to change us other than the right transformation at the rapture. But you’ll understand, we are already fit for God’s presence. He’s made us meet. So the fatherhood of God has brought us tremendous blessings. The ascendancy and enthronement of Christ has brought us incredible blessings. Think of all that comes to us because Christ is enthroned. Remember he said that he could not send the Holy Spirit unless he went himself and ascended. Ephesians chapter four reminds us, as a risen head, as the glorified head of the church, he’s received gifts to give. So your very ability, your usefulness for God, whatever little role God has given each of us to do is fruit of the ascended Christ, of the glorified ascended Christ. God has enthroned him, given him the highest place above. So we’re reminded then of all of this, this new relationship we have with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. But as well, along with the fact that he says, detain me not, I’ve not yet ascended, which he had to do to my Father and your Father, my God and your God, there’s the implication here of a new brotherhood being formed. Now he’s made that clear earlier in chapter 17, but also here now he’s reinforcing it. You will be brothers and sisters together. My God and your God, my Father, your Father, or you’re part of a family. So that brings me then to family responsibilities.
[37:22] This new relationship imposes responsibility and obligations upon me. Over 34 times, I think that’s a pretty accurate number.
[37:35] Over 34 times there are one another statements in the New Testament. Fourteen of them are love one another. Four in John, the Gospel of John, in the upper room, the remainder, I think, in John’s epistles. Love one another. That’s not the only one. We are told to provoke one another. Now, some of us are very good at that, but the literal meaning is to stir each other up to good works and to encourage each other. So we are to provoke one another. We are to exhort one another, comfort one another, edify one another, honor one another, serve one another. So I have tremendous obligation to every believer with whom I have a relationship. So now, how are you doing with loving one another? You say, well, people don’t love me. The amazing thing about love is love never looks for love.
[38:30] Love is always unidirectional, at least the agape love of God. And the love that we’re enjoying to have, always in a new direction, always something that goes out, never looking for anything in return. So the moment I say no one loves me, I am really showing that I fail to love. I’m looking for something rather than willing to give. So how are you doing with loving one another? That means that we mentioned that already, seeking each other’s blessing, seeking each other’s welfare, seeking to advance each other’s spiritual life. What about edifying one another? What about edifying one another?
[39:04] Ever, maybe I guess I’m mainly talking now to older believers, ever hone in on a young family, a young couple, or even a young believer unmarried? And how can I help? How can I encourage them? How can I strengthen them? They are living in a world that those of us who are now retired and older have no idea what it’s like. The things that were hardly spoken about in school at cafeteria tables, whispered about, are now the subject of open conversation and boasting. Who scored this weekend? Okay. And what new drug are you using? Just normal conversation. Part of the everyday subject matter in school. They are faced with temptation beyond explanation. They are faced with sexual temptation, moral temptation, drug temptation, alcohol temptation. All of that is just rampant, open, obvious in all of the schools. Now, I know if you go to a Christian school, homeschooled, you’re preserved in some measure. Not totally, but in some measure.
[40:18] They are facing tremendous pressure. Young people need encouragement, need edification, need to be helped in their Christian life. And they don’t get that just coming and listening to sermons like I’m giving you. They need personal one-on-one attention. So edifying others, being a help to them, exhorting one another, encouraging one another. The ministry of encouragement is something desperately needed. We all need encouragement because everything is so discouraging. Life is discouraging. Our own personal lives can get very discouraging at times. Family life can be discouraging.
[40:53] So anyone here interested in taking up the ministry of encouragement, not flattery, not a matter of flattering people, not a matter of saying what’s not true, not a matter of giving trophies to everybody who plays in the game. There are still winners, there are still losers, but there is the ability to try to encourage with words that lift people up instead of dragging them down. The apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest evangelist ever lived, he needed encouragement. And he says about a man named Onesiphorus, He was like a breath of fresh air to me. He sought me out very diligently. The stench and squalor of the prison in Rome, not in his hired house, but when he was imprisoned in Rome, in the Mamertine prison.
[41:39] Its filth, its conditions were legendary, yet he sought them out. Had there was no directory to find them, he would have to go from hole to hole, literally, they were in holes in the ground, hole to hole to find the apostle Paul. And he encouraged them in some way. Tremendous ministry to be able to make an encouragement of the people of God. And on and on you could go with all that is required, all that is mentioned of loving one another and so on. So we all have a responsibility. Part of what the Lord Jesus Christ revealed and his ascension. Part of the new relationship he’s establishing with Mary Magdalene is the fact that she now will have a heavenly father who will care for her individually, but as well, she has a brotherhood, a family that needs to be attended to. And each one of us have a responsibility, one to the other, to be a help and encouragement in our spiritual lives. Mary Magdalene, relationship changed. A relationship that we have come into the good of as well. We have a gardener who cares for our souls. We have a shepherd who cares for us as well. We have a Lord whom we worship. All of that. And we have one who has linked us with a father and with one another so that we might serve and honor him in our lives. Trust God will bless his word and encourage us all in light of the divine truth we have looked at. Shall we pray?
Women in John’s gospel
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryAHiggins04162025.m4a[0:00] Now, thank you for being here, especially after last night. Appreciate all who have taken time to come. Now, we’re reading together in John’s Gospel, Chapter 8. Gospel of John, Chapter 8. Whenever we sing that hymn, I’m reminded of the incident told of the author of that hymn, Robert Robinson. He penned that hymn as a young man. Later in life, he was riding in a carriage, and a young woman was sitting across from him, actually singing it quietly to herself.
[0:34] And he had to confess. He was the author of that hymn, and he wished he was still in the spiritual condition he was when that hymn was written.
[0:43] So we’re reminded how quickly, how easily any of us can stray. A man that could write words like that easily, moving away from his joy in Christ and his salvation. Very solemn. John chapter 8, verse number 2. Early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. When they had set her in the midst, they say to him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they had continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said to her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Just drop down to the very end of the chapter.
[2:05] Verse number 57, Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old. Hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, passing through the midst, and so passed by. Now we trust God will add blessing to the public reading of his word. As you know by now, we’re looking at the Lord Jesus encountering women in the Gospel of John seven different times. We only have time for four of them, but seven different times he encounters women and he changes their relationships. Here we see he will change the relationship of this woman from that of her sin to that of sanctity or righteousness. Go and sin no more. A life free of overt sin that had marked her to this point in time. The time that this occurred is interesting. It’s not divorced from chapter seven. Actually, chapter seven ends in chapter three with the Lord Jesus going to the Mount of Olives. In chapter 8, he comes early in the morning to the temple. What is significant, and this is right after the Feast of Tabernacles, a time of great joy, a time of great pleasure, a time of great rejoicing in God. It should have been marked by the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth.
[3:24] Picture the millennial reign of Christ is in the idea of the Feast of Tabernacles. And yet, we see the very opposite, their blindness and their refusal of the light. So the timing is significant.
[3:36] The place is significant, the treasury. We didn’t read it, but down in verse number 20, we find that these things took place in the treasury. Now, John, in a very masterful way, uses both locations and conditions to express something of spiritual need. For example, later on, the Lord Jesus will be walking in Solomon’s porch in this winter, and you see the coldness of the people of God, of the nation of Israel, towards him. Here, he’s in the treasury, and you learn the bankruptcy of the nation. They have nothing to offer.
[4:07] Likewise, he will use conditions such as, it was yet dark. Morning had not yet come. It was cold. It was night. Judas went out, and it was night, and so on. So he uses conditions and times and so forth to not only communicate literal fact, but also to give us a sense of the spiritual condition of the nation and those around him. So we have the treasury then and their bankruptcy. When I read this, I think about another woman in the Old Testament taken in adultery. Her name was Tamar. And she actually was with child by Judah because of his failure to fulfill his promise. And she is brought out, ready to be stoned. And Judah has to own, she is more righteous than I. I’m the one that really has failed. Here, this woman is before the Lord Jesus Christ. No such confession is made that she is more righteous than he, but rather he is more righteous than she. But yet in mercy and grace, brings about this wonderful occasion of forgiveness.
[5:06] Also, we mentioned the types.
[5:10] The Lord Jesus Christ in chapter six replaces the manna. Chapter seven, he replaces the water. Chapter eight, he replaces the light. Israel had manna, had water, had light for the journey. The Lord Jesus here fulfills all those types in his presentation to the nation in chapter six, chapter seven, and chapter eight. Likewise, we see, we mentioned already, the Lord Jesus replaces everything and everyone. Chapter four, we mentioned last night, art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well? Chapter eight here ends with he’s greater than Abraham. Chapter 9 there are 13 mentions of Moses up to chapter number 9 and in chapter number 9 they make their final allegiance to Moses plain we be Moses disciple as for this man we know not when he is and therefore from there that point on Moses is no longer mentioned he is greater than Moses he eclipses all of Israel’s great men Israel’s heroes and so on. So all of that is seen here. I want to just speak to you then about three things my thoughts will all be centered around three things. The guilt of the woman,
[6:13] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the goal of salvation. Very simple. So we have the guilt of the woman.
[6:22] Can’t be contested. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, unmatched. And then finally, the goal that God has in salvation. Go and sin no more. I should mention, though, first of all, just a word about the genuineness of this account. Now, if you take time to read commentaries, you’ll find that a large number will say this is not really in the original text. There were some versions, that manuscripts, where they tore these pages out because they did not like what they contained. Others say they were not part of the original text. Others say they were. So there’s a bit of a controversy over the genuineness of what we have here in John chapter 8. I think when there’s a question, you have to ask yourself, does it fit? And to me, it seems to fit perfectly. The character of Christ, the message he’s given, the truth about light that he’s going to unfold in the verses that follow. So I would say that this fits with the grace and truth of chapter one and the light of the world that we have as well here in chapter number eight. So I would vote for the genuineness of this passage. Some were so concerned with it that it seemed to give license to sin, seemed to as though the Lord Jesus was playing very, very fast and loose with adultery and so on. But I think we see here, as we come to it, we’ll see why and how the Lord Jesus Christ could righteously forgive this woman. So then, just a look at the story together, the guilt of the woman.
[7:50] This was very likely a contrived case. Obviously, they’re trying to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ, and we’ll see what that meant and why.
[7:58] When they came to the Lord Jesus with this woman, the Lord Jesus Christ put in what in their eyes was a dilemma. If he said to stone her, as Moses in the law said, he would be going against Roman authority. You recall when they brought the Lord Jesus Christ to Pilate, the Pilate said, take him and judge him according to your law. They said, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. Capital punishment had been taken away from the Jews, and now it was only the power of Rome could do that. So if the Lord Jesus Christ said to stone her to agree with Moses, he was going against Rome. If on the other hand, he forgave her or turned her over to Rome, he was going against Moses. So they thought they had him in the tightest possible place. How’s he going to get out of this? How’s he possibly going to find a way to get out of this dilemma? Then secondly, of course, he was full of grace and truth. Was he going to show grace to this woman or carry out truth? One of them was going to have to be sacrificed or compromised, at least so they thought. So they had the Lord Jesus Christ in a dilemma, trying to discredit him, trying to cause him to either be contrary to Moses or be contrary to Rome. They would have something to accuse him with. So here they are with the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman. She’s caught in the very act of adultery, their callousness, their insensitivity to sin, seen here.
[9:23] We see as well that her mouth is shut. The Lord Jesus is going to shut their mouths. His is the only mouth that can be opened in righteousness and in true grace. We’ll see that as we come through this story.
[9:35] Her accusers, the woman is seen here, her accusers are here. The light shines upon their consciences, right? He’s the light of the world. I’m just going to develop that in the rest of the chapter. The light of Christ shines upon their conscience, and they go out one by one as a result of their guilty consciences. Of course, it’s often asked, where was the man who perpetrated this sin? He deserved to be stoned as well, but they just brought the woman in their callousness and their hardness and their cruelty, just brought her.
[10:09] The Lord himself was the only one standing here who was free of guilt, free of any accusation to be laid against him. So we have then the woman and her guilt. I want to speak then of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice where he was. He was seated in the temple.
[10:25] Now, a very useful, a very profitable study would be to look at the postures of the Lord Jesus in the gospel of John. Recall how Psalm number one begins. The blessed man who walks not of the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. And John is going to emphasize all three of those postures throughout his gospel. The Lord Jesus will be seen standing in different places. He will be seen walking in different places. He will be seen sitting in different places. And as far as the places he sits in, he’s never marked by scorn or cynicism or callousness or hardness. You recall, he sat thus on the well in chapter four. We didn’t draw attention to that. But in chapter four, he sat thus on the well, confronting a woman who was laden with her own sin and failure. Then in chapter six, he sits upon the mountainside and he’s testing his disciples as to the crowd and giving them something to eat. And of course, was it Andrew’s overwhelmed with his sense of need, the scantiness of provision. We only have five loaves and two small fishes. And was it Philip who said, the crowd is so great. One was occupied with how great the need, the other how scanty the resources. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, just make the men sit down. No criticism, no sense of belittling them for their lack of faith. He just sits quietly in grace and kindness and meets the need. Again, here he’s sitting as well in the temple. When you come to chapter 12.
[11:53] He’s sitting at the table with Martha and Lazarus and Mary. The anointing occurs. Later in the chapter, he’s seen sitting upon the beast as he rides into the city, meek and lowly. No arrogance, no sense of entitlement, just coming meek and lowly to the people. Chapter 13, he’s sitting in the upper room, washing the disciples’ feet. And when he’d taken his garments and sat down again, he said, know you what I have done. Every place you see him sitting, it’s marked by grace, by meekness, by goodness, by gentleness, by a lack of scorn and belittling others. So gracious in every way, the Lord Jesus seated here. And so we see him now in the temple, seated, and to him come then these individuals. Then we see him stooping. Now, you may have your own ideas, just a suggestion. As I mentioned, a lot of his postures are symbolic and stooping might to us suggest his stooping grace. He’s stooping, but it also could be his total indifference to their callous accusations against this woman. Could be as well. He stoops, twice he stoops, twice he stands, twice he speaks. But as well, I think he was sensitive to the shame of this woman.
[13:08] The Lord Jesus Christ moved here as a man of sorrows. What I mean by that is not just that he felt sorrow for what occurred to him.
[13:17] Psalm 119, somewhere halfway down, it says, rivers of water run down my eyes because they keep not thy commandments. That just meant that this godly man of Psalm 119 was so in touch with God that sin bothered him. When he saw sin, when he saw the effects of sin, the fruit of sin, all that sin caused, tears ran down his eyes. The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows. He moved in a scene where everything, everything was contrary to him. Men were rebelling against God. Men were denying God. Men were belittling God. Men were living their lives of sinfulness and selfishness. The temple became a place of merchandise. The sacrifices became ritualistic. The priesthood became debased. The chief priest was appointed by the Roman emperor, no longer by heredity. Everything was out of kilter, and he moved through this world. It must have been a veil of tears for him as he moved here, as he had to see and experience and come firsthand. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation. I was, when this goes way back during the Vietnam War, I was drafted. I was a conscientious objector sent to work in Trenton State Prison. Prison life is hard to describe. It is humanity reduced to its lowest level. It is every man for himself. It is a place where wickedness thrives.
[14:44] One day, things were so bad there, the immorality and everything else. When I left that day, it was like I was breathing. I went outside and I just had to breathe just to get away from all of that, all the sin that was around me. That’s not being proud and self-righteous, just that it was so evident and so oppressive. Now, that was just a little picture of what life was like every day for the Lord Jesus. He was sensitive to sin. He never wanted to expose and shame anyone. He came to forgive sin. And so the Lord Jesus Christ here acts as though he does not see them, hear them, pay attention to them. He stoops silently. One of the great needs we have is being sensitive to sin.
[15:30] There’s an ordinance in the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 19. You rarely hear it preached on. It’s called the ordinance of the red heifer. Very different from all the other sacrifices. The red heifer was a, the ordinance of the red heifer concerned people who had been exposed to death. So if you were in a house, in a tent and someone died by your side, you were defiled. You needed to be cleansed with the ashes of the red heifer. If you were walking along the way and accidentally came near a grave and touched the grave in some way, you were defiled. If you touched a bone, you were defiled. Any contact with death in any form meant defilement. Now remember, defilement is not sin. All sin defiles, but not all defilement is sin. For the simple reason, you couldn’t help if someone died by your side. Sin always involves an act of my will. So I didn’t will that person to die by my side, but yet they did. And I have to be sensitive to the fact that I’ve come in contact with death. What is that teaching me? Teach me I need to be sensitive to the fruit of sin all around me. That death was the result of sin in the world. Not my fault not my doing I didn’t cause that person that I but I’m defiled because I’ve been in contact with that.
[16:48] I think I used to be more sensitive to sin than I am now. We get so accustomed to the Lord’s name taken in vain, the off-color jokes, the cursing, the swearing, the recounting of evil. Just give you one example of how guilty I am. So in my practice, I recall a gentleman who seemed to act very, very effeminate. And I was feeling uncomfortable, feeling that he was probably someone in an illicit relationship with another male. And one day he came in and told me he had spent the weekend with his girlfriend at a resort, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Really? That’s just as sinful. Just as sinful. But I had become so desensitized to that because of the awfulness of the other that I just thought that’s a relief to hear that. We have become desensitized to sin. The Lord Jesus Christ never became desensitized to sin. And the reason he wants us to be sensitive to sin is if we become insensitive to sin, we can easily fall into sin.
[18:01] Insensitivity to all the sin around us can make us targets for sin ourselves. So we’re reminded of that here in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have the Lord Jesus Christ writing as a scribe. Now, many and imaginative are the answers to what he wrote, all the way from writing the law to writing their sins. We don’t know what he wrote, but we do know this. He took his finger and he wrote in the ground.
[18:31] You recall that once before, the finger of God wrote in tables of stone, a law written with the finger of God. You recall again another occasion where in Daniel chapter 5 is it, the fingers of a man’s hand wrote upon the wall. So you have the law, you have the condemnation, you have grace. The Lord Jesus writing with his finger on the ground. Love to think of how interesting it is. This is the only time in scripture we read of the Lord Jesus Christ writing. And we have no idea what he wrote. And yet he has left us a tremendous legacy, even though he never wrote a book, even though he never wrote commandments. Here’s the only time he wrote that we read of in all the word of God. So we have the Lord Jesus Christ writing here, displaying grace likely, writing with the finger of God. Then you have the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He that is without sin among you let him cast the first stone. To have first cast a stone according to the mosaic law deuteronomy the witnesses the accusers were to be the ones who cast the first stones at the individual. Now the Lord Jesus Christ shines his light upon their conscience they go out one by one and there’s no accuser left no accuser left.
[19:54] And the Lord Jesus Christ then turns to the woman and says, go and sin no more. So let me speak to you about her forgiveness, her forgiveness. We have the guilt of the woman established beyond question. We have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ seen, now going to express herself in forgiveness. Why could the Lord Jesus Christ forgive her sin? Why could he say to her, go and sin no more? Why was that not a violation of the Mosaic law, a violation of the moral code? How could he do that and maintain his righteousness, his holiness while showing this grace? Number one, the law required the accuser to be the first to cast stones. Where are those accusers? There were none. So no accusers, no stoning. Case dismissed. But secondly, and more importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ would bear the punishment for her sin in just a few short months upon a cross himself.
[20:47] So the one who would bear the punishment for her sin had full liberty to forgive her sin. Same with each of us. That which marked us in our unsaved days, worthy of judgment, worthy of condemnation, worthy of eternal banishment. He bore that punishment for us at Calvary. So he can say, go and sin no more. Neither do I condemn thee. He was not condoning her sin, not bypassing her sin. The very fact that he said, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more, tells us he recognized it as sin, but he was going to pay for that sin. And now he’s going to change her life altogether.
[21:27] So we see her forgiveness. We see now her future.
[21:33] Go and sin no more. So I want to speak to you now about the goal of salvation. What is God’s goal in your life? Actually, there are many, but really they kind of come together in many ways into one thing altogether. One problem we have in our English Bible, and if you knew Greek, it’s not a problem, but there are words that are different in our English language that are almost identical in the original language. For example, the word for righteousness and justification. They both are literally the same root same same words virtually because when god justifies a man he declares him to be righteous so justification and righteousness are almost identical in the original language. Likewise the word sanctification and holiness come from the very same root just a little different spelling on the end of the words and so they are they’re similar sanctification and holiness. Sanctified, set apart for God, set apart as uniquely belonging to God, as holy as well. So we see then this great truth. So let me talk to you then about what is the definition of holiness.
[22:44] If you grew up when I grew up, this is no judgment on others. Holiness meant what you didn’t do, okay you didn’t go to the bars you didn’t go to nightclubs you didn’t go to the casinos didn’t get involved in immorality. All the things you didn’t do. You didn’t wear colored shirts on Sunday you only wore a white shirt, okay? We go down the long list of do’s and don’ts but that’s but holiness is not what you don’t do. Holiness is what you do do. Holiness is what you are and what you do.
[23:17] When heaven opened and said, this is my beloved son on whom I have found all my pleasure, God wasn’t interested in what he, I shouldn’t say God, God was not praising him for what he did not do. God was delighted with what he did do and what he was. So holiness is a matter of what you are and what you do. So anything that is according to the will of God is actually holiness. That may sound strange. I’m sure that those of you with small children never think that taking care of your family is a mark of holiness. That’s the will of God for you. A man who loves his wife as he ought to, that’s a mark of holiness. He’s obeying the word of God. He’s in the will of God. He’s carrying out the word of God. So holiness really is linked with what you do do that is in the will of God and the development of character. The character that is like Christ-like in every way. So holiness then, first of all, it’s a purpose I recognize. It’s a purpose I recognize.
[24:16] God eternally, now this is, to me, I was thinking of this today, kind of overwhelming. God eternally desired a people and people who would be fit for his presence and fit for fellowship with him. And he had to make us holy to do that. Had to make us holy. There could be nothing in us that is contrary to the character of God. Nothing in us that will somehow rebel against the nature of God. So that God in his grace, we read of it in Ephesians chapter one, chosen before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So God’s great purpose is, he wanted a people absolutely fit for his company and his presence. That occurred at conversion.
[25:01] Now, we have to separate a couple of things. We are holy and without blame before him in love right now. We are being made holy day by day. And finally, at the end, in transformation, we will be absolutely perfected and like the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. So God’s great purpose, a purpose I recognize. It’s a position I enjoy, a position that I enjoy right now. Hebrews chapter 10, by one offering hath he perfected forever them that are sanctified. In the sight of God, you could not be more holy positionally than you are right now. Now, some people get very confused with positional versus practical truth. Position means where I am by grace, where I am by grace. God has made me absolutely holy in his sight. One of the great expressions that fills the epistle of Ephesians and elsewhere as well, but especially in Ephesians is the expression in Christ, in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? To be accepted in the beloved. That means when God looks at me, he doesn’t see me anymore. He sees Christ.
[26:13] We are in sphere, if you can think of that expression. We are encircled by Christ. So from whatever angle God looks at me, he sees Christ. We are accepted in the beloved. God only sees Christ. So my standing, the position I now enjoy, is one of absolute fitness for the presence of God, absolute fitness for God and fellowship with him. So we have that then, a position I enjoy. But then it’s a practice that I have to pursue. That’s the practical part of it. Yes, I’m positionally holy, but God wants me to develop holiness, developing holiness in the fear of God. We’ll talk about that from 1 Peter 1 in a moment, but I want to just mention as well, it’s a perfection that I anticipate coming in a coming day. Ephesians 5, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present us to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. His grace will eventually elevate us to a position of absolute perfection, absolute perfection. So then how do we pursue this great theme of holiness in our life? How do we become like this woman, go and sin no more? The entire Godhead is available to you for developing holiness in your life. First of all, we are reminded
[27:40] of the Spirit of God who has come to indwell us. Galatians chapter 5 reminds us that we have the Holy Spirit within and his goal is to develop holiness in my life. The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, the flesh is against the Spirit, and so on. So there are that ninefold fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faith. That ninefold fruit of the Spirit is his goal to produce in my life. Now, it’s obvious, isn’t it? That ninefold fruit of the spirit is the character of Christ reproduced in me. That’s what marked him. That’s what should mark me as well. So the spirit of God has come to reside within. As I mentioned last evening, the indwelling spirit of God is one of the greatest results of Calvary, that God is able to have his Holy Spirit indwell us to produce the character he wants to see developed in each of us. So the spirit of God indwelling first of all is vital. Galatians chapter five reminds us they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the lust thereof and now we walk in the spirit. You may say, I don’t remember crucifying the flesh. Crucifixion is a judgment. You might say, my flesh is still alive yes it is still alive but crucifixion is we judge the flesh. You know when you did that.
[28:59] You did it when you got saved. You recognized my flesh can do nothing at all to warrant salvation. I can’t merit salvation by my good deeds, by my prayers, by my believing, by my, no. Nothing like, so in a sense, when we gave up trying to get saved on our own, we literally judged our flesh. It can do nothing. It’s useless in this great matter of salvation. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh and the lust of it. Now we are called upon to walk in the spirit. Now that sounds mysterious. What does it mean to walk in the spirit? I mean, I wake up in the morning, I go to work, I go to school. What does it mean to walk in the spirit?
[29:35] If you read Galatians chapter five carefully, walking in the spirit just means this, the word of God controls my life. The word of God controls my life. It’s not a mystery. It’s not some saintly walk that only a few believers can attain to. It is the norm that God expects for every believer. In fact, when you come to 1 Peter 1, we are reminded holiness is not an option. Be ye holy is a mandate, a command. Be ye holy for I am holy, says God. So we have the indwelling spirit first of all. Then we’re reminded in John chapter 15, abiding in Christ, abiding in the vine. What does it produce? It produces the life of the vine and the branch and the vine is Christ. So when you come to John 15, it’s not a matter of whether or not you’re seeing people saved, seeing people added to the assembly. No, no, that’s not the fruit. The fruit is the character of Christ, the character of the vine reproducing the branches. And we all have the ability then to abide in the vine and with the result that we bring forth fruit, Christ-likeness and character, holiness in our lives. Let me ask you to turn to John 15 for one, just to clarify one thing.
[30:57] We’re going to break in at verse number 7, of John 15.
[31:09] If ye abide in me John 15 and 7 and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you become or be my disciples. Now that is not a name it and claim it type of promise. What is the meaning what’s the significance of what the Lord Jesus Christ says here, if ye abide in me and my words abide in you you know what happens when you allow the word of God to abide in you and you focus your vision upon Christ? You become acutely aware of how unlike him you are.
[31:46] That drives me to God. And my desire, my prayer is not for a new Cadillac or Mercedes or a tropical vacation. My prayer is, I’d like to be more like your son. I’d like to be more like him. So we have this promise here. As we dwell in him and become aware of our deficiencies, our unlikeness to Christ, he says, you shall ask what you will, it shall be done unto you. So coming to God and actually asking, I’d like to be more like your son. Now, I have to say ahead of time, It’s a very costly prayer to make because some of the things that make us most like Christ are some of the most painful things in life, some of the most difficult trials to endure. So don’t make that request casually. Recognize it could be a costly thing to pray. But then it says, herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. To put it another way, my Father’s glorified when you become more and more like me. So shall you become my disciples. You’ll become like a disciple is likeness. Likeness to Christ. You’re going to become like me by praying and asking this great request. So feeding upon the word of God, abiding in Christ leads to likeness to Christ.
[32:57] Robert Moffat was a missionary, a Scottish missionary to South Africa about 200 years ago, 1816, he went to South Africa. He was there for over 50 years. Actually, one of the side things I mentioned is he was there 12 years before he saw a single convert, but that’s not what I want to mention. On one occasion, the tribal chief’s dog got into Robert Moffat’s Bible and began chewing away at it.
[33:23] And the tribal chief came to Robert Moffat angry and irate. You let my dog eat your Bible. He said, my dog was a great hunting dog. He’s never going to be the same. Everybody who gets into that Bible, it changes them.
[33:39] I don’t know if it changed the dog, but that was his concern. Into this book, reading this book, living in the good of this book, looking at Christ in this book changes lives. So we’re reminded here then, we have the indwelling spirit. We have the abiding in Christ. But then we have one other thing as well, at least several other things.
[33:59] 2 Peter 1 tells us God has given us three things. He’s given us, number one, like precious faith, obtained precious faith. Number two, all things that pertain to life and godliness. Number three, exceeding great and precious promises. Why? That by these we might become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, making us holy. God has given us life. He’s given us his word. He’s given us exceeding great and precious promises. It’s as though God says, I’m giving you everything I can give you. I’ve given you everything I could possibly give you. And by these, you might become partakers of a divine nature. So God supplies all of these things. Now he says in 2 Peter chapter one, give diligence, give diligence. He says, there’s several dangers you face. Number one is bad memories. You’ve forgotten you were purged from your old sins. You’ve forgotten all that. Number two are blind eyes. You can’t see ahead. You don’t see ahead. So bad memories, blind eyes, he says you’re going to be barren right now. If you want to develop holiness in life, it will not come by accident. It won’t come just by a normal course of living. Won’t come by coming and going to meetings. Peter says you’ve got to give diligence to it. Make it a matter of a priority in your life.
[35:20] Earlier, in his first epistle, Peter pens these words, you are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now we put all the emphasis in that verse on the precious blood of Christ, and rightly so. But just back up a few words, from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. Now we don’t use the word vain in that sense, but what it really means is empty. empty life. So in your unsaved days, in my unsaved days, we had empty lives, nothing for God, nothing for eternity. I often think, you know, you’ve got the Steve Jobs, you’ve got the MVPs for the Super Bowl, you’ve got the actors and actresses, you’ve got the great names in entertainment world, and you’ve got all the heroes. If they’re not saved, when life is done, they have nothing to be remembered for for all eternity.
[36:23] You won’t be speaking in eternity about who was the MVP of the Super Bowl of 2024 or 2025. You won’t be talking in eternity about who got the Oscar in 2025. None of that will be meaningful at all. Lives are empty. Do you realize what God has done in saving you? He has enabled you to have something in your life for him, able to have some meaning in life. Instead of having an empty life, frivolous, running after all the fads and fashions of the day, being occupied with all the emptiness that people occupy themselves with. You actually can have a life that has value and has meaning to present to him back at the judgment seat of Christ. That doesn’t mean you’ll be a missionary or a preacher, elder. Just living your life in the will of God, raising your family, being the wife, being the husband, being the boss, being the employee, whatever it may be, doing that according to the will of God is holiness. And brings fruit and glory to God in your life. So we’re reminded then of the tremendous reality of being able to have a life that has value and has meaning and has character. Not only that, as far as holiness is concerned, the cost, the cost should give us diligence. For God to enable me to become holy in any measure took nothing less than everything Christ did at Calvary, everything.
[37:51] Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. As of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Redeemed from a vain, empty life. From a sinful life. We are redeemed from our vices. We are redeemed from being vassals of Satan. We are redeemed from the vanity of life. All of that. Redemption is a tremendous subject. Tremendous facets to it. All that’s involved. But always remember it costs precious blood. We might be redeemed. And for you and I to be able to develop any measure of holiness in our lives, took the blood of Christ.
[38:25] The challenge. It begins in our minds. Now, we’re familiar with Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. We hear them, and rightly so, messages of consecration. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Mind. How does that happen? How does your mind get transformed?
[38:59] Now, I’m privileged like very, very few of you here are. I’m retired. So I can sit in my man cave all day with my computer and my books and have a lovely time. You have to work. You’re exposed to the billboards and their ads, radio and its things the internet and all of its suggestive things and and by the end of the day you’re you you sometimes feel polluted. You begin to think the way the world thinks. Well maybe i do deserve that new vacation maybe i do deserve that you know the billboards you need you deserve you should have and so on everybody’s got it you need to get it. And you begin to think like the world thinks. How do you how do you reset how do you go back to a reset back to the manufacturer’s reset? Through this book. That’s how your mind is renewed, by reading the word of God. So there is no substitute for the word of God in terms of developing holiness of life.
[39:56] So coming to this book, recognizing its value and allowing it to control my thinking, my values, to think the way God thinks, not the way the world thinks. We live in a secular society that bombards us, that floods us with its values, with its interests, with its estimations of things, and we become overwhelmed at times. The word of God is what is used as a reset, that our minds might be kept pure and kept in sync with heaven and its value system, not our world’s value system. So let me mention one other thing, if I can, from 1 Peter 1.
[40:41] Consistency with our position. If you call him father, who without respect of persons judges and according to every man, pass the time of your sojourn, be holy for I am holy. So if he’s your father, then you should be like him and you should pass the time of your sojourn here in fear. Now that expression, pass the time of your sojourn here in fear, does not mean I am afraid that if I do something that is not holy, God is going to punish me. That is not the fear of God. The fear of God is a desire to please him. It’s not a fear of what God does to me. It’s what I have done to God. I have grieved him. We can’t speak of God being disappointed because God knows everything. So you only disappoint someone who expects a different end. But if I use it in a human sense, you’ll understand. I’ve disappointed God. I haven’t been faithful. I haven’t done what I ought to have done. The fear of God then is a longing to only do what pleases God. So all of these strands come together to develop holiness in my life. The spirit of God indwelling.
[41:49] Excuse me, abiding in the vine, the precious promises of God in this book, reading this book to reset my mind and enable me to live as I ought to live. Now, what’s so important about living a holy life? Go and sin no more, he told the woman. What’s so important about living a holy life? Well, number one, it pleases God. Nothing else that pleases God, but there’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s best to read it. Come to 2 Peter, where I’m referring to.
[42:23] Now, in the first few verses, the verses one through verse number four, he takes up those three things we mentioned, the like precious fate, exceeding great and precious promises, all things pertain to life and Godliness. Then he goes to giving to all diligence, verse five, adding to our, developing our character. But come down now to verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence, to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fail. For so an entrance shall be administered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, as far as the making your calling and election sure, I just mentioned this offhand. It’s rather displaying the reality of your salvation to others. But what he’s saying here is this. The character you develop, give diligence. The character you develop is going to determine the entrance you have into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, Peter, of course, is the one individual who was expecting to die and not looking for the rapture. Everybody else since then has been looking for the rapture. But Peter, the Lord had told him, Peter, you’re going to die. What you wouldn’t do as a young man, you’ll do as an old man. So Peter knew he was going to die. So Peter never preached about the rapture. Always speak for the Lord’s coming to earth and the setting up of his kingdom and his glory and all of that. Now he says, a day is coming when you’re gonna enter that kingdom.
[43:47] And he says, the way in which you resemble Christ now will determine how you can represent him then.
[43:54] We are gonna be a kingdom of priests. We are gonna represent Christ eternally to the entire universe. I don’t know how it’s gonna go, what nature will take, how it will play out. I don’t know, but as a kingdom of priests will display Christ to the universe for all eternity. Now he says, your place, your role in that coming kingdom will be determined by how much like Christ you are right now. First Peter, second Peter chapter one has nothing to do with what you do, has everything to do with what you are, what character you’ve developed, how Christ-like you are in behavior, in your character. So he says, the measure in which you resemble Christ now will determine how you can represent him then. So this business of going in for holiness is not just a matter of impressing the Christians, not just a matter even of developing a better character and being free from bad habits. Christ-likeness has eternal recompense, eternal compensation. We are here to develop Christ-like character that is going to be on display for all eternity. So it is worth going in for. In effect, when you were saved, the morning you were saved, the afternoon you were saved, the night you were saved, the Lord Jesus said to you, go and sin no more. But not just a negative thing. Now we are called upon, be holy for I am holy, said the Lord. Trust God, will bless his word, challenge us, encourage us, that we might be more like his son. Shall we pray?
Women in John’s gospel
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryAHiggins04152025.m4a[0:00] Now, it’s very nice to see the Hall so well-filled, and obviously the believers in Parsippany have canceled their meeting to be here. We appreciate that very, very much. Thank you for your kindness and consideration. Turn again, if you will, to the Gospel of John, back to chapter 2 for just a moment. John’s Gospel, chapter 2.
[0:29] And just reading the very end of the chapter, verse number 23.
[0:34] Now when he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men, And he did not that any man should testify of him, for he knew what was in man. I’ve read that especially for the last expression, he knew what was in man. From this point on in the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ will be dealing with individuals. Individuals. So he will be dealing in chapter 3 with Nicodemus, in chapter 4 with the woman at the well, the end of chapter 4 with the nobleman, chapter 5 the man by the pool of Bethesda, and on to chapter number six and his disciples and dealing with them and the feeding of the 5,000. Chapter nine and the man born blind and on and on we go. He’s interested in the gospel of John and individuals. He knew all men, knew what was in men. And as a result, he deals with individuals in their need. And I think if I’m correct, where we will be reading tonight in John chapter four and his one-on-one with the woman by the well is perhaps the longest dialogue he has with one person. So this may be the longest one-on-one interview the Lord Jesus Christ has in all the gospel accounts with any one person. So we’ll notice this and notice some things together as we consider this chapter. So John’s Gospel chapter four and verse number one.
[2:03] When, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, he left Judea, departed again into Galilee, and must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, or Shechem, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, therefore, being weary with his journey, sat thus on the well at about the sixth hour. Then cometh the woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. His disciples are gone away into the city to buy meat.
[2:40] Then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink. Thou wouldst have asked of him, he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with. The well is deep, from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband. Thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that saidst thou truly. The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain,
[3:49] and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what seekest thou? Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him. Now look down at verse number 34.
[4:45] The disciples offer him food and he doesn’t need it. he saith to them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Down the chapter, he has the two days with the Samaritans. And then finally, verse number 42. And then say to the woman, now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. And the chapter ends with the healing of the nobleman’s son in Cana of Galilee again. God will add blessing to the public reading of his word.
[5:18] We’ve been looking at the Lord Jesus Christ dealing with women and placing them into new relationships. Considered last evening, his dealing with his own mother and lifting her from a natural relationship of a parent to a child to a spiritual relationship far superior of a child of God bowing to her Lord. Now this evening, we’re looking again at another woman, the woman at the well, very familiar to us, used often in the gospel, filled with lovely gospel truth. But I want you to consider this especially. In what way did the Lord Jesus Christ change her relationship? She had five husbands. That didn’t satisfy her. She had a sixth man with whom she was living. That didn’t satisfy her. The Lord Jesus Christ offered her something that would satisfy her forever. So he changes her from a very immoral relationship to a satisfying relationship. Here’s where satisfaction is found in the person and the work of the Christ of God. So we’re looking then at a change in relationship, bringing her into a place of satisfaction. I want you to consider the context for just a moment.
[6:27] Not sure if you’re familiar with the term replacement theology. Well, this in John’s gospel is genuinely replacement theology. The Lord Jesus Christ replaces everything. Chapter one, we didn’t read it, but we read there that the word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. So in chapter one, he replaces the tabernacle of Israel. Chapter two, you recall, he says, destroy this temple. He replaces the temple of Israel. Chapter three, he replaces the teacher, Nicodemus. Nicodemus has to own that before this teacher, he was very far inferior. And he’s going to replace all the types of Israel as well. But here in this chapter, we see him replacing everything. He’s greater than Jacob, greater than Abraham in chapter number 8. He is replacing everyone and everything. He’s also greater than Joseph. Here he comes to a parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Joseph’s bones, if you recall, from Joshua 24, Joseph’s bones that had been carried through the wilderness by the children of Israel were buried at Shechem. Lots of history linked with Shechem. Some of it we’ll mention in a few moments. The chapter is really going to introduce to us the water of life, the will of God, and the worship of God. Three great themes that permeate this chapter.
[7:41] I find it interesting as well that the Bible begins with a woman by a well who says, thou God seest me, right? Hagar, fleeing from her mistress when she was treated harshly. A woman by a well saying, thou God seest me. We have another woman at a well, conscious that God is seeing her. Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not this, the Christ. Here is someone who has an insight into her very heart and being. So we see something in the context. I want you to consider something of the contrast. Now, I know it’s dangerous to say one chapter is more important than another chapter. So I won’t say that. I will say, though, that Isaiah chapter 40 is one of the mountain peaks of truth, the majestic truth of the character of God in Isaiah chapter 40. In that lovely chapter, recall, it tells us that God holds the waters in the palm of his hand. He faints not, neither is weary. The inhabitants of the earth are counted as grasshoppers in his sight, and so on and so on. So just think with me for just a moment what the great contrast. Isaiah 40, speaking of the majesty of God, says, he faints not, neither is weary. Jesus being weary with his journey, sat thus on the well. Likewise, the one who holds the water in the hollow of his hand said, give me to drink.
[8:59] The one who sits on the circle of the earth, according to Isaiah 40, sat on the well.
[9:06] The one who in Isaiah chapter 40 views the inhabitants as grasshoppers, he cares for a Samaritan woman, marked by immorality, marked by grief, marked by tragedy in her life, cares for her, goes out of his way to find her. And certainly the other thing that is true in Isaiah chapter 40, you recall there, Jacob says, my way is hid from God.
[9:29] Thought God was unaware of his need, God was unaware of his condition. Here’s a woman and she finds that he knows all about me. He’s aware of everything about me. So the great contrast between the Jehovah of John chapter four and the Jehovah of Isaiah 40 could not be greater. In his humanity, in his willingness to accept incarnation, he endured weariness, thirst, hunger, fatigue, all of these things. He did not partake of any of our moral nature, but he took into himself the fullness of human nature apart from sin. So we see that here, the contrast with chapter 40. Of course, the chapter brings three encounters. We don’t have time to look at them all. There’s an encounter with a woman. Then there’s an encounter for two days with the men. And at the end of the chapter, there’s an encounter that probably only takes a few minutes. According to our reading, he encounters a nobleman and heals his son. So the Lord Jesus deals with different people in different ways, depending upon their need. Here is a woman to whom he makes great revelations, truth relative to himself, relative to the worship of God and the will of God. So we have that.
[10:37] Connection also between chapters two and chapter four, just hurriedly.
[10:43] In both chapters, we have women. Chapter two is Mary. Chapter four is the woman at the well. In both chapters, we have water. You recall, he told them to fill the water pots with water. Here again, there is water spoken of, water that is going to give satisfaction and life to this woman. In both chapters, there’s a miracle done at Cana. Chapter two, the miracle in Cana of Galilee. Chapter four ends with a miracle of the nobleman’s son in Cana. But more importantly, in chapter two, you recall, we didn’t read it, but at the close of that chapter, the Lord Jesus cleanses the temple. Chapter two, he regulates Jewish worship. Chapter four, he regulates Samaritan worship. He is the one who has come to regulate worship. Going to say it’s not linked with a place anymore. It’s linked with a person, linked with him. Worship is linked now from this moment on with Christ. Of course, obviously in chapter two, there was a wedding. In chapter four, there were five weddings.
[11:42] You’ll forgive me. I heard someone say that, I guess they were very, very much against divorce and remarriage, that this could not have been divorce. These men had to have died and remarried. And if that’s the case, and she’s still a young woman, young enough to live with a man and young enough to be out in the middle of the day, hauling water, I would suspect she has something to do with their deaths. But that’s, we’re not here as detectives. I would gather the Lord Jesus pointing to this is pointing to a life marked by serial monogamy and now open immorality. So the Lord Jesus is putting his finger upon her sin. In chapter two, he replaces the temple. As I mentioned here, he’s going to replace a mountain the Samaritans worshipped at. But that being said, I want to consider then the setting of this particular miracle and something of how the Lord Jesus Christ deals with this woman. Think with me of the territory. This is Shechem. Now, if you go back in the Old Testament, there was another defiled woman at Shechem.
[12:41] Jacob had stopped there. God had told him to return to Bethel. Jacob came short, stopped at Shechem, built a house. His daughter, Dinah, went out to see the daughters of the land. She’s taken by the son of the prince there, and she’s defiled. And you know this sad story. Jacob is failing again in his leadership, in his headship in the family. And his two brothers, her two brothers, Dinah’s two brothers, Simeon and Levi, concoct a plot, complete with deceitfulness and lying and bitterness and cruelty and slaughter the men of the city. And Jacob has to leave saying, you’ve made my name to stink among the inhabitants of the land. We’re at Shechem again, have a defiled woman. The Lord Jesus doesn’t have his name stink. The Lord Jesus leaves with his name as the savior of the world amongst these people. Also, I want you to think with me for just a moment.
[13:38] We read here about Joseph. If you go back to the book of Genesis, when Joseph was exalted, Joseph received a name, Zathnathpenea. Now, depending on your margin, depending on translators, the name Zathnathpenea has two possible interpretations. Number one, revealer of secrets. Number two, savior of the world. Now, both were true of Joseph, right? He revealed secrets, interpreted dreams. As well, he was the savior of the world. He saved the world from famine. So two names were given to Joseph, savior of the world and revealer of secrets. How does the Lord Jesus Christ appear in John chapter 4?
[14:18] The revealer of secrets. Come see a man that told me everything that ever I did. He knows all my secrets. What else? The men of the city say, this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. So the Lord Jesus Christ here contrasts with what occurred at Shechem long ago and also contrasts with Joseph in his names and in his titles that he receives here. Now there’s some differences of opinion about when the sixth hour was. Some think it’s Roman time and she came out at six in the evening. Others think it’s six in the afternoon. I don’t think it’s too germane that we argue about that right now. But nevertheless, she came at a time when likely she would avoid the other women of the city. And I think it’s so touching to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He sends his disciples away. He uses his weariness. This is what is so amazing about the Christ. He used his weariness, not as an opportunity for self-indulgence. I need some me time. I need some, I need time to rest. Don’t have anybody bother me. He used his weariness to be alone so this woman could come and he could meet her and bring her everlasting life.
[15:21] So different from how you and I act. He actually used his weariness, sent the disciples away, you go get the food, I’m gonna sit here and rest. But he had in mind that Samaritan woman coming that he might meet her and be with her and reveal all he has done here in this chapter to her. The tiredness of the savior, the triumph of grace. Often pointed out, all the Lord Jesus Christ overcame in a sense. He overcame ethnic prejudice, overcame religious bigotry, overcame gender feelings. Everything was set aside. He speaks to a woman of Samaria. That’s what she says. How be thou being a Jew speaks, I’m a Samaritan, you’re a man, I’m a woman. This is highly unusual. Such was his grace, such was his goodness, such was his kindness. Then how sensitive he is in dealing with her in all that he does, marked by wisdom, gentleness, and so forth. But then we need to look at the symbolism for just a moment. He’s going to give this woman something that will satisfy, not just for a day, a moment, a year, but for all eternity, springing up onto eternal, everlasting life. Now, the water in John’s gospel can be looked at in two ways.
[16:31] Water that is found in a basin or still is usually the word of God. Water that is running is the spirit of God. Here is water that is springing up onto everlasting life, water that will satisfy thirst, living water, water that is going to be marked by its availability, to everyone. It’s abundance, not just to Jacob and his family and cattle, but to everyone. It’s ageless, it’s eternal. Here he is promising something that will satisfy and satisfy eternally.
[16:58] Let me go back with you for just a moment. All the way back to the fall at the beginning of time. We lost many, many things in the Garden of Eden. Many things. Along with innocence, along with a relationship with the Lord. More germane to each of us is we lost, first of all, our sense of significance. Adam, you’re just dust. Dust you are, the dust you’ll return. Adam, you were once the one who wore a crown of glory and honor here, representing me in the garden. Now you’re just dust. Lost significance. He lost satisfaction. Adam, from now on, when you till the earth, as you labor, it’s going to just be thorns and thistles in the sweat of your brow. You’re going to be laboring and it’s going to be a constant struggle. No satisfaction, no significance. Adam, you just lost your security as well. So we lost our satisfaction, our significance, and our security when sin came into the world. Now, if you think of that, and don’t have to think too hard, everything we do is to try to regain those different things. Some of us do it by what we own, how much we have in the bank, the cars we drive, the homes we live in. Look at how significant I am. My IRA, my 401k, this is my security. And here’s my significance. Here’s my satisfaction. And I have all the toys we play with.
[18:25] We are trying desperately to recover a sense of significance a sense of security a sense of satisfaction. Now what the Lord Jesus Christ is showing in this chapter he gives all of that he gives all of that to us the water of life springing up unto everlasting life brings all of that. It gives us satisfaction gives us security gives us significance. Everything is given to us by virtue of Christ and his grace and his dealings with us. The ministry of the spirit of God is revealed in the gospel of John in the upper room mentioned yesterday in the division of the gospel of John chapters 13 to 17.
[19:04] Secrets disclosed in the upper room. One of the great secrets is the ministry of the spirit of God never before quite revealed in his fullness. Five mentions of the spirit in the upper room chapters 15, 13 and 15 rather 15 and 16. He’s companion for the way, counselor to teach us, confirming our testimony in chapter 15, the one who convicts the world, the one who communicates truth, all of that. So let me just come then, without going into all the detail then, the Lord Jesus Christ promises satisfaction here to this woman. Whosoever drinketh that this water shall never thirst again. Now, if we were all honest, I’m not preaching down to you. I’m on the same level playing field as you, a failure, okay? If we were honest, do we really find all of our satisfaction in this book and in the person it reveals to us? Do we? We all have our other toys, right?
[19:59] The Lord Jesus intended every one of us to find our satisfaction in him and in this book, to find our security in him and in this book, to discover our significance that we belong to God and he has given us the most precious gift, the spirit of God to indwell us. That is one of the most valuable fruits of Calvary, that he is able to place his spirit within us, to live within us and to be all that he can be to us. So remind us here then of the satisfaction that he gives. What makes life worth living for most people? I remember, this goes back a long time now, approaching 60 years, a man by the name of Mr. Lorne McBain spoke at our wedding, and he said, what makes life worth living is someone to love, something to live for.
[20:55] Something to learn, and something, I think I said something to love, something to learn, something to look forward to, something to live for, something to look forward to. Those four things. You get all of that in Christ, don’t you? Someone to love, someone to live for, something to look to, something to learn. All of that is in Christ. But yet we go elsewhere. We look elsewhere. We have our entertainment. We have everything that we need to keep ourselves content. Always remember, it was a very, very insightful comment. My brother was out visiting one day and going door to door with a gospel meeting, inviting people in. And the man said to him at the door, I don’t need heaven. I have my heaven right here on earth. I have everything I need. I’ve got my 56-inch wide screen. I’ve got my computers. I’ve got everything I need. What do I need heaven for? Then try to find satisfaction in all the toys of life. And sadly, we follow suit so often. Reminded here that the Lord Jesus was going to give everything to this woman that her heart could desire.
[22:04] Joseph-like, he is the savior of the world, the revealer of secrets. And he reveals himself to her as the Messiah. Now, a lovely line of truth that you could follow a theme in this chapter is notice her growth and her appreciation of Christ. He’s a Jew, he’s sir, then he’s a prophet, then he’s the Messiah, then he’s the savior of the world. So there’s an unfolding revelation of Christ in this chapter to deepen her appreciation, her satisfaction with Christ. But he’s teaching her as well that he is a sphere of worship. The hour cometh and now is when the Father seeketh worshipers. The true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. So a link with satisfaction is this concept of worship. Now, I’m not sure if I can convey this as I ought to.
[22:48] Nothing gives you a sense of significance and satisfaction as much as actually being a worshiper of God. God did not institute worship so that he would get something. God needs nothing. God is not somehow flattered by my worship. God does not somehow feel better about himself because of my worship. God did not institute worship for his good. He instituted it for my good. Because when I am a worshiper in his presence, I am really reaching my highest usefulness for which I was created to be a worshiper of God. And I enter into the greatest satisfaction, the greatest significance, the greatest security when I am a worshiper of God. So the Lord Jesus Christ is linking together satisfaction and worship as well here in this chapter. These truths of worship, he really reveals to a woman, a Samaritan woman and a sinful Samaritan woman. We would have thought it belonged in chapter three, But of course, it belongs in chapter 4 because it is intimately linked with satisfaction. So I want to speak to you then again about this as well, and see if I can to interest young people, especially in the Word of God and in worshiping the Father.
[24:07] You will notice that the woman left her water pots. The Lord Jesus Christ left his food. She was satisfied with Christ. He was satisfied with her. Do you realize the joy you brought to Christ the night you got saved, the day, the morning, whatever it was, you brought him joy? Like the shepherd of Luke chapter 15, placing the sheep upon his shoulders, returning home, rejoicing. He finds joy in saving us. And now we find joy in worshiping him. He intends us to be satisfied with worship and with knowing him better. So let me just, if I can, take a few moments and talk to you about reading the Word of God, learning about Christ. Where do I find satisfaction?
[24:58] I was thinking today, I was driving along in places where I could see people sitting and people talking. Majority of people, when they have nothing to do, they’re on their cell phones. Walking, talking, whatever, they’re on their cell phones. And I find myself doing the same thing. In a boring moment, I turn to my cell phone. That’s become my little God. That’s what I’m occupied with, to my shame. When my mind has nothing else to do, it should really occupy itself with him, with him. Psalm 1, the man, the blessed man, he meditates in the law of the Lord day and night. His mind is occupied with the word of God.
[25:47] Mary, you recall, we heard of her last evening. She meditated on these. She kept all these things in her heart. She threw them back and forth, trying to understand more deeply what the word of God, what the message to her was all about. So I just want to speak to young believers about reading the word of God and actually reading it. You have to make it a priority. You’ll never find time to read the Bible. You’re too busy. You have to make time. You have to carve it out of your day. You have to say to yourself, this time is for the word of God alone. Whether it’s early in the morning, late at night, there are owls who love to stay up late, there are larks who love to get up early, and tragically, there’s a few people who fall in between and don’t do well at either end. But whatever the case is, make your time and give yourself to reading the word of God. Make a commitment to read and read it consistently, read it consecutively. When I say consecutively, what I mean by that is, don’t just say, I’m going to read in Genesis 3 today, Psalm 24 the next day, John chapter 3. No, take a book and read it beginning to end, back and forth, so you know it and you feel like you’re living in it, so God can begin to speak to you about that book. Read it carefully. Read it confidently. Do you realize that God actually wants to speak to you? You don’t have to struggle to find something in your Bible. God wants to speak to you. That’s how he communicates with us, is by the word of God.
[27:15] And he wants to communicate. Now, it doesn’t mean that every time you sit down with the Bible in front of you, you’ll get some great revelation, but it does mean if you consistently give yourself to the word of God, he will communicate with you and give his truth to you. Now, already I hear people saying, but wait a minute, I’ve tried that and I get nothing and I feel like, what’s the use? I feel like a failure.
[27:39] So I just put my Bible away, get it out Sunday morning and that’ll be fine. Well, one of the great pundits of baseball said, it’s amazing what you see when you look, okay? We won’t mention names here on the platform, but what are you looking for when you’re reading? What are you looking for? You’re waiting for something to pop out like a great revelation? Or are you reading the word of God with intelligent questions in your mind? Could I just suggest four questions you could ask yourself as you’re reading that are, I would almost say, guaranteed to give you something when you read the Word of God. Number one, if this were the only chapter I had in the Bible, if all I had was John chapter 3, John chapter 4, and I was marooned on a desert island, and this is all I had to read, what would I learn about God? What is God like?
[28:32] Okay. You say, that’s really a question to ask? Your life is a life of learning what God is like. Because the more you learn God, the better you become as a worshiper, the better you become as an intercessor for praying. So number one, what can I learn about God from this portion of the word of God? What’s he like? Number two, looking for Christ. Is Christ in this portion in any way, Directly, indirectly, prophetically, in contrast with someone, is there anything here that reminds me of Christ? Thirdly, listening for the spirit of God to speak to me. Hopefully, as a young believer, there are things you’re praying about. Praying about education, praying about university, praying about career choices, praying about places, assembly fellowship, where to go, which to be in, a job offer, a spouse in life, and all those things.
[29:28] Well, answers don’t come in the mail. They come in the word of God. Guidance comes from the word of God. So listening for the spirit of God to speak to you through the word of God, it’s one of the great value of reading consecutively. It’s not just a matter of picking and choosing and hoping the verse is there. No, God can guide you as you’re reading. He may impress on you as you’re reading a particular section the need of patience and waiting, or he may be making clear he’s gonna open the door very soon, whatever it may be. He can communicate. He’s a master of communication, and he does it through his word. So learning about God, looking for Christ, listening for the Spirit. Fourthly, anything I should be living out from this section, anything I should really put into practice in my life? Is there something that I’m being told I should be doing, and I should do it? We mentioned last night Mary’s advice. Whatsoever he saith to you, do it. So whatever the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to you in his word as you’re reading, do it. You have everything you need for life in this book.
[30:31] Most of you would not remember the name of William Randolph Hearst. If you’ve ever been to California, there’s Hearst Castle that he built out there. He built a 200 and I forget how many, 165-room mansion with endless, and it cost back then in the early 20s and 30s, $37 million to build. He was an avid art collector, and he once commissioned one of his agents. He heard of a particular painting, very valuable, very impressive, and he commissioned one of his agents to go and find it and whatever it cost, buy it. Six months later, the agent came back and he asked him if he had found it. No, he hadn’t found it. Why not? Because you already own it.
[31:13] You already have everything you need to navigate life. Everything you need to learn more of God and to be the Christian that God wants you to be. So we’re reminded here then of the word of God and its fullness, its richness, all that we have. And all that is available to us. And we have promises from God. He satisfies the hungry soul and fills, he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry with goodness. In Mary’s great magnificat, recall there, he fills the hungry with good things and the rich he sends empty away. Who satisfies a mouth with good things. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle. The myriad of promises in the word of God that God will satisfy us, fill us, and make life full and enjoyable for us as believers in Christ. So coming now again to what we have, the satisfaction that he brings through his word.
[32:06] Finding Christ in the word of God is what satisfies. Here’s a woman. She tried everything else in terms of marital relationships, immoral relationships. She didn’t find satisfaction. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who gives satisfaction to his people. But also linked with that satisfaction that I want to speak to you for a few minutes about worship. Worship is spoken of as the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Now fruit doesn’t say a seed it’s fruit fruit develops from seeds don’t bring your seeds to the breaking of bread bring your fruit to the breaking of bread that means you’re going to be developing something reading the word of god you’re you’re seeing things about christ seeing things about his salvation learning something about his mercy his grace his goodness something of his glory. Some of the things we mentioned, for example, contrasting Isaiah 40 with John chapter four and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ being rich became poor. And you begin to appreciate that and develop it in your mind. And you’re developing it in light of the Lord’s day. And you’re mentioning each day in your private worship to God. And by the coming of the Lord’s day comes, it’s developed. And you want to bring that fruit to God. It says in Hebrews chapter 13, from where I just quoted. To do good, communicate, forget not. I’m sorry, go back earlier.
[33:31] Not just getting the first beginning of that verse. Just give me a second and I will read it because I think it’s important to read.
[33:44] By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, to do good and communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So three things there that tells us God is well pleased with. Number one, the works that I do for him. Number two, the wealth that I share with others. Number three, the worship that I offer him. Now he calls all of those things sacrifices. With such sacrifices, God is well pleased. Now it’s twofold significance. Hebrews is pummeling us with the concept that there are no more sacrifices. No more sacrifices. One sacrifice forever. No more sacrifices for sins. The work is done. No more sacrifices. But then he comes to chapter 13 and says, yes, there are sacrifices we can make as believers. Our works, our wealth that we share, our worship that we offer. But you see, there are sacrifices. That means if you are going to be a worshiper, something has to go. You have to sacrifice.
[34:48] Time is probably the biggest thing we have to sacrifice. Time spent in the word of God, time spent looking at Christ, time spent feeding upon him, time spent drinking from the fountain of life. Something has to be sacrificed. Now you have to decide that for yourself. I can’t tell you what to sacrifice, whether it’s an extra hour of sleep, whether it’s time on the computer or social network and all the rest, or whether it’s Netflix, hopefully not. But whatever it is, I get the smiles, okay. Whatever it is, you may have to, you will have to sacrifice if you’re going to be a worshiper, if you’re going to find satisfaction in his book, if you’re going to find all your delight, all your satisfaction in Christ, you’re going to have to sacrifice, because it will not come naturally, it will not come easily. Reminded here then, what is my appetite how hungry am I really it comes down to how hungry am I really to know Christ better how hungry am I really to enjoy this book more, I’ll tell you a little secret. Maybe it’s not such a secret. When you get to be my age, you become very content, okay? Cruise control button is hit and you’ll just cruise home to heaven. I’ve studied enough. I’ve learned enough. No, no. God never. Peter ends his epistle. The old man, Peter, before his head is about, before he’s about to be crucified. He says, grow in grace and in the knowledge. Keep growing is really the tense there. Grow and keep growing in grace and in knowledge. Never give up. Never stop.
[36:18] Because when you land on that shore, I think you’ll begin with where you left on this shore. I think I’m building my capacity for appreciating Christ down here and it’s going to continue and grow up there. But where I leave off here is where I start there. So he wants us to keep growing. Never be content with where you are in your Christian life. Never, never put it on cruise control and feel I’m good enough. I’ve learned enough. I can get by enough. We all can get by on a Sunday morning, can’t we? I mean, the brethren would be honest. We can just drag out the old comments we’ve made, the old appreciation, and get by. Everyone thinks it sounds good, you know, okay. But to be fresh, to be able to bring fresh material to God about his son, greatest privilege we have. The word there is to do good and communicate, forget not. The word that is used really that Paul, the writer of Hebrews uses in chapter 13 is saying the same thing God says. What that means is when we’re worshiping, we’re saying the same thing about his son that God says about his son. Same thing. God appreciates when we appreciate what he has appreciated eternally about his son. So we come back then to the idea of worship and satisfaction. The satisfaction we find in the person of Christ through the word of God. What is my appetite like?
[37:48] Time and again in the Psalms, we are reminded they shall be abundantly satisfied, abundantly satisfied. God is able to satisfy every appetite with his word about his son.
[37:58] Here this woman is promised, a well of water springing up onto everlasting life. Now that doesn’t mean that every moment of every day you’re going to be enjoying some fresh thought of Christ, but it does mean that satisfaction will be found alone in him, found in him alone now and for all eternity. So we have that. So we are left then with a woman who is satisfied with the water of life, of a savior who is satisfied with the will of his father, of a city that became satisfied with the witness of Christ. Now we know indeed this is a Christ, the savior of the world. And at the end of the chapter, a courtier who is satisfied with just a word from Christ. I know it’s very abbreviated, I’m sorry, but I feel convicted by my own ministry. I fail to find everything in Christ. I fail to let go of the trinkets of life and be occupied alone with him. That’s the standard of the word of God. That’s the standard that has been set for us to find everything we need in Christ. All our satisfaction, all of our joy, all of our sense of significance, all of our sense of security, everything tied up in a person who has come as our redeemer to save us. So I trust God will challenge us, challenging me, challenge each of us and seek by his grace, if we can, to be all we ought to be. May God bless this word. Shall we pray?
Living in the light of the revelation
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03242024.m4aThe second letter to the Thessalonians contains some significant verses in chapter one and also in chapter two. In Second Thessalonians chapter one, verse 3, Paul says this: “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity, the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and your faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.” And this is a manifest token—an evidence of the righteous judgment of God. That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer. Now, Paul obviously has in view the manifested kingdom of God when Christ comes to reign in glory, and he’s saying that what they were experiencing now, suffering, persecution, and tribulation, would ensure that they were worthy, in a sense, of the kingdom that was yet to come. He says, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense trouble to them that trouble you.” Now, that word “tribulation” is not referring to the tribulation period, but God is going to pay back trouble to those that are troubling you because they were suffering persecution. And to you who are troubled, “rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day.” Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. So that first chapter has to do with persecution, especially. That’s what you can write over the chapter. Paul is trying to encourage these believers in the midst of persecution. And part of the way he encourages them is by reminding them of the second coming of the Lord Jesus in glory and in power. That was what they were suffering for, ultimately, to enjoy the kingdom. Now, chapter 2—chapter 1 is about persecution. Paul will encourage them. Chapter 2 is all about God’s purpose for the Thessalonians. And he is going to educate them in this chapter because they had been deceived, and there was a misunderstanding. Now, we could spend a long time on these verses, and well, we will. So look at verse 1. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him” (that’s the rapture) “that ye be not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” Now, really, that should read, according to Mr. Darby’s Revised Version, that “the day of the Lord has come.” So these Christians were confused, and Paul doesn’t know how they have been confused. It might have been a false spirit or the reporting of a false word. Paul has been saying this; he’s been preaching that somewhere. This is what he said. Or by a letter that pretended to be from Paul. Paul doesn’t know how the error has come, but it has deceived these believers. They now think that the day of the Lord has already come. And the day of the Lord is a long period of time; it includes the millennial reign of Christ and the kingdom. But the day of the Lord focuses on seven years of tribulation and judgment and the return of Christ to the earth. So they thought that because of their persecution, they were already in the tribulation—the tribulation had come. Paul says, “Not at all.” Verse 3: “Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” Now, he is one of the trinity of evil of the end days that will arise in the tribulation. I think that this man of sin, well, he is the first beast that you read of in Revelation chapter 13. This man of sin, I call the Antichrist. This man of sin will be revealed. He is the son of perdition. He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, all that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now, that will take place at the midpoint of the tribulation, the midpoint of the seven years. This devilish man, who is satanically inspired, will claim worship as God. And the Lord Jesus calls that the abomination of desolation. Now this is a lot of prophecy, but very interesting prophecy, and I hope that some of it is familiar to you. So that’s what Paul is speaking about. And he’s saying, “You’re not in that day. You are not in the tribulation because these things have not happened.” You may say, “Listen, I haven’t been saved for very long. All this stuff about the tribulation and the man of sin and the abomination of desolation, who do you think I am? I need to be saved for 20 or 30 years before you tell me of these things.” Big red cross, you’re wrong! What does Paul say in verse 5? “Remember not that when I was with you, I told you these things?” Do you know how long they had been saved? Weeks! Weeks. And he had been telling them about the man of sin and the abomination of desolation. So don’t you turn your nose up at me, will you? Right? You should be taught these things. And if you find them to be too difficult or too awkward, or you can’t be bothered, train your mind to listen to what I’m saying and try to understand it. Then it’s your problem, really, and you need to make a better effort to try and understand what Scripture teaches about these things; they’re basic. They’re essential. They’re for people who have just been saved. Think about that. In verse 6, now, you know, “Wish we did,” Paul. This is a little bit awkward, but I’ll tell you what I think in a moment. He says, “You know what withholds? What is restraining? What’s holding back this man of sin and all the terrible things that are going to happen?” Paul says, you know what is restraining him, holding him back that he might be revealed. He will be revealed in his time, at the right time. But at the moment, something is holding him back. Verse 7: “For the mystery of iniquity already works.” There’s an undercurrent of iniquity that’s already working. It was working in Paul’s day, and it’s working in our day. “Only he who now restrains will restrain, until he be taken out of the way.” And then that wicked shall be revealed, this man of sin, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth. Again, this is not the rapture; this is the revelation. When Christ comes at the end of the tribulation, he’s going to consume this individual with the spirit of his mouth. He will destroy him with the majesty, the brightness of his coming. This person whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Interesting stuff. Now, here is Paul’s practical exhortation in light of all that. It’s not just prophecy. He says in verse 15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught.” He’s talking about the word of God. Hold fast the word of God. What you’ve been taught, whether by word of mouth or by our epistle, hold it fast. Now, finally, chapter 3—and we won’t have time to get to chapter 3, but you ought to notice one or two things here. If chapter 1 is all about persecution and Paul is encouraging the saints in their persecution, chapter 2 is all about God’s purpose and prophecy, and they’ve been deceived, so Paul is educating them about God’s purpose. Then chapter 3 has a problem—a big problem in Thessalonica. He’s been hinting at it in the first letter, and now he’s going to meet it head-on because the problem hasn’t been solved. Paul is going to exhort them. So not encourage them or educate them, but he’s going to exhort them about this problem. You say, what was the problem? Look at verse 6: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly.” Now, that word means to live your life out of step with others. So he’s almost viewing the Christians or the assembly as those who are marching in rank. And there are certain brethren who just aren’t marching in time and in step with the rest of them. He says they are walking disorderly and not after the tradition which was received of us. “Now, Paul, give us a bit more detail; we want the juicy story. Why are these individuals not walking in step with the other believers?” Well, he tells you. So, verse 11: “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly.” Now, here’s what the problem was: working, not at all. So here were individuals that had chosen not to work. They could have worked; work was available to them. But they were choosing not to be employed and not to earn money. Now, it wasn’t individuals who would love to work and couldn’t work—individuals that had been made redundant or anything like that. These are individuals that could have been working and earning money and putting bread on their table, but they chose not to. They were, verse 11 says, busy bodies; literally, they were poking their noses into other people’s business. And because Christians, because they couldn’t afford to put bread on their own table, they were coming round to your house at barbecue time, and they were saying, “Oh, is it dinner time? I was just coming round to see how you are. Well, since you ask, and since the sausages are on the sizzle, I don’t mind if I do.” And they were literally poking their noses into other people’s business. They were sponging off all the other Christians and the good nature of the other Christians. They were choosing not to work. Now, it’s good work if you can get it, right? Just sponge off everyone else and enjoy yourself as the day goes by and poke your nose into other people’s business—a great life if you can get it. Well, Paul says, “No, no.” He says, “They are busy bodies.” And here’s his commandment in verse 12: “Them that are such, if you’re doing this, we command you and we exhort you by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness you work. And as a result, you will be able to eat your own bread.” Shall I paraphrase for you? “Get a job!” That’s what Paul says, right? “Get a job! Stop causing a fuss in society. Stop making a fuss about being quiet. Get on with your life. Don’t cause a disturbance in society. Work quietly, put bread on your table,” and all that in the light of the soon return of the Lord Jesus in glory to the earth. Right, we’ll leave it there. I’m not going to say anything about chapter 3 because I’ve said enough, and we won’t have time to get there, but God will bless his word to us. So remember what I said yesterday, and we’re going to have to move at a rate of knots because I understand that at one o’clock the dinner bell sounds, and saints can’t hold themselves together, right? So I’ve got 30 minutes to squeeze all this in. Remember what I was saying yesterday. 1 Thessalonians emphasizes the rapture—the first aspect of the second coming of the Lord Jesus. And Paul says, “Here is the truth of the rapture.” At the end of every single chapter in 1 Thessalonians—five of them—he’s speaking about the rapture and the coming of Christ. And he says, “Now this is how you should live; it affects your life. This truth about the soon return of Christ affects the way you live.” It’s living in the light of the rapture. That’s 1 Thessalonians. When you come to 2 Thessalonians, the emphasis is on the revelation—the second aspect of the second coming of Christ. So not the fact that imminently he’s coming to the air, but the fact that after the tribulation, he’s coming to the earth with his saints. He’s going to reign on the earth and over the earth. And that truth, too—the glory and the majesty of the return of Christ—should have an impact on the way that we live. We do not just look. Read through your New Testament epistles. There is much more said about the manifestation of Christ than the rapture. The fact that Christ is coming back to the earth in glory with us, and he shall reign, should have a tremendous impact upon our lives. Any rewards that are obtained at the judgment seat of Christ will be manifested in that kingdom. So don’t just be fixated with the rapture; think about the wonder of the fact that Christ is coming back to the earth—his glorious reign upon the earth. And that is the focus of 2 Thessalonians. So chapter 1 is all about the persecution that these saints were experiencing on earth. And he says, in light of the coming kingdom of Christ, he says, “I want you to be encouraged in the midst of your suffering.” Now let me just summarize it for you. Look at verse 4; he says, “You are suffering.” This is the end of verse 4: “in all your persecutions and your tribulations.” And he says, “You are enduring those persecutions and those tribulations.” In fact, at the beginning of verse 4, “We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, because you are patient and you are full of faith in the midst of these persecutions.” So Paul says, “Wherever I go”—and at this point Paul was in Corinth—”whichever church I visit—I must tell you about the saints down in Thessalonica. They are really suffering for their faith, but they are suffering so patiently.” And “they are suffering, keeping their faith and confidence in God in the midst of that persecution. They’re enduring it all.” Says Paul, “I love those saints down in Thessalonica.” And whichever assembly he went to, he would say, “You know, those saints in Thessalonica—just how marvelous they are. They were really suffering for the fact that they put their faith in Christ.” You’ll have to go back to the book of Acts. You’ll have to see that when Paul first visited Thessalonica and preached the gospel, souls were saved; a whole rabble—a riot was stirred up in Thessalonica against Paul and what he had been preaching. They hounded Paul out of the city. He was taken away very quickly lest he would lose his life. But obviously, that persecution against Paul and those associated with him was affecting the Christians—they’d only just been saved. They were really suffering for the name of Christ. But Paul says, “I want to encourage you. You’re suffering well. You are enduring in the midst of all this persecution.” I want to tell you something strange. Now this should be relevant; it could be relevant; it will be relevant to us, to those of you who are in the hall this afternoon. We may not be suffering persecution because we’re Christians, although there might be a little bit of that, even with our employers and even in our local society. But there will be some of you who are experiencing, at this moment, real difficulties and suffering in life. It may not necessarily be because of the name of Christ, but God has allowed you to go through a difficult time. Do you know what Paul says to these believers? He says, “But don’t criticize him for this.” He says, “God is righteous.” Meaning, God has allowed you to experience this. And he may not take you out from that experience for some time, but he certainly will strengthen you in the midst of that experience. I want to show you this. Look at verse number five. He says, “the righteous judgment of God.” Look at verse number six: “It is a righteous thing with God to pay back trouble to them that are troubling you.” And he says, “the Lord Jesus is going to come from heaven.” This is the manifestation. And verse eight: “He is going to take vengeance on them that know not God.” And in the middle of that word “vengeance” in the Greek is the word for righteousness. When God brings judgment and punishment upon individuals, it does not mean that he’s lost his temper. It does not mean that he’s out of control. When God takes vengeance, he does it righteously. He perfectly measures out the judgment that is required for those individuals. That’s what vengeance means—not too much, not too little; the right amount. But you see all the way through the verses: “You’re suffering. It’s tough for you. But God is righteous.” What is Paul trying to say? Well, he’s saying this: Christ is coming in glory, and first of all, he is going to measure out judgment upon those who are troubling you—those individuals that are causing you all this pain. He says, “God is going to measure out pain upon them.” Don’t think that they will not pay for the fact that they are persecuting you. God will see that every wrong is put right. Vengeance belongs to the Lord; it does not belong to you. We are living in a day of grace. If you feel offended, or if you feel that somebody has done something against you, you leave vengeance with the Lord. This is a day of grace; that’s why the Lord Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” It’s not what the psalmist said. The psalmist said, “Bring down heaps of coals of fire upon their head.” Not in a day of grace. Do you remember Stephen? As he was being stoned, he said, “Lord, lay not this to their charge.” This is not a day of vengeance; the day of vengeance is coming. And friend, if you’ve been wronged, you leave that wrong with the Lord. He will see to it that it’s put right; you make sure you forgive and you exercise a forgiving spirit. So says Paul, “I want to encourage you; those who are wronging you, God will see to it at the manifestation. God will see to it that they get their comeuppance.” Something else, and this is a real challenge to him. He says, “As far as you’re concerned, God has allowed this suffering. God has allowed this persecution for a higher cause.” Look at verse 5: “This is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.” So Paul, what are you saying? God never wastes suffering in the life of his people. God has allowed you to come into that suffering because he is fitting you for future responsibility in a great kingdom that is yet to come. I hope that’s an encouragement to you. You say, “Life at the moment is not easy for me.” Well, remember you have a great high priest who will see to it that he will hold your hand through every difficulty. And remember that what you are experiencing is training; God is using it so that you will be fitted someday to reign alongside Christ. Isn’t it wonderful? God is so wise that he can use our suffering and our pain for greater good—greater good in a day to come. So, we’re going to rest, by the way, when that kingdom comes to a certain extent. Ultimately, we will rest. Hallelujah! We’re suffering now, but there’s going to be rest in that day. And we’re going to be perfectly fitted for that coming kingdom. So says Paul, “I want you to wait patiently in the light of the fact that Christ is coming and will establish a kingdom; you’re going to reign with him. Wait patiently under the weight of the tribulation and the suffering you’re experiencing.” Right, chapter 2—chapter 2 is not about encouragement in persecution. Chapter 2 is about God’s purpose for these Thessalonians, and they’ve got it slightly confused. So what Paul’s going to do now is not encourage them so much; he is going to educate them about God’s purpose for them. Now, look at verse two: “You are shaken in your minds; you are troubled.” He says you think that—and remember the translation now—it’s not the day of Christ is at hand. There are various prophetic days in Scripture: the day of man, the day of Christ, the day of the Lord, the day of God. They all refer to extended periods of time; they’re not 24 hours at all; they’re extended periods of time. What’s in view here is the day of the Lord that starts at some point after the rapture. It takes in the tribulation—seven years on earth. It takes in the manifestation of Christ when he comes at the end of the tribulation. It takes in the whole kingdom—thousand years. So the day of the Lord is when God is intervening in affairs on the earth, and he’s dealing with the nation of Israel on the earth. The day of Christ has to do with things in heaven and the church. The day of the Lord deals with things on earth—the nation of Israel. The translation here should be this: “You are shaken in your minds. You’re troubled. You’re worried because you think that the day of the Lord has already come.” It hasn’t! Now, you could understand how they could be confused. They knew that the day of the Lord was a period that began with awful judgment, tribulation. And they were suffering; they were being persecuted. So you could see how they might think that that awful trouble in the day of the Lord was the trouble that they were experiencing. And to make it worse, something had deceived them. Paul doesn’t know what it was, but he does say, “Whether it’s by spirit or by word or by letter.” So you get the idea—somebody had come to the assembly at Thessalonica and said, “Listen, listen—somebody told me,” you know how it goes, right? “Somebody told me that Paul was preaching down in Corinth and said we’re in the day of the Lord! Exclamation mark! Look out! Go and tell everyone.” And this person turned up at Thessalonica and said, “Listen, we need to have a church gathering; apparently, somebody said that Paul had said that we’re in the tribulation!” They were deceived! It might have been a letter: “Dear Thessalonian saints, the tribulation started! Signed, Paul.” They thought they were in the day of the Lord. So they were deceived and confused. And Paul says, “It’s not the case; it’s not the case.” They had been shaken from their moorings—that’s what verse 2 means. “Why are you so soon shaken in mind and troubled?” It’s a word that’s used of a ship that’s tied up to its moorings in the harbor, but now those moorings have been let loose; the ship has been untied. The ship is starting to drift out of the harbor into the storm, and he’s saying, “That’s what’s happened to you. You’ve heard this apparently from me, and so quickly you’ve been shaken away from your security.” And do you think it’s true? He says, “Don’t you remember what I taught you?” Anyway, he says, “Listen, you cannot be in the day of the Lord.” You say, “Does this really matter to me?” Yes! Thank you! There is a lot of teaching today; it’s called reformed teaching. There are a lot of Christians today who believe that the church will go through the tribulation—that’s what they believe. If you haven’t met them yet or spoken to them, you soon will. You might find that next Lord’s Day, somebody turns up at the door who holds this very truth. I wonder if you could prove from Scripture that that is not the case. I think you need to listen to this. Here’s what Paul says: “You cannot be in the day of the Lord, and you cannot be in the day of the Lord for these three reasons.” Now, I’ll give you these three reasons; I’ll tell you the practical exhortation, and then we’ll be done for dinner. Three reasons why you cannot be in the tribulation. Paul, what is the first reason? Verse 1: “We beseech you, brethren, by the rapture.” Hallelujah! Isn’t it simple? He says, “We beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”—this is not two separate statements, by the way; they’re connected in Greek—”We beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him.” So listen, you cannot be in the tribulation because Christ doesn’t come yet. You can’t be in the tribulation because we haven’t been gathered to Christ. It’s impossible. You would say the same thing. If somebody said to you, “Oh, the tribulation’s already started,” you would say, “No, it hasn’t because the rapture hasn’t happened yet. I’m still here!” That’s what you’d say. You’d say, “I haven’t been taken up to heaven yet, so the tribulation can’t be started because you’re well taught.” But it’s exactly what Paul says. He says, “I beseech you by the coming and by our gathering together unto him: don’t be soon shaken in your mind.” So here’s reason number one why you can’t be in the day of the Lord, the tribulation, because the rapture hasn’t happened yet. And he wrote this letter a few months after 1 Thessalonians. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, that we were thinking about yesterday evening, Paul says, “Remember, you’re going to be caught up into a meeting with the Lord in the air. You’re going to be gathered to him; you haven’t been gathered yet.” So you can’t be in the tribulation. That’s simple, isn’t it? So reason number one: the rapture. Reason number two: he goes on to explain this in verse 3. He says, “Let no one deceive you. That day cannot come; he says, the day of the Lord is characterized by these things. He says the day of the Lord cannot come except there be a falling away first.” That’s not the rapture; he’s spoken about that in verse 1. That is a rebellion. This is essential: a falling away first. That word in Greek is the word for apostasy—in Greek, the word is apostasia, apostasy. Paul says when the day of the Lord comes, it will be characterized by a rebellion against God, by a falling away from divine truth. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24, in that day of the Lord, iniquity will abound. You say, “But it’s pretty bad today, isn’t it?” You say, “In the world in which we live today, iniquity is everywhere.” You say, “There is a great rebellion against God and against his word today.” You say, “The last 10 or 20 years have got even worse.” People today are denying male and female, made he them. See, I can’t. How far has humanity fallen away and departed from divine truth? You say, “It sounds like a rebellion today.” Well, there is, but it will be nothing compared to the departure from divine truth that there will be in that day. In fact, Paul already says, look at verse 7, he says, “This mystery of iniquity already works.” This idea of iniquity—an undercurrent of iniquity running through the world, says Paul, it’s already happening today— and that was 2,000 years ago. How much more today? But when the day of the Lord comes, he says there will be a great rebellion—a great falling away from divine truth. You say, “How much worse can it get?” I’ll tell you: in that day, every religion will be destroyed. In that day, there will be one single religion. In that day of awful apostasy, there will be one object of worship. You say, “Who or what will that be?” It will be the worship of the devil through the worship of the man of sin. That’s apostasy. The whole world will be taken up with devil worship. You say, “That’s pretty serious.” Look at verse 4. It says, “the man,”—this is the end of 3—”the man of sin will be revealed.” He is a man who personifies sin. He’s the complete opposite to Christ, by the way, who’s the incarnation of purity and holiness. This man, he’s a real man, is the incarnation of sin; he’s devilishly supplied and energized. He “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, all that is worshipped, so that he as God will sit in the temple of God in Jerusalem.” So, it’s going to have to be rebuilt. What will happen to the Dome of the Rock? I don’t know. But that temple—the Jewish temple in the tribulation—will have to be rebuilt. And in that temple, which has always represented the worship of God, Jehovah, in that temple a man will sit as if he is God, indwelt by the devil, and the whole world will bow their knees to a man as God, when in fact he’s devilish at his very core. The world is going to worship the devil. That’s a serious rebellion. That is serious apostasy. Paul says that’s what the day of the Lord is like. You can’t be in it yet. There’s an undercurrent of this, but the full revelation of it has not yet come. So you’ve got his reasons, haven’t you? This is why you’re not in the day of the Lord—number one: the rapture hasn’t happened yet. Number two: this great rebellion against God, though there’s an undercurrent of it, it hasn’t yet come to its full bloom; this man of sin hasn’t been revealed. Number three: why hasn’t the man of sin come yet? Why hasn’t he arrived yet? Surely the devil would like nothing more than for the whole world to bow down and worship him. Why hasn’t this man of sin been revealed? Well, I’ll tell you why: because there is a restraint upon him. God has put a restraining hand on the man of sin being revealed and the work of the devil. Look at verse 6. Paul says, “You know what is holding him back.” He’s going to be revealed at the right time—all in the purpose of God. He will be revealed, this man of sin. But at the moment, something is holding him back. In verse 7, the something of verse 6 becomes a someone. So in verse 6, “You know what is holding him back.” In verse 7, “Only he who is holding him back will hold him back until he be taken out of the way.” I have a question for you: the Thessalonians knew what this was. I wonder if you know what this is? Paul says there is something, and there is someone. Now they must be very powerful because this is holding back, restraining the full onslaught of iniquity and the power of the devil displayed in this man of sin. But something and someone is just holding him back. You say, “What is it?” Well, I believe it’s a divine person that is holding back the full flow of sin and iniquity in this world. I believe that the someone who is doing the restraining is the Holy Spirit. And that person, says Paul, is going to be taken out of the way. And when he is taken out of the way, then this stream of iniquity will burst onto the earth. So here’s what I think: I think that the someone who restrains is the Holy Spirit. I think that the something that is restraining is the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the church—because Christians are salt and light. And when Christians are removed and the Spirit of God is removed, there will be a flood tide of evil that bursts upon this world. The question is, when’s the Spirit being removed? Now just grasp this because it will help you understand these verses. You understand, don’t you, that the Holy Spirit is a divine person? He’s everywhere. Go back to the Old Testament; the Spirit of God came upon individuals at different times to empower them for service. In Acts chapter 2, something unique happened. Not only did the Lord Jesus go back to heaven, but the Holy Spirit came down from heaven. Acts 2. And the Holy Spirit took up his residence on earth. The Spirit of God had been coming and going. He had been moving upon individuals before that. But in this day and age, something unique has happened: the Spirit of God has taken up his residence on earth. He’s here; he’s been here for 2,000 years, indwelling believers and corporately indwelling the church. But there’s a day coming when the residence of the Spirit is going to be removed. He will be removed. You say, “When will the residence of the Spirit be removed?” Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? When the church is removed. When’s the church going to be removed? At the rapture. And then the residence of the Spirit—with and in the church, his residence will be removed too. That’s not to say he won’t be here in the tribulation. He will be, and folks will be saved in the tribulation—millions! He will be operating, but his residence will not be here because the church has been removed. You see what Paul’s saying? You can’t be in the tribulation. Come on, the rapture hasn’t happened yet. The rebellion hasn’t happened yet. And there is a restraint upon that rebellion. But when he that restrains is removed with the church, then the flood tide of evil will come. It will come! So that’s a whole lot of prophecy. You say, “I don’t mind prophecy; it’s a bit better than doctrine, isn’t it? It’s not quite as dry; it’s quite exciting what’s going to happen in the future.” Prophecy is alright, but it has a practical impact on us. I’ll leave you with this: chapter 1—persecution; encouraging them in persecution. Paul says, “Wait patiently; God is using that suffering for greater good.” Chapter 2—God’s purpose, all about prophecy. “I’m educating you because you’ve been deceived.” The practical outworking of that truth is this: not wait patiently, but hold tightly. Hold tightly to what? Well, you’ve been soon shaken in your minds. You’ve been deceived; you thought you were in the tribulation. And I taught you these things. So what does Paul exhort them to do? He exhorts them to hold tight to the word of God. If they had held tight to Paul’s teaching, they wouldn’t have been so upset and worried and confused. So look at the verse. I know the dinner bell is sounding, but just relax. Verse 15: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions.” These are not man-made traditions; we’re not talking about the Pharisees here and all the traditions they had built up around the word of God. We are talking about truth that Paul had taught them—truth that Paul had written to them. He says, “Stand fast; hold tightly; be glued to Bible truth, and maintain it with all that you are.” If they had just stuck firmly to the first epistle, they wouldn’t have been so confused and so worried and so deceived. So I say this to you after seven—by the way, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it; thanks very much! Some of you have no idea who I was, and you had no input inviting me here whatsoever, but I appreciate the fact that I’ve been here and it’s been lovely to spend time with you good folks—it really has! One thing I would say after seven days is this: in light of the world in which we’re living and in the light of the fact that Christ is coming very soon—not just for us, but to reign—until that moment comes, and the fact that iniquity is spreading through this earth, could I just exhort you to hold tightly and hold firmly to the truth of the word of God? You can’t just depend on ministry meetings like this. You will need to read this book for yourself. Reading is not studying; you will have to spend a bit of time with the Word of God. You will have to develop convictions about what this book teaches—convictions about the local assembly, convictions about the soon coming of Christ. When you hold a truth, it’s a belief; when the truth holds you, it’s conviction. Read this book, study this book, develop convictions, and stick to them like glue. And God will bless you until he comes. We’ll leave it there. God will bless his word to us. Let’s just pray.
Living in the light of the rapture
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03232024.m4aAnd we’ll read from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. And chapter 4. Now that was some good food. So, thank you, everyone, on behalf of the Assembly and all those who enjoyed it. We certainly do appreciate everyone who worked so hard to provide all of that good food. It was very good. I forgot tonight—it’s the first time I’ve forgotten to do this in a long time—but I forgot for some reason to put on my belt today, which normally means that my, well, we call them trousers; you call them pants, right? Which normally means that, well, they’ll slide away. But because I’ve been, well, eating over the past week, they seem to be standing up very well. So it doesn’t really matter that I forgot my belt, right? Although my wife says I don’t preach very well if I don’t have a belt on. So there we go. You be the judge of that. But we do appreciate all those who have put in a lot of effort to bring all that food and supply. It was very, very nice indeed. So thank you for doing that. It’s been a great pleasure, of course, to be with you during this week. And we look to the Lord to bless and help us tonight.
Right, we’re stepping away from the subject of the local assembly. And what we’re going to do is think about the return of the Lord Jesus, but we’re going to think about it in very practical terms. So what I call this meeting is “Living in the Light of the Rapture.” And really that summarizes Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. When he speaks about the return of the Lord Jesus in this letter, primarily he is referring to the rapture. That’s the coming of the Lord Jesus to the air for His saints. And it’s something that could happen at any moment. I hope you believe that. In the UK, everyone would have shouted “Hallelujah!” at the tops of their voices. And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything. We are very reserved in the United Kingdom. They wouldn’t have said a thing, just like you. They would have been stony and silent. But I believe, at least, I thought in America, you know, there’d be a little more celebration. But anyway, I believe at least that the Lord Jesus could return even today, at any moment, even before the meeting is finished— that the Lord Jesus could descend to the air and every believer in Him caught away to meet Christ in the air. That’s what we call the rapture. And that is a scriptural word as far as the Latin Bible is concerned, but maybe more about that later. Rapturo, to be caught away to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. So that’s what Paul is emphasizing in 1 Thessalonians, that aspect of the coming of the Lord Jesus. And at the end of every single chapter in 1 Thessalonians, Paul will speak about the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Now, when you get into 2 Thessalonians, he’s not so much speaking about the rapture, the Lord Jesus coming to the air. In 2 Thessalonians, he’s going to emphasize what sometimes we call the revelation or the manifestation—that Christ is coming in glory, not to the air, but to the earth, to establish and to set up His kingdom and to reign for a thousand years. Now, there are at least seven years between the rapture and the revelation, but 1 Thessalonians is all about the rapture. 2 Thessalonians emphasizes the revelation. I’ll make distinctions between them in a moment. But in both of these epistles, that truth never exists in some kind of vacuum. Whenever Paul teaches truth, it should have a practical impact on the way we live our lives. It’s not just something airy-fairy and future. It is truth to change the way that we live here and now. And that’s why I’ve called these two meetings “Living in the Light of the Rapture.” So that’s 1 Thessalonians tonight and tomorrow, God willing, at high noon, living in the light of the revelation. So we’ll think about 2 Thessalonians.
Now, you were singing that hymn, right? Right. And I’m sure you’re well taught here. I know you get some good men from England, so you must be well taught, right? Or Northern Ireland. But you know just that hymn by Mr. Daniel W. Whittle. I think he was an American, by the way. I think he worked with Mr. Dwight L. Moody. Now, that hymn—did you think about which aspect of the coming of Christ it was about? Because in actual fact, he’s mixed it all up. He’s mixed it all up. So we were singing in verse number one, “He’s coming to reign as the glorified Lord.” Absolutely right. What’s that? Well, that’s not the rapture. He’s not coming to reign as the glorified Lord at the rapture. That’s the revelation when He comes to earth. And then you get to the second verse, and the second verse says this: “Caught up together to Him in the sky.” What’s that? Well, that’s not the revelation. That’s the rapture. So in verse one, you’ve got the revelation. In verse two, you’ve got the rapture. Verse three says He’s coming to give to the warring earth peace. Now, what’s that? Is that the rapture or is that the revelation? It’s the revelation, when He comes to earth and establishes His kingdom, peace. So I’d like to think that Mr. Whittle knew what he was doing. But verse one is revelation; verse two is rapture; verse three is revelation. Verse four: “Waiting and watching, prepared for review.” That’s the review of the judgment seat. So he has in view, in verse four, the rapture. So rapture, revelation? No, the other way around. Revelation, rapture, revelation, rapture. I’d like to think he knew what he was doing. Otherwise, he’s completely misunderstood, and he’s completely misunderstood the two aspects of the second coming of Christ, and he’s viewed them as one. So these things are very important, very important. We’ll make some distinctions in a moment.
Let’s read these verses together. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 4—not criticizing the hymn at all. If you’re in the good of the truth, you can sing it all and enjoy it all, no doubt. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 13. So these are very, very precious words to those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus. They describe the next event in the prophetic calendar: The Lord Jesus is coming to the air for those who belong to Him. So 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13 says this: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep.” These Thessalonians were very young Christians. They had not been saved very long at all. As far as their age is concerned, they might have been older people, but as far as their salvation was concerned, they’d only recently trusted the Lord Jesus a number of weeks or months. And he says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant about this, about those which have fallen asleep.” Now, that is biblical language to describe Christians who have died. They’re not asleep as you and I speak of sleep. But this is a lovely way of describing death for the believer in Christ. Their bodies have been laid in a grave. Their bodies are sleeping. And you understand that when you go to sleep, you go to sleep with the hope and expectation that you will wake up come the morning. Now, this is a lovely way of describing what happens to a Christian’s body when they’ve died. Their soul and their spirit go immediately to be with the Lord Jesus. That’s far better. But their bodies are buried in the ground, and it’s as if they are sleeping. Why? Because there’s a day coming when the bodies of Christians will be raised again from the dead, and they will be reanimated, and those bodies will be joined with the soul and the spirit of that individual. That’s resurrection. So obviously, these Thessalonians had a concern about some of their company, some of their number that had died. They had fallen asleep, and he says, “I know that you are sorrowing.” He’s not telling them not to sorrow. When loved ones die—and death is an inevitable part of life and human existence—when loved ones die, we are sorrowful. But here’s what Paul says. He says, “I don’t want you to sorrow”—that ye sorrow not, even as others—those who are not saved, don’t know Christ—which have no hope. So I expect you to be sorrowing, but I don’t want you to sorrow to the extent of those who have no hope. They’re not believers in the Lord Jesus. Now, here’s why: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and we do, there’s no doubt about that statement at all—although Paul is asking you to think about it and to affirm it. For if we believe, and we do, that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them which have fallen asleep, those which have died in Jesus, then will God bring, or even gather together with Him. Now, Paul, you need to explain how that’s going to happen.
So he says, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord”—and Paul obviously thought that he could be a part of that company—”we shall not prevent.” We will not go before. We will not have any precedence over them which are asleep, those that have died. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven.” He will descend from heaven with a shout, or literally enveloped, wrapped in a shout. That shout is His. That shout is characterized by the voice of the chief angel, the archangel. There’s one archangel who is named in the Bible; his name is Michael. It’s not so much that Michael is in view here, but it characterizes the shout of the Lord Jesus. He shall descend from heaven with a great shout and it will be archangelic in character. Speak about that in a moment. It could even be characterized as the trumpet of God. What a shout it’s going to be. And when He descends from heaven in that shout, those who have died in Christ, they will rise first.
Then, we which are alive and remain, we shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. Now, you see that little phrase, “caught up together”? Caught up. Now that is in the Latin Bible, the word “rapture.” So that’s why we call this aspect of the coming of Christ the rapture. It’s the idea of a snatching away, a catching away. There is strength, power, energy—almost violence—associated with the word. These individuals will be snatched away from the earth, and they’re going to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. So we which are alive and remain shall be raptured together with them in the clouds, white fluffy things, into a meeting with the Lord in the air. By the way, the Greek has two different words that are translated air. One Greek word describes the air which is above the mountaintops; the other Greek word describes the air which is beneath the mountaintops. So either the air in which birds fly or the higher atmosphere in which there are satellites and that sort of thing. You say, which air is in view here? Right. Well, it’s the lower atmosphere, the lower air. So the Lord Jesus, at least, is coming beneath the top of Mount Everest. He’s coming right into the air and the atmosphere where even the birds fly. Remember that the devil is the prince of the power of the air; that is the lower atmosphere. So we’re going to meet the Lord in the air. Okay.
“And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Now, by the way, we’re not meeting Him in the air, and then He’s bringing us back to earth. That would be rather disappointing. I don’t know about you; I’d be disappointed. Caught away to meet the Lord in the air, and we’re coming straight back again? No, no, no. You have to go to John 14 for that. The Lord says, “If I go, I will come again, and I will take you by the hand, receive you unto Myself; but where I am, not where you are, where I am, you will be also.” Of course, He’s been speaking about the Father’s house. He has been speaking about heaven. So when the Lord Jesus meets us in the air, He is going to take us to the Father’s house. He’s going to take us to heaven. And this is what we call the rapture. So verse 18: “Wherefore, comfort, comfort one another with these words.”
Now, you just read a couple of verses with me, won’t you, in 2 Thessalonians? Just look at chapter one. You’re turning over the page. 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 7. Paul says, “And to you who are troubled,” again, he’s speaking about the return of the Lord Jesus, but now he’s not speaking about the rapture. Now he’s speaking about the revelation. He’s coming back to earth, at least seven years later. He says, “When Christ is revealed, you who are troubled—you are suffering tribulation at this time—he says, you will rest with us.” When, now listen to this, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven,” not the rapture, the revelation. Now He’s being revealed from heaven with His mighty angel, enveloped or wrapped this time not in a shout, but in flaming fire, taking vengeance, communicating judgment on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction away from the presence of the Lord. Isn’t that very solemn? You see, the rapture is associated with rejoicing and comfort and encouragement; but the revelation, when the Lord Jesus comes to the earth, that is associated with fire and with judgment and even with destruction. And those who know not the Lord Jesus, they will be banished away from Him, away from His presence into everlasting judgment. That’s very solemn, but those are the two aspects of the coming of Christ.
Right, just turn back to 1 Thessalonians 4. We will wander for a moment through those verses, and then we’ll see how Paul makes this truth very practical. Now, let me say again, and I want to re-emphasize this because I don’t know what you’re like when it comes to prophecy. I’m sure you’re rock solid, but I need to talk about a few of these things. And I know that there is fried chicken and there is curry and all sorts of things, right? Even those Korean donuts. I wanted to—a brother said to me, “You should try one of those; they’re really good.” And I wanted to, but dirt got there before me and the top box disappeared. So maybe there’ll be some left later. I know it’s all floating around in the belly somewhere, right? Do your best. Do your best to stay with me, and I won’t shout too loud. I know some of you like it when I’m dramatic, but do your best.
1 Thessalonians, the rapture—that’s what’s emphasized: Christ coming to the air for His saints. The Bible teaches that that could happen at any instant. It is imminent. Not meaning that it must happen at any moment, but that it could happen at any moment. The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven in that shout. He’s descending to the air. Every believer in the Lord Jesus—every believer is going to be caught up, snatched away from the earth to meet Christ in the air. That is the rapture. That’s the emphasis of 1 Thessalonians. But there are two aspects to the second coming of Christ. That rapture is the first aspect. It’s the first stage. After the church, every believer in the Lord Jesus, from the Day of Pentecost until the rapture—after the church has been gathered to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, for the first time ever in history, the great assembly will be gathered together in one place with their Lord and Savior. What a dramatic, what an awesome occasion that will be. You say, but millions upon millions of Christians from the Day of Pentecost—you say they’re dead and buried. You’re right. You’re right. But Christ is going to raise them out from the grave. And we’re all going to meet Christ in resurrection or change. We’re all going to meet Christ in the air. What a demonstration of tremendous power when the Lord Jesus takes the church home. We’re going to go to be with Christ in the Father’s house. You say, what’s going to happen on earth? Well, on earth, as soon as the church is raptured, God is going to take up His dealings again with the nation of Israel, and He’s going to take them through the refining fire of the tribulation period on earth. That’s an awful period—seven years of divine judgment upon primarily unbelievers who will be living on the earth. It’s not for me. I’m not going to see one second of that tribulation period. I’m going to be taken away before it comes. But seven awful years of tribulation, judgment upon the earth. More about that tomorrow. And then at the end of those seven years, the Lord Jesus is coming again. Revelation 19 says heaven will be opened. You cannot see into heaven today. Living in New Jersey, you look to the sky and you see, well, you see the satellites that are distant, don’t you? Blue skies, the sun’s always shining, I know. Today was a bit of an anomaly, right? But normally in New Jersey, you’re staring into the blueness of the sky. You can see a long way, but you can’t see heaven. In Revelation 19, you’ll be able to see heaven. Because after those seven years of tribulation judgment on the earth, then heaven—you read it in Revelation 19—heaven will be opened. You’ll be able to stand on earth and see right into heaven. And Christ will come in glory and majesty. Every eye will see Him. Every knee will bow before Him, whether willingly or forced to bow the knee in worship before Him. He will come to destroy His enemies. He’s not coming for His saints then; we’re already with Him. He’s coming with His saints. He’s coming to establish a rule of righteousness and justice and equity on the earth. For a thousand years, King Christ is going to reign in righteousness. Two aspects to the second coming of Christ. I hope you know that inside out. And if you do, when you were singing that hymn, you were thinking to yourself, “Hmm, revelation, rapture, revelation, rapture,” weren’t you? I wonder. Anyway, two aspects to the second coming of Christ. You say this is all very strange? Shouldn’t be. You see, when the Lord Jesus came the first time—that was 2000 years ago—it was one coming, but there were two aspects to it. When Christ comes in the future, there’s one coming—His second coming—but there are two aspects to it: the rapture and the revelation.
You say, what about this first coming? How do you know? When the Lord Jesus came the first time, He came to a little place called Bethlehem. It was very quiet. Not many knew that the Son of God had come. Isn’t that remarkable? I know that there was an angelic appearance to the shepherds. And I know that Zacharias and Elizabeth and Joseph and Mary knew a little bit about the fact that the Christ was born. And here are some shepherds coming in: “You will find Him wrapped, lying in a manger.” There He is in swaddling clothes. Not many knew He had come. And for 30 years, the Lord Jesus lived in relative obscurity. We know very little about Him and about His life. And then Luke says, about 30 years of age, everything changed. About 30 years of age, He was baptized in the River Jordan. And the Spirit of God came to rest upon Him. And the Lord Jesus, for the best part of four years—maybe even longer—He entered into His public ministry. And then everyone knew about Him, and everyone wanted to see Him, and everyone had heard of the mighty miracles that He had performed. Do you see that it was one coming, but there were two aspects to it? A quieter, more private stay, and a much louder, more public manifestation.
Now, if that was the case at the first coming, you can be sure it will be the case at the second coming. So there are differences to be made, just like we made differences between the great assembly and the local assembly. So there are differences to be made between the rapture and the revelation. Let me give you a couple of differences, and then we’ll speak about the rapture. For example, there are absolutely no signs whatsoever to precede the rapture; it could happen at any moment. There are no signs to indicate, “Yes, it’s going to happen next week. Yes, it’s going to be next month.” Not a single sign. But the revelation has a huge amount of signs attached to it. You read Matthew 24. The Lord says there will be famines, and there will be pestilences. The Lord says there will be signs in the sun. The sun will not give its light. There will be signs in the moon. The moon will be darkened. There will be signs in the stars. There will be earthquakes. There will be wars and rumors of wars. There are a huge number of signs to indicate that the second coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth is very soon, but not the rapture. No signs at all.
Did you notice that when it comes to the rapture, the language is very comforting? Paul says at the end of these verses, “Comfort one another with these words.” The truth of the rapture is to encourage and to comfort one another. He says to His disciples in the upper room, “Peace, peace be unto you. My peace. I’m coming again.” The revelation is different. We read in 2 Thessalonians 1: fire, destruction, judgment. You see the difference between them? You have to differentiate between the rapture and the revelation. The rapture is something that is New Testament revelation only; but the manifestation of Christ when He comes to the earth, the Old Testament is full of that glorious coming of Christ to the earth—full—but you’ll not find the rapture there. I know it’s pictured; as we look back to it, we can see Enoch who walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. What a picture of the rapture, by the way! But the rapture is not in the Old Testament; it’s in the New Testament that the truth of the rapture is being revealed. So there are differences.
Now let’s think about, first of all, what Paul has to say in some detail about the rapture. And let’s try to explain this, and then just as we come to the end of the meeting, we’ll see what the practical implications of this truth are. So we’re thinking about the rapture, not the revelation at least seven years later after the tribulation. Look at verse 13. You could just write over verse 13 the word “sorrow.” Obviously, these Thessalonians had reported to Paul, and they were separated at this point in time, hence why Paul is writing a letter. Obviously, these Thessalonians had reported to Paul that one or more of their number had died. Now, they might have died through natural causes; they might have died because they were being persecuted for being Christian. But no matter, one or more of their number had died. And they were very upset. So you write over verse 13 the word “sorrow.” And this is what Paul says. He says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant concerning those who have died, those who have fallen asleep.” He says, “I know that you are sorrowing.” That is expected. Christians are expected and are allowed to be sad and sorrowful when loved ones die. But listen to what he says. He says, “You sorrow not, even as others that have no hope.” He’s saying those who don’t know Christ, those who are unbelievers, they have no hope of resurrection. They have no hope of life beyond the grave, but you do. So you sorrow because your loved ones have died, but you don’t sorrow to the extent of those who don’t know Christ because you know there’s resurrection. You know those loved ones of yours will be raised again. You know that there is life after death. Isn’t that wonderful? So we sorrow, brethren, but if our loved ones knew Christ, then there’s a sense of rejoicing in our hearts that, in a day to come, we’ll see them again. They’ll be raised from the dead. We’re going to meet them, either in the air or in heaven.
Sorrow. Now, it seems as if the Thessalonians had lost sight of that truth of resurrection because of their grief. And so Paul, in verse 14, gives them some security about resurrection. I do. I love the argument. You follow the argument. Paul says, “I’m going to give you some security now, some guarantee that your loved ones who have died in Christ will be raised again.” You say, well, what is the guarantee they’ll be raised again? What’s the security? Simple. “For if we believe”—or since we believe. I think if Paul was preaching this, he would have waited for a response—”Since we believe, don’t we?” “Yes, we do.” “That Jesus died… yes, we believe that. And that Jesus rose again—yes, yes, preacher Paul, we believe that!” “You do, I hope!” He said, “Since we believe that, even so, those which have fallen asleep, those that have died in Jesus—or in Christ, they’re believers—God is going to bring or gather together with Him.” This is a cardinal truth of the faith. What is our security? What is our guarantee that loved ones in Christ will be raised again? The death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That guarantees it. So if Jesus died and rose again, in exactly the same way, God is going to raise believers from the dead to live again. And He’s going to gather them together in a day to come, in the air with the Lord Jesus. So resurrection is secure—it is guaranteed on the basis of the fact that Christ died and rose again. Isn’t that wonderful? It can’t fail then, can it? Can it? Resurrection can’t fail; life after death cannot fail because Christ died and rose again, and those believers that die in Him will follow His patterns; they will be raised in a day to come.
So he speaks about sorrow. He speaks about the security that we have in Christ. And then verse 15 seems to be a separate but connected side issue. In verse 15, you have a supposition that on the part of these Thessalonians, they had supposed something, but they were wrong. Listen to verse 15 and see if you can identify what they had supposed. Paul says, “This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, shall not have any advantage over those that have died.” So these Thessalonians, they seem to believe that those who were still alive when the Lord came—and remember, some of their number had died—but these Thessalonians believed that those who were still alive when the Lord came would in some way have an advantage over those that had died. Perhaps they thought that those who had died would miss the rapture and would only be raised at the revelation; we don’t know what they thought. But for some reason they thought those who had died were going to miss out on some aspect of the coming of Christ. Paul says it’s not the case; your supposition is absolutely wrong. He says, “Those of us who are alive and remain, we won’t have any advantage. Not at all. We’re not going to precede those who have fallen asleep.” Now, Paul, you better explain how that’s going to be the case. So from verse 15—which is supposition—to verse 16, this is all about the Savior. Now this is what’s going to happen! Isn’t this glorious? And we could spend a couple of weeks, couldn’t we, on these verses? But verse 16 says, “For the Savior’s coming.” The Savior’s come. He says, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven.” Literally, in Greek, “Himself, the Lord shall descend from heaven.” Isn’t the rapture personal and intimate? You know when it comes to the revelation, don’t you, that Christ is going to send angels into the four corners of the earth and the angels will gather the elect together unto Christ. You say, that’s not happening here? There’s no mention of the angels here. Thank God! It’s Christ Himself who is descending from heaven into the air. It’s Christ Himself who’s coming for us. We must be precious to Him. We must be valuable to Him. “Himself, the law shall descend out from heaven.” You say, I know what you’re saying, preacher Dan, but listen, the rapture is not very intimate, is it? You say, there must be millions of believers in the Lord Jesus around the world today—not to mention those who have already died in Christ. From the Day of Pentecost onwards, you say, when this happens, there literally are going to be billions in the air—literally. You say, I’ll enjoy the rapture, just to meet the Lord in the air; it’ll be wonderful. But I’ll just probably, from some sort of distance, be saying, “There’s the Lord! There He is!” I don’t think so. I think—and this is miraculous—I think the rapture is very personal and very intimate. Do you know what the Lord said in John 14? He said, “If I go, I will come again.” He said, “I will receive you unto Myself.” That’s the rapture! The word literally is this: “I’ll come alongside you. And I will take you by the hand.” Продолжение следует… I’ll bring you unto Myself. I think it will be incredibly personal. Christ is coming for me, and He’s going to take me by the hand. He’s going to lead me to the Father’s house. Personal, intimate—my Savior, your Savior, our Savior—is coming for us. Thank God He’s not sending Moses, not sending Abraham, not sending Paul; He’s not sending an angel. The Lord Himself is coming.
So that’s the Savior. And then notice, too, in verse 16, His shout. He’s descending out from heaven, literally enveloped in a shout. You have never heard a shout like this! I know in John chapter 11, the Lord Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth!” That was a shout of some power; this will be even greater. The shout has the idea of a word, a military word of command. Christ is descending to the air with a word of command. It goes right back to John chapter 5: “All those who are in the graves shall hear the voice.” The day is coming: All those that are in the graves shall hear the voice—His voice, the voice of the Lord Jesus. He’s shouting to dead ones. He’s shouting to the dead in Christ. They’re coming right out of the grave. That shout! Now, it’s not that the archangel is involved, I don’t think. The Lord Jesus is far greater than any angel, by the way. Hebrews chapter 1. He doesn’t need the strength and power of an angel to do what He’s going to do. Rather, His shout is, listen, archangelic in character. You say, what about this archangel? There are some very famous angels in the Bible. One of them is called Michael. He’s the chief angel, the archangel. Another one is called Gabriel. You’ve heard of them. Whenever you find Gabriel on the scene, Gabriel always brings some kind of revelation; he reveals truth. Michael is always associated with power. Power! Whenever you find Michael, you read in Jude, for example, or read in Daniel. Wherever you find Michael, he’s always in conflict with the devil, infernal powers. He was arguing with Satan over the body of Moses. That’s Jude. And he said, “I rebuke you, Satan.” No, he didn’t. The devil’s more powerful than Michael. He said, “The Lord rebuke thee!” Well, now here is the Lord, and He’s coming right into the devil’s domain and He has a shout that is archangelic in His power. He’ll destroy! He’s already destroyed the devil. He’s coming right into his domain. He’s going to snatch bodies out of death from the very domain of the one who had the power of death. It’s powerful! And this shout, too, is like the trumpet of God. This, I think, is the call heavenward. We which are alive and remain will be changed. Those that are dead in Christ, their bodies will be raised. All caught up—all called up—with this great shout, which is trumpet of God in character.
Now, 1 Corinthians 15 will tell you about the last trump. That’s the last trump as far as the church age is concerned. Do you know what I like to think about in terms of this trump of God? Revelation 4 verse 1. And after the Lord Jesus has spoken to the churches—seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3—Revelation 4 verse 1, a door is opened in heaven and a trumpet-like voice says to John, “John, come up here!” Now that’s not the rapture, but it’s a lovely picture of it. When the church age has come to an end, a door is opened in heaven and the trumpet-like voice that he’d heard at the beginning—it was the voice of Christ—said to him, “John, come up here!” That’s what the trumpet of God is: It’s the voice of Christ that says to us, “Come up here! We’re going to meet Him in the air.”
So there’s the Savior in verse 16; there’s the shout in verse 16. And then, well, you’ve got the sequence because verse 16 says at the end, “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” So no, you’re not going to have an advantage over them because they have priority in order. The dead in Christ will rise first. Do you remember 1 Corinthians 15? That’s the mystery of the change! In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, says Paul, they will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15 is not the revelation of the rapture—it’s the revelation of the change that will take place at the rapture. So those who are dead in Christ shall be raised first, and according to 1 Corinthians 15, in an instant, their bodies will be changed! In a moment. The word in Greek is the word for “atom.” So in an atom of time, in the smallest divisible moment of time—just in the blinking of an eye—those bodies will be raised and changed. But don’t forget the sequence. You say, what about those of us who are left? Verse 17: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be carried off by force…” We shall be snatched away, plucked from Satan’s domain. We’re going to be eagerly claimed by the Lord Jesus. And we’ll all be caught up together into a meeting with the Lord in the air.
“Comfort one another with these words.” I tell you, that was tremendous! What a blessing that should have had for the Thessalonians. But listen, and this is my last 10 minutes—this meeting isn’t really about the doctrine of the rapture. This meeting really is about the impact that that truth should have on your life and my life. If we really believe it, if we really believe the imminent return of the Lord Jesus, then the way that we live should be different. Different! Now you say, where do you find that? Well, I did tell you to read 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, right? I’m sure you did that. That’ll take you about two minutes. 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. I don’t really want to say this, but there is a rapture sandwich. I know you’ve been eating too much, but there are sandwiches here. You see, Paul never, never—you say, I don’t get on very well with Paul. You know, he always starts his letters with all this doctrine. Paul always starts his letters with all this teaching. And I’ve got one chapter in and I’m just suffering under the weight of the doctrine! But Paul is very practical in all of his letters. You know, you can divide Paul’s letters basically into two parts: The first half is always doctrine, teaching; the second half is always practice. You say, what’s he doing? He’s always forming a firm foundation and basis of truth which has a practical impact on the way we live. Now, these verses are no different because at the start of chapter four, you have practical exhortation. Then at the end of chapter four, you’ve got the rapture. Then at the start of chapter five, practical exhortation again. You’ve got a rapture sandwich. And the reason Paul has done that is to show us that that glorious truth should affect the way we live.
Now, here are three things that I’m going to pick out. I’m just going to drop them in front of you, and then I’m done. There are many more things. Here is Paul’s first lesson. He says, in light of the soon coming of Christ, he says, “You good Christians should be sanctified.” What does that mean? Just in case you think I’m making it up, look at chapter 4, look at verse 3. He says, “This is the will of God.” You say, hang on, he hasn’t yet got to the rapture. You say, “Are you sure this is practical instruction in light of the rapture and the second coming?” Well, look at the end of chapter three. He says, “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love towards one another,” for this reason—that your hearts may be established without any kind of blame, without any kind of censure, in holiness before God, even the Father, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. Oh yes, he’s been speaking. That, by the way, is the rapture and it’s the judgment seat. He says, “I want you to be without blame at the judgment seat.” One way in which you can be without censure at the judgment seat—without any loss—is by loving one another. And immediately he goes on to say, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” I think we need this word more than ever today. Bye! Please, folks, listen—especially you younger folks—but not just you younger folks. Paul says, “In light of the soon coming of Christ, I want to tell you what God’s desire is for your life.”
Young people always ask—or at least they do in England—”How do I know the will of God for my life?”—by which they basically mean, “How do I know which girl to marry?” or “How do I know which boy to marry?” Right? Whatever the case. That’s basically what they mean. But anyway, “How do I know the will of God for my life?” Well, here’s where the will of God begins—with the word of God. You got that? And the word of God will teach you a good deal about which girl you should marry and which girl you shouldn’t marry, and which boy you should marry—a believer who believes the same kind of truth as you do—and which boy you shouldn’t marry—an unbeliever. If you want to know God’s will for that, read the Bible. Now here’s what Paul is saying: He said, “Look, here is an aspect of God’s desire for your life; this is not the will as if God only has one desire; He has many desires for you as a believer.” He says, “Here is one aspect of the will of God: It is your sanctification.” Thank you. What is sanctification? This is practical sanctification. I’m not going into the difference. Paul is saying God’s desire for your life in light of the soon return of Christ is— a practical, everyday separation from what is evil, what is impure, what is unclean. He says, separate yourself from the filth that is in society.
But sanctification isn’t just negative. Sanctification is also positive. It’s not sanctify and separate yourself from only. That’s the negative; it’s separate yourself to in the positive. Absolute devotion to Christ. So here’s the lesson. You ready? Christ is coming at any moment. You say, “I believe it.” How does it affect my life? Be sanctified! Make sure that in your everyday living, you are separating yourself away from the filth, the sin, the iniquity of this world. Run away from sexual immorality. Flee fornication! Every instance and appearance of immorality and sin—keep away! You say, “It’s very difficult, you know. It’s so alluring and attractive. How do I keep away?” Or remember the positive side: by devoting your life and your time to Christ, you will find that you have less time and less inclination—although the attraction is always there whilst we’re in the flesh—less inclination for the filth of this world. Now, I’ll be very pointed: These Thessalonians lived in a filthy society. The history books tell me that every man in Thessalonica had at least four women. He had one woman to look after the affairs of the house domestically, he had another woman who was his wife and raised legitimate children, he had another woman that was used for other purposes, and another woman who was used for… I’ll not go into the sordid detail. It was immorality. Paul says, “Stay away from them! That’s not for you as those who belong to and who appreciate the soon coming of the Lord Jesus!” So, young folks, keep clean from all the sexual immorality in this world.
So there’s lesson one: Be sanctified. Here’s lesson two. Look at verse 9. “But as touching brotherly love,”—that’s the word Philadelphia. You know, Philadelphia means love of a brother. He says, “As touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, because, in fact, you have been taught by God to love.” And the word there is not Philadelphia. The word there is agape, love. “You’ve been taught of God to love one another.” And indeed, you do this towards all the brethren in Macedonia. That was the region in which Thessalonica was. You say, well, thanks, Paul; that’s very kind of you! He’s saying, “I don’t just want you to be sanctified; he says, I want you to be sacrificial in your love for one another.” And he says, “You’re doing that! You are doing!” He says, “In light of the soon coming of Christ, I want you to be Philadelphia love.” It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? It’s the love of the family.
He says, “You Thessalonians—I know some of you don’t belong to the same sort of earthly physical fleshly family.” I know that, he says. “We all belong to the same spiritual family.” You know that, Thessalonians—every other word is “brethren, brethren, brethren, brethren.” What’s Paul saying? He says, “We’re part of the same spiritual family.” And the love—now I’m saying this with a bunch of teenagers in my house, right? I’ve got children who are teenagers—brothers and sisters! The love that should be experienced between family members—that’s what I tell the older boy anyway when he’s beating his sister with… no, that doesn’t happen in my house, right? But anyway, the love that there should be between family members—he says that characterizes you as a spiritual family: Philadelphia!
And he says, “You also agape love one another.” You’ve thought about that word, haven’t you? That’s the word that describes unconditional love. It is a word that describes a person who will lay aside any thoughts and feelings he has about another. It doesn’t matter what they’ve said to him in the past. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done to him in the past. It doesn’t matter what they look like, what they sound like, how they smell—unconditionally, I will sacrifice myself—my money, my time, my effort, my love. I’ll sacrifice what I have to bless you because I love you. You say, well, I do love most of the saints, but there is a sister here who in 1967 said something to me that I’ve never forgotten, and I can’t love them. Well, you’re wrong because God knew every sin that you’d ever committed against Him. You were odious in His sight, but unconditionally—in the sense of being unclean, defiled, filth because of sin—but unconditionally, He loved you and He sacrificed His Son to save you from your sins. It’s love!
Now, what I like about this is Paul says, “Philadelphia love?” Tick! He says, “You’re doing it! Great!” “Agape love?” He says, “God has taught you how to love that?” Tick! “You’re doing it? Great!” “Thanks, Paul!” What does Paul say? Now, sometimes he just can’t help himself, can he? Sometimes you’d like to say to Paul, “Listen, Paul, just sit down in a chair and have a coffee, right? Have one of those yum-yum donuts. Just relax, brother Paul.” Because what does he say in the verse? He says, “I know that you love, but verse 10, do it more and more!” Do it more and more! Increase more and more! Love more and more! You can’t do it enough!
So here’s the lesson: How are you doing? Be sanctified, be sacrificial in your love towards one another. I close with this point, and there are lots here, but when you come into chapter 5, well, see if you can do the alliteration. Your genius is here, right? Verse 5, and Paul, by the way, has been speaking at the start of chapter 5 about the tribulation. He’s been speaking about the day of the Lord. Interesting that the rapture comes before the day of the Lord because the rapture does come before the day of the Lord, right? We’re going to be taken away before the day of the Lord, before the tribulation judgment comes on the earth. And Paul is talking about that in chapter five. He says, “Verse 9: God has not appointed us to wrath.” We’re not going into the tribulation! We are not appointed to wrath. That’s not eternal judgment, hell fire— that is tribulation wrath in Thessalonians. He says, “We’re not appointed to that, but to obtain salvation.” Now, this is how you live. And how do we obtain salvation from that judgment? Because the judgment’s coming on the earth, and we’re on the earth. Well, this is how you obtain salvation: “Christ is taking you out of the earth.” He’s taking you to the air. Hallelujah! They’re wonderful the way it all fits together! This is what Paul says! “Verse 6″—no, no, “verse 5.” He says, “You are sons of the light,” which basically means you’re saved! He says, “You are sons of the day.” You know what characterizes the period of the day, don’t you? Light. He says, “You’re saved.” He says, “You don’t belong to the night. You don’t belong to darkness.” Therefore, verse 6—”Let’s not sleep as others do, but let us watch and let us be… not sanctified; be sacrificial.” No, “be sober.” Do you know what he’s saying? The tribulation period on earth is for the sons of darkness—those who aren’t saved! But you’re not sons of darkness; you’re sons of light, which means the tribulation is not for you. God has not appointed you to wrath. You belong to the day and to the light. So he says, “Live consistently with what you are!” Those who belong to the darkness and the night sleep, because people sleep at night—not in meetings. But those who belong to the day, they’re not characterized by sleep! They’re characterized by being awake and alert and focused in their minds and their thoughts! He says, “Be sober! Live Christian lives that are not lazy and lethargic, but Christian lives that are attentive. Be awake and energetic spiritually! Be busy!” He says, “Be sober!” What tremendous lesson! Living in the light of the rapture! I hope your Christian life is energetic! You say, “Dan, you just wait until you’re twice your age and you’ll realize how difficult it is to be energetic!” I’m not talking about physical energy; I’m talking about your spiritual life, what you’re doing for Christ: your exercise for Him, your work in the assembly, your prayer life, your Bible study life, your evangelistic outreach! Don’t be lazy! Christ is coming! Be busy! Be attentive! Be energetic! Be awake! And be self-controlled in a spiritual sense. Be sober!
So there you are—be sanctified, be sacrificial, be sober. There’s a whole lot more besides, but God will bless His word to us. Let’s just pray.
Metaphors of the assembly
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03222024.m4aNow, great to see everyone here again tonight. Thank you very much for coming. I do appreciate not just your presence here, but your longevity and your stamina. I’ve had enough of me by now. Don’t know about you. But the Lord has helped us and blessed us, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these few days with you. I’m not finished yet, by the way. Sounds like a parting speech, doesn’t it? But I have thoroughly enjoyed the time with you. It’s been a real pleasure to be here, and we trust the Lord will bless His word to us.
So, we’re just finishing off tonight our studies and our thoughts on the truth of the local assembly. The final meeting tonight, we’ve called The Metaphors of the Assembly. We’re going to look at some of the pictures that Paul, especially, but others too, have used to describe truth, illustrating truth really in association with the Assembly. This is a lovely way just to close out this series on the local church.
As we’ve been thinking about, now tomorrow and Sunday, God willing, we’ll think in a little more practical terms. We’re going into 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. We’re going to talk about the return of Christ. So if you have the opportunity, and I’m sure you do, read 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 before the meeting tomorrow night, and we’ll talk about how we should live in light of the soon return of the Lord Jesus, in light of the rapture. Then on Sunday, if you can read 2 Thessalonians, that won’t take you long at all—chapters 1, 2, and 3—we’ll talk about how we should live in light of the revelation of the Lord Jesus.
I’m sure you know the difference: there’s one Second Coming, but there are two aspects to that Second Coming: the rapture and then the revelation. The Lord is coming to the air and then at least seven years later, He’s coming to the earth. So we’re going to be talking about prophecy, and we’re going to be talking about how we should be living in the light of the soon return of the Lord Jesus. So that’s Saturday evening and Sunday, in the will of the Lord.
Right, tonight, the metaphors of the local assembly. There are many of them, many of them. I might just try to finish the meeting early tonight. You know, you’ve suffered long, haven’t you, during this week? I’ve probably taken from you 40 or 50 minutes more than I should. So maybe I’ll give you back a minute or two tonight. We’ll just see how we get on, and maybe we’ll just visit—I’ve got on my mind to visit—four of these metaphors, and I think that will see us finished in good time.
Right, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, remember, this is one of those epistles which is dealing especially with Church of God truth—local assembly truth. Paul uses, in fact, he uses three metaphors in this third chapter. I’m just going to speak about two of them, but there are three here. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 5, he says, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” Paul says, “I have planted,” in the sense that he was the first one to come to Corinth and preach the gospel, and folks were saved because of the preaching. And then Apollos came by after that, and he watered those saints with the teaching of the word of God and the further preaching of the gospel. So, he says, “I have planted, Apollos has watered, but it is God who gave, keeps on giving the increase.”
So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now, he that planteth and he that watereth are one; that is, they are one in aim, they’re one in objective, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God, or under God’s employment. Now, listen to these two metaphors. He’s speaking of the local church at Corinth. He says, “You are God’s husbandry. You are God’s cultivated field or cultivated garden.” And then he says, “Ye are God’s building.”
So, there are two metaphors to describe the local assembly: a garden or a field, and a building. Now, he goes on to further explain that metaphor, the building that is. So, verse 10: “According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble, every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it. Now, he’s thinking about the day of review and reward. He’s thinking about the judgment seat of Christ because it shall be revealed by fire. That is, every man’s work will be revealed. The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. So that, of course, is the gold, the silver, the precious stones. If any man’s work shall be burned, wood, hay, stubble? He shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as through the fire.
So we’re thinking about believers here, but it is possible for believers to suffer loss as far as reward is concerned because of the character and the caliber of the work that they put into the assembly. So you have God’s husbandry, His cultivated field or garden. Then you have God’s building, and we’re building upon the foundation.
Now, I’m not going to speak about this particular metaphor tonight, but it’s here. Verse 16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” I think this is now a separate metaphor. I know we’ve been thinking about a building, but now he’s speaking about a temple. The idea here, of course, is sanctity, purity, and holiness—the presence of God. He says, “You are, it’s the assembly again, you are the temple of God.” And the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. That’s not just individually; that’s corporately, collectively. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Now, keep your Bible open because we’re going to read more scriptures in due course, but that will do for now. I won’t speak about all of the metaphors. I think just as I’ve been wandering through the scriptures and looking for these metaphors that describe the local assemblies, I have found—here’s some more homework for you—I have found at least ten different metaphors, little pictures that describe for us the local assembly.
Now, there are other metaphors as well, and some of these metaphors are used of both the great assembly and the local assembly. You think, for example, of the body of Christ. Do you remember that we began by saying that the great assembly, that church of the dispensation, from Pentecost to the rapture, every believer—that great assembly is described in Ephesians and Colossians as the body of Christ—the church which is the body of Christ. Christ is the head in heaven, the exalted head. The body is the church on earth, the body of Christ.
And yet we’ll find in a moment when we turn to 1 Corinthians 12 that Paul uses exactly the same metaphor, not to describe the great assembly, but the same metaphor to describe the local assembly. And there are some differences, because the head this time is not Christ in relation to the local assembly. In fact, the saints that belong to the assembly at Corinth were part of the head because he speaks about the foot of the head. And somebody in the assembly—sorry if this is demoralizing to some of you—but some in the assembly are just like a foot that belongs to the body. He speaks about the hand, and he speaks about the eye, which is part of the head. He’s saying there are members in the assembly at Corinth that are like a foot and like a hand and like an eye. So it’s the same metaphor, but it’s just used in a slightly different way as to whether Paul is referring to the great assembly or whether he’s referring to the local assembly.
You say, well, why does Paul use the same metaphor sometimes of both the great assembly and the local assembly? For this reason: though they are—and I want to re-emphasize this just at the end of these meetings and this series on the assembly—though they are separate and distinct, there is a sense in which they are analogous. You say, what does that mean? Well, they are comparable in certain respects. And you need to remember that. But tonight we’re talking about the local assembly.
And we’re thinking about some metaphors that are used in relation to the local church. Now, listen to some of them: God’s husbandry, God’s builder, temple of God. 1 Timothy 3 speaks about the house of God. Later on, we’ll read in 1 Corinthians 12, the body of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3—I’m not going to give you any more (well, I am actually just at the end of the meeting)—2 Corinthians 3 Paul describes the church at Corinth as an epistle, a letter belonging to Christ. Aren’t these lovely metaphors?
Now, by the way, I’m trying to emphasize something. Did you notice? Temple of God, cultivated field that belongs to God, building that is God’s, household that belongs to God, body of Christ, epistle of Christ. What are you learning? You’re learning just this: that the local assembly belongs to God, and it belongs to Christ. That’s what gives it such dignity. I want to remind you of that. I hope that you love the assembly. And I hope that as a result of these meetings this week, you have been deepened in your appreciation for the local church. But let me remind you of this: it doesn’t belong to you. It exists for divine glory.
It belongs to God, and it belongs to Christ. It is our responsibility to seek to bring glory and honor to God and to Christ by all the things that we do and all the things that we say. So, and you might think this to be a little strange, please understand this: primarily this local assembly is not for you. Now, we derive a whole lot of blessing and benefit, don’t we, from belonging to a local assembly, but primarily it’s not for you and it’s not for me. It is here to bring glory and honor to God. Let’s remember that.
You know, sadly, sometimes in the UK, and in local churches in the UK, there are some very large local churches, but a lot of local assemblies would be somewhere in the region—depending on where you are—but a lot of local assemblies in the UK would be maybe in their tens or in their twenties, in terms of the number of saints that belong to an assembly. If you get into the thirties and forties and somewhere in the hundreds, then that’s a very healthy assembly as far as the numerics are concerned. But when you get an assembly of 10 or 15, very often you find that the saints that are in fellowship there are much older. Perhaps there’s a younger couple, and they’ve got some younger children, and they go along to that assembly for a few months or a couple of years or something like that, it won’t be long—and there have been many stories like this—it won’t be long before that family will decide that that assembly is not for them.
I’m thinking of one particular example. They left the assembly, and having a conversation with them about why it was that they had moved away from that assembly, which was much larger and had many more people in it, and young people in it, and so on. Yes, they were jettisoning some of the principles of the local assembly. And you say to them, well, why is it that you’ve left that little assembly that could have appreciated and did appreciate your presence and your help? And they would say something like this: they would say, “Well, it was all right, but there weren’t very many folks there.”
And they were much older. And in that assembly, there wasn’t really anything for us and for our children. We were concerned that our children didn’t have any other children to play with. We were concerned that, well, it wasn’t enough for them. So we took them somewhere else where there were more young people, so that they could enjoy their company. It just wasn’t for us. But the local assembly has never been for us. The local assembly isn’t for our children; it’s for God and His glory and God and His honor. And you know, it might have been difficult for some years for that younger family to be in a small fellowship made up primarily of older people, but how much delight they could have brought to the heart of God just by laboring in that assembly for His glory and His honor.
I think the children would have learned a lot. And isn’t it sad that people seem to belong to a local—I hope this isn’t you—people seem to belong to a local assembly because it’s convenient to them, because they like it, because they live nearby, because there’s something that attracts them. But as soon as circumstances change, any conviction or part of a conviction they had goes out of the window, and they’ll go anywhere, and they’ll throw away what convictions they might have heard just for a sense of convenience.
My brother, my sister, I’ve been trying to teach you that the local assembly here is running as close as it’s possible to be to the teaching of the word of God. And we want to belong to a local church that conforms to divine order and divine pattern. That’s what matters. That’s what’s important. And that’s why we’re here. We’re convicted—we should be—convicted that this is the place where God would have us be. This is the place that is according to His mind and will. And whatever comes, and however small the numbers might dwindle, this place is honoring to God, and the assembly is precious to Him, and I’ll be here through thick and thin.
Well, there you are. The metaphors—they belong to God and to Christ. Let’s think about some of them. Here’s the first one. Verse 9 of chapter 3, Paul speaks about the assembly at Corinth as God’s husbandry. So the thought here is the idea of cultivation or the idea of growing. Isn’t it a lovely way of describing a local assembly? He says, verse 9, “We are laborers together in God’s employment.” He’s thinking particularly about himself and about Apollos. Paul first came to Corinth; he preached the gospel. Souls were saved, the foundation was laid, which is Jesus Christ. The assembly began to grow. Apollos came sometime later. He taught the word of God. He also preached the gospel. He says, “Well, I, Paul, and Apollos, my friend, my colleague, we are laborers together for the same cause, for the same purpose.” He says, “We are under God’s employment—laborers for Him.”
And he says, “This is what you’re like.” He says, “We’ve been sowing the seed, sowing the seed of the gospel, and it’s fallen into good ground. You’ve been saved, and now that’s been springing forth into fruit. There is growth in this field and in this garden. And Apollos has come by, and Apollos has been pouring water on the seed. And these plants—that’s you, by the way—these plants have been springing up.”
Now he says, “This assembly in Corinth—look at them all. Look at you. You are a beautiful, ordered field. You are a beautifully fragrant garden.” That’s what the local assembly is like at Corinth. What a beautiful picture. And, of course, what you’re learning is this: that if the assembly is like a field or a garden, then Paul expects that the saints are growing—not necessarily growing physically, but you should be growing spiritually. I hope that is the case. And I hope that you can look back and say, “Well, yes, if I look back a year, or if I look back to before COVID—remember that? I wonder if you could look at your own spiritual life and say, ‘Yes, spiritually I have been growing.’
In association with the assembly and all the teaching that we’ve been receiving, you say, ‘Yes, spiritually I have grown. I’ve grown in my appreciation of God’s word. Most importantly, I’ve grown in my appreciation of God’s Son—that’s critical. I am praying. I am reading and learning the word of God. I am contributing to the assembly.’ You should be growing in a spiritual sense. And if we are growing spiritually, hopefully there will be a real fragrance about her—a fragrance of Christ, a sweet smell of Him.
So that’s why Paul describes the local assembly at Corinth as a cultivated field. You’ll notice he says, “I’ve planted, Apollos has watered, but look at verse 7. I may have planted, Apollos may have watered, but he says—well, it’s the end of verse 6—’but God keeps on giving the increase.'” So he says, verse 7, “It’s not the one that plants. I’m not anything. I’m not important. Neither is the one who watereth. Apollos isn’t important, but God is the important person here because He is the one who gives the increase.”
Paul says, “I once and for all planted. Apollos once and for all watered. But God keeps on giving the increase.” I’m very thankful that God keeps on giving the increase. As servants that labor in the assembly, we promote conditions for growth, but it’s God ultimately who gives the increase. It’s the same in your garden, by the way. You might not be a gardener. I certainly am not green-fingered, right? But gardeners promote conditions in their garden for growth, but they can’t make anything grow. You say, who makes it grow? Well, God makes it grow because He’s the Creator, and Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. Christ makes things grow.
You promote the conditions. You remove the stones. You remove the weeds. You aerate the soil and fertilize the soil, but it’s only God who gives the increase. Wonderful truth. It’s the same in the assemblies. We can do all that we can to try and promote conditions for growth, but it’s God ultimately that gives the increase. Could I just encourage you in terms of the preaching of the gospel? You say, “We haven’t seen souls saved for some time.” God gives the increase; that’s God’s responsibility. Do you know that’s a wonderful thing?
Even if you’re a teacher of the word of God, those who teach the scriptures, they don’t often see the tangible results that an evangelist would see through the salvation of souls. I have no idea really whether the teaching this week will have any impact on, or blessing upon your lives. Very little. I’m heading back to the UK. But I just lean upon God because He’s the one who gives the increase. Don’t ever forget that. We are here to promote conditions for growth. We are here to spread the message of the gospel, but ultimately, the one who brings fruit and from the preaching of the gospel and the teaching of the word of God—that is God Himself. Tremendously encouraging, isn’t it?
And Paul will go on to say, just look at this, verse 8. He says, “He that planteth and he that watereth, well, they’re all one in their aim and their objective. But he does say this: Every man shall receive his own reward according to the increase.” No. God gives the increase. Every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor. I’m pleased about that.
Have you ever thought about the great preachers of the past? You say, “Some of those great men, whether it be Charles Spurgeon, or whether it be John Charles Wesley, or whether it be Mr. Dwight L. Moody, these great and mighty preachers of the past, and they saw hundreds, they saw thousands of souls saved under their ministry and gospel preaching.” You say, “God will richly reward them.” God will richly reward them, but not because of the number of souls they saw saved; the increase comes from God. God will richly reward them because of the labor that they expended for His name. Now I say that to encourage you, my brother, my sister, you keep on laboring. You keep on working. You say, “But I don’t see this and I don’t see that.” Leave that with God. You work, you labor, and according to your labor, God will richly reward.
It’s a lovely metaphor—God’s husbandry. Look at the next verse—well, it’s still in verse 9. “We are laborers together under God’s employment. You’re God’s husbandry.” Then he says, “You are God’s builders.” So now we’re not talking about cultivation; we’re not talking about growing. Now, this metaphor of God’s building—we’re thinking about construction. And, of course, we’re thinking about building. So the local assembly now—not a field, not a garden—but the local assembly now is a building.
This building is under construction. It is being reared. And those who belong to the assembly—now, primarily in the context, it is the preachers and the teachers that are building into the fabric of the assembly. But by application, every single believer that belongs to the assembly is building into the fabric of that assembly. You say, I hope it’s a good, solid, firm foundation. Well, it is. It is. The foundation upon which every assembly is laid, built, is the foundation of Christ. He’s the one that was preached—the gospel of the grace of God in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the one that was preached.
So says Paul in verse 11, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” He is the foundation of the assembly at Corinth. Individuals came to faith in Him, they founded their lives, and now the assembly is founded upon that firm foundation—all that Christ has done—all that Christ is. He’s the basis of the assembly. But Paul says, “I’m building.”
So look at verse 10. He says, “According to God’s grace.” Now, this is the grace that God afforded to Paul in giving him the role and responsibility that was his as an apostle. He says, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, I as a wise master builder.”
The idea is that Paul was the principal constructor. Not that he was the architect; he didn’t design the building. God designed the building. The building, of course, is after the pattern of what is divine. Says Paul, “I am the principal constructor of this building, and I am working according to a divine pattern.” And others like Apollos, they have come, and they too have been building into this building. And then he says, “But, verse 10, let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.”
You see, the foundation is Jesus Christ. The substructure is Jesus Christ. And what you build upon that foundation—the superstructure—it must answer to the foundation. Now, you know that’s true, don’t you? You can’t have a foundation that’s too small or too weak for a larger building. The foundation must answer to the size and shape and weight of the building that it supports. Paul says your foundation is Christ. So what you’re building into this local church must answer in terms of character and quality to Him.
So all of our labor and all of our exercise—it’s calculated to bring glory and honor. It should be in line with the character of the Lord Jesus. I wonder if your service in the local assembly is worthy of the person of Jesus Christ. Now, says Paul, look at this verse 12. You know these verses so well. He says, “If any man builds upon this foundation…” Now, you understand, it’s not so much the quantity of the material that matters, it’s the quality of the material.
So he says, “If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones”—that’s choice quality material. Or, he says, “You can build in wood, hay, stubble”—that’s cheap, substandard material. You saints, you have the privilege of building into the assembly. Now, I’ll give you some of the background. You understand that Corinth as a city is a city. Ancient Corinth had long ago been destroyed by fire. The Romans burnt ancient Corinth to the ground in 146 BC.
See, about a hundred years later, the city of Corinth was rebuilt as a Roman colony. So for a hundred years, the city of Corinth had been absolutely ravaged by fire, and when the Romans set it on fire, it was only the buildings that were in the richer quarters. It was only the buildings that had elements of gold and silver and precious stones—quality materials—that could withstand anything of the fire. The smaller buildings, the less expensive buildings—the wood and the hay buildings—were utterly destroyed. And for a hundred years, Corinth was in the dark.
Now, all of that was in the recent history of the city, and Paul is writing to the assembly, and he’s saying, “Now listen, what are you building into the assembly? Because it’s only what is quality that will last when the testing fire of the judgment seat comes upon your work.” Now, here’s something of the context. Paul, in the context of 1 Corinthians 1, 2, and 3, is speaking about two kinds of Christians. He speaks about carnal men, and he speaks about spiritual men.
Carnal Christians—they’re Christians, and sadly a lot of folks at Corinth were carnal. These were individuals that were believers in the Lord Jesus, but they were energized by—they were guided by the flesh. What they did was for themselves. What they did was so that they would look good in the sight of others. They were carnal Christians, given really to the world, given to the flesh, given to themselves. Paul says, “You know what they’ll be building into the assembly, don’t you? Wood and hay and stubble.”
Oh, they’re there. They might even be busy. They might be active. They might be helping in the assembly. But because what they do is calculated to bring honor to themselves, Paul says, “When it’s tested at the fire of the judgment seat, it will disappear into nothing. They’ll be saved; they can’t lose their salvation. But the reward that might have been theirs will have gone up in smoke. They will suffer loss.”
You say, “What about the gold, the silver, the precious stones?” Well, these are the individuals that were spiritual in character—not a carnal Christian driven by the flesh, but a spiritual believer who is full of the Spirit of God. He’s in the assembly too, and he’s there, and he or she, they’re working away in the assembly, and maybe they’re unseen, unheralded, unheard. But what they’re seeking to do in the assembly is driven and energized by the Spirit of God. They just want to bring glory and honor to Christ. They’re not interested in themselves.
Think of the gold—glory, the deity of Christ—that’s what gold speaks of in Scripture. Think of the silver—that’s a material which is associated with redemption, the work of Christ. Precious stones—the varied glories and the richness of the character of Christ. These individuals just want to honor the person of Christ. They want to honor His glory, honor His deity, honor His work, honor His character. Everything they do is for Him. They’re driven by the Spirit. Paul says they’re building into the assembly.
And when that work is tested at the judgment seat, it will last, and they will be rewarded. Could I just ask you good folks here? If you don’t belong to the local assembly, then Christ can’t reward you in a day to come for your work in the assembly because you don’t belong to it. If you do belong to the assembly, think about your motivation for everything you do. This old heart in here is wicked, isn’t it? I think about my motivation this week. Why am I here? Why have I sacrificed what I have to be here?
Is it because I want you lovely folks in Midland Park to look at the preacher from England and say, “Isn’t he great? Let’s have him back as often as we can”? Or am I here because I just want to bring some honor to the person of Christ by speaking well of Him and directing the attention of the saints to His assembly? I hope it’s the latter. I hope it’s not the former. If it’s the former, it’ll be worth nothing at the judgment seat. If it’s the latter, it’s worth much.
Now you think about it, my brother, my sister, everything you do—whether it’s cleaning the hall, whether it’s setting up the various aspects of the meeting, whether it’s giving out hymn books, whether it is your ministry to other saints, whether it’s associated with the production and provision of food—whatever your work is in the assembly, what’s your motivation for doing? Not of a flesh boot. It must be driven by the glory and honor of Christ. I’m doing it for Him. And if I am doing it for Him, nothing will be too hard. Nothing will be too much because it’s all for Him.
Paul does have in mind here, doesn’t he, the judgment seat of Christ. You understand, don’t you, that every single believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul speaks about that on three different occasions, and on the three different occasions, he tells you that there are different aspects of our life that will be reviewed and rewarded at that judgment seat. Nothing to do with salvation. Nothing to do with sin. Your sins are forgiven; you’re saved eternally.
This individual here who’s carnal, he is saved, even though he’s passed through the judgment of the fire. That’s just a metaphor; it’s a symbol for Christ reviewing the work of this believer. He’s not literally passing through fire, but Christ is casting judgment on his work; his sins are forgiven. He’s saved even though the work that he did didn’t amount to much in the view of the Lord Jesus. But, my friend, you are going to stand before the person of Christ.
Three things will be reviewed: the actions that you have performed in your body, they will be reviewed (1 Corinthians 5), your architecture—what you build into the local assembly—will be reviewed (1 Corinthians 3), and finally, your attitude to your brethren will be reviewed. How do you get on with them? Your relationships with other Christians. Now, you’ll need to read that in Romans 14. All of that is going to be reviewed at the judgment seat.
How much and of what quality of labor have I put into the assembly? How have I lived my life, the deeds that I’ve committed? And how did I get on with my brethren? Three things that are going to be raised at the judgment seat. Right, you’ve got the idea of these metaphors, haven’t you?
So there is God’s husbandry, and there is God’s building. Right, two others, very briefly. Just turn over the pages in 1 Corinthians 12. We could have spoken about the temple and about the purity and the holiness of the assembly, but I think that will come up in the next couple of days. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12. I want to talk to you about the body of Christ.
Now, if that field is all about cultivation and growing, and the building is all about construction and building, then the body of Christ is all about a community—a local assembly which is a community. And now we are not so much growing and building, but we’re all contributing. I think this is my favorite metaphor. Is that allowed? I don’t know. But look at 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse 12. Paul says, “For as the body is one.” Now listen, he’s speaking about a human body—a human body here.
So you think about your own human body. He says, “As the human body that you have is one body—you haven’t got two bodies or three, right? You’ve got one, and you’re stuck with it for eternity. Sorry if you don’t like it. But you’ve got it. You say, ‘I’m getting a new body.’ Wrong! You’re getting a changed body. That’s 1 Corinthians 15. It won’t be altogether new; it’ll be changed. It will be very different. So if you don’t like it, well, you have to take that up with the Lord, right?
You have one body, and this body, verse 12, has many members, many parts. Meaning my body has feet, my body has elbows, hands, a single head, two eyes, two ears. Right? My body is one body. But it’s got lots of different parts. He’s talking about the human body. And all the members of that one body, there are many of them. But there’s only one body. He says, “So also is the Christ.”
Now he’s talking about the great assembly in that verse—the Christ—Christ the head in heaven, the church which is His body on earth. He says, “It’s very similar. It’s one unique body, and yet there are lots of different parts to it.” Now what he’s going to do in verse 13 is tell you how that came to be the case. How was the church formed? The church, which is the body of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, he talks about baptism in the Spirit—that’s a whole other meeting. But that’s how the church was formed on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
But then verse 14, he says, “Now you know this figure of a body.” He says, “I’m going to take it now, and I’m going to apply it to you saints in Corinth.” He says, “Let me talk to you about the metaphor of the body of Christ.” Now, I do love this—for the body is not one member, but it is many. So, our human body is not just one part; it is many parts.
And so, he goes on to say, “Well, here are some of the parts.” Here’s a foot. And if the foot says, “Well, I’m not the hand, and I would quite like to be the hand, because, well, hands are much easier to be seen and more dexterous than I am. And I smell quite a lot, and there are always socks put on me, and no one can see me.” If the foot shall say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m therefore not part of the body,” Paul says, “What a ridiculous thing to say. Even though the foot would love to be the hand, because it’s not the hand, it’s still part of the body. It can’t remove itself from the body.”
Now you say, “Mr. Preacher from England, you’ve lost all of your marbles.” No, this is inspired. What’s Paul talking about? Well, he’s saying, “Now come on, this local assembly at Corinth, listen, there are many of you; look at the diversity; and look at the diversity we’ve got tonight. I know there’s more than one assembly represented, but look at this diversity,” he says, “it’s remarkable. Some of you are male; some of you are female; some of you are older; some of you are middle-aged; some of you are younger; some of you come from all different kinds of countries around the world; you have different ethnic backgrounds; you maybe speak different languages.”
He says, “The diversity is incredible. Many members. But guess what? One body.” Now that’s the local assembly. You see? Diverse. But one company—only God can do that. There’s diversity, but there’s unity in diversity because you all belong to one company. That’s the wisdom of God. I’m thinking now about the great assembly rather than the local assembly. But Ephesians 3 says God’s wisdom is displayed in this: that He was able to take Jew and Gentile—never the twain shall meet, you use that phrase here—never will Jew and Gentile ever meet. They’re as far apart as they could possibly be.
But you know, in the New Testament assembly, saved by the grace of God, they were sitting down with one another—Jew and Gentile! They were sitting down with one another at the Lord’s Supper. And they were sharing a loaf and sharing a cup and saying, “We are in fellowship with one another.” Only God can do that. Now there’s an expression of that in the local assembly. He says, “You are like then a body, different parts, and God wants you to be different.”
Different roles, and God has given you different roles. There’s diversity. But he says there is a unity because you’re all bound together in one local assembly for the glory and the honor of God. Now, what about this case in verse 15? Because here is—now forgive me for saying this—Paul is illustrating the saints, right? He’s saying, “There’s a saint in the assembly at Corinth that’s like a foot.” And this saint probably is saying this: “Oh, here I am. Look, nobody notices me. Look, I’m right down here at the bottom. Maybe you’re thinking like this: I’m right down here at the bottom of the body. Nobody can see me because feet aren’t nice to look at. You always put socks and shoes on feet. Here I am down at the body, just bearing the weight of the whole body, and nobody cares about me.”
And the foot is looking up to the hand and saying, “I wish I was a hand.” You see, hands are seen. Hands aren’t often covered unless it’s really cold. And just look at how dexterous they are. And look at how the preacher is able to—well, look at how he’s able to paint pictures with his hands. I wish I was a hand. Maybe you feel like that in the assembly. You say, “Nobody cares about me. Nobody sees me. Nobody encourages me. Here I am bearing this weight and bearing that problem, and I wish I was someone else, or I wish I could do that work or be engaged in that service.”
So because I can’t, I’m not part of the body anymore. Paul says, “What a silly thing to say.” The foot is part of the body, whether it likes it or not. The point is this, my brother, my sister: God has given you a role in the assembly. God has given you a responsibility in this assembly. And even though you might not love it or like it, and even though you might feel like you have an inferiority complex, that does not mean that you cannot serve in the assembly. You are vital to this assembly.
Don’t sit in a huff, will you? Don’t stay away for weeks on end. Don’t say nobody cares about me. You belong to the body, and you’ve been given a place by God, and it’s a great responsibility, whatever it is that you’ve been given. You cannot absolve yourself of that responsibility. You are needed, and you are vital. And that’s what Paul will go on to say. Look at verse 18: “He says God has set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him.”
So, if you belong to the fellowship of an assembly, God has given you a place in that assembly, and you’re vital to it. You are vital. Now here’s the thing: if I cut off my hand, I could survive. But I wouldn’t be able to function as effectively as I might if I had two hands. You could cut off parts of my body; I would live, but I just wouldn’t be able to behave as effectively as if I had all my members. Do you see the point? You’re not absolved of responsibility; you’re needed.
And number two, you’re actually vital. My brother, my sister, don’t have an inferiority complex. You are vital to the proper development. You are vital to the effectiveness of this local assembly. It needs you. It needs your presence; it needs your work; it needs your labor; it needs your prayers—you are needed. And if you’re not here and you’re not putting the labor in, the assembly will survive, but it won’t be as effective as if you were here. Isn’t it a lovely metaphor?
And I’ve been going on about an inferiority complex. Well, later on in the verses, maybe some of you feel more like this. Look at verse 21. This is not an inferiority complex; this is a superiority complex. Look at verse 21: “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I don’t need you.” Ever come across believers like that? They think they are the bee’s knees. I don’t know if you say that here. But there are some believers in assembly fellowship that just think, “The more of me there was in this assembly, the better. Me, me, me, and more of me! If only the assembly was me, what a wonderful assembly it would be!”
Right? No such thing as a superiority complex. Don’t think that the assembly can’t do without you. Oh, you’re vital, but so is everyone else. Don’t think that you’re more important than any other member just because you have a greater gift—and you may! Just because you have a more public role or responsibility—and you may! Don’t think you’re more important. Paul will actually go on to say it is the hidden members; it’s the members that appear weaker that actually are the vital ones.
Oh, isn’t that true with the human body? You see, it’s my heart. You can’t see it. It’s very weak. It has to be protected by a ribcage. But I tell you this: I couldn’t do without it. It’s the hidden members; it’s the almost more feeble members which are absolutely vital. So I want to encourage you good folks here: if you belong to the assembly, just how important every single member is.
Now, I’ll close with this. Well, 9 o’clock, isn’t it? Let me just show you one more. Turn to the last book in the Bible, the book of the Revelation, and this is chapter 1. I won’t say all I wanted to say about this, but we’ve talked about God’s husbandry—that’s cultivation and growth; God’s building—that’s construction, building. The body of Christ—that’s a community and contribution. In Revelation 1, local assemblies are viewed as golden lampstands. The idea here is of character. They are golden lampstands, and it’s the idea of witnessing.
So not so much growing or building or contributing, but witnessing. Look at what John says or even what it is—John. Verse 12 of chapter 1. John says, “I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven,—it’s not candlesticks; it’s lampstands—one like unto the Son of Man.” Now that, of course, is the Lord Jesus. You say, “Why is He standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands?” Well, look down to verse 20, the last part of the verse: “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches.”
So these seven churches that John is about to write to, and the Lord has something to say to each of these local assemblies that were scattered through Asia Minor, they are portrayed under the metaphor of a golden lampstand. What a thought! Well, there are many thoughts. But let me just say a couple, and we’re done. They’re not candlesticks. The proper translation of the word is a lampstand. That is, here is a pedestal; it’s a golden pedestal.
And this pedestal was representing each of those local churches—that’s why there were seven. Hanging from that pedestal or sitting upon it was a reservoir of oil. A wick would have been placed into the oil. The oil was the fuel to keep the flame burning. The local assembly was not the lamp; the local assembly is not the oil; the local assembly is the stand. Now, why is it not a candlestick? Because candlesticks, generally speaking, they’re made of wax, and the fuel for the flame or the light is that wax. Candlesticks are self-consuming.
After a few minutes or a couple of hours, the wax disappears, and it melts away. That would be a very poor picture of a local assembly. Sad to say, many local assemblies are like candlesticks. You say, “What do you mean?” They’re self-consuming! Many assemblies in the south of England since Covid are self-destructive and self-consuming. A brother said something to another brother; a sister has said something to another sister; the whole place implodes, destroys itself like a candlestick. What a shame upon us! What a disappointment! Thank God these are not candlesticks; they are lampstands!
Now in the Revelation, a lampstand pictures witness and testament. Now, just grasp this, right? And I’m finished. But grasp this: you say, “Who or what is the lamp?” Well, there’s only one lamp in the book of the Revelation, and the only lamp in the book of the Revelation is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 22 says that in that great, eternal, heavenly, holy Jerusalem, the Lamb is the lamp thereof.
So there’s only one person in the book of the Revelation that is the lamp—that is the light—it’s Christ. You say, “So what of these churches? They are the lampstand.” Those churches are the pedestals upon which the lamp sits. Those churches are the pedestals that lift up for everyone to see the light of the lamp. So what’s the responsibility of the local assembly—whether it’s Ephesus, or Smyrna, or Pergamos, or Thyatira? You say, they’re all lampstands. What’s their responsibility? To lift up, to exalt, to honor the person of Jesus Christ. We’re here to witness to Him. That’s it.
You’ve got that truth, haven’t you? Not about me; it’s all about Him. You say these lampstands are golden. They’re golden because they’re valuable. These local churches are valuable to God. You say, “Even Smyrna? Smyrna was just such a small assembly. Smyrna was being crushed by persecution.” You say, “Surely God doesn’t care much for Smyrna.” Golden lampstand!
So is the assembly here valuable and precious to God. There’s another truth, isn’t there? Do you remember that in the Old Testament—now, because I close my Bible that doesn’t mean you stop listening, right? If there’s one criticism of the saints at Midland Park, this is what it is: When I shut my Bible, you switch off! Don’t switch off! Back in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle and in the temple, there was a lampstand. You say, “Yeah, I know all about that lampstand. That lampstand represented Israel as a nation in testimony and witness for God.”
Here’s the thing: it was one lampstand, and it had seven branches—three on one side, three on the other side, and one straight up through the middle—the menorah. You say, “Hmm.” Come to the New Testament, seven assemblies. You say now, “Hang on! Why have we got seven different lampstands?” And the Lord is in the midst of them. So it’s almost as if there are seven lampstands around the Lord, and the Lord is just walking in the middle of them, in the midst of them.
You say, “This would be a wonderful opportunity just to have one lampstand, a menorah, you know, like Israel in the Old Testament. And wouldn’t that be a lovely way of displaying that these seven assemblies were all part of one organization, one lampstand?” That’s exactly the point! They are not.
These churches are separate; these churches are distinct; these churches are autonomous. You’ve heard that word, haven’t you? They don’t belong to a federation; they don’t belong to an umbrella organization. They’re very similar; they’re in fellowship with one another. Christ is in the midst of everyone, and He’s just as close to each one of those assemblies, but they are separate and distinct. Now, that again is the teaching of the New Testament.
Each local assembly is accountable to Christ and Christ alone, free from any kind of external authority, control, or organization apart from the person of the Lord Jesus. No federation of assemblies, but wonderful fellowship between them. And that’s why I can come from Bracknell Gospel Hall in Berkshire, England, knowing that we believe the same kind of truth. I have no jurisdiction here, although I’m teaching you. You have no jurisdiction in my assembly.
They are autonomous, and they are separate and distinct, but we have lovely fellowship together because we trust the same Savior and we believe the same truth. Now you go and follow some of those other metaphors through! What wonderful illustrations of local assembly truth. God will bless His word to us. Let’s pray.
Spanish
Me alegro de volver a verlos a todos esta noche. Muchas gracias por venir. Aprecio no sólo su presencia aquí, sino su longevidad y su resistencia. Ya he tenido suficiente de mí. No sé ustedes. Pero el Señor nos ha ayudado y bendecido, y he disfrutado mucho de estos días con vosotros. No he terminado todavía, por cierto. Suena como un discurso de despedida, ¿no? Pero he disfrutado mucho del tiempo que he pasado con vosotros. Ha sido un verdadero placer estar aquí, y confiamos en que el Señor bendecirá Su palabra para nosotros.
Entonces, estamos terminando esta noche nuestros estudios y nuestros pensamientos sobre la verdad de la asamblea local. La reunión final de esta noche, la hemos llamado Las Metáforas de la Asamblea. Vamos a ver algunas de las imágenes que Pablo, especialmente, pero también otros, han utilizado para describir la verdad, ilustrando la verdad realmente en asociación con la Asamblea. Es una hermosa manera de cerrar esta serie sobre la iglesia local.
Como hemos estado pensando, ahora mañana y el domingo, si Dios quiere, pensaremos en términos un poco más prácticos. Vamos a entrar en 1 Tesalonicenses y 2 Tesalonicenses. Vamos a hablar del regreso de Cristo. Así que si tienen la oportunidad, y estoy seguro de que la tienen, lean 1 Tesalonicenses 4 y 5 antes de la reunión de mañana por la noche, y hablaremos de cómo debemos vivir a la luz del pronto regreso del Señor Jesús, a la luz del rapto. Luego, el domingo, si puedes leer 2 Tesalonicenses, que no te llevará mucho tiempo, los capítulos 1, 2 y 3, hablaremos de cómo debemos vivir a la luz de la revelación del Señor Jesús.
Estoy seguro de que sabes la diferencia: hay una Segunda Venida, pero hay dos aspectos en esa Segunda Venida: el rapto y luego la revelación. El Señor viene al aire y entonces por lo menos siete años después, El viene a la tierra. Así que vamos a hablar de la profecía, y vamos a hablar de cómo debemos vivir a la luz del pronto regreso del Señor Jesús. Así que eso es el sábado por la noche y el domingo, en la voluntad del Señor.
Bien, esta noche, las metáforas de la asamblea local. Hay muchas, muchas de ellas. Tal vez intente terminar la reunión temprano esta noche. Sabes, has sufrido mucho, ¿no es así, durante esta semana? Probablemente te he quitado 40 o 50 minutos más de lo que debería. Así que tal vez te devuelva uno o dos minutos esta noche. Veremos cómo nos va, y tal vez visitemos -tengo en mente visitar- cuatro de estas metáforas, y creo que terminaremos a tiempo.
Bien, 1 Corintios capítulo 3. Ahora, recuerden, esta es una de esas epístolas que trata especialmente con la verdad de la Iglesia de Dios-la verdad de la asamblea local. Pablo usa, de hecho, usa tres metáforas en este tercer capítulo. Sólo voy a hablar de dos de ellas, pero hay tres aquí. Así que, 1 Corintios capítulo 3, verso 5, él dice, “¿Quién, pues, es Pablo, y quién es Apolos, sino ministros por los cuales creísteis, como el Señor lo dio a cada uno?” Pablo dice, “Yo he plantado,” en el sentido de que él fue el primero en venir a Corinto y predicar el evangelio, y la gente se salvó por causa de la predicación. Y entonces Apolos vino después de eso, y él regó a esos santos con la enseñanza de la palabra de Dios y la predicación adicional del evangelio. Así que, él dice, “Yo he plantado, Apolos ha regado, pero es Dios quien dio, sigue dando el incremento.”
Así que, ni el que planta, ni el que riega, sino Dios es el que da el crecimiento. Ahora bien, el que planta y el que riega son uno; es decir, son uno en el fin, son uno en el objetivo, y cada uno recibirá su recompensa conforme a su labor. Porque somos obreros juntamente con Dios, o bajo el empleo de Dios. Ahora, escuchen estas dos metáforas. Él está hablando de la iglesia local en Corinto. El dice, “Ustedes son la labranza de Dios. Ustedes son el campo cultivado o el jardín cultivado de Dios”. Y luego dice: “Ustedes son el edificio de Dios”.
Entonces, hay dos metáforas para describir la asamblea local: un jardín o un campo, y un edificio. Ahora, él continúa explicando más esa metáfora, el edificio que es. Así, versículo 10: “Conforme a la gracia de Dios que me ha sido dada, como a sabio maestro de obras, he puesto el fundamento, y otro edifica sobre él. Mas cada uno mire cómo sobreedifica. Porque nadie puede poner otro fundamento que el que está puesto, el cual es Jesucristo.”
Ahora, si alguno edificare sobre este fundamento oro, plata, piedras preciosas, o madera, heno y hojarasca, la obra de cada uno se hará manifiesta; porque el día la declarará. Ahora, él está pensando en el día de revisión y recompensa. El está pensando en el tribunal de Cristo porque será revelado por fuego. Es decir, la obra de cada hombre será revelada. El fuego probará la obra de cada hombre de qué clase es. Si permaneciere la obra de alguno que sobre ella edificó, recibirá recompensa. Eso, por supuesto, es el oro, la plata, las piedras preciosas. Si la obra de alguno se quemare, madera, heno, hojarasca… Él sufrirá pérdida. Pero él mismo se salvará, aunque sea a través del fuego.
Así que estamos pensando en los creyentes aquí, pero es posible que los creyentes sufran pérdida en cuanto a la recompensa por el carácter y el calibre del trabajo que ponen en la asamblea. Así que tienes la labranza de Dios, Su campo o jardín cultivado. Luego tienes el edificio de Dios, y estamos construyendo sobre el fundamento.
Ahora, no voy a hablar de esta metáfora en particular esta noche, pero está aquí. Verso 16, “¿No sabéis que sois templo de Dios?” Creo que esta es ahora una metáfora separada. Se que hemos estado pensando en un edificio, pero ahora el esta hablando de un templo. La idea aquí, por supuesto, es santidad, pureza, y santidad-la presencia de Dios. El dice, “Ustedes son, es la asamblea otra vez, ustedes son el templo de Dios”. Y el Espíritu de Dios mora en vosotros. Eso no es solo individualmente; eso es corporativamente, colectivamente. Si alguno destruyere el templo de Dios, Dios le destruirá. Porque el templo de Dios es santo, el cual sois vosotros.
Ahora, mantengan su Biblia abierta porque vamos a leer más escrituras a su debido tiempo, pero eso será suficiente por ahora. No voy a hablar de todas las metáforas. Creo que así como he estado vagando por las escrituras y buscando estas metáforas que describen las asambleas locales, he encontrado-aquí hay más tarea para ti-he encontrado por lo menos diez metáforas diferentes, pequeños cuadros que describen para nosotros la asamblea local.
Ahora, hay otras metáforas también, y algunas de estas metáforas se usan tanto de la gran asamblea como de la asamblea local. Piensen, por ejemplo, en el cuerpo de Cristo. Recuerdan que comenzamos diciendo que la gran asamblea, esa iglesia de la dispensación, desde Pentecostés hasta el rapto, cada creyente-esa gran asamblea se describe en Efesios y Colosenses como el cuerpo de Cristo-la iglesia que es el cuerpo de Cristo. Cristo es la cabeza en el cielo, la cabeza exaltada. El cuerpo es la iglesia en la tierra, el cuerpo de Cristo.
Sin embargo, dentro de un momento, cuando pasemos a 1 Corintios 12, veremos que Pablo utiliza exactamente la misma metáfora, no para describir la gran asamblea, sino la misma metáfora para describir la asamblea local. Y hay algunas diferencias, porque la cabeza esta vez no es Cristo en relación con la asamblea local. De hecho, los santos que pertenecen a la asamblea de Corinto formaban parte de la cabeza, porque él habla del pie de la cabeza. Y alguien en la asamblea -perdón si esto es desmoralizante para algunos de ustedes- pero algunos en la asamblea son como un pie que pertenece al cuerpo. El habla de la mano, y habla del ojo, que es parte de la cabeza. Está diciendo que hay miembros en la asamblea de Corinto que son como un pie, como una mano y como un ojo. Así que es la misma metáfora, pero se utiliza de una manera ligeramente diferente en cuanto a si Pablo se refiere a la gran asamblea o si se refiere a la asamblea local.
Tú dices, bueno, ¿por qué Pablo usa la misma metáfora a veces tanto de la gran asamblea como de la asamblea local? Por esta razón: aunque son -y quiero volver a enfatizar esto justo al final de estas reuniones y esta serie sobre la asamblea- aunque están separadas y son distintas, hay un sentido en el que son análogas. ¿Qué significa eso? Bueno, son comparables en ciertos aspectos. Y hay que recordarlo. Pero esta noche estamos hablando de la asamblea local.
Y estamos pensando en algunas metáforas que se usan en relación con la iglesia local. Ahora, escuchen algunas de ellas: La labranza de Dios, el constructor de Dios, el templo de Dios. 1 Timoteo 3 habla de la casa de Dios. Más adelante, leeremos en 1 Corintios 12, el cuerpo de Cristo. En 2 Corintios 3-no les voy a dar más (bueno, en realidad estoy justo al final de la reunión)-2 Corintios 3 Pablo describe a la iglesia de Corinto como una epístola, una carta que pertenece a Cristo. ¿No son preciosas metáforas?
Ahora, por cierto, estoy tratando de enfatizar algo. ¿Os habéis fijado? Templo de Dios, campo cultivado que pertenece a Dios, edificio que es de Dios, hogar que pertenece a Dios, cuerpo de Cristo, epístola de Cristo. ¿Qué estás aprendiendo? Estás aprendiendo precisamente esto: que la asamblea local pertenece a Dios, y pertenece a Cristo. Eso es lo que le da tanta dignidad. Quiero recordároslo. Espero que améis la asamblea. Y espero que, como resultado de estas reuniones de esta semana, hayan profundizado en su aprecio por la iglesia local. Pero permítanme recordarles esto: no les pertenece. Existe para la gloria divina.
Pertenece a Dios, y pertenece a Cristo. Es nuestra responsabilidad tratar de traer gloria y honor a Dios y a Cristo por todas las cosas que hacemos y todas las cosas que decimos. Así que, y puede que pienses que esto es un poco extraño, por favor entiende esto: principalmente esta asamblea local no es para ti. Ahora, obtenemos muchas bendiciones y beneficios, no es así, de pertenecer a una asamblea local, pero principalmente no es para ti y no es para mí. Es para traer gloria y honor a Dios. Recordémoslo.
Sabes, tristemente, a veces en el Reino Unido, y en las iglesias locales en el Reino Unido, hay algunas iglesias locales muy grandes, pero muchas asambleas locales estarían en algún lugar de la región-dependiendo de donde estés-pero muchas asambleas locales en el Reino Unido estarían tal vez en sus decenas o en sus veintes, en términos del número de santos que pertenecen a una asamblea. Si se llega a los treinta y cuarenta y en algún lugar de los cientos, entonces eso es una asamblea muy saludable en cuanto a los números se refiere. Pero cuando se llega a una asamblea de 10 o 15, muy a menudo se encuentra que los santos que están en comunión allí son mucho mayores. Tal vez hay una pareja joven, y tienen algunos hijos jóvenes, y van a esa asamblea por unos meses o un par de años o algo así, no pasará mucho tiempo-y ha habido muchas historias como esta-no pasará mucho tiempo antes de que esa familia decida que esa asamblea no es para ellos.
Pienso en un ejemplo concreto. Abandonaron la asamblea, y tuve una conversación con ellos sobre por qué se habían alejado de esa asamblea, que era mucho más grande y tenía mucha más gente, y jóvenes, etcétera. Sí, estaban abandonando algunos de los principios de la asamblea local. Y uno les dice: bueno, ¿por qué han abandonado esa pequeña asamblea que podría haber apreciado y apreciaba su presencia y su ayuda? Y ellos decían algo así: “Bueno, estaba bien, pero no había mucha gente allí”.
Y eran mucho mayores. Y en esa asamblea no había realmente nada para nosotros ni para nuestros hijos. Nos preocupaba que nuestros hijos no tuvieran otros niños con quienes jugar. Nos preocupaba que, bueno, no fuera suficiente para ellos. Así que nos los llevamos a otro sitio donde hubiera más gente joven, para que pudieran disfrutar de su compañía. Simplemente no era para nosotros. Pero la asamblea local nunca ha sido para nosotros. La asamblea local no es para nuestros hijos; es para Dios y Su gloria y Dios y Su honor. Y sabes, pudo haber sido difícil por algunos años para esa familia más joven estar en una pequeña comunión compuesta principalmente de personas mayores, pero cuánto deleite pudieron haber traído al corazón de Dios sólo por trabajar en esa asamblea para Su gloria y Su honra.
Creo que los niños habrían aprendido mucho. Y no es triste que la gente parece pertenecer a una asamblea local -espero que no seas tú- la gente parece pertenecer a una asamblea local porque les conviene, porque les gusta, porque viven cerca, porque hay algo que les atrae. Pero tan pronto como las circunstancias cambian, cualquier convicción o parte de una convicción que tenían se va por la ventana, y se irán a cualquier parte, y tirarán por la borda las convicciones que pudieran haber escuchado sólo por un sentido de conveniencia.
Mi hermano, mi hermana, he estado tratando de enseñarles que la asamblea local aquí está funcionando lo más cerca posible a la enseñanza de la palabra de Dios. Y queremos pertenecer a una iglesia local que se ajuste al orden divino y al patrón divino. Eso es lo que importa. Eso es lo importante. Y por eso estamos aquí. Estamos convencidos -debemos estarlo- de que este es el lugar donde Dios quiere que estemos. Este es el lugar que está de acuerdo con Su mente y voluntad. Y venga lo que venga, y por pequeños que sean los números que disminuyan, este lugar honra a Dios, y la asamblea es preciosa para Él, y yo estaré aquí en las buenas y en las malas.
Bien, aquí tienes. Las metáforas pertenecen a Dios y a Cristo. Pensemos en algunas de ellas. Aquí está la primera. Versículo 9 del capítulo 3, Pablo habla de la asamblea en Corinto como la labranza de Dios. Así que el pensamiento aquí es la idea de cultivar o la idea de crecer. ¿No es una manera encantadora de describir una asamblea local? Dice en el versículo 9: “Trabajamos juntos en la obra de Dios”. Está pensando particularmente en sí mismo y en Apolos. Pablo vino por primera vez a Corinto; predicó el evangelio. Las almas se salvaron, se puso el fundamento, que es Jesucristo. La asamblea comenzó a crecer. Apolos llegó algún tiempo después. Enseñó la palabra de Dios. También predicó el evangelio. El dice: “Bueno, yo, Pablo, y Apolos, mi amigo, mi colega, somos obreros juntos por la misma causa, por el mismo propósito”. El dice, “Estamos bajo el empleo de Dios-trabajadores para El.”
Y dice: “Así eres tú”. El dice, “Hemos estado sembrando la semilla, sembrando la semilla del evangelio, y ha caído en buena tierra. Ustedes han sido salvos, y ahora eso ha estado brotando en fruto. Hay crecimiento en este campo y en este jardín. Y Apolos ha venido, y Apolos ha estado echando agua sobre la semilla. Y estas plantas-eso eres tú, por cierto-estas plantas han estado brotando.”
Ahora él dice, “Esta asamblea en Corinto-míralos a todos. Mírense ustedes. Ustedes son un campo hermoso y ordenado. Ustedes son un hermoso jardín fragante”. Así es la asamblea local en Corinto. Qué cuadro tan hermoso. Y, por supuesto, lo que estás aprendiendo es esto: que si la asamblea es como un campo o un jardín, entonces Pablo espera que los santos estén creciendo-no necesariamente creciendo físicamente, sino que deberían estar creciendo espiritualmente. Espero que así sea. Y espero que usted pueda mirar hacia atrás y decir: “Bueno, sí, si miro hacia atrás un año, o si miro hacia atrás a antes de COVID-¿recuerda eso? Me pregunto si podrías mirar tu propia vida espiritual y decir: “Sí, espiritualmente he estado creciendo”.
En asociación con la asamblea y toda la enseñanza que hemos estado recibiendo, dices, ‘Sí, espiritualmente he crecido. He crecido en mi apreciación de la palabra de Dios. Lo mas importante, he crecido en mi apreciacion del Hijo de Dios-eso es critico. Estoy orando. Leo y aprendo la Palabra de Dios. Estoy contribuyendo a la asamblea”. Debes estar creciendo en un sentido espiritual. Y si estamos creciendo espiritualmente, es de esperar que habrá una fragancia real sobre ella-una fragancia de Cristo, un dulce olor de Él.
Por eso Pablo describe la asamblea local en Corinto como un campo cultivado. Notarás que dice: “Yo he plantado, Apolos ha regado, pero mira el versículo 7. Yo habré plantado, Apolos habrá regado, pero él dice -bueno, es el final del versículo 6- ‘pero Dios sigue dando el incremento'”. Así que él dice, verso 7, “No es el que planta. Yo no soy nada. Yo no soy importante. Tampoco el que riega. Apolos no es importante, pero Dios es la persona importante aquí porque Él es el que da el incremento.”
Pablo dice: “Yo planté de una vez por todas. Apolos regó de una vez por todas. Pero Dios sigue dando el crecimiento”. Estoy muy agradecido porque Dios sigue dando el incremento. Como siervos que trabajan en la asamblea, promovemos las condiciones para el crecimiento, pero es Dios en última instancia quien da el incremento. Por cierto, lo mismo sucede en tu jardín. Puede que no seas jardinero. Yo, desde luego, no tengo dedos verdes, ¿verdad? Pero los jardineros promueven las condiciones en su jardín para el crecimiento, pero no pueden hacer que nada crezca. Tú dirás, ¿quién lo hace crecer? Bueno, Dios lo hace crecer porque Él es el Creador, y Cristo sostiene todas las cosas por la palabra de Su poder. Cristo hace que las cosas crezcan.
Promueve las condiciones. Quita las piedras. Quita las malas hierbas. Tú aireas la tierra y la fertilizas, pero es sólo Dios quien da el crecimiento. Maravillosa verdad. Es lo mismo en las asambleas. Podemos hacer todo lo que podemos para tratar de promover las condiciones para el crecimiento, pero es Dios en última instancia, que da el aumento. ¿Podría animarles en cuanto a la predicación del evangelio? Usted dice: “Hace tiempo que no vemos almas salvadas”. Dios da el incremento; esa es la responsabilidad de Dios. ¿Sabes que es una cosa maravillosa?
Aunque seas un maestro de la palabra de Dios, los que enseñan las escrituras, no suelen ver los resultados tangibles que vería un evangelista a través de la salvación de almas. Realmente no tengo idea si la enseñanza de esta semana tendrá algún impacto o bendición en sus vidas. Muy poco. Estoy regresando al Reino Unido. Pero solo me apoyo en Dios porque El es quien da el incremento. Nunca lo olviden. Estamos aquí para promover las condiciones para el crecimiento. Estamos aquí para difundir el mensaje del Evangelio, pero en última instancia, el que da fruto y de la predicación del Evangelio y la enseñanza de la palabra de Dios – que es Dios mismo. Tremendamente alentador, ¿verdad?
Y Pablo continuará diciendo, sólo miren esto, versículo 8. El dice, “El que planta y el que riega, bueno, todos son uno en su meta y su objetivo. Pero el dice esto: Cada uno recibirá su recompensa de acuerdo al crecimiento”. No. Dios da el crecimiento. Cada uno recibirá su recompensa según su trabajo. Eso me complace.
¿Has pensado alguna vez en los grandes predicadores del pasado? Tú dices, “Algunos de esos grandes hombres, ya sea Charles Spurgeon, o ya sea John Charles Wesley, o ya sea el Sr. Dwight L. Moody, estos grandes y poderosos predicadores del pasado, y ellos vieron cientos, ellos vieron miles de almas salvadas bajo su ministerio y predicación del evangelio.” Tú dices: “Dios los recompensará ricamente”. Dios los recompensará ricamente, pero no por el número de almas que vieron salvadas; el aumento viene de Dios. Dios los recompensará ricamente debido a la labor que ellos gastaron por Su nombre. Ahora digo eso para animarte, mi hermano, mi hermana, sigue trabajando. Sigue trabajando. Dices: “Pero no veo esto y no veo aquello”. Deja eso con Dios. Tú trabajas, tú laboras, y de acuerdo a tu labor, Dios recompensará ricamente.
Es una hermosa metáfora: la labranza de Dios. Mira el siguiente versículo, bueno, todavía está en el versículo 9. “Somos trabajadores juntos bajo el empleo de Dios. Ustedes son la labranza de Dios”. Luego dice: “Ustedes son los constructores de Dios”. Así que ahora no estamos hablando de cultivar; no estamos hablando de crecer. Ahora, esta metáfora del edificio de Dios-estamos pensando en la construcción. Y, por supuesto, estamos pensando en construir. Así que la asamblea local ahora-no un campo, no un jardín-sino que la asamblea local ahora es un edificio.
Este edificio está en construcción. Se está levantando. Y los que pertenecen a la asamblea-ahora, principalmente en el contexto, son los predicadores y los maestros que están construyendo en el tejido de la asamblea. Pero por aplicación, cada creyente que pertenece a la asamblea está construyendo en el tejido de esa asamblea. Usted dice: “Espero que sea un fundamento bueno, sólido y firme”. Pues lo es. Lo es. El fundamento sobre el cual cada asamblea es puesta, edificada, es el fundamento de Cristo. El es el que fue predicado-el evangelio de la gracia de Dios en relación con nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Él es el que fue predicado.
Así dice Pablo en el versículo 11: “Nadie puede poner otro fundamento que el que está puesto, el cual es Jesucristo”. Él es el fundamento de la asamblea en Corinto. Los individuos vinieron a la fe en Él, fundaron sus vidas, y ahora la asamblea está fundada sobre ese fundamento firme-todo lo que Cristo ha hecho-todo lo que Cristo es. El es la base de la asamblea. Pero Pablo dice: “Yo estoy edificando”.
Así que mira el versículo 10. Dice: “Según la gracia de Dios”. Ahora, esta es la gracia que Dios le concedió a Pablo al darle el papel y la responsabilidad que le correspondía como apóstol. El dice, “Conforme a la gracia de Dios que me es dada, yo como sabio maestro de obras”.
La idea es que Pablo era el constructor principal. No es que él fuera el arquitecto; él no diseñó el edificio. Dios diseñó el edificio. El edificio, por supuesto, sigue el modelo de lo divino. Dice Pablo: “Yo soy el constructor principal de este edificio, y estoy trabajando según un patrón divino”. Y otros como Apolos, han venido, y ellos también han estado construyendo en este edificio. Y luego dice: “Pero, versículo 10, que cada uno tenga cuidado de cómo construye en él”.
Ves, el fundamento es Jesucristo. La subestructura es Jesucristo. Y lo que edificas sobre ese fundamento-la superestructura-debe responder al fundamento. Ahora, ustedes saben que eso es verdad, ¿no? No puedes tener un cimiento que sea demasiado pequeño o demasiado débil para un edificio más grande. El fundamento debe responder al tamaño, forma y peso del edificio que sostiene. Pablo dice que tu fundamento es Cristo. Asi que lo que estas construyendo en esta iglesia local debe responder en terminos de caracter y calidad a El.
Así que toda nuestra labor y todo nuestro ejercicio-está calculado para traer gloria y honra. Debe estar en línea con el carácter del Señor Jesús. Me pregunto si tu servicio en la asamblea local es digno de la persona de Jesucristo. Ahora, dice Pablo, mira este versículo 12. Usted conoce muy bien estos versículos. El dice, “Si alguno edificare sobre este fundamento…” Ahora, usted entiende, no es tanto la cantidad del material que importa, es la calidad del material.
Asi que el dice, “Si alguno edificare sobre este fundamento, oro, plata, piedras preciosas”-eso es material de calidad selecta. O, el dice, “Puedes construir en madera, heno, rastrojo”-eso es barato, material de calidad inferior. Ustedes santos, tienen el privilegio de edificar en la asamblea. Ahora, les daré algunos antecedentes. Ustedes entienden que Corinto es una ciudad. La antigua Corinto había sido destruida por el fuego hacía mucho tiempo. Los romanos quemaron la antigua Corinto hasta los cimientos en 146 AC.
Verás, unos cien años después, la ciudad de Corinto fue reconstruida como colonia romana. Así que durante cien años, la ciudad de Corinto había sido absolutamente asolada por el fuego, y cuando los romanos la incendiaron, fueron sólo los edificios que estaban en los barrios más ricos. Fueron sólo los edificios que tenían elementos de oro y plata y piedras preciosas -materiales de calidad- los que pudieron resistir algo del fuego. Los edificios más pequeños, los menos caros -los de madera y heno- quedaron totalmente destruidos. Y durante cien años, Corinto estuvo a oscuras.
Ahora, todo eso fue en la historia reciente de la ciudad, y Pablo está escribiendo a la asamblea, y está diciendo, “Ahora escuchen, ¿qué están construyendo en la asamblea? Porque sólo lo que es de calidad perdurará cuando el fuego de prueba del tribunal venga sobre vuestra obra.” Ahora, aquí hay algo del contexto. Pablo, en el contexto de 1 Corintios 1, 2, y 3, está hablando de dos clases de cristianos. El habla de hombres carnales, y el habla de hombres espirituales.
Cristianos carnales-son cristianos, y tristemente mucha gente en Corinto eran carnales. Estos eran individuos que eran creyentes en el Señor Jesús, pero eran energizados por-eran guiados por la carne. Lo que hacían era para ellos mismos. Lo que hacían era para verse bien a los ojos de los demás. Eran cristianos carnales, entregados realmente al mundo, entregados a la carne, entregados a sí mismos. Pablo dice, “¿Sabes lo que estarán construyendo en la asamblea, verdad? Madera, heno y hojarasca”.
Oh, ellos están allí. Incluso podrían estar ocupados. Podrían estar activos. Podrían estar ayudando en la asamblea. Pero porque lo que hacen es calculado para traer honor a ellos mismos, Pablo dice, “Cuando sea probado en el fuego del tribunal, desaparecerá en nada. Serán salvados; no pueden perder su salvación. Pero la recompensa que podría haber sido de ellos se habrá esfumado. Sufrirán la pérdida”.
Tú dices: “¿Y el oro, la plata, las piedras preciosas?”. Bueno, estos son los individuos que eran espirituales en carácter-no un cristiano carnal impulsado por la carne, sino un creyente espiritual que está lleno del Espíritu de Dios. El está en la asamblea también, y está allí, y él o ella, están trabajando en la asamblea, y quizás no son vistos, ni anunciados, ni oídos. Pero lo que están tratando de hacer en la asamblea es impulsado y energizado por el Espíritu de Dios. Sólo quieren traer gloria y honor a Cristo. No están interesados en sí mismos.
Piensa en el oro-la gloria, la deidad de Cristo-eso es de lo que habla el oro en las Escrituras. Piensa en la plata-ese es un material que se asocia con la redención, la obra de Cristo. Piedras preciosas-las variadas glorias y la riqueza del carácter de Cristo. Estos individuos solo quieren honrar la persona de Cristo. Quieren honrar Su gloria, honrar Su deidad, honrar Su obra, honrar Su carácter. Todo lo que hacen es por El. Son impulsados por el Espíritu. Pablo dice que están edificando en la asamblea.
Y cuando ese trabajo sea probado en el tribunal, durará, y serán recompensados. ¿Puedo preguntarles a ustedes aquí? Si no perteneces a la asamblea local, entonces Cristo no puede recompensarte en un día venidero por tu trabajo en la asamblea porque no perteneces a ella. Si perteneces a la asamblea, piensa en tu motivación para todo lo que haces. Este viejo corazón de aquí es perverso, ¿verdad? Pienso en mi motivación esta semana. ¿Por qué estoy aquí? ¿Por qué he sacrificado lo que tengo para estar aquí?
¿Es porque quiero que ustedes, gente encantadora de Midland Park, miren al predicador de Inglaterra y digan: “¿No es genial? Que vuelva tan a menudo como podamos”? ¿O estoy aquí porque sólo quiero honrar a la persona de Cristo hablando bien de Él y dirigiendo la atención de los santos a Su asamblea? Espero que sea lo segundo. Espero que no sea lo primero. Si es lo primero, no valdrá nada en el tribunal. Si es lo segundo, valdrá mucho.
Ahora piénsalo, hermano mío, hermana mía, todo lo que haces, ya sea limpiar el salón, ya sea preparar los diversos aspectos de la reunión, ya sea repartir libros de himnos, ya sea tu ministerio a otros santos, ya sea que esté asociado con la producción y provisión de alimentos, cualquiera que sea tu trabajo en la asamblea, ¿cuál es tu motivación para hacerlo? No de un arranque de carne. Debe ser impulsado por la gloria y el honor de Cristo. Lo estoy haciendo por Él. Y si lo estoy haciendo por El, nada será demasiado difícil. Nada será demasiado porque todo es para El.
Pablo tiene en mente el tribunal de Cristo. Entiendes que cada creyente estará ante el tribunal de Cristo. Pablo habla de eso en tres ocasiones diferentes, y en las tres ocasiones diferentes, te dice que hay diferentes aspectos de nuestra vida que serán revisados y recompensados en ese tribunal. Nada que ver con la salvacion. Nada que ver con el pecado. Tus pecados son perdonados; eres salvo eternamente.
Este individuo aqui que es carnal, el es salvo, aunque haya pasado por el juicio del fuego. Eso es solo una metafora; es un simbolo para Cristo revisando la obra de este creyente. El no esta literalmente pasando por el fuego, pero Cristo esta juzgando su trabajo; sus pecados son perdonados. El es salvo aunque el trabajo que el hizo no fue mucho en la vista del Señor Jesús. Pero, mi amigo, tu vas a estar delante de la persona de Cristo.
Tres cosas serán revisadas: las acciones que has realizado en tu cuerpo, serán revisadas (1 Corintios 5), tu arquitectura-lo que construyes en la asamblea local-será revisada (1 Corintios 3), y finalmente, tu actitud hacia tus hermanos será revisada. ¿Cómo te llevas con ellos? Tus relaciones con otros cristianos. Ahora, tendrás que leer eso en Romanos 14. Todo eso va a ser revisado en el tribunal.
¿Cuánto y de qué calidad de trabajo he puesto en la asamblea? ¿Cómo he vivido mi vida, las obras que he cometido? ¿Y cómo me he llevado con mis hermanos? Tres cosas que se van a plantear en el tribunal. Bien, has captado la idea de estas metáforas, ¿verdad?
Así que está la labranza de Dios, y está la edificación de Dios. Bien, dos más, muy brevemente. Pasen las páginas de 1 Corintios 12. Podríamos haber hablado del templo y de la pureza y santidad de la asamblea, pero creo que eso lo veremos en los próximos días. Vayan a 1 Corintios 12. Quiero hablarles del cuerpo de Cristo.
Ahora, si ese campo es todo acerca de cultivar y crecer, y el edificio es todo acerca de construir y edificar, entonces el cuerpo de Cristo es todo acerca de una comunidad-una asamblea local que es una comunidad. Y ahora no estamos tanto creciendo y construyendo, sino que todos estamos contribuyendo. Creo que esta es mi metáfora favorita. ¿Está permitido? No lo se. Pero mira 1 Corintios 12. Mira el versículo 12. Pablo dice: “Porque como el cuerpo es uno”. Ahora escucha, él está hablando de un cuerpo humano-un cuerpo humano aquí.
Así que piensa en tu propio cuerpo humano. El dice, “Como el cuerpo humano que tienes es un cuerpo-no tienes dos cuerpos o tres, ¿verdad? Tienes uno, y estás atascado con él por la eternidad. Lo siento si no te gusta. Pero lo tienes. Dices: ‘Voy a tener un cuerpo nuevo’. ¡Incorrecto! Tendrás un cuerpo cambiado. Eso es 1 Corintios 15. No será completamente nuevo; será cambiado. Será muy diferente. Así que si no te gusta, bueno, tienes que tomar eso con el Señor, ¿verdad?
Tienes un cuerpo, y este cuerpo, verso 12, tiene muchos miembros, muchas partes. Quiere decir que mi cuerpo tiene pies, mi cuerpo tiene codos, manos, una sola cabeza, dos ojos, dos orejas. ¿Verdad? Mi cuerpo es un cuerpo. Pero tiene muchas partes diferentes. Está hablando del cuerpo humano. Y todos los miembros de ese único cuerpo, son muchos. Pero solo hay un cuerpo. Dice: “Así también es Cristo”.
Ahora él está hablando acerca de la gran asamblea en ese verso-Cristo la cabeza en el cielo, la iglesia que es Su cuerpo en la tierra. El dice, “Es muy similar. Es un cuerpo único, y sin embargo hay muchas partes diferentes en él”. Ahora lo que el va a hacer en el verso 13 es decirte como llego a ser ese el caso. ¿Cómo se formó la iglesia? La iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo, en el día de Pentecostés, él habla del bautismo en el Espíritu-eso es toda otra reunión. Pero así es como la iglesia fue formada en el día de Pentecostés en Hechos 2.
Pero entonces verso 14, él dice, “Ahora ustedes conocen esta figura de un cuerpo.” El dice, “Voy a tomarlo ahora, y voy a aplicarlo a ustedes santos en Corinto”. Dice: “Permítanme hablarles de la metáfora del cuerpo de Cristo”. Ahora, me encanta esto-porque el cuerpo no es un solo miembro, sino que son muchos. Asi que, nuestro cuerpo humano no es solo una parte; son muchas partes.
Y así, él continúa diciendo: “Bueno, aquí están algunas de las partes”. Aquí hay un pie. Y si el pie dice: “Bueno, yo no soy la mano, y me gustaría mucho ser la mano, porque, bueno, las manos son mucho más fáciles de ver y más diestras que yo. Y huelo bastante, y siempre me ponen calcetines, y nadie puede verme”. Si el pie dijera: “Como no soy la mano, no formo parte del cuerpo”, Pablo diría: “Qué ridiculez”. Aunque al pie le encantaría ser la mano, porque no es la mano, sigue siendo parte del cuerpo. No puede separarse del cuerpo”.
Ahora usted dice, “Sr. Predicador de Inglaterra, usted ha perdido todas sus canicas.” No, esto es inspirado. ¿De qué está hablando Pablo? Bien, él está diciendo, “Ahora vamos, esta asamblea local en Corinto, escuchen, hay muchos de ustedes; miren la diversidad; y miren la diversidad que tenemos esta noche. Sé que hay más de una asamblea representada, pero miren esta diversidad”, dice, “es notable. Algunos de ustedes son hombres; algunos son mujeres; algunos son mayores; algunos son de mediana edad; algunos son más jóvenes; algunos proceden de todo tipo de países de todo el mundo; tienen diferentes orígenes étnicos; tal vez hablen diferentes idiomas”.
Y añade: “La diversidad es increíble. Muchos miembros. Pero, ¿adivinen qué? Un solo cuerpo”. Ahora esa es la asamblea local. ¿Lo ven? Diversos. Pero una compañía-sólo Dios puede hacer eso. Hay diversidad, pero hay unidad en la diversidad porque todos pertenecen a una compañía. Esa es la sabiduría de Dios. Estoy pensando ahora en la gran asamblea en vez de la asamblea local. Pero Efesios 3 dice que la sabiduría de Dios se muestra en esto: que El pudo tomar al Judío y al Gentil-nunca los dos se encontrarán, tu usas esa frase aquí-nunca el Judío y el Gentil se encontrarán. Están tan separados como podrían estar.
Pero tú sabes, en la asamblea del Nuevo Testamento, salvados por la gracia de Dios, ellos se sentaban unos con otros-¡judíos y gentiles! Se sentaban unos con otros en la Cena del Señor. Y estaban compartiendo un pan y compartiendo una copa y diciendo, “Estamos en comunión unos con otros”. Solo Dios puede hacer eso. Ahora hay una expresión de eso en la asamblea local. Dice: “Ustedes son entonces como un cuerpo, diferentes partes, y Dios quiere que sean diferentes”.
Diferentes papeles, y Dios os ha dado diferentes papeles. Hay diversidad. Pero él dice que hay una unidad porque todos ustedes están unidos en una asamblea local para la gloria y la honra de Dios. Ahora, ¿qué de este caso en el verso 15? Porque aquí, perdónenme por decir esto, Pablo está ilustrando a los santos, ¿verdad? El está diciendo: “Hay un santo en la asamblea en Corinto que es como un pie”. Y este santo probablemente está diciendo esto: “Oh, aquí estoy. Mira, nadie me nota. Mira, estoy aquí abajo en el fondo. Tal vez estés pensando así: Estoy aquí abajo, en el fondo del cuerpo. Nadie puede verme porque los pies no son agradables a la vista. Siempre se ponen calcetines y zapatos en los pies. Aquí abajo en el cuerpo, soportando el peso de todo el cuerpo, y nadie se preocupa por mí”.
Y el pie mira a la mano y dice: “Ojalá fuera una mano”. Las manos se ven. Las manos no suelen cubrirse a menos que haga mucho frío. Y miren lo diestras que son. Y mira cómo el predicador es capaz de… bueno, mira cómo es capaz de pintar cuadros con sus manos. Ojalá yo fuera una mano. Tal vez te sientas así en la asamblea. Dices: “A nadie le importo. Nadie me ve. Nadie me anima. Aquí estoy soportando este peso y soportando ese problema, y desearía ser otra persona, o desearía poder hacer ese trabajo o estar comprometido en ese servicio.”
Entonces, como no puedo, ya no soy parte del cuerpo. Pablo dice: “Qué tontería”. El pie es parte del cuerpo, le guste o no. El punto es este, mi hermano, mi hermana: Dios te ha dado un papel en la asamblea. Dios te ha dado una responsabilidad en esta asamblea. Y aunque no te guste o no te guste, y aunque sientas que tienes un complejo de inferioridad, eso no significa que no puedas servir en la asamblea. Eres vital para esta asamblea.
No te quedes de brazos cruzados. No te ausentes durante semanas. No digas que no le importo a nadie. Perteneces al cuerpo, y Dios te ha dado un lugar, y es una gran responsabilidad, sea lo que sea lo que se te ha dado. No puedes eximirte de esa responsabilidad. Eres necesario, y eres vital. Y eso es lo que Pablo continuará diciendo. Mira el versículo 18: “Dice que Dios ha puesto los miembros, cada uno de ellos en el cuerpo como le ha placido”.
Así que, si perteneces a la comunión de una asamblea, Dios te ha dado un lugar en esa asamblea, y eres vital para ella. Tú eres vital. Ahora aquí está la cosa: si yo cortara mi mano, yo podría sobrevivir. Pero no podría funcionar tan efectivamente como si tuviera dos manos. Podrías cortarme partes del cuerpo; viviría, pero no podría comportarme tan eficazmente como si tuviera todos mis miembros. ¿Lo entiendes? No estás exento de responsabilidad; eres necesario.
Y número dos, en realidad eres vital. Hermano mío, hermana mía, no tengas complejo de inferioridad. Eres vital para el correcto desarrollo. Eres vital para la eficacia de esta asamblea local. Os necesita. Necesita su presencia; necesita su trabajo; necesita su labor; necesita sus oraciones-usted es necesario. Y si no estás aquí y no pones de tu parte, la asamblea sobrevivirá, pero no será tan efectiva como si estuvieras aquí. ¿No es una metáfora encantadora?
Y he estado hablando de un complejo de inferioridad. Bueno, más adelante en los versículos, tal vez algunos de ustedes se sientan más así. Miren el versículo 21. Esto no es un complejo de inferioridad; esto es un complejo de superioridad. Miren el versículo 21: “Y el ojo no puede decir a la mano: No te necesito”. ¿Alguna vez te has encontrado con creyentes así? Piensan que son lo máximo. No sé si se dice eso aquí. Pero hay algunos creyentes en la comunión de la asamblea que sólo piensan: “Cuanto más de mí hubiera en esta asamblea, mejor. Yo, yo, yo, ¡y más de mí! Si la asamblea fuera yo, ¡qué maravillosa asamblea sería!”.
¿Verdad? No existe el complejo de superioridad. No pienses que la asamblea no puede prescindir de ti. Oh, eres vital, pero también lo son los demás. No pienses que eres más importante que cualquier otro miembro sólo porque tengas un don mayor -¡y puede que lo tengas! No pienses que eres más importante que cualquier otro miembro sólo porque tengas un don mayor, ¡y puede que lo tengas! No te creas más importante. De hecho, Pablo continuará diciendo que son los miembros ocultos; son los miembros que parecen más débiles los que en realidad son los vitales.
Oh, ¿no es eso cierto con el cuerpo humano? Verás, es mi corazón. No puedes verlo. Es muy débil. Tiene que ser protegido por una caja torácica. Pero te digo esto: No podría vivir sin él. Son los miembros ocultos; son los miembros casi más débiles los que son absolutamente vitales. Así que quiero animaros a vosotros, buena gente de aquí: si pertenecéis a la asamblea, sabed lo importante que es cada uno de los miembros.
Ahora, terminaré con esto. Bueno, son las 9, ¿no? Permítanme mostrarles uno más. Vayan al último libro de la Biblia, el libro del Apocalipsis, y este es el capítulo 1. No voy a decir todo lo que quería decir acerca de esto, pero hemos hablado acerca de la labranza de Dios-eso es cultivo y crecimiento; el edificio de Dios-eso es construcción, edificación. El cuerpo de Cristo-eso es comunidad y contribución. En Apocalipsis 1, las asambleas locales son vistas como candeleros de oro. La idea aquí es de carácter. Son candeleros de oro, y es la idea de testificar.
Así que no tanto crecer o construir o contribuir, sino testificar. Mira lo que Juan dice o incluso lo que es-Juan. Versículo 12 del capítulo 1. Juan dice, “Me volví para ver la voz que hablaba conmigo, y estando vuelto, vi siete candeleros de oro. Y en medio de los siete, -no son candeleros; son candeleros- uno semejante al Hijo del Hombre”. Ahora eso, por supuesto, es el Señor Jesús. Tú dices: “¿Por qué está Él de pie en medio de siete candeleros de oro?”. Bueno, mira el versículo 20, la última parte del versículo: “Las siete estrellas son los ángeles de las siete iglesias, y los siete candeleros que has visto son las siete iglesias”.
Así que estas siete iglesias a las que Juan está a punto de escribir, y el Señor tiene algo que decir a cada una de estas asambleas locales que estaban esparcidas por Asia Menor, están retratadas bajo la metáfora de un candelabro de oro. ¡Qué idea! Bueno, hay muchos pensamientos. Pero permítanme decir sólo un par, y terminamos. No son candelabros. La traducción correcta de la palabra es un candelabro. Es decir, aquí hay un pedestal; es un pedestal de oro.
Y este pedestal representaba a cada una de esas iglesias locales, por eso había siete. Colgado de ese pedestal o sentado sobre él había un depósito de aceite. Una mecha se habría colocado en el aceite. El aceite era el combustible para mantener la llama encendida. La asamblea local no era la lámpara; la asamblea local no es el aceite; la asamblea local es el pedestal. Ahora, ¿por qué no es un candelabro? Porque los candeleros, en general, están hechos de cera, y el combustible para la llama o la luz es esa cera. Los candeleros se consumen a sí mismos.
Al cabo de unos minutos o un par de horas, la cera desaparece y se funde. Esa sería una imagen muy pobre de una asamblea local. Es triste decirlo, pero muchas asambleas locales son como candeleros. Usted dirá: “¿Qué quiere decir?”. Se consumen a sí mismas. Muchas asambleas en el sur de Inglaterra desde Covid son autodestructivas y autoconsumistas. Un hermano le ha dicho algo a otro hermano; una hermana le ha dicho algo a otra hermana; todo el lugar implosiona, se destruye como un candelabro. ¡Qué vergüenza para nosotros! ¡Qué decepción! Gracias a Dios, no son candelabros, son candeleros.
En el Apocalipsis, un candelabro representa el testimonio y el testamento. Ahora, sólo capta esto, ¿verdad? Y he terminado. Pero entiendan esto: ustedes dicen, “¿Quién o qué es la lámpara?” Bueno, sólo hay una lámpara en el libro del Apocalipsis, y la única lámpara en el libro del Apocalipsis es la persona del Señor Jesucristo. Apocalipsis 22 dice que en esa gran, eterna, celestial, santa Jerusalén, el Cordero es su lámpara.
Así que sólo hay una persona en el libro del Apocalipsis que es la lámpara-que es la luz-es Cristo. Tú dices: “¿Y qué de estas iglesias? Ellas son el candelabro”. Esas iglesias son los pedestales sobre los que se asienta la lámpara. Esas iglesias son los pedestales que se elevan para que todos vean la luz de la lámpara. Entonces, ¿cuál es la responsabilidad de la asamblea local-ya sea Éfeso, o Esmirna, o Pérgamo, o Tiatira? Tú dices, todos son candeleros. ¿Cuál es su responsabilidad? Levantar, exaltar, honrar a la persona de Jesucristo. Estamos aquí para dar testimonio de Él. Eso es todo.
Tienes esa verdad, ¿no? No se trata de mí; se trata de Él. Dices que estos candelabros son de oro. Son dorados porque son valiosos. Estas iglesias locales son valiosas para Dios. Tú dices, “¿Incluso Esmirna? Esmirna era una asamblea tan pequeña. Esmirna estaba siendo aplastada por la persecución”. Dices: “Seguramente a Dios no le importa mucho Esmirna”. ¡Un candelabro de oro!
Así también la asamblea aquí es valiosa y preciosa para Dios. Hay otra verdad, ¿no? ¿Recuerdan que en el Antiguo Testamento-ahora, porque yo cierro mi Biblia eso no quiere decir que ustedes dejan de escuchar, verdad? Si hay una crítica de los santos en Midland Park, es esta: ¡Cuando cierro mi Biblia, te desconectas! ¡No te desconectes! En el Antiguo Testamento, en el tabernáculo y en el templo, había un candelabro. Tu dices, “Si, yo se todo acerca de ese candelabro. Ese candelabro representaba a Israel como nación en testimonio y testigo de Dios”.
Aquí está la cosa: era un candelabro, y tenía siete ramas – tres en un lado, tres en el otro lado, y una recta por el medio – la menorá. Usted dice, “Hmm”. Ven al Nuevo Testamento, siete asambleas. Ahora dirás: “¡Espera! ¿Por qué tenemos siete candelabros diferentes?” Y el Señor está en medio de ellos. Asi que es casi como si hubiera siete candeleros alrededor del Señor, y el Señor esta caminando en medio de ellos, en medio de ellos.
Tú dices: “Sería una oportunidad maravillosa tener un candelabro, una menorá, como Israel en el Antiguo Testamento. ¿Y no sería una hermosa manera de mostrar que estas siete asambleas eran todas parte de una organización, un candelabro?”. ¡Ese es exactamente el punto! No lo son.
Estas iglesias son separadas; estas iglesias son distintas; estas iglesias son autónomas. Usted ha oído esa palabra, ¿verdad? No pertenecen a una federación; no pertenecen a una organización paraguas. Son muy similares; están en comunión unas con otras. Cristo está en medio de todos, y El está tan cerca de cada una de esas asambleas, pero son separadas y distintas. Ahora, eso otra vez es la enseñanza del Nuevo Testamento.
Cada asamblea local es responsable ante Cristo y sólo ante Cristo, libre de cualquier tipo de autoridad externa, control u organización aparte de la persona del Señor Jesús. No hay federación de asambleas, sino maravillosa comunión entre ellas. Y por eso puedo venir desde Bracknell Gospel Hall en Berkshire, Inglaterra, sabiendo que creemos el mismo tipo de verdad. No tengo jurisdicción aquí, aunque les estoy enseñando. Tú no tienes jurisdicción en mi asamblea.
Son autónomas, y son separadas y distintas, pero tenemos hermosa comunión juntos porque confiamos en el mismo Salvador y creemos la misma verdad. Ahora vayan y sigan algunas de esas otras metáforas. Qué maravillosas ilustraciones de la verdad de la asamblea local. Dios bendecirá Su palabra para nosotros. Oremos.
Maintenance of the assembly
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03212024.m4aFirst Peter, tonight, please. First Peter, chapter 4. First Peter, chapter 4. I appreciate it. We’re obviously persevering and hardworking. We’re just about halfway through, aren’t we? We’re more than halfway through tonight, I suppose. Good to see everyone, and those of you who are coming back, I appreciate that. Bless us as we continue our studies in the local assembly, the local assembly truth. Now, we’re thinking tonight about the maintenance of the assembly. So really, we’re thinking about how it is that a local church, a local assembly, can be kept in good spiritual health. That’s what we’re thinking about. We’re going to focus on three things in particular, and we’ll see what those things are as we read the scriptures together.
So, 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. I’m reading scriptures in reverse form, so we will come to Peter just at the end of the meeting. One way in which you can keep a local assembly in good spiritual health is by the activity of the Spirit of God, of course. He grants us spiritual gifts, and spiritual gifts need to be used to edify and build up the assembly. There are a number of passages in scripture that deal with spiritual gifts, but there are a couple of statements here which are very helpful in Peter’s first epistle. Just notice verse number 9: Peter says, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” That is, be hospitable one to another without wishing that we didn’t have to.
Then verse 10: “As every man has received the gift…” Now, it’s not the gift as if it’s the gift of salvation, but this is spiritual gift, which is given by the Spirit of God to every believer. So, as everyone has received gifts, if you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus, you have been given a spiritual gift. That gift is used to build up and to maintain the assembly to which you belong. So he says, “Even so, minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace, the variegated, multicolored grace of God.”
Then Peter seems to divide spiritual gifts into two categories. So he says, “If any man speak…” There are some gifts that are speaking gifts. “If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.” Then he says, “If any man minister…” Some gifts emphasize speaking, while some gifts emphasize serving and ministering. “If any man ministers, let him do it as of the ability which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Still on our theme of spiritual gifts, just turn to Ephesians chapter 4. A number of different passages to read tonight. This is Ephesians 4, one of the other passages in the New Testament that deals with spiritual gifts. Verse 12, “For unto every one of us is given grace.” God has given us grace by His grace, freely given us, according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
“Therefore He said, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and He gave gifts unto men.” Verse 11: “And He gave some apostles, and some prophets” (New Testament prophets, that is), “and some evangelists, and some pastors.” Now that really is the word for shepherd. So a shepherd is a spiritual gift. “And some teachers.” Why were these gifts given? “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body.” This is all about the maintenance of the local assembly. These gifts, given by the Spirit of God and energized by the Spirit of God, are used to maintain the assembly and to keep it in good spiritual health.
Right, we’ll look at Acts chapter 20. We will talk about spiritual gifts tonight. We will also speak this evening about shepherds or elders. Of course, these men were appointed by the Holy Spirit, and they are used to maintain the assembly in good spiritual health. Acts chapter 20, look at verse 17: “And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.”
Acts chapter 20 is very helpful because it describes these men, elders in the church at Ephesus, in three different ways. Here in verse 17, they are called elders. That’s their spiritual maturity. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are old, but certainly, as far as their spirituality is concerned, they are mature, not necessarily old in years. So he called the elders of the church, and Paul wanted to speak to the elders and warn them about grievous wolves. Verse 28 says this: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock.” Now, if the Christians in the church at Ephesus were like sheep, they were a flock, then these elders must also have been shepherds. So you’ve got the idea of these men being elders and being shepherds: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.”
These are three different ways of describing these men. They are elders, they are overseers, and they are shepherds. As such, they feed the church of God. Remember, that’s a way of describing a local assembly. Their responsibility was to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with the blood of His own. “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” These shepherds have a very important role to play.
Now there’s more to say about them. In 1 Timothy 3, remember, 1 Timothy is an epistle that deals in particular with the local assembly. It describes it as the household of God. One of the things that Paul wants to emphasize to that local church is the importance of shepherds, elders, overseers. Look at 1 Timothy 3. Verse 1: “This is a true saying: If a man desire the office of a bishop…” Now there’s the good old authorized version (KJV 1611). We don’t use those words that are in common use. It will be off with our heads. So this is not really the word bishop. That was a word that was in use in the Church of England in 1611. The word that you have here is simply the word for an overseer. So if any man desires the office of an overseer, any man aspires to exercise oversight, then that individual desires a good work.
There’s no thought of some sort of official office here at all. The term office is not in the Greek. It’s somebody who desires to exercise oversight in God’s assembly. Paul says that’s a work, and if he desires that, well, he desires a good work.
So, verse 2: “An overseer then must be blameless.” If he’s married, he must be the husband of one wife. He must be vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt or able to teach. He doesn’t necessarily have to be public or platform teaching; it might be one-to-one teaching, but he’s able to teach the Word of God. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, and so on.
Just look at verse number 5. He talks about having his own house and his own children in subjection so he can oversee his own household well. For if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? This individual can’t be a novice, so not a recently saved individual, lest being lifted up with pride, he falls into the condemnation of the devil.
Now, I have one more scripture I want to read: 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. I’ll give a moment for all of you to find it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. What Paul is doing just towards the end of this chapter is describing for us a good, spiritual, and healthy local church. This is very helpful to us tonight as we’re thinking about the maintenance of the assembly.
So, verse 12: “We beseech you, brethren, know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you.” So here are those elders. He says, “Esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake, and be at peace among yourselves.” Now we exhort you, brethren. I think that the overseers of verses 12 and 13 will be primarily in this work of verse 14, but really, Paul is speaking to all of the saints. He says, “We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, disorderly; they’re out of step with the other saints.” There’d be a variety of reasons why. Comfort the feeble-minded; support the weak; be patient toward all. Note that.
These are the saints that you would find in the assembly. “See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all.” He describes a spiritual Christian: “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.” This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Young people who want to know what is His highest life, there it is in a nutshell: “Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.”
That’s an aspect, or three aspects, of the light of the will of God. Now, verse 19 says importantly, “Quench not the Spirit.” “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings.”
1 Thessalonians was a very early epistle. Christians were standing on their feet, those who had been given the gift of New Testament prophecy, and they were speaking directly from the Lord. Scripture was not complete. The canon hadn’t been closed. They needed direction from the Lord. A New Testament prophet would have stood and said to the assembly, “This is what the Lord says,” and they would have given a word by revelation.
Now, sadly, there were false prophets abroad, not just true prophets. The Thessalonians were worried about this, so they were treating prophecy with some disdain. But Paul says, “Don’t do that.” He says, “Despise not prophesyings.” How else will the Spirit of God speak to you?
“Despise not prophesyings, but rather,” and all those verses tie together, “prove all things, and that which is good, hold it fast.” That has to do with prophecy and the word of God being spoken. But if it doesn’t prove to be good, if it gives you the “appearance of evil,” he says, “abstain. Abstain from that.”
Now leave the reading there, and God will add blessing to the reading of His word.
So tonight, I know that a lot of reasons I know that, but that means I can just refer to them in due course, right? You know exactly what’s going on because we’ve read all these scriptures together. What we’re thinking about tonight in this meeting involves three things, but overall, it’s about the maintenance of a local assembly.
And what we’re thinking about is this: How does a local assembly achieve and remain in good spiritual health? That’s what we’re interested in. I’m going to suggest to you tonight, just for the purposes of this meeting, that there are three things that will maintain an assembly in good spiritual health.
These are the three things: the activity of the Spirit of God. We’re going to think about that, especially in relation to spiritual gifts. I’m sure it’s clear tonight from the scriptures that we’ve read. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you have been given spiritual gifts. It is your responsibility to use them. It is your responsibility to exercise them for the benefit and edification of this assembly. So I hope you know what you’re gifted in, and I hope you use it. That will lead to a very healthy local assembly.
So we’re going to speak about the Spirit of God and His gifting ministry. Then we’re going to talk about these men. Love them all, honorably. But Scripture says you should love them, and Scripture says you should esteem them very highly. We’re going to speak about these men that the Holy Spirit has appointed— a plurality of men. Scripture knows nothing about a one-man pastor system in a local church, but rather the Holy Spirit appoints a plurality of men who have the spiritual oversight of an assembly.
So we’re going to talk about the Spirit of God and His gifting ministry. We’re going to talk about shepherds, because that begins with an “S,” but they’re also elders and overseers, right? We’re going to talk about shepherds and their government in the local assembly. If they are doing their work effectively, then the assembly will be in good spiritual health.
If you’ve got my points on the Spirit of God and His gifting ministry, shepherds, and their government of the assembly—one more thing: Scripture. Don’t forget that if the assembly is going to be in good spiritual health, it must be founded upon, must love, and must be obedient to the Word of God. So we’re going to talk about Scripture, and we’ll talk about the fact that Scripture guides us as to our behavior and how the assembly should operate.
So, that’s what we’re discussing when we talk about the maintenance of an assembly. Now, don’t forget this, will we? Don’t forget this. An assembly is only as strong as the sum of its parts. What do I mean? The assembly, corporately, collectively, as a whole, is only as strong as every individual believer that makes it up.
So if you say to me tonight, “Well, the assembly to which I belong, I’m not so sure it’s in good spiritual health,” just stop. Are you in good spiritual health as an individual? You see, don’t go talking about the spiritual health of the whole—the corporate assembly—if you yourself are not in good spiritual health.
Also, I’d say that’s something for individuals to consider. And to be quite plain tonight and blunt, if you think that the assembly is not quite up to scratch and the assembly is just not spiritually healthy as you would like, before you start pointing fingers at other people, point the finger at yourself. Because if you want the assembly to be spiritually healthy, it has to be made up of spiritually healthy individuals. That’s an important thing to do.
So here is one of the absolute foundations of a good spiritual assembly. Now, this is why I turned you to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. What Paul is doing in these latter verses, and we love these verses definitely because they’re very short, right? They’re punchy. You almost think at the end that Paul is just punching out exhortations, commandments to the assembly, and he’s running out of papyrus on which to write.
He wants to exhort them about so much; he better just put these down. In actual fact, they all run into one another. What Paul is doing at the end of 1 Thessalonians 5 is describing a good, healthy, spiritual assembly.
You’ll notice that he does speak in verse 12 about shepherds. We’re going to come to those in a moment, but he mentions them. He says you should know, you should recognize those that labor among you, that insert themselves among you, and have the spiritual oversight of things in the Lord. Sometimes they admonish you. Sometimes they warn you. They are there for your spiritual benefit and blessing.
Verse 13: “You make sure that you hold them in the highest possible regard and respect.” While they keep watch over your souls, I don’t think you appreciate the elders in the assemblies to which you belong. I think you ought to take time to thank them for what they do, for they often endure “thankless” sleepless nights, exerting themselves hour after hour, day after day, just to look after the assembly, and you may know nothing about it.
Paul says, “I want you to hold them in the highest regard and respect.” The next point is this: he starts to talk about the saints. Aren’t saints awkward? Look at what he says about them in verse 14. “Now we exhort you, brethren.” This isn’t just those overseers that we’ve been speaking about, but actually this is all of the saints. We all have a responsibility in this.
He says some of them are unruly and undisciplined. You’ll need to warn them. He says some of these saints are feeble; you will need to comfort them. He says some of the saints are spiritually weak, and you’ll need to support them or hold them tight. He says some of them really try your patience; so be long-suffering toward all.
Let me put it another way: don’t be irritable and upset when they act foolishly. Instead, be patient with them. We are a funny bunch, aren’t we? A saint that belongs to one saint. But Paul isn’t removed from reality, is he? This is what the assembly of Thessalonica was like 2,000 years ago. These are the kinds of saints that were in that assembly.
Paul says we need to be kind and compassionate. But what’s the key to strengthening? This is my point. We’re thinking about the guidance of Scripture in a local assembly. That will maintain us in a healthy state. Look at what he said in verse 19: “Quench not the Spirit.” He’s spoken about shepherds; he’s spoken about the saints; now he’s speaking about the Spirit and the Spirit in regard to Scripture.
He says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” This is essential. You know that Ephesians 4 speaks about the Spirit of God, and we are not to grieve Him. The Spirit of God is a person. He’s a divine person. He’s an individual. He indwells every single one of us. As a person, you can hurt His feelings. Ephesians 4 says, “Don’t grieve the Spirit.”
Now that’s individual. And we can grieve Him when sin enters our lives. Here, Paul says, corporately as an assembly, you must not quench Him. What’s the idea? The idea is that the Spirit of God is in our midst as the assembly gathers, and Paul is presenting the Spirit of God now under the figure of a flame.
He says the assembly, by the way it behaves, can extinguish that flame or can stifle the activity or the manifestation of the presence of the Spirit of God. You can affect that adversely. This is a serious matter.
I’m sure as a believer, you have been in meetings where you have felt a real sense of the Spirit of God present. Whether that’s in a preaching of the gospel, a prayer meeting, or a teaching meeting, you have felt a real sense of the Spirit of God moving and speaking. Sadly, it doesn’t happen as often as it should. Why not? Because we can quench it.
We can stifle His activity among the saints. We say, “Well, we wouldn’t want to do that. How can we avoid doing that?” That’s what Paul goes on to say. He says, “Now listen, do not despise these prophets.” So these Christians in Thessalonica, they were treating New Testament prophets with low appreciation or even suspicion.
You understand, because I’ve said this already, the word of God was not complete. Very, very little of the New Testament had been written. Some of it had been passed on, the teaching of the Lord Jesus, for example, in the Apostles’ Doctrine. That had been passed on by word of mouth, by tradition, but much more was needed to build up and establish these assemblies in the truth of God.
God, as part of the gifts that He gave, gave prophets and evangelists. These were men who would stand on their feet in the assembly gathering and, as moved by the Spirit of God, would say, “I have received a word from the Lord,” and they would give that word to the saints.
Sadly, false prophets were coming in too, and they were saying the same kind of thing: “I have received a word from the Lord, and this is the word.” The Thessalonians were distressed; they were worried. Was this a true word from the Lord, or was this a false word pretending to be from the Lord?
Instead of listening to what the Spirit of God had to say through the true prophets, do you know what they did? They despised prophesyings. They were saying, “Don’t hear us. Just sit down and be quiet. We would rather not hear anything at all.” They were treating the word of God and the activity of the Holy Spirit with suspicion.
Paul says, “Don’t do that with the prophets.” He says, “This is what you should do instead.” Verse 21: “You should listen to what the prophet has to say.” He says, “And you should seek to prove it.” What the prophet actually gives as a word from the Lord, test it among yourselves. Test it by what Scripture has already been given. He says, “Prove all things; and that which proves to be good, hold it fast.” Stick to that like glue. It’s genuine. Embrace it wholeheartedly. Possess it. Keep it.
But he says, “And everything that appears to be evil, that which fails the test of the revealed word of God, abstain from that.” But you see the emphasis? If we want the Spirit of God to be active among us, then the words of God must have a good place in our assembly. The Spirit of God, who has given us spiritual gifts, must be encouraged. Those gifts must be used.
It must never be despised. If those things are done, the Spirit of God will show us the strength and power of His presence. Amen.
You say, “We don’t have prophets today.” I’m impressed. We don’t have prophets today. New Testament prophets was a gift that was given for the foundation of the church. Once the word of God was complete, there was no need for New Testament prophets. There was no additional revelation to be given. The revelation was complete.
So you say, “How today do we test all things? How today do we hold fast to what is good?” Well, today you don’t get prophets, but you get teachers. Here’s one.
Now, I’m not here, of course, to teach you what’s right and what’s wrong. But by the way, that’s exactly what a false teacher would say too. So what do you do? You don’t just accept whatever a teacher says without reservation. You test what I’m preaching and teaching to you tonight. You take it to your own home and submit it to the test of the Word of God. What proves to be good, hold fast; what proves to be evil, you reject. That is why the shepherds are here: to protect the flock and to ensure that individuals on the platform teach what is good. Anything that’s found to be evil, you should turn away from.
If you want to experience the power of the Spirit of God among us, then elevate the word of God in your assembly. The obedience to the word of God will ensure that the assembly is in good spiritual health.
Let’s go back to these shepherds. This is point number two. Remember we read it in Acts chapter 20. We read it in 1 Timothy chapter 3. We’re speaking now about the government that God has put in every local assembly. Not only does He guide local assemblies by Scripture, but there is a government, a Holy Spirit-established government in every local assembly, and they are comprised of what Scripture calls “shepherds.”
Now, if you’re not in 1 Timothy 3, I recommend you turn to 1 Timothy 3 because I want to draw your attention to just a verse or two. Paul says, “This is a true saying: If a man desires the office of a bishop, if he aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work.” So what we’re being taught from Acts chapter 20 and 1 Timothy 3, and a number of other passages, too, is that the affairs of a local church are guided by a plurality of Spirit-identified and Spirit-equipped overseers.
Paul says if there is an individual who aspires to exercise that oversight, he desires a good thing. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? By the way, the only result of a person desiring that is not some kind of official position. There are no badges given out for those individuals.
Rather, it is a labor. You see what Paul says in that verse? He desires a good work. The word for work has the idea of laboring and toiling to the point of exhaustion. Do you still aspire to it? Paul says if there are individuals who aspire to do the labor and toil of spiritual oversight of the assembly, he is aspiring to something honorable.
You say, “What do these individuals do?” Well, primarily in verse number 5, “They take care of the church of God.” Isn’t that a lovely description? That they are taking care of the local assembly. By the way, that’s the same word used in the account of the Good Samaritan.
Remember the Good Samaritan? The Good Samaritan traveled right to where that man was who had fallen among thieves. What did he do to him? He was helping him. He poured in the oil and the wine, and he put him upon his own beast, and he carried him to the inn, and he took care of him.
That’s what overseers do: they take care of the church of God. You say, “So hang on. Is it possible to work your way into this position?” No, it’s not a position. But is it possible to have a desire in your heart to do that work? Paul does say in verse 1, “If a man desires an office in a very strong way, if a man strives after this work…” Let me tell you—this desire is not self-centered ambition.
It’s not like, “I want to do this work because then I will have a say in the affairs of the assembly and will be able to tell the saints what to do.” That’s self-centered ambition. It’s not that at all. You see, this strong desire—this striving after the work—is not a self-centered ambition.
It is a Spirit-implanted compulsion. It is the Spirit of God that raises up overseers and gives the gift of shepherding. It is not the man seeking the opportunity; it is rather the office that seeks them.
If you’ve got a brother who just nudges the overseer and says, “Have you thought about me joining the overseers?”—I think I’d be pretty good at it; has it crossed your mind that maybe you should be invited? As soon as you’ve got an individual like that, they disqualify themselves immediately from the oversight of the assembly.
It’s not the man seeking the office; the office seeks the man. That is only what we need to remember. We need young men who have such an exercise and care for God’s people and their souls. We need young men who would strive to walk by the help of the Spirit of God and shepherd God’s people. That’s what we are lacking to a certain extent—evangelists, and we’re lacking teachers. But more than all of these, we are lacking godly spiritual elders.
Some of you young men, perhaps you would have spoken to taking care of the church of God. Is there anything that has more dignity attached to it? I’m not sure—
Let me describe these men very briefly. You all know there are two principal terms that describe them. They are overseers and they are elders. And there are two primary responsibilities that they have: they are shepherds towards the saints, and they are stewards of God’s people.
So let’s think about these two principal terms very briefly. They are called overseers; that’s a word we have here in verse 2: “An overseer then must be blameless.” I keep referring to them as overseers. You say, “What exactly does that mean?”
Well, that describes the spiritual ministry or the duty of these individuals. In fact, that word for overseer is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe an individual who was overseeing a building project. It’s like the foreman who casts his eye over everything going on in the building project. He has an eye set on fitting quality and behavior to ensure that everything that is going on is to a fitting and correct standard.
An overseer is just watching over the activity of the assembly. They’re not looking for faults necessarily, but they are looking to see that the saints are displaying fitting behavior and that what is going on is of a fitting standard.
But the assembly that is being built—1 Corinthians 3—says, “If any man build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones”—not wood, hay, or stubble. So the local assembly is a building project. These overseers are just watching over the assembly that everything going on is of a fitting quality.
They are also called elders. Now, that doesn’t describe their spiritual ministry or duty so much. The word elder describes their spiritual maturity and dignity. The word elder has the idea of fatherly oversight.
In fact, it’s a word that goes all the way back to the Old Testament. When God’s people had come out of Egypt through the Exodus, Moses appointed certain elders over the people of God. These individuals had a fatherly oversight of the tribes and of the nations.
So here are individuals who, as far as their duty is concerned, they oversee, but as far as their dignity is concerned, they are older. They don’t have to be old in terms of age, but certainly, their spirituality is of such maturity that they can do that. That’s why they’re called elders.
Now, if that’s how they’re described, you ask, “What about their responsibility?” I’ll just mention this, and then we’ll get into spiritual gifts. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. Their shepherds. That’s part of their responsibility. As shepherds, they’re standing before the flock. As shepherds, they are leading the flock as examples to them.
As shepherds, they must know the flock. As shepherds, they must feed the flock. As shepherds, they must protect the flock. That includes preserving the unity of the assembly. Remember the Lord Jesus in Matthew 9? By the way, Christ is the great shepherd of His sheep. He is the good shepherd. Shepherds in our local assembly are under-shepherds, under Him who is the great shepherd.
Remember the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 9, when He saw the multitude, He looked on them with compassion, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, and He sought to bring them back together as one flock and unite them again. That’s what shepherds do—they’re interested in the spiritual unity of the flock.
If you take it to John 10, “I am the good shepherd.” The good shepherd gives His life for the flock. Here are individuals that don’t just know the sheep; they will protect the sheep, and they will be willing to sacrifice for them, even to the point of death.
And they’re not just shepherds towards the saints. Here’s one that’s often forgotten: Titus chapter 1. They are stewards of the Lord. You say, “What is that?” Paul says in Titus 1, “An overseer must be blameless as the steward of what?” They are administrators. They are overseers of what belongs to God. They have a responsibility to watch over it. Isn’t it a dignifying thing?
Now before I get to the gifts, let me show you Hebrews chapter 13. So those of you here tonight who are saints—who are part of the flock and not overseers—remember you are responsible. “Obey them that have the rule over you.” You say, “I knew it. They want to keep a big stick over me and just beat me.” It’s nothing like that at all.
Hebrews chapter 13: “Obey them that have the rule over you.” Literally, “Obey those that stand before you.” They must be the best spiritual example, and you are so persuaded by their manner of life and Christian living that you willingly yield to their kindness. It’s spiritual; it’s wise.
Obey them that have the rule over you. Now, I spent a lot of time going through that because, without those leaders and without the reciprocal and right response from the flock, we will not have a strong local assembly.
Now, those are these. What about the gifts of the Spirit of God? We thought about the guidance of Scripture. We thought about the government of shepherds. I want to talk to you about the gifts of the Spirit.
Now again, in the time that I have left, here comes a whole load of information. You take away as much as you can, and if you want more, I’ve got plenty of writings on this, including good quality paper, which everybody loves, a good diary to write things down. I have this material you just ask me for.
Now, let’s talk about the gifts of the Spirit. I’ve said already, and I’ll say it again, every single believer in the Lord Jesus has a spiritual gift. You say, “Define it for me. What exactly is a spiritual gift?” Well, the word in Greek is “charisma,” right? I’ve got bags of charisma, yes?
You’ve heard before of the charismatic movement. They should never have used that word. The word “charisma” comes from “charis,” which means grace. That’s just the Greek word used for a spiritual gift. When you talk about the charismatic movement, what it means is here is a group of Christians or a movement of Christians emphasizing—and may I say overemphasizing—spiritual gifts.
It is the word “charisma.” You say, “What does it mean?” Well, grace is its very center. So it’s a spiritual gift. Charisma denotes gifts given by the grace of God. You cannot earn spiritual gifts. If you long in your heart to be a teacher, you cannot earn that gift. You cannot merit that gift. If the Spirit of God hasn’t given you the gift, you haven’t got it.
It is something that is freely given by grace. If you read those various passages, you will find the Father gives gifts, the Son gives gifts (that’s Ephesians 4), and the Spirit of God gives gifts. Spiritual gifts come from the Godhead.
So if you don’t like the gift you’ve been given, don’t complain about it elsewhere. These gifts come from God Himself. We call them spiritual gifts because, and this comes from 1 Corinthians 12:7, they are manifestations of the Spirit. So gifts are Spirit-endowed, Spirit-enabled abilities. That is how you can see the evidence of the Spirit of God in a believer.
Not only does He produce fruit, but the gift given to that believer is a manifestation of the Spirit of God within them. So you do understand this, don’t you? Spiritual gift is not a natural gift, which has just been set apart for the work of the Lord. You say, “Naturally, I’m a brilliant football player. Can I devote that natural gift to the work of the Lord?” Well, it’s very difficult to find out! The Spirit shall give, and the Spirit will give.
When did you receive the Spirit? When did you sign? At that moment, when you believed, you were given gifts. You didn’t know what it was, but He gave you gifts. As you exercise them, they are manifestations of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. Isn’t that wonderful?
Here’s what I think: we’re going to have to open one thing: it’s a big one. If you go to Ephesians 4, and you go to 1 Corinthians 12, and you go to Romans 12, and you look at the various lists of gifts, I am not sure that they are exhaustive. There are probably others.
But if you look at the lists of gifts that are given, I think that Paul gives us 20 different spiritual gifts. Now, Peter in 1 Peter 4 divides all the gifts into two categories. He says some of them are speaking gifts, like the evangelist—who will emphasize public speaking, the preaching of the gospel, and discussing the gospel with individuals. What about the teacher? That’s a speaking gift, too.
Here is an individual that communicates to God’s people the Word of God. What about an exhorter? Oftentimes, an exhorter is someone who stirs up the spirit. He encourages the saints through the communication of words. Peter says, of all those gifts, some of them are speaking, while all the other types of gifts are serving gifts; you don’t necessarily have to say anything to them.
He says, “It’s what you do.” You take action, ministering to others. Peter divides those gifts, and he says, “Look, you just divide them into those that are speaking and those that are serving.”
You can also divide— forgive me for saying this—gifts not into two, but into three groups. Some of those 20 gifts were revelatory gifts. We’ve already spoken about them. Especially in the early days of the church, when the Word of God was not complete, and God was doing such a new work through the church, and God’s people needed establishing in truth. There were certain gifts that revealed the Word of God.
We do not find these in the church today. God’s revelation is complete. Thank you! If anyone ever says to you, “I’ve received a word from the Lord; God has given me new revelation,” they are telling lies. The revelation is complete, but that was the case then.
So those revelatory gifts, like apostles and prophets, are not in operation today. There were also confirmatory gifts; you can call them, if you like, sign gifts. These were gifts God gave to confirm He was doing something new.
The preaching of the gospel and calling out the Gentiles from the nations to build the church offered a clear message that God had put Judaism to one side and finished with it. That means He was doing something new.
Whenever God does something new in Scripture, whether it’s Moses, Elijah, Elisha, the Lord Jesus, or the apostles, it is always marked by miraculous signatures. Healing, for example. Think about speaking in tongues, speaking languages not learned before by the individual. Those were confirmatory gifts God gave to show He was doing something new.
But today, we’re almost at the end of a project. There’s no need for revelatory gifts or confirmation. So, those are two categories. You say, “What are we left with?” We’re left with what I call contemporary gifts. I think there are some gifts that are contemporary today.
In fact, I suggest to you that there are 10 spiritual gifts that are contemporary to today—three of them are speaking gifts, and seven of them are serving gifts. I would expect, therefore, that the majority of believers have serving gifts rather than speaking gifts.
You say, “I’d love to know what they are.” Your wish is my command. Those speaking gifts—of course, there’s the evangelist; the evangelist deals in the salvation of souls. So do we all, but he is particularly gifted by the Spirit of God to communicate the gospel.
He speaks to individuals and makes inroads where the rest of us would just flounder. The evangelist is somebody who deals in the salvation of souls. Literally, he or she is a good news person.
You don’t have to stand on a platform like this to be an evangelist; you can be doing it with next-door neighbors. You can be a person who is tremendous at speaking to individuals you meet on a daily basis.
What about the teacher? The teacher is somebody who gives sustenance from the Word of God. The evangelist deals with the salvation of souls; the teacher gives sustenance from the Word of God.
Then there is the exhorter. The exhorter is an individual who stirs up the spirit; literally, he is a consoler. He kindles the fire within the saint. I’ve got to say he “winds” them up, but that might sound negative.
He really stirs them up to action as they exalt. Three contemporary—those are speaking gifts. Let me just tell you three contemporary serving gifts.
I love these! Everyone’s favorite gift— I want you just to shout out some gifts. Most of you would have said evangelist and most of you would have said teacher. Everybody’s favorite gift from those two was this: the gift of helps! That was it, wasn’t it? That’s what you were thinking about! I mean, not all blank faces!
The gift of helps! That’s a great gift, isn’t it? If you don’t fall into any other category, well, maybe I’m a helper. Do you know, I think the gift of helps is true and real!
You read about that in 1 Corinthians 12. Here’s an individual who supports the struggling. The gift of helps is a person who is particularly enabled by the Spirit to help others in times of need. The word literally means to lay your hand upon. Now, you’re not slapping them or anything; you’re laying your hand upon them in order to remove a burden from them.
“I come in just a little bit to help you with that difficulty that you have. I’m going to bear that burden for you.” That’s the gift of helps! Isn’t that lovely? There are saints who are particularly sensitive to needs, like my wife, for example. She can see the burdens that others are bearing. I, on the other hand, might miss them altogether.
But there are some who can see the burdens and possess that gift to be able to come alongside and bear that burden for someone else. Isn’t that lovely?
Romans 12:1 speaks about the gift of helps. Romans 12 also speaks about the gift of ministry. This is now not so much supporting the struggling; this is now serving the saints.
That’s what ministry means. Maybe you have got the gift of serving the saints. I’m thinking now of a believer in the assembly where I come from who certainly has the gift of ministry. He is constantly serving the saints. In fact, he’s more concerned about serving others than thinking about himself, whether it’s material needs, hospitality, lodging, or food; he’s constantly serving others.
We should all be serving, but there are some who are particularly enabled by the Spirit to do so. Showing mercy is also mentioned in Romans 12. Why all these gifts to God?
Helps, beautiful. Ministry, so meaningful. Showing mercy—individuals, who comfort the sorrowful, characterized by their kindness. I feel very fond of that one! Maybe that is where they want to be a teacher! The children will cry and say, “Just don’t cry for someone else. Just take care of me!”
But my kids are moaning and groaning, “Don’t moan and groan to anybody else!” I don’t seem to have much energy. What do these individuals do? If someone is sorrowful, they have particular compassion for them.
In this kind of spirit. Now, those are just three examples of certain gifts, and I’ve given you three examples of speaking gifts. I will close with this. I really want you to take this in. How has God gifted you? Stick to your gifting! Get engaged in the life of the assembly, and it will become obvious.
Peter says, “Since you’ve received it, you’ve received it to serve one another as good stewards of the glorious, multi-colored grace of God.” Use that gift to serve so that, in all things, says Peter, God might be glorified. That’s the point of gifts, isn’t it? Not so that I might look good or you look good, but the point of gifts is to build us up and ultimately to glorify God.
Meetings of the assembly
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03202024.m4aI appreciate that introduction. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. I want to do more introductions like that. Excellent style from the preacher. Well, as you said, you heard that was informative and excellent. And I know you’ve done that. Alright, well, these are the things the assembly is going to consider together tonight. There are a number of points that I want to bring before you, and we certainly will mention and develop all of the assembly gatherings that Scripture teaches us about. But there’s a principle here in the literature that I want to show and develop just a little later on. So we’re going to speak about the principle of our gathering, which will be just towards the end of the meeting. We’re looking for a principle in this particular verse: Deuteronomy 12, verse number five. Now, I know that this is under the law, and I know that God is speaking about the people of Israel and just exactly where they would meet and gather when they came into the land. But the principle stands good, and you’ll see why in a moment.
So, verse 5 of Deuteronomy 12: “But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there. Even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.” The Lord was going to choose a place, and in that place, He would establish His name. It was to that place that God’s people would gather. Later, in verse 6, “Hither you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your eve offerings of your hand, your lambs.” And all of those things—they couldn’t just offer them wherever they wanted to; they had to bring them to the place where God had established His name. That place, right at the beginning when they came into the land, was a place called Shiloh. But later on, of course, it became Jerusalem. And so, where the temple was built in Jerusalem, that was the place of the name. It was the place where God’s people used to go in order to worship Him.
Now, of course, in Matthew’s Gospel—and you know, I’m sure, where I’m going to read—Matthew chapter 18 has the same kind of principle, but now in the New Testament and in relation to our Christian traditions. Not the Old Testament, not Judaism, not Israel, but the church now. Matthew 18 and verse 20: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” That, using similarity to these times, is gathering unto the name—not this time the name of God as such, or the name of Jehovah, but now it is the name of the Lord Jesus. And now this gathering to His name is not just in one single place, as it was in the Old Testament from Jerusalem. But now, actually, says the Lord Jesus, wherever two or three have been gathered together. He says, “There am I in the midst of them.”
So this is not just a New Testament principle; it has its foundation in the Old Testament, and we do want to talk about that principle of our gathering later on. Now let’s just turn to Acts chapter 4.
First of all tonight, I want to talk to you about the purpose of our gatherings. For what purpose and what reason do Christians gather together on an open Sunday? Now, you know I’m sure that the Book of Acts tells us of seven different local church gatherings. There’s also an eighth one, which is in First Corinthians, so I’ll mention all of them, and we’ll turn to them just as we get to them. But in Acts chapter 4 and verse 31, it says, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.” That’s the key word. If you follow that word through, which is the Greek word sunago. And sorry for all these Greek lessons; I’ve been throwing Greek words at you all of these nights. But that word sunago, which is translated here as “assembled together”, has the idea of people collecting together for a particular purpose.
On this occasion, in Acts chapter 4, Christians have been assembling together for prayer. So, here is our mandate for the local assembly prayer meeting, and it says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Now we will look forward to this, but let’s cover it with chapter 11, verse 25: “Then he parted Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.” And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church. Now there’s the word again: to gather together. A company of Christians, a company of believers is gathering together for a specific purpose. You say, “What’s their purpose this time?” Well, prayer is not mentioned this time. They assembled themselves with the church, and they taught much people. So there’s your mandate now—not for the prayer meeting, but for the Bible teaching meeting. That’s what we’re doing tonight: Christians gathering together for the teaching of the word of God.
So, we expect a local assembly to have prayer meetings, and we expect a local assembly to have Bible teaching meetings. Those are two of the seven gatherings in the Book of Acts. And it says the disciples were called Christians in Antioch. Now, one more verse I think we’ll read is in the epistle to the Hebrews—Hebrews chapter 10. I said I was going to reduce the number of points that I’m going to speak on tonight. Well, tough luck—I’ve increased it. Sorry about that. I’m not sorry at all.
We’ll talk about the purpose of our gatherings. We’ll speak about the principle of our gathering, and then right at the end of the meeting I want to talk to you about the priority of gathering together. If you go there, I’m reading verse 24. The apostle says—I’m not sure if the apostle was, but it certainly wasn’t Paul—he says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but rather exhorting one another, and so much the more as we see the day approaching.”
So that must be, wasn’t it, the priority of gathering together. We must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. That’s all we’re going to read, but I would like to please just turn back to the Book of Acts, and I want you to keep that open because I am going to take you to various references in the Book of Acts. If not, just to keep me awake, but at least it keeps you turning the pages, and you can see these various gatherings and reasons for which Christians were gathering together.
So, very simply this evening, what I want to do as I talk to you about the meetings of the assembly is I’m going to talk to you first of all—and this will take the vast majority of our meeting—I want to talk to you about the purpose of our gatherings. I hope you know, and I hope in your minds you’re not writing them down, you can think of the various reasons for which Christians gather together that are given to us in the Book of Acts. And there is one in First Corinthians. I hope in your mind you can think about the various reasons, the purposes of the gathering. Why do Christians gather together? We know they gather together to pray. We know they gather together for the teaching of the Word of God. But there are a number of other assembly gatherings that we need to see and know. So, we’re going to emphasize the purpose of these gatherings, and that will take us the vast majority of our time.
Then just towards the end of the meeting—so you’ll know when we’re getting towards the end—I want to talk to you about the great principle of our gathering. Now, that just brings great dignity and honor to our gathering. You say, “What’s the point in gathering together to pray? What’s the point in gathering together that we are tonight to teach the Word of God?” I can see some relevance, some importance, but listen: the importance of the dignity and the variety of gathering together as a local assembly is because of that wonderful principle in that verse. “Where two or three are gathered together.” You say, “Well, it makes it worthwhile, doesn’t it?” That’s why you say, “Well, yes, it’s good to pray as a company.” You say, “Yes, I need to know more about the Word of God. I like to be taught.” Let me tell you, the Lord Jesus is here. That makes every assembly ever worthwhile.
So I do want to spend a bit of time just looking at that statement in Matthew 18 and speaking about the principle of our gathering. And then finally, right at the end of the meeting—and this will just be a very light touch. It will be a little pat on the back as you are making, well, it might not be, it might be a bit more firmly. But anyway, a little pat on the back as you’re making your way out of the building. And the Hebrews says it’s about the priority of gathering ourselves together.
So first of all then, what about the purpose of our gatherings? Now, Acts 1:4, looking at verse 31: “When they had prayed,” it says, “the place was shaken where they were assembled together.” Now, I recommend that you do this. You’ve got no excuse not to do this. With all of the resources that we have at our fingertips, with all of the Bible study resources that are easily available online, or even those really old dusty things that are called books, it is possible to find a Greek word and to trace it all the way through the New Testament. And when we read in Acts chapter 4, verse 31, of the saints assembling themselves together, that is using a Greek word, sunago—S-U-N-A-G-O. I’ve got no excuse now.
Sunago, this word which describes the assembling and the gathering of Christians. It doesn’t have to be Christians, but the assembling and the gathering of people together for a specific purpose and a particular reason. And these Christians are gathering together in Acts chapter 4 for the purpose of prayer. Now, I suppose—and I know that this was before the church was formed in Acts chapter 2—but really, this goes right back to the day in which the Lord Jesus was raised in the world. You read about that in John 20. And do you remember that in John chapter 20, the disciples were tucked away in an upper room? That’s a great study, my friends. That room was a remarkable room. That is a room, actually, that bridges dispensations. I invite you to go home. I tell you that room work is building up already. I invite you to go home and have a little study of the upper room. All that took place in that room. And what all of you just taught in that room. It’s a room that literally bridges the dispensations. You’ll find it at the end of the Gospels. You’ll find it in the Book of Acts and when the church has been formed.
But in John chapter 20, on resurrection day, the disciples find themselves tucked away in the upper room. The door is locked for fear of the Jews. What happened? It says when they were assembled together on the first day of the week. That’s why Sunday—the first day of the week—became so significant to Christians—because it was the day in which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. The first day of the week. And there were those disciples tucked away in that upper room for fear of the Jews. And as they were sunago, assembled together, He appeared right in their very midst and said, “Peace be unto you.” Isn’t that a wonderful day? Constantly slow, physically, mid-jump, on resurrection ground, right in the middle of His disciples as they were gathered.
I don’t think this is any different in the 70s. I know that Christ physically, literally, is in heaven and in the moment. Isn’t that wonderful that 2,000 years later—and maybe this isn’t an upper room, but it’s like an upper room—here are Christians gathered together. A wonderful thing is Christ is here in this assembly. Everything that you do, everything that you say as Christians now. So as you follow that word through, you’ll find seven times in the Book of Acts, seven times Christians are gathering together for different reasons, and we want to talk about these meetings of the assembly and the purpose for which they gathered together.
Let me make one broad general statement, and I hope it doesn’t upset anyone. Every time we read of a Christians gathering, every single one of those gatherings was for all of the assembly. Now, the one gathering I’m speaking about is the elders’ meeting. I suppose you wouldn’t so much call that an assembly gathering because not the whole assembly is invited. But the Book of Acts tells us of occasions when the elders and overseers, the shepherds—they’re the same people—gather together for the specific and particular purpose of shepherding each other and discussing matters that have arisen in relation to the flock and the assembly. And that was a meeting gathering specifically for the elders. But on every other page, the assembly gathering was for the whole assembly. Everyone was invited. No one was excused. And in fact, everyone was expected to be there.
So that really puts an end to gathering specifically for women, and it puts an end to gathering specifically for men, because the Bible doesn’t teach that. Every assembly gathering was for the whole assembly. Now, how about Acts chapter 4, verse 32? Here is the first gathering: “When they were assembled together, they assembled together for the purpose of prayer.” Now, I said to you tonight, of all of these assembly gatherings—and we’ve mentioned a few—which of them is the most important? You would all say to me, “Brother, Daniel, you’re trying to catch me out. I know that all of these gatherings are important. I know we love the breaking of bread. I know that’s the first meeting we have on the first day of the week to remember the Lord Jesus, and that must have some significance.”
But I know every assembly gathering we have, on the basis of what you’ve just said, Christ is there. Every assembly gathering must be of equal importance. Not according to Paul. The apostle Paul says, “There is one gathering which should…” Now, by the way, that was wrong. Every assembly happens in Paul. Well, what was that? It’s interesting that Paul will emphasize, and Paul will say, “First of all,” which means first in order, first in priority. It means prayer. You know the priority. That’s what I agree with what I’m talking about.
Just turn across to First Timothy. In First Timothy, Paul describes the local assemblies as a household of God. It’s a household belonging to God. And this is what he says in First Timothy 2. Paul has a great deal to say about the local assemblies in this epistle. After he’s made his greetings in chapter 1, he comes to chapter 2, and this is the first thing that he says. Chapter 2, verse 1: “I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.” Verse 2: “For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Verse 8: “I will therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
Now, this means that the males—not just human beings, the males—they pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands. Which doesn’t mean to say that when you lead the company in prayer, you don’t need to wave your hands around; it’s metaphorical. These males that are leading the saints in prayer, they are able to, as far as themselves are concerned, lead the company in holiness and glory. And there’s a holy character that pertains to the individual. They’re living a holy life. Without those who are—that is, they don’t have difficulties or troubles or problems with other saints.
And without doubting—do not doubt that God is who asks for the prayer they’re offering. Paul is speaking about the local assembly, friends. That is the first gathering—the Christians in that local assembly gather to pray. Paul says it is of the utmost importance. And in fact, the house of God, as the context is, cannot function properly, and it cannot function effectively unless the saints have gathered. Now you go to the audience—the priority of the assembly is absolutely massive. If we don’t do anything to do, as Virginia used to say, “It’s the heart and soul of any assembly.” It’s the priority.
You say, “What are we praying for?” Oh, Paul says, “Pray for all men.” He says, “Pray for everyone. Pray for all men.” You know, the context in which he gives that is verse 4: “Because God will have all men to be saved.” That’s why we pray for them there. And because Christ is the mediator between God and men, that’s why you pray for all men. Is you what Paul’s saying? Christ has died for all. Therefore, we have a responsibility. And I know locally we have contacts in the surrounding areas; we’re not praying for everyone in the world, that’s absurd. But we’re able to pray for everyone around about us and those that we know who aren’t saved because Christ died for them. He says, “I want you to pray for all men.” He says, “I want you to pray for kings. I want you to pray for those who are in authority.” He says, “I’m not really into politics. I don’t mind praying for political parties.”
Why do you pray for them? These individuals that have authority in the lands and countries to which we belong—why do we pray for them? Well, says Paul, “So you can have a quiet and peaceable life.” No, he doesn’t say that. He says you pray for them that they might be quiet and peaceable. Why do we want a quiet and peaceable life? So that we might be able to continue to spread the gospel and preach it without interference from the government. That’s what you’re speaking about in that context. I tell you, it brings tremendous dignity, doesn’t it? Good friends! I want to say what all that occurred to you behind my son. President, remember me when you pray.
And it’s your responsibility to lead the assembly publicly and audibly in prayer. When you pray, as a public leader, you are leading the congregation. Do not pray, “Father.” You can pray “Father” when you’re at home and while you’re still. That’s “Father.” But when they’re in the assembly, you pray in the whole company. You pray, “Lord, we pray,” because this is collective and this is corporate. And after you’ve made that sin for me, the Lord speaks about that, by the way. He says, “If two or three of you shall agree on earth as concerning anything that you shall ask,” he says, “it shall be done for my Father which is in heaven.”
But he says, “You must agree on earth.” Make a symphony together. So the brother prays on behalf of all. So we must be sure that what he’s praying is going to be acceptable and commended by all. And at the end of the prayer, he will say, “Amen.” And the company will join in saying, “Amen,” won’t we? Because we’re all making a sin before God. Tremendous dignity, tremendous opportunity to see the face of the Lord in Christ.
Watch out for the information well. Don’t forget the ministry. Some saints want all the other saints to know that there’s a particular matter weighing on their hearts. They don’t know what it is, but let me tell you, during their prayer, they’re going to find out what it is. And you find out. So there’s ten-five minutes in prayer informing your saint what the issue is. Don’t forget when you’re saying that. The Father knows it all and wants to hear it from you. But you don’t inform the saints. You inform them before the prayer begins so they can all join with you in prayer.
Watch out for the innuendo prayer. Oh, the innuendo prayer is a terrible thing. That’s when you’re really digging at someone else in the meeting. If you’re not thinking about who you’re praying to, you must be careful there. “Lord, we know how important unity is. We wish we knew—or we wish our brother so-and-so knew how important unity was.” If knowing this is just to sit there and end up praying. So what do lies in? That’s mocking. Remember when you’re speaking to Him?
All kinds of prayers like that, aren’t there? We’re at the international prayer meeting. This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Some say, well, they start in the US, of course, and maybe they start in the US. Not right, Uncle, but they start in the US. Maybe all the way around the world, two or three times before they sit down. They’re not just sitting there. That’s the international prayer meeting. Now listen, there’s nothing wrong with specific prayers, and missions specifically, and issues specifically around the world. But don’t forget the person who lives next door to you; the door next door—you know, the people that live around this door? Maybe no one is praying for them. You say the war in Israel, the war in Gaza, the war in Ukraine? We should pray for those situations, so we should. Or there will be millions praying for those issues. Who is praying for your next door neighbor?
Let you know—it’s our responsibility in this local meeting to pray for those around. Throughout the whole life. When in First James, we preached in a synagogue to the Jews about Christ Jesus, the Messiah, and his resurrection. And the next Sabbath, they all gathered together to hear this message in more detail.
Look at verse 44 in Acts 13. The next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together. They came together—sunago—they assembled to hear the word of God. This is a meeting for the purpose of preaching the gospel. And I understand that there’s not a specific assembly in view here, and it doesn’t say that Christians met together. But Paul, as was his custom, had been in the synagogue. He had preached to them Jesus as the Christ. They said, “We want to hear more of this next Sabbath.” And next Sabbath, he’s not even in the synagogue; there are too many meetings. But this doesn’t tell us exactly where he was. Maybe he was outside of the synagogue, maybe he was in a public place, but the whole city, including Christians, are gathering for the purpose of preaching the gospel. And many accepted the offer of eternal life, and many believed.
Do you remember Acts chapter 2? They gladly received His word, Peter preached, they were saved, the assembly was added to. My friend, gospel preaching and gathering together for the preaching of the gospel, whether in the hall or outside of the hall, is vital and should be prioritised. You know, I’ll never forsake the preaching of the gospel. Sometimes in England, we have a very small assembly, a very small gospel meeting, and on some occasions, there are no unsaved people in the meeting. You say, “Well, do something else.” Preaching the gospel is our mandate. It’s scriptural—it honors God and glorifies His Son. If there’s no one saved in the gathering, what is the purpose of it? It encourages the saints; it builds up the saints. There may be individuals there that you think are saved and are not saved at all.
We must honour the gospel; reach the impossible; see these gatherings? We’re gathering in prayer. We’re gathering for preaching the gospel.
Look at Acts chapter 11. We’re moving a bit quicker; I know I’m going backwards. This is my personal flavour. Acts chapter 11, verse 26—we read it together. Barnabas is looking for Saul. When he found Saul, he brought him to Antioch—not now Antioch in Pisidia, the first Antioch from where they went out as missionaries. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, gathering for the purpose of teaching the Word of God that Christians gather together to teach the Word of God.
Please, can I just throw out the word to those of you who are shepherds? Shepherds have a responsibility to the flock to make sure that the flock is fed. How will they be fed? They’ll be fed by the teaching of the Word. You say, “Which bit?” Just the best we want. Just the bits we understand—mostly the New Testament, because the New Testament wrote the language? No, the whole counsel of the blood of God. Now shepherds and sheep—if you start complaining that they’re not being fed, shepherds teach the people of God the whole counsel of the Word of God.
They should be getting a diet of Old Testament; they should be getting a diet of New Testament; they should be getting a diet of good brethren, gifted brethren to teach who are taking up specific subjects. They should be getting a diet of consecutive Bible teaching—verse by verse, chapter by chapter. There should be opportunities for brethren to speak what is on their minds and hearts. No subject. There should be opportunities for handfuls of purpose—that’s what Ruth was given. The shepherds say, “There’s something that needs to be addressed here. There’s a problem that we need to address there. Let us have a ministry meeting on it.” The whole counsel of the Word of God.
When was the last time the saints were taught from the Song of Solomon? When was the last time they were taught from the servant’s song of Isaiah? When was the last time you went through Romans? Fundamental truth? Hebrews? Fundamental truth? I dare say you should have a question. Let me book in the Bible on it, and you should know that when you last visited that particular section of the Word of God, it is essential that the people of God are well-fed, well-taught, grounded and founded in all that Martha said to him, “I want him.” You know what Paul said to Timothy? He said, “Timothy, everything that you’ve heard from me,” he says, “I want you to commit that to faithful men.”
We have an outstanding heritage of truth. It’s our responsibility to see to it that the saints are well grounded in that truth, and that truth is passed on to the generations of the enemy. So they were gathering for a Bible teaching.
How long did it take? 15? Of that, verse 30. Here’s another gathering: “So when they were dismissed.” Now I’ll fill that in just a little later, but individuals are being sent away from an elders meeting and apostles meeting in Jerusalem. And when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, here is another assembly gathering in the assembly at Antioch. And this assembly was for the deliverance of the letter. There was a letter that was written by the apostles in Jerusalem. And that letter was read in the hearing of the saints of Antioch.
Verse 31: “Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation or the exhortation of that letter.” You say, “What was this gathering for?” This gathering was for the reading of the Word. Do you know what I mean? There was a letter which is recorded for us in Acts 15. It’s Scripture. There was a letter that was sent from Jerusalem, and the whole assembly was gathered together to listen to the reading of the Word. Now we have a downer of when that word was read.
The individual who was reading it was probably giving the sense or making comments about that which he had read. We’re gathering together to read the Word. Well, of course, there’s a tune—he writes a tune—he says, “Timothy, I want you to give yourself to reading.” He wasn’t saying to Timothy, “Tuck yourself away in the study, get a whole load of books down from the shelf, and just read all that.” He wasn’t saying it. He was saying in the assembly to him, “It’s essential that you read the Word of God to the people of God.” Why? What do you think about that? You can’t all read.
And I dare say to them, “I’m not going to read.” There are some saints who aren’t reading the Word. Interesting, but there was a gathering for the reading of the Word of God. I want to get it back in the Old Testament. You think about Ezra. Think about what Nehemiah 8 says of Ezra: so they read the book of the law. They read the Word of God distinctly, and they gave the sense, and they caused those who were listening to understand the reading.
Now that’s really what our Bible reading meeting should be like. It is one of those teaching meetings. But brethren who are gifted should be reading the Word of God, speaking plainly and giving the sense of what the verses and the chapters are teaching. And it’s part of the teaching of this meeting. And there should be gifted men who are able to make comments and to give the sense of what is contained therein, or at least they will lead the reading.
And so, what’s our favourite? Well, turn to Acts chapter 20, and if you’re counting, this is number 5. Acts 20 and verse 6. Luke says, “We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and came to Troas in five days, where we abode for seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples sunago gathered together.” Why? They gathered together to break bread.
I suspect that this meeting was probably in the evening of the first day of the week. I say that because a lot of them would have been working during the day. I also say that because Paul was preaching after the meeting until nighttime. But why will they gather together? They gather together, not like that one again. On the first day of the week, when Christians gather together in worship. Every meeting has an element of worship too.
But that meeting in particular—we gather together for the remembrance of the first week. Whether it’s the breaking of the bread or the drinking of the cup, we are bound together; those who have the privilege of taking those, we are bound together in fellowship. And we continue to do that on the first day of the week, every week. We continue to do it in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.
So that would be true; it’s not given any prescriptions by the running block. Even when the Lord Jesus established it in the upper room, and Paul recounts some of that detail in First Corinthians 11, he’s talking about the importance of those emblems and the fellowship that we’re displaying by taking part in those emblems. Now that meeting is characterized by many aspects of worship. We are there to remember the Lord Jesus. Worship is the adoration of a person. It’s not even so much what the person has done; it’s who the person is. The character of that person. Worship basically is what we give to God by reason of what He is in His person.
And that meeting should really be characterized by brethren or sisters singing, who are just offering up their appreciation of the charity of the Lord Jesus—the One who died here. What must the saints have to say about? Here’s what worries me about some of those gatherings—they’re so packed with anything. The Father doesn’t get much of truth about what the saints think of His Son.
I’m not decrying the sin, and those songs can help us in our appreciation of the Lord Jesus. The Father wants to hear what we love our eyes to say, and I can’t. Those meetings sometimes, they’re so full of Him, and if they’re not full of Him, they’ll bore a slate of course as they seek to see. The hearts of the saints then have much to say in that way. Stand up, it doesn’t have to be ten minutes; it doesn’t have to be eloquently briefed; it could be a word spoken—a world who just stands to his feet, stands for two sentences, and just verbally gives worship, as long as he’s appreciating the Father!
You understand the difference? We will often fall into thanking God for what He’s done, and thanking the Lord Jesus for what He did, and the blessings that we receive as a result of Calvary, but don’t make the meeting about you. And don’t fall into that habit of thanksgiving on that occasion. Thanksgiving is so true. From that meeting, I just want to remember.
I don’t know what a meeting is like here; I haven’t been at one. I do. So look out! I go to a number of those meetings and I can often have a feeling of a real burden in my soul—a real burden that the saints didn’t really want to understand. The help of the very hard progress—what must the Father of the old meeting? That’s what the meeting’s for.
Now, there are three that hold; two that are left in the Book of Acts, and there is one in First Corinthians 3. The two that are left in the Book of Acts are—and you can write down a reference, and we’ll do it later—Acts chapter 14 and verse 27 is the missionary report meeting. You’ll find that Paul and Barnabas went away on their first missionary journey. And when they completed that missionary journey, they came back to the assembly that had commended them to that service. And when they came back to the assembly in Antioch, they rehearsed. They gave a report when the saints were gathered. They reported what the Lord had been doing through them on that journey.
Well, for occasions, the missionary report meeting—it’s good for the saints to gather together when the occasion calls for it. Perhaps you have a missionary in town. It’s good for the saints to gather together to hear a missionary report. And the seventh gathering in the Book of Acts—Acts 15 and verse 6—the elders and the apostles and the elders in the assembly of Jerusalem, they called together a meeting to discuss a particular doctrinal matter. And that was whether or not the Gentiles should be circumcised—those who had believed the gospel.
And the fact that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and was going out preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, Gentiles were being saved. Should they be circumcised? Should they be obeying the law? To see how important that conference was—a serious, doctrinal matter that those elders needed to address. And then, of course, the outcome of that discussion was sent by letter to the assembly all around there—it was the elders meeting!
Now, we want all of those gatherings. We love all of those gatherings. There’s one more gathering in First Corinthians 5, and it’s the 18th. And that is a meeting for assembly discipline. An individual there who has taken them in fornication. The assembly has received that individual, because the assembly receives to the fellowship of itself. And if the assembly receives, the assembly also puts out of their fellowship. The elders will give guidance, wisdom, and direction—the assembly receives and the assembly puts out. Paul says, “I’m sorry that you’re going to have to gather.” In order that this man might be disciplined, in order that he might have power-shipping in the assembly. We don’t know what that means—well, it is one who assemblies dead.
That was most of the meeting—the purpose of our gathering. Now finally, I want to talk to you about the great principle of our gathering. This is what brings such dignity and such warmth to all of our hearts. You remember Matthew 18:20. I hope we recycle it almost on a daily basis. There’s a wonderful principle in it: remember what the Lord Jesus said. He said, “Where two or three are gathered together.” Now let me just delve you into some of the grammar of the verse. Where two or three are is the smallest possible company of believers, isn’t it? Two. That’s all it is; you couldn’t call it a company or assembly if there was one or two. So where there are two or three, He says, where two or three are having been and still being gathered together. You know that’s in the passive, which means that someone or something has operated upon these individuals to gather them together.
You say, “Do gather food.” It’s just the very principle—the root principle of all of our gathering. As a local assembly, you say, “Do you want to walk out of them?” The Spirit of God won’t. I’m sorry, you just can’t go out there and create the breaking of bread. You can’t go out there on a cruise and just create a local assembly. Because the Spirit of God established a local assembly. And in the history of this place, there will have been a movement of the Spirit of God that saw souls saved through the preaching of the gospel, and the Spirit gathered them together.
We can’t create assembly. We can’t create breaking of bread meetings; they are always associated with an established assembly. Where two or three are having been and continuing to be gathered. And they were gathered by the Spirit of God. Listen to what the Lord said; they’re gathering unto my name. You say, “Why does it say they’re gathering unto my name? Why doesn’t it just say they’re gathering unto me?” Because this was going to characterize a theory of when the Lord Jesus was multi-physically present. We gather in His name because physically He is in heaven. Physically, He’s not here. Therefore, we gather unto His name. That has tremendous significance. If we’re gathering unto His name, it speaks of His authority. He is the sole authority for our gathering; He is the sole authority in our gathering. All that we do is done with His consent, and one day it is authority; we gather for the Word of it.
It also has the idea of association, not just authority, but association. We’re not gathering in the name of Daniel Walsh; we’re not gathering in the name of Mr. Biden; we’re gathering in the name of the Lord, which means we represent Him. It means we are associated with Him, which means that we gather in consistency with who He is, His character, and His virtues and His attributes. You’re gathered in the authority and into the association of theology—to something else in you.
It also has the idea of attraction, because Christ is there. In spirit, He is like a magnet; He’s drawing us all together. He is the one that—I don’t know if I used the word—we’re all being sucked together like a magnet, but we’re all being drawn together with one another. Why? Gathering mountains in the sun!
I know you want to see; I know you want to talk to the sun; I know you want to see the sun. But they’re here because you love power! Absolutely. Where two or three are—in a particular place, they’ve been gathered there by the Spirit of God. Where two or three are, having been gathered together in the past, and they’re still gathering together under the name of Christ and all that means—He says, “I’m there. I’m there in the midst of you!”
The old thought of our presence of God. In Hebrews chapter 13 it says, “I will never, no never, no never leave you.” In that honourable problem—the presence of God—well, that’s a different one. Our presence in Hebrews chapter 13 is His comforting presence with us in the midst of trial, tribulation and suffering. He says, “I will never leave you.” He’s saying if you’re going through troubles, He’s there to comfort you. Well, that’s not the Matthew 18 presence of God. Remember, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel—the Great Commission—the Lord says, “I want you to go and make disciples.” And lo, I am with you always.
Now that’s not the comforting presence of Christ in suffering; that’s His empowering presence in service. “Go and preach, and I am with you.” You say, “What about Matthew 18?” This is the gathering of goodness. We know that comforting presence in our suffering as individuals; we know that empowering presence in our service as we go out. But the gathering presence with His Son is the promise of Matthew 18. How did you have shot him already chasing that with the doing?
If Christ is really good, I think He is. I believe He is. If Christ is really here, I want to take my say that. It should bring real dignity in my domain. Even if the preacher is horrible, I don’t want to do this. I’ll study; I’ll try and give interest. My lovely attitude, my language—dare I say, mindless.
There isn’t a beautiful government; there isn’t a dress code, but there should be dignity to the way we dress. Christ is here. Dare I say, my timekeeping? Only Christ get here when we started at Did this gathering of presence get here when the second person came into the hall? Because where two or three are? You say, “Well, after grace, we’ll speak to get here first or second so that we can enjoy the presence of Christ.” Or did He get here? I’m not trying to read it. Did His presence amongst us begin the moment that our brother stood up formally, and started that?
And will we be here until the moment the brother formally closes the meeting? It’s a gathering presence, and how shameful if we’re not here to honour that presence of your love.
And His great dignity to everything you need. So, I close with this statement: the purpose of our gathering, the principle of our hill, the priority of you! If Christ is you, I want to be. Those saints that the apostle was writing to—the Jews—they would lose. They were Christians, but they came out of Judaism, and they were being persecuted because they had left Judaism. And they were gathering together unto a rejected, despised Christ to sign with Him.
Maybe, a suffering good. Some of them were just starting to look back to an easier life. “Perhaps we should go back to a bit of Judaism; things will be much simpler for.” He says, “Listen.” He says, “Whatever you do.” You can imagine that some of those individuals would not want to gather with the Christians in a public way because of all the persecution that was associated with it. “Oh, we saw so-and-so going to that Christian gathering again?”
The apostle says, “Whatever you do, he says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner and the habit of some is.” And I hope that this hits some of you right between the eyes. What the apostle really said—he was saying, if you deliberately and persistently abandon the assembling of yourself with the Christians, you are in danger of abandoning the Lord of the sea.
But the same is, “You should make it your priority; you should build your life and your timetable around this assembly.” And it’s gathering that we forsake—not we. Priority. It’s a very global decision, wouldn’t it?
Members of the assembly
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03192024.m4aJohn chapter 1, verse 1, John chapter 1. Now, it is very good to see everyone here again tonight. Thank you for coming. I think our numbers have grown a little since yesterday evening. If the week goes on like this, we shall need another hall or open up another floor or something like that. It really is good to see folks. I know that some assemblies have made a good effort to be here tonight. We do appreciate that, and we trust that the Lord will bless us and help us as we consider His Word together.
We are thinking these nights on the subject of the local assembly. Last night, we made a distinction between the church, which is the body of Christ, and I called that the great assembly, if you will. Then we made a distinction between that and the local assembly. Now, we’re going to concentrate tonight and in the days that lie ahead on the lovely truth in relation to the local assembly. Yesterday evening, we were thinking about the meaning of the assembly, just what the word Ecclesia means, and making those distinctions. Tonight, we’re going to think about the members of the assembly, and our focus will be on local assembly fellowship. Today, we will talk about those who belong to the company of a local church.
So that’s where we have been, and that’s where we’re going tonight, and we look, as always, to the Lord to bless us and help us. So good to see you, and thank you for being here. Now, let’s turn to 1 John chapter 1. The reason for reading these verses will become evident in just a moment, but John opens up his epistle like this: he says, “…that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled.” John, of course, is speaking about the Lord Jesus, and he’s speaking about the privilege that was his as an apostle to see Christ, to look upon Him, even to handle Him with his hands.
John says he was from the beginning and that which is the Word of life. He says that the life was manifested. Christ is the life, and He was manifested. And John says, “We’ve seen Him, and we bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.” So John is communicating, as an apostle, the great privilege of being with the Lord Jesus, the one who is the very manifestation of God’s life, the manifestation of eternal life. John says, “We saw Him, we handled Him, we heard Him.” He says, “What we learned of Him, we’re now communicating that to you.”
So, in verse 3, “That which we have seen and heard, we declare unto you.” These Christians, to whom he was writing, had not had the privilege of seeing Him and handling Him as John had. John says, “I’m telling you all about this. We, as apostles, are declaring Him unto you.” Why, John? “That ye also may have fellowship with us.” Tonight, I’m going to speak to you about fellowship, particularly about local assembly fellowship. But John here is speaking about a different kind of fellowship. This is what we are going to call family fellowship.
John says to these believers, “You Christians, you believers in the Lord Jesus, you share something in common with us.” That’s the apostles. The word fellowship means to share something with someone else, whether that be responsibilities or privileges. You share something in common with another. So, John says to these believers, “You have fellowship with us, the apostles.” Right? And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you, those are remarkable statements. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus tonight, you share something in common with the apostles of old. You share something in common with John and with Peter and with Andrew, and they, in turn, share something in common with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
You might wonder, what could we possibly share in common with these apostles of old? And what can we possibly share in common with God the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ? I’ll tell you—eternal life. That’s what you share in common with those apostles of old. That’s what you share in common with the Father. And it’s all through faith in the Lord Jesus. We have been brought into the good of eternal life; it’s the life of God. Isn’t that remarkable? It’s something we share in common with those apostles of old, even something we share in common with the Father.
So here is a fellowship of sorts, and it’s the fellowship of eternal life. It’s a family fellowship, and every believer in the Lord Jesus enjoys that fellowship. Now, we will come back to that and mention it just in a moment. Let’s turn to the Book of Acts. Please turn back to the Book of Acts because we’re not talking about that family fellowship tonight; we’re talking about local church fellowship, assembly fellowship, and that is a different kind of fellowship. But still, the word means the same—something that is shared in common with others.
So, Acts chapter 2 is where we are. This is the day of Pentecost. We spoke about this yesterday evening. This was the day in which the church began; the church was formed. Peter, of course, was preaching on this day of Pentecost. In verse 37 of Acts chapter 2, now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter said unto them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For this promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Peter continued preaching. Now look at these two verses; they are vital. And again, we’ve got the mention of this word fellowship, but this is not the fellowship of eternal life. This is now a local assembly fellowship.
Look at verse 41. “Then they that gladly received his word…” So they believed the gospel; they became Christians. Their faith was in the Lord Jesus. “They that gladly received his word, they were baptized, and the same day, there were added about 3,000 souls.” Now, you understand that the souls that have been mentioned so far in the Book of Acts were 120 individuals who were meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem. Now that these 3,000 have been saved on this day of Pentecost, they are being added to the number of souls that were already gathering in Jerusalem.
Now, there were more Christians than that because, remember when the Lord Jesus appeared in resurrection? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that He appeared to 500 brethren on one single occasion. So there were more than 120 Christians at this time, but it was to the 120 who were meeting in Jerusalem that these 3,000 were added. Now, you say, that’s a huge local assembly. What did they do when they met together—for the teaching of the Word of God and the preaching of the gospel? You might say, that’s a huge local assembly, 3,120 saints. But just remember that there were a lot of people visiting Jerusalem at this time; it was festival time. It was the day of Pentecost.
So, I suspect that the vast majority of that number, in just a few days, would have been going home, and they would have been taking the gospel that they had heard preached by Peter into various other cities and regions. It’s not necessarily that they all joined the local assembly in Jerusalem. But nevertheless, listen to what the scripture says: there were added unto them after their salvation and baptism about 3,000 souls.
Now, verse 42 is very important: “They continued steadfastly.” That means they stuck like glue; they kept on. They were devoted steadfastly to the apostles’ doctrine. That is the teaching of these apostles. What they taught, they believed; they learned; they practiced. In the day and age in which we live, the apostles’ doctrine is contained within the New Testament. That is the apostles’ doctrine. It’s written down for us in black and white.
So, they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and in the fellowship; they shared something in common. Now, this time, it’s not so much eternal life that’s in view. That’s in 1 John. This time, it’s doctrine—it’s teaching that’s in view. Because these individuals shared and believed the same doctrine, they had fellowship together. So, it’s important to see the distinctions: in family fellowship—that’s in 1 John—and local assembly fellowship—that’s here in Acts chapter 2—and it’s founded on doctrine, on teaching.
You say, “Any old teaching?” No, no. The apostles’ teaching, and that’s what we have contained in the New Testament. Now, something else: that doctrinal fellowship they had was expressed when they gathered. You say, “How was it expressed?” Well, read the rest of the verse. “In the breaking of bread.” That’s not just sharing a meal around somebody’s house; in Greek, it’s the breaking of the bread. That’s the Lord’s Supper. That’s what we do on the first of every week, Acts chapter 20. And that’s what these disciples are doing now—gathering together, and as an expression of the doctrinal fellowship they have, they believe the same truth. They are going to break bread together. That’s a wonderful thing.
There might be some believers here tonight who have never had the privilege of breaking bread. You should come and observe a gathering like that—the bread, which simply represents the body of Christ given for us, and the cup that represents the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. All of the Christians—in addition to giving thanks for the person of Christ—are breaking that bread and sharing it with one another. They are passing the cup to one another, drinking of the cup, and saying, “We’re all in a fellowship. We are all sharing together the wonderful truth that Christ died for us.” We’re in fellowship with one another, those who are taking part of the bread. We’re sharing in fellowship; we’re all drinking out of the same cup. We have fellowship with God and with one another, and that fellowship is not just built on salvation; it’s built on doctrine and teaching. And that’s what this verse is telling you.
So, they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and in the fellowship, enriched by that doctrine—in the breaking of bread and in prayers. The prayer meetings of the local assembly are vital and a vital expression of the fellowship they enjoy together. I haven’t started the meeting yet; we haven’t finished the reading. But you see how important that is? Acts chapter 2, verses 41 and 42.
Now, listen, we have other verses to read, but for now, we will pause there and trust that God will add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Now, I understand, especially when I’m speaking to a large audience like this and such a varied audience, some of the things I’m saying will be very basic and simple to some, but some of the things will be completely new and different to others. Well, I ask all of you just to bear with me in some of the things I’m going to say tonight.
We’ve come to this great subject of the members of the assembly. I’m not going to go over the truth that I spoke about last night, but let me just say this: if I were speaking to you about the members of the great assembly, you remember we made that distinction. There is the church, which is the body of Christ, the great assembly. Every believer from the day of Pentecost until the rapture belongs to that great assembly. If we were speaking tonight about the members of the great assembly, it would include every single genuine believer.
They have a fellowship; every Christian here tonight has a fellowship. You say, “What is that fellowship? What do we share in common with one another?” Well, that’s what we read in 1 John 1. It is a family fellowship. We all belong to the same Christian family. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? We all share eternal life, and we share that in Christ. So, every member of the church, which is the body of Christ, is in fellowship with one another. It’s the fellowship of eternal life, and I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing.
I have the privilege of traveling around the world and meeting various Christians in various cities and countries from different ethnic origins. Most of these Christians I have never met before. But I tell you, this is something that binds us together. I might never have seen them or spoken to them, but the instant we’re together, there’s a bond between us, and that bond is in Christ. If they’ve trusted Him, they have the same Savior that I have, the same eternal life that I have. Isn’t it wonderful to be in that family fellowship?
But we’re not talking about that tonight. What we are talking about tonight is local assembly fellowship. We made the difference between the great assembly and the local assembly. Now, you say, who belongs to a local assembly fellowship? From Acts chapter 2, this is obvious. Not just those who have been saved. If you are saved, you do not have an automatic right or membership to the fellowship of a local assembly. The great assembly, yes; the local assembly, no. Because Acts chapter 2 says it was those who received the gospel, those who received the Word of God, and then they were baptized, and then they were received into the fellowship of a local assembly. And indeed, it was the same day.
Now, you say, “What was that fellowship based on?” Well, not just eternal life. That fellowship was based on doctrine; it was a doctrinal fellowship. Because they received the Word of God, then they were baptized, then they were added, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine. The fellowship they enjoyed was based upon the teaching of the apostles.
So, remember, please, and we said this last night. I’m re-emphasizing it for the purpose of this meeting. The great assembly and the local assembly are two distinct entities. Being in one does not automatically make you a part of the other. A local assembly has a clearly defined membership.
When you come to 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is speaking there about a man who has been taking part in fornication. He says this man, who professes to be a believer, is called a believer, is called a brother. But that man has been taken in immorality. Paul says he must be put outside the fellowship of the local church. There is a within and there is a without. When you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, Paul there speaks about the fellowship of the local assembly in Corinth. He speaks about people coming in to observe their gatherings, whom he calls unlearned. That is, they may well be believers, but they are not part of the company; they are not part of the local assembly. They are non-members; they’re just observers.
Paul calls them unlearned in 1 Corinthians 14. So you understand, there is a local assembly fellowship to which believers may not yet belong. Because local assembly fellowship has a defined membership. I want to ask you a question. Don’t answer this question out loud, but just in your mind: I wonder if you have the privilege of belonging to a local assembly fellowship.
I trust everyone here tonight is saved by the grace of God. And if you’re not, friend, you must be saved. I trust that everyone here tonight, if you are saved, has been baptized by immersion. That is the teaching and commandment of the Word of God. And friend, if you are saved and you’re baptized, I wonder if you have ever joined the fellowship of the local assembly. Friend, why would you not want to do that?
You see, the local church and the local assembly is the only thing today in this world that is owned by God, and it’s His direction and commandment that Christians should not only be baptized but should be joined to a local assembly, a local church gathering, and enjoy that doctrinal fellowship, the privilege of breaking bread, remembering the Lord Jesus, and collectively praying with the saints. And friend, this isn’t just any old church. You say, “Will any old church do? Will any old gathering of Christians do?”
I come from… Here’s one of those questions I said, “Don’t ask me because I’m bored of answering them.” Okay? Sorry. I come from a little town in Berkshire. You might call it Berkshire, but in England, we call it Berkshire. It’s a county in England, a royal county, by the way, because in our county, there is Windsor Castle, where not the queen, because she’s passed away, but the king, King Charles, lives at Windsor Castle. Where I live in Bracknell is just a few miles away from Windsor Castle, and we’re about 30 miles out of London. In Bracknell, which is a town of about 80,000 people, there are many, many churches—many.
But I belong to one of them. I belong to the Gospel Hall in Bracknell. Let me tell you this: I would not be happy belonging to any other church in Bracknell at all. You say, “Well, you come here, Mr. Preacher from England. Aren’t you a bigoted Christian? I bet you just look down your nose at all those other Christians in Bracknell and all those other churches in which I’m sure there are many genuinely saved good Christian people. And here you are saying, there are many churches in Bracknell, and you would only go to the one that you go to. How dare you look down your nose at these other Christians?” Not at all, friend.
If that’s what you think, you misunderstand me and what I believe. I believe this: the only thing that is owned of God today is the Church of God. And because that local assembly, the assembly of God, belongs to Him, it is only Him—God—that dictates what happens in that local assembly gathering. You say, “How does God dictate it? How does He tell me what the character and order of that church should be?” Well, He tells me in here.
So, friend, this is what I’m doing. From the teaching of the New Testament, I am looking for a local assembly that conforms as closely as possible to the divine pattern laid down in the Word of God. That’s why I go to the local assembly I do. Because I believe it’s not perfect, and neither is the local assembly here at Midland Park perfect either. You wouldn’t say you are. But I believe it is the local church that conforms most closely to the pattern of the Word of God than any other.
I want to be in a local church that pleases, honors, and glorifies God and His Son. That’s why I go where I go. Friend, don’t ever join or attend a local church out of convenience—because it’s close to where I live, because the people that go there I like, or because there’s a great brass band and I love the music. You should attend a local church because you have a conviction that it’s as close as possible to what God expects—the teaching of the Word of God. That’s pretty simple, isn’t it? I’m not bigoted, I trust; I just want to be somewhere as close as possible to the patterns.
So we’re talking tonight about the members of a local assembly. Now two things I want to say just in the time that we have left. We’re going to talk more as the nights go by. We will discuss more about the divine pattern that God has set out for New Testament assembly gathering. We’re laying these foundations, the groundwork. We’re going to talk more and more about it. But tonight we’re going to talk about who are they that have the privilege of belonging? Who are the members of a local assembly?
And there are two things I want to talk about just in the half an hour that I have left. Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself listening to an Englishman? Just two things that I want to say. Yesterday, it was three things; I realized I couldn’t squeeze it in. Tonight, two things. Tomorrow night, probably one thing. I don’t know what will happen on Thursday night. But anyway, two things—not three things, two things tonight.
Here’s what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to talk to you about fellowship, and the fact that fellowship is based on doctrine. Then, just at the end of the meeting, I want to talk to you about headship, and the fact that the members of a local assembly display headship. So, members in a local assembly are in fellowship, and it’s a doctrinal fellowship. Members in a local assembly are also bound together by the truth of headship, and they display that headship.
So, if we have time tonight, we’ll talk about those two things. Now, what about this fellowship, the doctrine that binds together Christians in a local assembly? We’ve already spoken about this, but I want you to see it again. Look at Acts 2, verse 41. If you ever showed an interest in joining yourself to the local assembly, the local church that meets here at Midland Park, and you say, “Well, I’ve read through the New Testament and I’ve seen what God says about the pattern of local assembly gathering, and I believe I’m convicted that Midland Park is as close to that pattern as you could get. I would like to join the fellowship of that local church,” or maybe you have joined the fellowship of the local church here.
What you will find is there are certain requirements that scripture lays down for joining that fellowship. Now, here’s a handy list: it’s not a list that I’ve created; it’s a list that’s here in Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 41. First of all, there was conversion. You cannot join a local church without first being converted. Acts 2:41 says that when Peter was preaching the gospel, there were some that gladly received his word. That’s the first requirement of belonging to a local church, a local assembly. These individuals were converted.
After they were converted, they made a confession of that faith. So, there’s conversion, and then there is confession. Because the Word of God says they received the Word, and then they were baptized. Without going into detail tonight, baptism by immersion—being put right down underneath the water and brought back out again—these individuals were identifying as an outward witness. They were identifying with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how it cost them, by the way.
Baptism today in our society is relatively straightforward and simple. Baptism in some societies today cost you everything; baptism in this day almost cost you your life—to disassociate yourself from Judaism, to disassociate yourself from what was once owned by God, and now to associate yourself with a person who died on a cross, shameful, made a curse. And even though Peter’s been preaching, “He’s alive from the dead and God has made him Lord and Christ,” we don’t believe he was the Messiah; he was crucified. What a shame!
Here are individuals now who are disassociating themselves from Judaism and associating themselves with a risen Christ. It cost them everything; it must have been genuine, must have been real if they were willing to go through baptism to publicly confess they belong to Christ. These individuals were converted, and these individuals confessed that they belong to Him by being baptized. So, friend, if you wanted to join the fellowship of a local assembly, then you would need to clearly and plainly tell the brethren—the shepherds who are guarding that fellowship—they don’t want grievous wolves to come in.
You would be able to tell them clearly how and when you were saved. You would be able to tell them about the occasion of your baptism. But that’s not all. There is also a creed, a doctrine, and a body of doctrine that you would need to confess. We’ve already proved that from Acts 2:42. Not only were they saved and baptized, but they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and that doctrine was the basis of their fellowship.
You say, “Why is truth so important?” Because, friend—and this is important—the local assembly is the pillar and the ground of the truth. The company of Christians that meets here at Midland Park is a beacon for the truth of God, and therefore that doctrine must be pure. You say, “I don’t know much of the doctrine; I haven’t been taught in much of the doctrine.” That’s all right. You don’t necessarily need to know it inside out, but you have to be willing to learn it, to be taught it, and to believe it.
Now, you say, “What kind of doctrine must be believed and held?” There are other scriptures that help us. For example, what John says in his first epistle. John will tell you that if you’re going to be in a local church fellowship, you cannot deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That’s one of the basics of Christian doctrine. You must be willing to confess and believe the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, that He is God manifest in the flesh (1 John 4). You would have to be willing to confess and believe that not only did the Lord Jesus come in the flesh, but He was a real man. You need to be willing to believe and confess that He’s God; His deity is found in 1 John chapter 2.
You must believe and confess that Jesus is Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified on the cross and is the Christ; He’s the Messiah. That’s John; this is the apostles’ doctrine, and everyone in that local assembly confessed and believed Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. There are other basic tenets of the Christian faith. Salvation is not by works—not even a teeny tiny bit. Salvation is absolutely and wholly through faith in a risen Christ; it’s one of the basics of the apostles’ doctrine.
Now, interestingly, when you come to 1 Timothy 1, there were two men—Hymenaeus and Philetus—who believed and taught that the resurrection was already passed, and because of that, Paul had to deal with them and put them out of the fellowship of the local assembly. So, that must be a doctrinal tenet that must be believed by all those in fellowship. And by the way, they weren’t denying the resurrection of Christ. They were saying the resurrection is, past already. What they were saying is Christians have been spiritually raised when they trusted Christ, and there’s no such thing as any other resurrection. They did not believe in the physical resurrection of believers who had died in Christ. Paul says their teaching is cancerous; it’s like gangrene; it spreads. It shakes the faith of many. He says they can’t enjoy the doctrinal fellowship of the assembly because they’re wrong in the matter of resurrection.
So, you see, friend, there are certain doctrinal matters which cannot be negotiated if you’re going to enjoy the doctrinal fellowship of a local assembly. There’s something else now; you’ve lost my list. It includes conversion, confession through baptism, a creed—certain doctrinal things which cannot be negotiated. They must be believed if you’re to enjoy in common that apostles’ doctrine. One more thing: the character of the individual is very important too.
You see, the local assembly is not just the pillar and ground of the truth; it is also a holy temple. Holy temple; God dwells there, and the Christians that belong to that local assembly fellowship have a moral standard that characterizes them. You understand that that man in 1 Corinthians 5 fell short of the moral standard. Paul says you must put him outside of the assembly for a time. It’s temporary; in order that that man may learn, may learn what’s gone wrong and put it right, and ultimately restore him to fellowship.
But in that immoral state, he could not be a part of a local assembly fellowship. You’ll need to look at this for yourself, but also in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul says this: “Anyone who is called a brother, and yet he’s characterized by covetousness, things like fraud, gambling, anyone who’s called a brother and is characterized by idolatry, drunkenness, or extortion—fraud, or by railing that is someone who constantly uses abusive, insulting, violent language—he says he’s no different from the immoral brother.” That moral state of things cannot be allowed in the assembly. He says they are put out of the fellowship of that assembly for a time until the matter’s put right, and there’s repentance, and they are brought back in.
So, friend, don’t be upset, will you? Sometimes we call it an interview; forgive us for using that sort of language. It’s not really an interview. But you say, “I’d like to join the fellowship of an assembly and have the privileges of joining them in prayer, and the privilege of breaking bread with them, sharing that fellowship.” Well, the elders will want to have a chat with you, and they’re going to be talking to you about—you understand that? They’re protecting the sanctity of this company. They don’t want grievous wolves coming in; they don’t want doctrinal leaven or moral leaven. Paul uses the word leaven in relation to doctrine and morality because it can spread. They don’t want that spreading in the assembly.
So they’ll ask you about your conversion. They’ll ask you about your confession. They’ll ask you about a creed—do you believe these truths? We believe them. They will ask you about your character of life. They’re not prying; they’re seeking to protect the morality of that assembly. I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing to belong to a local church fellowship. But just before I move on to headship and we close the meeting with headship, I want to say this: belonging to a local church fellowship means certain things. Thank you. There are unnumbered privileges associated with it. But friend, are you ready for this? There are responsibilities too—great responsibilities.
I haven’t given you a Greek lesson tonight; I gave you a Greek lesson, yes, partly. I was talking to you about ecclesia. This word fellowship in Greek is the word koinonia. Koinonia; that’s the word for fellowship. It’s very interesting that when you turn back to the gospel records, Luke chapter 5 speaks about the miracle when the Lord Jesus gave a draught of fishes to the disciples. You remember Peter; he’d been fishing all night, caught nothing. Yet in the morning, the Lord says, “Well, listen, push out into the deep, let down your nets for a draught of fishes.” That’s exactly what they did, and that’s exactly what they got. Peter sank down before the Lord and said, “Depart from me, Lord; I’m a sinful man.”
Do you know what Luke 5 says? It uses the word fellowship, and this is what it says. It says that Simon Peter was partners—he was partners in the fishing business with Andrew and John. Do you know that word partner is the word fellowship? Now, that’s not a local church fellowship, is it? That’s not a doctrinal fellowship; that’s a commercial fellowship. Peter was a partner in fishing with some of those other individuals that were called to be disciples.
Fellowship. Now, it’s a lovely illustration of what assembly fellowship is like; it requires, friend, commitment. It requires contribution. Tell me, if you shared a fishing business and a fishing boat with Peter, and every time it came to the morning or the night when you were going out fishing, and every time Peter said, “Well, you just push off, boys, and work well, won’t you? Enjoy the night, and come and bring me the proceeds of the fishing at the end of the day.”
Or Peter said, “All right, I’ll come out with you today, but listen, I’ve got my deck chair with me. I’m just going to set the deck chair up on deck; you do the hard work. You do the hard labor. I’ll just sit here and enjoy it, and perhaps I’ll point one or two things out that you should be doing.” You say we’d soon get him off the team. Fellowship is all about commitment. Fellowship is all about contribution. If you belong to a local assembly, I throw this out as a challenge to you: Sadly, about 10 or 20% of the members of a local assembly are normally found doing all the work. Shame on the other 90%. Shame on the other 80%.
Listen, local church fellowship is a commitment—hard work. No spectators, no deck chairs, no silent partners. My friend, if you belong to the fellowship of an assembly, get to work. Be committed to what they are doing. If they are having a week of ministry meetings with a strange man from England, be there, even if you don’t like him. If the assembly is going out with tracts, invitations, gospel meetings, open-air meetings, whatever they’re doing, be there. Commit yourself to the activity. There’s a responsibility to belonging to a local church, and contribute, won’t you?
We’ll come to this on Friday. A local church is used; it’s pictured under the figure of a body. A body is a strange thing; it has lots of different parts. There are fingers and hands and legs and kneecaps and hearts and bones and eyes and ears. A body has a huge number of different members, but they’re all one body—a part of one body. You need all of those members to be functioning in the right place, at the right time, doing the right job, so that the body might be effective.
Friend, if you belong to a local assembly fellowship, be committed, but contribute, because you are vital. You are vital. I don’t care how old you are—male or female, very old, middle-aged, very young. If you belong to that fellowship, you’re vital to its being effective as it works and labors in the local area.
So, fellowship—and this is a doctrinal fellowship. Now, I did want to say this, and I’ve only got about five minutes left, but in English time, 10 minutes. I want to talk to you about headship. Now, I’m bringing this in at this point because the members of a local assembly are bound together in a fellowship; they share something in common. What do they share in common? Eternal life, yes, but doctrine. That’s what we’ve seen from Acts 2. So here is a fellowship that’s displayed through the doctrine that they hold.
But this local assembly is also associated with the great principle of headship, and that principle of headship is displayed when those individuals gather together. Now, you know where we should read for this. I don’t have time, but if I had the time, I would read in 1 Corinthians 11 and also primarily in 1 Timothy 2. I want to talk to you about headship.
Christ is head, and Christ is Lord. You say, “What’s the difference?” Christ is head, and Christ is Lord. What’s the difference? Well, lordship has to do with ownership. Lordship has to do with rule. Lordship is a forced subjection, an absolute sovereignty because of the greatness of the person. Christ is Lord; He’s Lord because He’s God, He’s Lord because He’s Creator, He’s Lord because He’s Redeemer, and every knee will ultimately bow to Him. Thank God we own Him as Lord, don’t we?
We’re not forced to subjugate ourselves to Christ; we love Him. We willingly bow the knee to Him. We know what a wonderful Lord He is; but many in the world do not acknowledge His lordship. In a day to come, every knee shall bow, and that’s lordship. Headship is different, and I want us to understand this: if lordship is about ownership and rule and forced subjugation where necessary, headship is about order—not ownership, order.
Headship is not about rule; headship is about different roles that God has given—different roles to males and females, different roles even within the Godhead. You understand that it’s part of the nature and character of God, this idea of headship. So, lordship is a forced subjection if necessary, but headship is a willing submission to the different kinds of orders, roles, and responsibilities that God has given to male and female.
That’s why 1 Corinthians 11 says this: the head of Christ is God. No, no, no, it doesn’t say that; it says the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. Headship never implies inferiority and never implies inequality; it can’t because the head of Christ is God, and Christ is God.
So, you say, “What is headship?” It’s just the fact that God has given different roles and different responsibilities to males and females, and they are glorious in those roles. God has given different responsibilities and roles to His Son and to the Spirit, and that He Himself performs. But in those roles and responsibilities, there is a willing submission to authority.
It’s not inferiority; it’s not inequality; it’s a willing submission to a role that God has given. So when it comes to the local assembly, this principle of headship must be displayed, and it must be in evidence. Because God has given different functions and different roles to males and females. Now, Christ is the head of every man, but the world doesn’t own that truth, and it doesn’t recognize that truth—
The assembly does. And in the assembly, we want to display not just the lordship but the headship of the Lord Jesus. Now, I know I’m just slightly over time, but please, please, listen to this. The things that I am about to say are not calculated to cause anyone here tonight to feel uncomfortable. I just want to tell you what the Word of God teaches. It says this: that in the matter of headship, God has given different roles and responsibilities to the males in the local assembly than to the females in the local assembly.
Paul speaks about this in 1 Timothy 2, and he speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 11. In 1 Timothy 2, you’ll have to read it when you go home; it’s homework. I used to be a teacher; I can do that. But I won’t put you in detention—I’d never dare. Paul says this: males in the local assembly are to take responsibility for the leadership and the public participation of the assembly. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2, “I will that the males pray everywhere.” That’s not the general word for human beings; it’s the word for males.
So Paul is saying, “Here’s a way that you can demonstrate that the man is head of the woman, that she is in willing submission to the man, because God has given to the man a different role and responsibility. He is to lead, and that sister is to willingly submit to that leadership.” He has the right of public participation and leading the company in public audible prayer. The males must pray; that’s part of his responsibility and leadership. You say, “What do the sisters do?”
Well, they willingly submit to that leadership, but they submit as helpers. In 1 Timothy 2, it will tell you they remain audibly silent in the gathering. By their godly dress, deportment, and good works, sisters show that they are willingly submissive and contributing to the godliness of the house (1 Timothy 2). Paul says the woman is not to teach or to exercise authority over the man.
Why not? Do you know where Paul takes it to explain it? He goes right back to creation. He says, “At the beginning, at the creation, God made Adam first, and then He made Eve. The woman was deceived in the transgression, the man was not. He went into it with his eyes open,” says Paul. That was God demonstrating at the very beginning that by making the man first, He was putting him into a position of leadership and authority and that the woman was to be a helper and submissive to that authority.
You say, “She’s inferior.” She’s not at all. God made them both male and female; He called them both together—Adam. They became one; not inferior, but God—by making Adam before Eve—put the man in a position of authority. Now, that is to be seen in the assembly. How? The man takes the lead—the male prays audibly; the male teaches. But the female, she is silently submissive and does not usurp the authority of the male by teaching or by leading audibly.
Now, that’s Paul’s argument in 1 Timothy 2. It’s not sexism; it’s not misogyny. It goes back to creation. I’ve said all that, and I haven’t mentioned 1 Corinthians 11. Paul says, not only is headship displayed literally—by the way, you males in assembly fellowship, it is your responsibility to pray audibly. Did you hear that? It’s your responsibility to lead the company—it’s your responsibility to contribute audibly. In fact, if you don’t contribute audibly, it’s as serious as a sister standing up and not being silent.
You say, “If a sister stood up and started to pray, we’d be up in arms.” And yet how many brethren do not take part audibly? That’s headship; it must be displayed literally. 1 Corinthians 11 shows how it’s displayed symbolically. You say, “How symbolically?” That headship and submission to authority is displayed in the local assembly symbolically because the males do not cover their heads; they do not. They’re giving glory to their head, who is Christ.
But the sisters, on the other hand, read 1 Corinthians 11, cover their heads; they wear a symbol on their heads of being under authority. It’s a beautiful display of God’s order—not inferiority, God’s design—God’s local assembly. What a privilege to be members of that assembly. I’ve said enough. God will bless His Word. Let’s just pray.
Spanish
Juan capítulo 1, versículo 1, Juan capítulo 1. Ahora, es muy bueno ver a todos aquí de nuevo esta noche. Gracias por venir. Creo que nuestro número ha crecido un poco desde ayer por la tarde. Si la semana sigue así, necesitaremos otro salón o abrir otro piso o algo así. Realmente es bueno ver a la gente. Sé que algunas asambleas han hecho un buen esfuerzo para estar aquí esta noche. Lo agradecemos, y confiamos en que el Señor nos bendecirá y nos ayudará mientras consideramos Su Palabra juntos.
Estamos pensando estas noches en el tema de la asamblea local. Anoche, hicimos una distinción entre la iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo, y la llamé la gran asamblea, por así decirlo. Luego hicimos una distinción entre eso y la asamblea local. Ahora, vamos a concentrarnos esta noche y en los días venideros en la hermosa verdad en relación con la asamblea local. Ayer por la tarde, estuvimos pensando en el significado de la asamblea, en lo que significa la palabra Ecclesia, y haciendo esas distinciones. Esta noche, vamos a pensar en los miembros de la asamblea, y nos centraremos en la comunión de la asamblea local. Hoy hablaremos de los que pertenecen a la compañía de una iglesia local.
Así que ahí es donde hemos estado, y ahí es donde vamos esta noche, y esperamos, como siempre, que el Señor nos bendiga y nos ayude. Me alegro de verles, y gracias por estar aquí. Ahora, vayamos al capítulo 1 de 1 Juan. La razón para leer estos versículos se hará evidente dentro de un momento, pero Juan abre su epístola así: dice: “…lo que era desde el principio, lo que hemos oído, lo que hemos visto con nuestros ojos, lo que hemos contemplado y han palpado nuestras manos”. Juan, por supuesto, está hablando del Señor Jesús, y está hablando del privilegio que tuvo como apóstol de ver a Cristo, de mirarlo, incluso de tocarlo con sus manos.
Juan dice que era desde el principio y que es la Palabra de vida. Dice que la vida se manifestó. Cristo es la vida, y El fue manifestado. Y Juan dice: “Nosotros le hemos visto, y damos testimonio y os mostramos esa vida eterna, que estaba con el Padre y se nos manifestó”. Así que Juan está comunicando, como apóstol, el gran privilegio de estar con el Señor Jesús, el que es la manifestación misma de la vida de Dios, la manifestación de la vida eterna. Juan dice: “Le vimos, le palpamos, le oímos”. Dice: “Lo que aprendimos de Él, ahora os lo comunicamos”.
Así que, en el versículo 3, “Lo que hemos visto y oído, eso os anunciamos”. Estos cristianos, a quienes él estaba escribiendo, no habían tenido el privilegio de verlo y manejarlo como Juan lo había hecho. Juan les dice: “Os lo declaramos. Nosotros, como apóstoles, os lo declaramos”. ¿Por qué, Juan? “Para que vosotros también tengáis comunión con nosotros”. Esta noche voy a hablarles acerca de la comunión, particularmente acerca de la comunión en la asamblea local. Pero Juan aquí está hablando de una clase diferente de compañerismo. Esto es lo que vamos a llamar compañerismo familiar.
Juan les dice a estos creyentes: “Ustedes cristianos, ustedes creyentes en el Señor Jesús, tienen algo en común con nosotros”. Esos son los apóstoles. La palabra compañerismo significa compartir algo con otra persona, ya sean responsabilidades o privilegios. Compartes algo en común con otro. Entonces, Juan les dice a estos creyentes, “Ustedes tienen comunión con nosotros, los apóstoles”. ¿Verdad? Y verdaderamente, nuestra comunión es con el Padre y Su Hijo, Jesucristo. Ahora, déjenme decirles, esas son declaraciones notables. Si usted es un creyente en el Señor Jesús esta noche, usted comparte algo en común con los apóstoles de antaño. Usted comparte algo en común con Juan y con Pedro y con Andrés, y ellos, a su vez, comparten algo en común con Dios el Padre y Su Hijo, Jesucristo.
Tal vez te preguntes: ¿qué podríamos tener en común con estos apóstoles de antaño? ¿Y qué podemos tener nosotros en común con Dios Padre y con Su Hijo Jesucristo? Les diré: la vida eterna. Eso es lo que tienen en común con esos apóstoles de antaño. Eso es lo que tienen en común con el Padre. Y todo es a través de la fe en el Señor Jesús. Hemos sido traídos al bien de la vida eterna; es la vida de Dios. ¿No es extraordinario? Es algo que compartimos en común con aquellos apóstoles de antaño, incluso algo que compartimos en común con el Padre.
Así que aquí hay una especie de comunión, y es la comunión de la vida eterna. Es un compañerismo familiar, y cada creyente en el Señor Jesús disfruta de ese compañerismo. Ahora, regresaremos a eso y lo mencionaremos en un momento. Volvamos al Libro de los Hechos. Por favor regresemos al Libro de los Hechos porque no estamos hablando de esa comunión familiar esta noche; estamos hablando de la comunión de la iglesia local, la comunión de la asamblea, y esa es una clase diferente de comunión. Pero aún así, la palabra significa lo mismo: algo que se comparte en común con otros.
Así que, Hechos capítulo 2 es donde estamos. Es el día de Pentecostés. Hablamos de esto ayer por la tarde. Este fue el día en que comenzó la iglesia; se formó la iglesia. Pedro, por supuesto, estaba predicando en este día de Pentecostés. En el verso 37 de Hechos capítulo 2, ahora cuando ellos oyeron esto, se compungieron de corazón, y dijeron a Pedro y al resto de los apóstoles, “Varones hermanos, ¿qué haremos?”
Pedro les dijo: “Arrepentíos y bautícese cada uno de vosotros en el nombre de Jesucristo para perdón de los pecados. Y recibiréis el don del Espíritu Santo. Porque esta promesa es para vosotros y para vuestros hijos y para todos los que están lejos, para cuantos el Señor nuestro Dios llamare.” Pedro continuó predicando. Ahora mira estos dos versos; son vitales. Y otra vez, tenemos la mención de esta palabra compañerismo, pero este no es el compañerismo de la vida eterna. Esta es ahora una confraternidad de asamblea local.
Miren el verso 41. “Entonces los que recibieron su palabra de buena gana…” Así que creyeron el evangelio; se hicieron cristianos. Su fe estaba en el Señor Jesús. “Y los que recibieron su palabra fueron bautizados; y se añadieron aquel día como tres mil almas”. Ahora, usted entiende que las almas que han sido mencionadas hasta ahora en el Libro de los Hechos eran 120 individuos que se reunían en el aposento alto en Jerusalén. Ahora que estas 3,000 han sido salvas en este día de Pentecostés, están siendo añadidas al número de almas que ya se estaban reuniendo en Jerusalén.
Ahora, había más cristianos que eso porque, ¿recuerdan cuando el Señor Jesús apareció en resurrección? Pablo dice en 1 Corintios 15 que El apareció a 500 hermanos en una sola ocasión. Así que había más de 120 cristianos en este tiempo, pero fue a los 120 que se reunían en Jerusalén que estos 3,000 fueron añadidos. Ahora, usted dice, eso es una asamblea local enorme. ¿Qué hacían cuando se reunían-para la enseñanza de la Palabra de Dios y la predicación del evangelio? Usted podría decir, eso es una asamblea local enorme, 3,120 santos. Pero recuerden que había mucha gente visitando Jerusalén en ese tiempo; era tiempo de festival. Era el día de Pentecostés.
Por lo tanto, sospecho que la gran mayoría de ese número, en sólo unos pocos días, se habrían ido a casa, y habrían llevado el evangelio que habían escuchado predicado por Pedro a varias otras ciudades y regiones. No es necesariamente que todos ellos se unieran a la asamblea local en Jerusalén. Pero sin embargo, escuchen lo que dice la escritura: se les añadieron después de su salvación y bautismo como 3.000 almas.
Ahora, el versículo 42 es muy importante: “Perseveraban”. Eso quiere decir que se pegaron como pegamento; se mantuvieron. Estaban dedicados firmemente a la doctrina de los apóstoles. Esa es la enseñanza de estos apóstoles. Lo que enseñaban, lo creían; lo aprendían; lo practicaban. En los tiempos en que vivimos, la doctrina de los apóstoles está contenida en el Nuevo Testamento. Esa es la doctrina de los apóstoles. Está escrita para nosotros en blanco y negro.
Así que, ellos continuaron firmemente en la doctrina de los apóstoles y en la comunión; ellos compartieron algo en común. Ahora, esta vez, no es tanto la vida eterna que está a la vista. Eso está en 1 Juan. Esta vez, es la doctrina-es la enseñanza que está en vista. Porque estos individuos compartieron y creyeron la misma doctrina, ellos tuvieron compañerismo juntos. Entonces, es importante ver las distinciones: en compañerismo familiar-eso está en 1 Juan-y compañerismo de asamblea local-eso está aquí en Hechos capítulo 2-y está fundado en doctrina, en enseñanza.
Tú dices: “¿Cualquier enseñanza antigua?” No, no. La enseñanza de los apóstoles, y eso es lo que tenemos contenido en el Nuevo Testamento. Ahora, algo más: esa comunión doctrinal que tenían se expresaba cuando se reunían. Tú dices: “¿Cómo se expresaba?”. Bueno, lee el resto del versículo. “En el partimiento del pan”. Eso no es simplemente compartir una comida en la casa de alguien; en griego, es el partimiento del pan. Eso es la Cena del Señor. Eso es lo que hacemos el primero de cada semana, Hechos capítulo 20. Y eso es lo que estos discípulos están haciendo ahora: reunirse, y como expresión de la comunión doctrinal que tienen, creen la misma verdad. Van a partir el pan juntos. Eso es algo maravilloso.
Puede haber algunos creyentes aquí esta noche que nunca han tenido el privilegio de partir el pan. Deberían venir y observar una reunión como esa-el pan, que simplemente representa el cuerpo de Cristo dado por nosotros, y la copa que representa la preciosa sangre derramada del Señor Jesús a nuestro favor. Todos los cristianos -además de dar gracias por la persona de Cristo- parten ese pan y lo comparten unos con otros. Se pasan la copa unos a otros, beben de la copa y dicen: “Todos estamos en comunión. Todos estamos compartiendo juntos la maravillosa verdad de que Cristo murió por nosotros”. Estamos en comunión unos con otros, los que están tomando parte del pan. Estamos compartiendo en comunión; todos estamos bebiendo de la misma copa. Tenemos comunión con Dios y unos con otros, y esa comunión no se construye solamente sobre la salvación; se construye sobre la doctrina y la enseñanza. Y eso es lo que este verso te esta diciendo.
Así que perseveraban en la doctrina de los apóstoles y en la comunión, enriquecidos por esa doctrina, en el partimiento del pan y en las oraciones. Las reuniones de oración de la asamblea local son vitales y una expresión vital de la comunión que disfrutan juntos. Aún no he comenzado la reunión; no hemos terminado la lectura. Pero, ¿ven lo importante que es? Hechos capítulo 2, versículos 41 y 42.
Ahora, escuchen, tenemos otros versículos para leer, pero por ahora, haremos una pausa allí y confiaremos en que Dios añadirá una bendición a la lectura de Su Palabra. Ahora, entiendo, especialmente cuando estoy hablando a una gran audiencia como esta y a una audiencia tan variada, algunas de las cosas que estoy diciendo serán muy básicas y simples para algunos, pero algunas de las cosas serán completamente nuevas y diferentes para otros. Bueno, les pido a todos que me tengan paciencia con algunas de las cosas que voy a decir esta noche.
Hemos llegado a este gran tema de los miembros de la asamblea. No voy a repasar la verdad de la que hablé anoche, pero permítanme decir esto: si les estuviera hablando de los miembros de la gran asamblea, recuerdan que hicimos esa distinción. Está la iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo, la gran asamblea. Cada creyente desde el día de Pentecostés hasta el rapto pertenece a esa gran asamblea. Si estuviéramos hablando esta noche acerca de los miembros de la gran asamblea, incluiría a cada creyente genuino.
Ellos tienen una confraternidad; cada cristiano aquí esta noche tiene una confraternidad. Ustedes dicen: “¿Cuál es esa comunión? ¿Qué tenemos en común unos con otros?” Bueno, eso es lo que leemos en 1 Juan 1. Es una comunión familiar. Todos pertenecemos a la misma familia cristiana. ¿No es algo maravilloso? Todos compartimos la vida eterna, y la compartimos en Cristo. Así que, cada miembro de la iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo, está en comunión unos con otros. Es la comunión de la vida eterna, y les digo, es algo maravilloso.
Tengo el privilegio de viajar alrededor del mundo y conocer a varios cristianos en varias ciudades y países de diferentes orígenes étnicos. A la mayoría de estos cristianos nunca los había visto antes. Pero les digo que es algo que nos une. Puede que nunca los haya visto o hablado con ellos, pero en el instante en que estamos juntos, hay un vínculo entre nosotros, y ese vínculo está en Cristo. Si ellos han confiado en El, tienen el mismo Salvador que yo tengo, la misma vida eterna que yo tengo. ¿No es maravilloso estar en esa comunión familiar?
Pero no estamos hablando de eso esta noche. De lo que estamos hablando esta noche es de la comunión de la asamblea local. Hicimos la diferencia entre la gran asamblea y la asamblea local. Ahora, ustedes dicen, ¿quién pertenece a una comunión de asamblea local? En Hechos capítulo 2, esto es obvio. No sólo los que han sido salvos. Si eres salvo, no tienes un derecho automático o membresía a la comunión de una asamblea local. La gran asamblea, sí; la asamblea local, no. Porque Hechos capítulo 2 dice que fueron los que recibieron el evangelio, los que recibieron la Palabra de Dios, y luego fueron bautizados, y luego fueron recibidos en la comunión de una asamblea local. Y en efecto, fue el mismo día.
Ahora, ustedes dicen: “¿En qué se basaba esa comunión?”. Bueno, no solo en la vida eterna. Ese compañerismo estaba basado en doctrina; era un compañerismo doctrinal. Porque ellos recibieron la Palabra de Dios, entonces ellos fueron bautizados, entonces ellos fueron añadidos, y ellos continuaron firmemente en la doctrina de los apóstoles. El compañerismo que disfrutaban estaba basado en la enseñanza de los apóstoles.
Entonces, recuerden, por favor, y dijimos esto anoche. Lo estoy re-enfatizando para el propósito de esta reunión. La gran asamblea y la asamblea local son dos entidades distintas. Estar en una no te hace automáticamente parte de la otra. Una asamblea local tiene una membresía claramente definida.
Cuando llegas a 1 Corintios 5, Pablo habla de un hombre que ha estado participando en fornicación. El dice que este hombre, quien profesa ser un creyente, es llamado creyente, es llamado hermano. Pero ese hombre ha sido tomado en inmoralidad. Pablo dice que debe ser puesto fuera del compañerismo de la iglesia local. Hay un adentro y hay un afuera. Cuando usted viene a 1 Corintios capitulo 14, Pablo habla acerca de la comunión de la asamblea local en Corinto. Habla de personas que vienen a observar sus reuniones, a quienes llama indoctos. Es decir, ellos bien pueden ser creyentes, pero ellos no son parte de la compañía; ellos no son parte de la asamblea local. No son miembros; son simples observadores.
Pablo los llama indoctos en 1 Corintios 14. Para que entiendas, hay una comunión de asamblea local a la que los creyentes pueden no pertenecer todavía. Porque la comunión de la asamblea local tiene una membresía definida. Quiero hacerles una pregunta. No contestes esta pregunta en voz alta, sino sólo en tu mente: Me pregunto si usted tiene el privilegio de pertenecer a una confraternidad de asamblea local.
Confío en que todos los aquí presentes esta noche son salvos por la gracia de Dios. Y si no lo eres, amigo, debes ser salvo. Confío en que todos los que están aquí esta noche, si son salvos, han sido bautizados por inmersión. Esa es la enseñanza y el mandamiento de la Palabra de Dios. Y amigo, si eres salvo y estás bautizado, me pregunto si alguna vez te has unido a la comunión de la asamblea local. Amigo, ¿por qué no querrías hacer eso?
Verás, la iglesia local y la asamblea local es la única cosa hoy en este mundo que es propiedad de Dios, y es Su dirección y mandamiento que los cristianos no sólo deben ser bautizados sino que deben unirse a una asamblea local, una reunión de la iglesia local, y disfrutar de ese compañerismo doctrinal, el privilegio de partir el pan, recordar al Señor Jesús, y orar colectivamente con los santos. Y amigo, esta no es una iglesia cualquiera. Tú dices: “¿Servirá cualquier iglesia vieja? ¿Servirá cualquier vieja reunión de cristianos?”
Yo vengo de… Esta es una de esas preguntas que dije: “No me preguntes porque me aburro de responderlas”. ¿De acuerdo? Perdón. Vengo de un pequeño pueblo en Berkshire. Puede que tú lo llames Berkshire, pero en Inglaterra lo llamamos Berkshire. Es un condado de Inglaterra, un condado real, por cierto, porque en nuestro condado está el castillo de Windsor, donde no vive la reina, porque ya falleció, sino el rey, el rey Carlos, en el castillo de Windsor. Donde yo vivo, en Bracknell, está a pocos kilómetros del castillo de Windsor, y estamos a unos 50 kilómetros de Londres. En Bracknell, que es una ciudad de unos 80.000 habitantes, hay muchísimas iglesias.
Pero yo pertenezco a una de ellas. Pertenezco al Gospel Hall de Bracknell. Permítanme que les diga una cosa: No sería feliz perteneciendo a ninguna otra iglesia de Bracknell en absoluto. Usted dice: “Bueno, usted viene aquí, señor predicador de Inglaterra. ¿No es usted un cristiano intolerante? Apuesto a que mira por encima del hombro a todos esos otros cristianos de Bracknell y a todas esas otras iglesias en las que estoy seguro que hay muchos buenos cristianos genuinamente salvados. Y aquí está usted diciendo, hay muchas iglesias en Bracknell, y sólo iría a la que usted va. ¿Cómo te atreves a mirar por encima del hombro a esos otros cristianos?”. En absoluto, amigo.
Si eso es lo que piensas, me malinterpretas a mí y a lo que creo. Yo creo lo siguiente: lo único que hoy es propiedad de Dios es la Iglesia de Dios. Y porque esa asamblea local, la asamblea de Dios, le pertenece a Él, es sólo Él-Dios-quien dicta lo que sucede en esa reunión de la asamblea local. Tú dices: “¿Cómo lo dicta Dios? ¿Cómo me dice Él cuál debe ser el carácter y el orden de esa iglesia?”. Bueno, Él me lo dice aquí.
Así que, amigo, esto es lo que estoy haciendo. A partir de la enseñanza del Nuevo Testamento, busco una asamblea local que se ajuste lo más posible al patrón divino establecido en la Palabra de Dios. Por eso voy a la asamblea local que voy. Porque creo que no es perfecta, y la asamblea local aquí en Midland Park tampoco lo es. No diría que lo es. Pero creo que es la iglesia local que más se ajusta al patrón de la Palabra de Dios que cualquier otra.
Quiero estar en una iglesia local que agrade, honre y glorifique a Dios y a Su Hijo. Por eso voy a donde voy. Amigo, nunca se una o asista a una iglesia local por conveniencia-porque está cerca de donde vivo, porque la gente que va allí me gusta, o porque hay una gran banda de música y me encanta la música. Usted debe asistir a una iglesia local porque tiene la convicción de que está lo más cerca posible de lo que Dios espera: la enseñanza de la Palabra de Dios. Eso es muy sencillo, ¿no? No soy intolerante, confío; sólo quiero estar en un lugar lo más cercano posible a los patrones.
Así que estamos hablando esta noche acerca de los miembros de una asamblea local. Ahora dos cosas que quiero decir sólo en el tiempo que nos queda. Hablaremos más a medida que pasen las noches. Hablaremos más acerca del patrón divino que Dios ha establecido para la reunión de la asamblea del Nuevo Testamento. Estamos sentando estas bases, el trabajo preliminar. Vamos a hablar más y más sobre esto. Pero esta noche vamos a hablar de ¿quiénes son los que tienen el privilegio de pertenecer? ¿Quiénes son los miembros de una asamblea local?
Y hay dos cosas de las que quiero hablar en la media hora que me queda. ¿No vuela el tiempo cuando te diviertes escuchando a un inglés? Sólo dos cosas que quiero decir. Ayer, eran tres cosas; me di cuenta de que no podía meterlas. Esta noche, dos cosas. Mañana por la noche, probablemente una cosa. No sé qué pasará el jueves por la noche. Pero de todos modos, dos cosas, no tres cosas, dos cosas esta noche.
Esto es de lo que voy a hablar. Voy a hablarles acerca del compañerismo, y el hecho de que el compañerismo se basa en la doctrina. Luego, justo al final de la reunión, quiero hablarles acerca de la jefatura, y el hecho de que los miembros de una asamblea local muestran la jefatura. Entonces, los miembros en una asamblea local están en comunión, y es una comunión doctrinal. Los miembros de una asamblea local también están unidos por la verdad de la jefatura, y muestran esa jefatura.
Así que, si tenemos tiempo esta noche, hablaremos de esas dos cosas. Ahora, ¿qué de esta comunión, la doctrina que une a los cristianos en una asamblea local? Ya hemos hablado de esto, pero quiero que lo vean otra vez. Mira Hechos 2, versículo 41. Si alguna vez mostraste interés en unirte a la asamblea local, la iglesia local que se reúne aquí en Midland Park, y dices: “Bueno, he leído el Nuevo Testamento y he visto lo que Dios dice acerca del patrón de reunión de la asamblea local, y creo que estoy convencido de que Midland Park es lo más cercano a ese patrón que se puede conseguir. Me gustaría unirme al compañerismo de esa iglesia local,” o tal vez usted se ha unido al compañerismo de la iglesia local aquí.
Lo que encontraras es que hay ciertos requisitos que las escrituras establecen para unirse a ese compañerismo. Ahora, aquí hay una lista útil: no es una lista que yo he creado; es una lista que está aquí en Hechos capítulo 2. Mire el versículo 41. Miren el versículo 41. En primer lugar, hubo conversión. No puedes unirte a una iglesia local sin haberte convertido primero. Hechos 2:41 dice que cuando Pedro estaba predicando el evangelio, hubo algunos que gustosamente recibieron su palabra. Ese es el primer requisito para pertenecer a una iglesia local, una asamblea local. Estos individuos fueron convertidos.
Después de que se convirtieron, hicieron una confesión de esa fe. Entonces, hay conversión, y luego hay confesión. Porque la Palabra de Dios dice que ellos recibieron la Palabra, y luego fueron bautizados. Sin entrar en detalles esta noche, el bautismo por inmersión -ser metidos debajo del agua y sacados de nuevo- estos individuos se identificaban como un testimonio externo. Se estaban identificando con la persona del Señor Jesucristo, y cómo les costó, por cierto.
El bautismo hoy en día en nuestra sociedad es relativamente sencillo y simple. El bautismo en algunas sociedades hoy en día te costaba todo; el bautismo en este día casi te costaba la vida: desvincularte del judaísmo, desvincularte de lo que una vez fue propiedad de Dios, y ahora asociarte con una persona que murió en una cruz, avergonzada, convertida en maldición. Y aunque Pedro ha estado predicando: “Está vivo de entre los muertos y Dios lo ha hecho Señor y Cristo”, no creemos que fuera el Mesías; fue crucificado. ¡Qué vergüenza!
He aquí ahora individuos que se desvinculan del judaísmo y se asocian a un Cristo resucitado. Les costó todo; debe haber sido genuino, debe haber sido real si estuvieron dispuestos a pasar por el bautismo para confesar públicamente que pertenecen a Cristo. Estos individuos se convirtieron, y estos individuos confesaron que le pertenecen a El al ser bautizados. Así que, amigo, si tú quisieras unirte a la confraternidad de una asamblea local, entonces necesitarías decirle clara y llanamente a los hermanos-los pastores que están guardando esa confraternidad-que ellos no quieren que entren lobos rapaces.
Podrías decirles claramente cómo y cuándo fuiste salvo. Podrías decirles acerca de la ocasión de tu bautismo. Pero eso no es todo. Hay también un credo, una doctrina, y un cuerpo de doctrina que usted necesitaría confesar. Ya lo hemos comprobado en Hechos 2:42. No solo fueron salvos y bautizados, sino que continuaron firmes en la doctrina de los apóstoles, y esa doctrina era la base de su comunión.
Usted dirá: “¿Por qué es tan importante la verdad?”. Porque, amigo-y esto es importante-la asamblea local es el pilar y el fundamento de la verdad. La compañía de cristianos que se reúne aquí en Midland Park es un faro para la verdad de Dios, y por lo tanto esa doctrina debe ser pura. Tú dices: “No sé mucho de la doctrina; no he sido enseñado en mucho de la doctrina”. Eso está bien. No necesariamente tienes que conocerla al dedillo, pero tienes que estar dispuesto a aprenderla, a que te la enseñen y a creerla.
Ahora, usted dice, “¿Qué clase de doctrina debe ser creída y sostenida?” Hay otras escrituras que nos ayudan. Por ejemplo, lo que Juan dice en su primera epístola. Juan te dice que si vas a estar en una comunidad de una iglesia local, no puedes negar que Jesucristo ha venido en carne. Ese es uno de los fundamentos de la doctrina cristiana. Tienes que estar dispuesto a confesar y creer la encarnación del Señor Jesús, que Él es Dios manifestado en carne (1 Juan 4). Usted tendría que estar dispuesto a confesar y creer que no sólo el Señor Jesús vino en la carne, sino que Él era un hombre real. Tienes que estar dispuesto a creer y confesar que Él es Dios; Su deidad se encuentra en 1 Juan capítulo 2.
Debes creer y confesar que Jesús es Jesús de Nazaret, quien fue crucificado en la cruz y es el Cristo; Él es el Mesías. Eso es Juan; esta es la doctrina de los apóstoles, y todos en esa asamblea local confesaron y creyeron que Jesucristo ha venido en carne, que Jesucristo es el Hijo de Dios, y que Jesucristo es el Mesías. Hay otros principios básicos de la fe cristiana. La salvación no es por obras, ni siquiera un poquito. La salvación es absoluta y totalmente por la fe en un Cristo resucitado; es uno de los fundamentos de la doctrina de los apóstoles.
Ahora, curiosamente, cuando se llega a 1 Timoteo 1, había dos hombres – Himeneo y Fileto – que creían y enseñaban que la resurrección ya había pasado, y debido a eso, Pablo tuvo que tratar con ellos y sacarlos de la comunión de la asamblea local. Así que, ese debe ser un principio doctrinal que debe ser creído por todos los que están en comunión. Y a propósito, ellos no estaban negando la resurrección de Cristo. Estaban diciendo que la resurrección ya ha pasado. Lo que estaban diciendo es que los cristianos han sido resucitados espiritualmente cuando confiaron en Cristo, y no existe ninguna otra resurrección. Ellos no creían en la resurrección física de los creyentes que habían muerto en Cristo. Pablo dice que su enseñanza es cancerosa; es como gangrena; se extiende. Sacude la fe de muchos. Dice que no pueden disfrutar de la comunión doctrinal de la asamblea porque están equivocados en el asunto de la resurrección.
Así que, ves, amigo, hay ciertos asuntos doctrinales que no se pueden negociar si vas a disfrutar de la comunión doctrinal de una asamblea local. Hay algo más ahora; has perdido mi lista. Incluye la conversión, la confesión por medio del bautismo, un credo; ciertas cosas doctrinales que no se pueden negociar. Deben ser creídas si se quiere disfrutar en común de esa doctrina de los apóstoles. Una cosa más: el carácter del individuo también es muy importante.
Verán, la asamblea local no es sólo columna y fundamento de la verdad; es también un templo santo. Templo santo; Dios mora allí, y los cristianos que pertenecen a esa asamblea local tienen una norma moral que los caracteriza. Ustedes entienden que ese hombre en 1 Corintios 5 no cumplió con la norma moral. Pablo dice que debes ponerlo fuera de la asamblea por un tiempo. Es temporal; para que ese hombre pueda aprender, pueda aprender lo que ha hecho mal y corregirlo, y finalmente restaurarlo a la comunión.
Pero en ese estado inmoral, no podía ser parte de la comunión de una asamblea local. Necesitaras ver esto por ti mismo, pero tambien en 1 Corintios 5, Pablo dice esto: “Cualquiera que es llamado hermano, y sin embargo se caracteriza por la codicia, cosas como el fraude, el juego, cualquiera que es llamado hermano y se caracteriza por la idolatría, la embriaguez, o la extorsión-fraude, o por la rabia que es alguien que constantemente usa lenguaje abusivo, insultante, violento-él dice que no es diferente del hermano inmoral.” Ese estado moral de las cosas no puede ser permitido en la asamblea. El dice que son expulsados de la comunión de esa asamblea por un tiempo hasta que el asunto se arregle, y haya arrepentimiento, y sean traídos de vuelta.
Así que, amigo, no te enojes, ¿quieres? A veces lo llamamos una entrevista; perdónanos por usar ese tipo de lenguaje. En realidad no es una entrevista. Pero tú dices: “Me gustaría unirme a la comunión de una asamblea y tener los privilegios de unirme a ellos en oración, y el privilegio de partir el pan con ellos, compartiendo esa comunión”. Bueno, los ancianos querrán tener una charla contigo, y te van a hablar de… ¿lo entiendes? Están protegiendo la santidad de esta compañía. No quieren que entren lobos rapaces; no quieren levadura doctrinal o levadura moral. Pablo usa la palabra levadura en relación a doctrina y moralidad porque puede esparcirse. No quieren que eso se propague en la asamblea.
Así que te preguntarán sobre tu conversión. Te preguntarán sobre tu confesión. Te preguntarán sobre un credo: ¿crees en estas verdades? Nosotros las creemos. Te preguntarán sobre tu carácter de vida. No son entrometidos; buscan proteger la moralidad de esa asamblea. Les digo, es una cosa maravillosa pertenecer a una confraternidad de una iglesia local. Pero antes de pasar a la jefatura y cerrar la reunión con la jefatura, quiero decir esto: pertenecer a una hermandad de la iglesia local significa ciertas cosas. Gracias. Hay innumerables privilegios asociados con ello. Pero amigo, ¿estás listo para esto? Hay responsabilidades también-grandes responsabilidades.
No te he dado una lección de griego esta noche; te di una lección de griego, sí, en parte. Les estaba hablando acerca de ecclesia. Esta palabra compañerismo en griego es la palabra koinonia. Koinonia; esa es la palabra para compañerismo. Es muy interesante que cuando regresas a los registros del evangelio, Lucas capitulo 5 habla acerca del milagro cuando el Señor Jesús dio una ración de peces a los discípulos. Te acuerdas de Pedro; había estado pescando toda la noche, no había pescado nada. Sin embargo, por la mañana, el Señor le dice: “Bien, escuchad, bogad mar adentro, echad vuestras redes para una redada de peces”. Eso es exactamente lo que hicieron, y eso es exactamente lo que obtuvieron. Pedro se hundió ante el Señor y dijo: “Apártate de mí, Señor; soy un hombre pecador”.
¿Sabes lo que dice Lucas 5? Usa la palabra compañerismo, y esto es lo que dice. Dice que Simón Pedro era socio-era socio en el negocio de la pesca con Andrés y Juan. ¿Sabes que la palabra socio es la palabra compañerismo? Ahora, eso no es un compañerismo de la iglesia local, ¿verdad? Eso no es un compañerismo doctrinal; eso es un compañerismo comercial. Pedro era un socio en la pesca con algunos de esos otros individuos que fueron llamados a ser discípulos.
Compañerismo. Ahora, es una ilustración encantadora de lo que es el compañerismo de asamblea; requiere, amigo, compromiso. Requiere contribución. Dime, si compartieras un negocio de pesca y un bote de pesca con Pedro, y cada vez que llegara la mañana o la noche cuando salieran a pescar, y cada vez que Pedro dijera: “Bueno, ustedes sólo empujen, muchachos, y trabajen bien, ¿no es así? Disfrutad de la noche, y venid a traerme el producto de la pesca al final del día”.
O Pedro decía: “Está bien, hoy saldré con vosotros, pero escuchad, tengo mi tumbona conmigo. Yo sólo voy a poner la tumbona en cubierta; tú haz el trabajo duro. Tú haz el trabajo duro. Yo me sentaré aquí y lo disfrutaré, y quizás te señale una o dos cosas que deberías estar haciendo”. Dices que pronto lo sacaríamos del equipo. El compañerismo tiene que ver con el compromiso. El compañerismo tiene que ver con la contribución. Si perteneces a una asamblea local, te lanzo esto como un reto: Tristemente, alrededor del 10 o 20% de los miembros de una asamblea local suelen hacer todo el trabajo. Qué vergüenza para el 90% restante. Vergüenza para el 80% restante.
Escucha, la comunión en la iglesia local es un compromiso: un trabajo duro. No hay espectadores, ni tumbonas, ni socios silenciosos. Amigo mío, si perteneces a la comunión de una asamblea, ponte a trabajar. Comprométase con lo que están haciendo. Si están teniendo una semana de reuniones ministeriales con un hombre extraño de Inglaterra, esté allí, aunque no le guste. Si la asamblea está saliendo con folletos, invitaciones, reuniones evangélicas, reuniones al aire libre, lo que sea que estén haciendo, esté allí. Comprométase con la actividad. Hay una responsabilidad en pertenecer a una iglesia local, y contribuir, ¿no lo harás?
Volveremos a esto el viernes. Se usa una iglesia local; se la representa bajo la figura de un cuerpo. Un cuerpo es algo extraño; tiene muchas partes diferentes. Tiene dedos, manos, piernas, rótulas, corazones, huesos, ojos y oídos. Un cuerpo tiene un gran número de miembros diferentes, pero todos son un solo cuerpo, una parte de un solo cuerpo. Para que el cuerpo sea eficaz, es necesario que todos esos miembros funcionen en el lugar adecuado, en el momento oportuno y haciendo el trabajo correcto.
Amigo, si perteneces a una hermandad de asamblea local, comprométete, pero contribuye, porque eres vital. Usted es vital. No me importa la edad que tengas: hombre o mujer, muy viejo, de mediana edad, muy joven. Si perteneces a esa hermandad, eres vital para que sea efectiva en su trabajo y labor en el área local.
Por lo tanto, la hermandad es una hermandad doctrinal. Ahora, queria decir esto, y solo me quedan unos cinco minutos, pero en tiempo de ingles, 10 minutos. Quiero hablarles sobre el liderazgo. Ahora, estoy trayendo esto en este punto porque los miembros de una asamblea local están unidos en una confraternidad; comparten algo en común. ¿Qué tienen en común? La vida eterna, sí, pero la doctrina. Eso es lo que hemos visto en Hechos 2. Así que aquí hay un compañerismo que se muestra a través de la doctrina que sostienen.
Pero esta asamblea local también está asociada con el gran principio de jefatura, y ese principio de jefatura se muestra cuando esos individuos se reúnen. Ahora, ustedes saben donde debemos leer para esto. No tengo tiempo, pero si lo tuviera, leería en 1 Corintios 11 y también principalmente en 1 Timoteo 2. Quiero hablarles acerca del liderazgo.
Cristo es cabeza, y Cristo es Señor. Ustedes dicen: “¿Cuál es la diferencia?”. Cristo es cabeza, y Cristo es Señor. ¿Cuál es la diferencia? Bueno, señorío tiene que ver con propiedad. El señorío tiene que ver con gobernar. El señorío es una sujeción forzosa, una soberanía absoluta debido a la grandeza de la persona. Cristo es Señor; es Señor porque es Dios, es Señor porque es Creador, es Señor porque es Redentor, y toda rodilla finalmente se doblará ante Él. Gracias a Dios que lo poseemos como Señor, ¿no es así?
No estamos obligados a someternos a Cristo; lo amamos. De buena gana doblamos la rodilla ante Él. Sabemos que Él es un Señor maravilloso; pero muchos en el mundo no reconocen Su señorío. En un día venidero, toda rodilla se doblará, y eso es señorío. El señorío es diferente, y quiero que entendamos esto: si el señorío se trata de propiedad y gobierno y subyugación forzada donde sea necesario, el señorío se trata de orden-no de propiedad, sino de orden.
El señorío no tiene que ver con gobernar; el señorío tiene que ver con los diferentes papeles que Dios ha dado: diferentes papeles a hombres y mujeres, diferentes papeles incluso dentro de la Divinidad. Entiendes que es parte de la naturaleza y carácter de Dios, esta idea de señorío. Entonces, el señorío es una sujeción forzada si es necesario, pero la jefatura es una sumisión voluntaria a los diferentes tipos de órdenes, roles y responsabilidades que Dios ha dado al hombre y a la mujer.
Por eso 1 Corintios 11 dice esto: la cabeza de Cristo es Dios. No, no, no, no dice eso; dice que la cabeza de la mujer es el hombre, la cabeza del hombre es Cristo, y la cabeza de Cristo es Dios. La jefatura nunca implica inferioridad y nunca implica desigualdad; no puede porque la cabeza de Cristo es Dios, y Cristo es Dios.
Entonces, dirás: “¿Qué es la jefatura?”. Es simplemente el hecho de que Dios ha dado diferentes roles y diferentes responsabilidades a hombres y mujeres, y ellos son gloriosos en esos roles. Dios ha dado diferentes responsabilidades y papeles a Su Hijo y al Espíritu, y que Él mismo desempeña. Pero en esos papeles y responsabilidades, hay una sumisión voluntaria a la autoridad.
No es inferioridad; no es desigualdad; es una sumisión voluntaria a un papel que Dios ha dado. Así que cuando se trata de la asamblea local, este principio de jefatura debe ser mostrado, y debe estar en evidencia. Porque Dios ha dado diferentes funciones y diferentes papeles a varones y mujeres. Ahora, Cristo es la cabeza de cada hombre, pero el mundo no posee esa verdad, y no reconoce esa verdad-.
La asamblea lo hace. Y en la asamblea, queremos mostrar no sólo el señorío, sino el liderazgo del Señor Jesús. Ahora, se que estoy un poco sobre el tiempo, pero por favor, por favor, escuchen esto. Las cosas que voy a decir no están calculadas para hacer que nadie aquí esta noche se sienta incómodo. Sólo quiero decirles lo que la Palabra de Dios enseña. Dice esto: que en el asunto de la jefatura, Dios ha dado diferentes papeles y responsabilidades a los varones en la asamblea local que a las mujeres en la asamblea local.
Pablo habla de esto en 1 Timoteo 2, y habla de esto en 1 Corintios 11. En 1 Timoteo 2, tendrás que leerlo cuando vayas a casa; es tarea. Solía ser maestro; puedo hacer eso. Pero no te pondré en detención; nunca me atrevería. Pablo dice esto: los varones en la asamblea local deben asumir la responsabilidad del liderazgo y la participación pública de la asamblea. Pablo dice en 1 Timoteo 2: “Quiero que los varones oren en todo lugar”. Esa no es la palabra general para los seres humanos; es la palabra para los varones.
Asi que Pablo esta diciendo, “Aqui hay una manera de demostrar que el hombre es la cabeza de la mujer, que ella esta en sumision voluntaria al hombre, porque Dios le ha dado al hombre un papel y una responsabilidad diferente. Él debe liderar, y esa hermana debe someterse voluntariamente a ese liderazgo”. El tiene el derecho de participar públicamente y dirigir la compañía en oración pública audible. El varón debe orar; eso es parte de su responsabilidad y liderazgo. Tú dices: “¿Qué hacen las hermanas?”.
Bueno, ellas se someten voluntariamente a ese liderazgo, pero se someten como ayudantes. En 1 Timoteo 2, te dirá que ellas permanecen audiblemente silenciosas en la reunión. Por su vestimenta piadosa, comportamiento y buenas obras, las hermanas muestran que están voluntariamente sumisas y contribuyen a la piedad de la casa (1 Timoteo 2). Pablo dice que la mujer no debe enseñar ni ejercer autoridad sobre el hombre.
¿Por qué no? ¿Saben a dónde recurre Pablo para explicarlo? Se remonta a la creación. Dice: “Al principio, en la creación, Dios hizo primero a Adán y luego a Eva. La mujer fue engañada en la transgresión, el hombre no. Él entró con los ojos abiertos”, dice Pablo. Eso fue Dios demostrando al principio que al hacer al hombre primero, lo estaba poniendo en una posición de liderazgo y autoridad y que la mujer debía ser una ayudante y sumisa a esa autoridad.
Tú dices: “Ella es inferior”. No lo es en absoluto. Dios los hizo varón y hembra; los llamó a ambos juntos: Adán. Llegaron a ser uno; no inferiores, pero Dios -al hacer a Adán antes que a Eva- puso al hombre en una posición de autoridad. Ahora, eso debe verse en la asamblea. ¿Cómo? El hombre toma la delantera; el hombre ora en voz alta; el hombre enseña. Pero la mujer, ella es silenciosamente sumisa y no usurpa la autoridad del hombre enseñando o dirigiendo audiblemente.
Este es el argumento de Pablo en 1 Timoteo 2. No es sexismo. No es sexismo; no es misoginia. Se remonta a la creación. He dicho todo eso, y no he mencionado 1 Corintios 11. Pablo dice, no sólo el liderazgo se muestra literalmente-por cierto, ustedes los varones en la comunión de la asamblea, es su responsabilidad orar audiblemente. ¿Escucharon eso? Es su responsabilidad dirigir la compañía-es su responsabilidad contribuir audiblemente. De hecho, si no contribuyen audiblemente, es tan serio como que una hermana se levante y no guarde silencio.
Dices: “Si una hermana se levantara y empezara a orar, nos levantaríamos en armas”. Y sin embargo, ¿cuántos hermanos no participan audiblemente? Eso es el liderazgo; debe mostrarse literalmente. 1 Corintios 11 muestra cómo se muestra simbólicamente. Tú dices: “¿Cómo simbólicamente?” Esa jefatura y sumisión a la autoridad es mostrada en la asamblea local simbólicamente porque los varones no cubren sus cabezas; no lo hacen. Están dando gloria a su cabeza, que es Cristo.
Pero las hermanas, por otro lado, lean 1 Corintios 11, cubren sus cabezas; llevan un símbolo en sus cabezas de estar bajo autoridad. Es una hermosa muestra del orden de Dios-no inferioridad, el diseño de Dios-la asamblea local de Dios. Qué privilegio ser miembros de esa asamblea. Ya he dicho suficiente. Dios bendecirá Su Palabra. Oremos.
Meaning of the assembly
https://media.jjministry.org/MinistryDRudge03182024.m4aI think we’ll read some verses from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, to begin with, and chapter 1. It’s a great pleasure to be here. Your warm welcome is much appreciated. Thank you very much for that. Daniel, I should have known, shouldn’t I? My namesake, who produced this set of notes, is remarkable. I almost feel like sitting down in a chair and taking notes myself. But then I don’t know who would do the preaching if that were the case. But this is nice. Thank you very much. I think I need to take you with me over the next few months, whoever you might be. Take you with me to produce booklets like this. This is ideal, and I’m going to have to stick now, aren’t I, to the advertised meetings and titles of the meetings, which, of course, we will do.
What we’re looking to do over these five nights, from Monday through Friday, is think about truth in relation to the assembly, the local assembly. Then, God willing, on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll speak a little bit about the second coming of the Lord Jesus: the rapture and the revelation, two aspects of His second coming, and just how we should be living in the light of the soon return of the Lord Jesus. So there are great things before us in these few days; truth in relation to the local assembly, truth in relation to the second coming of our Lord Jesus, and I trust that will be of great blessing and benefit to us all. It’s lovely to meet you, and I look forward to meeting you in due course.
I almost feel at this point I need to explain a little bit about myself because you won’t know this if you’re a preacher or if you’re not a preacher, but what you end up doing is answering the same questions about ten times a day: Where do you live? Where is that? Where do you come from? How big is the assembly to which you belong? What hymn books do you use in your assembly? How many children do you have? How old are these children? Do they have any pets? All those sorts of questions you get asked five, six, seven, ten times a day. So I ought to answer all that. I’m not going to answer all the questions. Perhaps I should wear a big sign around my neck just so you know exactly what the answers are. But now you won’t ask me those questions, will you? Just ask Alistair over there; he knows all the answers.
And a word of thanks, not just for convening these meetings, but for taking him off our hands. We’ve been trying to get rid of him for years, and now he’s found a lovely young lady here. Right, enough of all that. Nice to be here. Let’s open the Word of God together and trust that it will be a blessing to us.
Now, we’re talking tonight about the meaning of the assembly, which is what I have called this particular meeting or session. What does the assembly mean? We’re thinking about this word, the word “church,” although I’m going to use the word “assembly,” and I will tell you why I am using the word “assembly” in due course. The Authorized Version uses the word “church,” and I do want to speak about that particular word and then tell you why it’s better to really use the word “assembly.” So tonight will be very foundational; it will be very basic, but I am trying to set the scene. I’m trying to set a strong and firm foundation for everything that’s going to follow over the next few nights.
So just listen to what Paul says to these Christians who are meeting in Corinth. He writes this letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 1, he says, “Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother.” And then Paul says, that’s who I am. This is who I am writing to. He says, “unto the church of God.” Now, I won’t tell you much Greek because I don’t know much Greek, but you need to know this word. The word that’s being translated here, “church,” is the word “ekklesia.” That’s the Greek word, or “ekklesia,” if you want to pronounce it properly, but we normally call it “ekklesia.” That’s the word which the translators here have translated as “church.” We do need to talk about that word. Paul says, “I am writing to the ecclesia, the assembly, the church of God, which is at Corinth.” It belongs to God in a spiritual sense. Geographically, this assembly of Christians is located in Corinth.
He says to them that are sanctified—that’s not their geographical location; that’s their spiritual location. They are set apart, sanctified in Christ Jesus, and they are called saints. And he says, “with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.” But it’s that little phrase in verse 2, “the church of God, which is at Corinth.” Right, reverse. The book of the Acts and chapter 19. The book of the Acts and chapter 19. Now, I’m reading these verses. These won’t be quite so familiar to you, but I’m reading these verses simply because I will make reference to them in due course.
Now, that word “ekklesia” is used 115 times in the New Testament. All except for three occasions, it’s translated “church.” So 112 times, the word “church” is used. On three occasions, that exact same word is translated in a different way, and they’re all found here in Acts chapter 19. I’ll explain why they’re translated in a different way in just a moment.
So Acts chapter 19, and this is an occasion in a place called Ephesus, when a great riot really has been stirred up in that city because Paul is undermining their trade in idols and idolatry. The Ephesians worshipped a goddess called Diana. A great assembly went into the amphitheater in Ephesus. You can see that today; it’s been excavated. They said, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Amen. In verse 29, the whole city was filled with confusion. Having caught Gaius or Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. When Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. Certain of the chief of Asia, who were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. So a whole riot has been stirred up. They don’t really know why they’ve come into the amphitheater, and why it is that they’re crying out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” But something has stirred them up.
In verse 32, “Some therefore cried one thing, some another.” The assembly—now that’s the word “ekklesia,” but on this occasion the translators do not translate it “church,” and they’re not translating it “church” because this is a gathering of civil individuals. It’s not a religious gathering; it’s not a church gathering. It is a civic gathering, and therefore, they translated the word not as “church” but as “assembly.”
The assembly was confused. This congregation of people in the amphitheater were confused, and they didn’t really know why they had come together. Then that word “assembly” is used on two other occasions just in this little section: verse 39, “It shall be determined in a lawful assembly.” Verse 41, “When he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.” We’ll make reference to that later on; just keep that in your minds.
Now, finally, the Gospel by Matthew. Let’s read in Matthew’s Gospel and chapter 16. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 16. This now is the first reference to the word “ekklesia,” “church,” in the Bible. Matthew, chapter 16. The Lord Jesus is speaking. He says, Matthew 16, verse 13, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, ‘Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ And they said, ‘Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ And he saith unto them, ‘But whom say ye that I am?’ And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock…’ Now that’s probably not Peter himself. That would be rather an uncertain and unstable foundation. It’s probably rather Peter’s confession of the person of the Lord Jesus, the one who is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But upon this rock, says the Lord Jesus, ‘I will build.’ It hasn’t been built yet, but it will be. He says, ‘I will build my church,’ the first mention of the word, ‘and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ Now, of course, the church began to be built in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. But as the Lord Jesus was saying these words, the church had not yet come into formation or being, and that’s why He says, ‘I will build my church.’
And that’s all against the background of Matthew chapter 13, the parables of the kingdom and the fact that the Lord Jesus had been rejected by His own people. Now He introduces in this Gospel the fact that He is going to do a new work, and this new work, not Israel, not Judaism, this new work is the church. Now, we must just read some verses too in chapter 18 of Matthew. This is the second mention of the word “church” in the Bible. In fact, the word “church” is only mentioned twice in all of the Gospels, and we’ve read—or are about to read—both of those references.
So Matthew chapter 18 says, “Now this is a very interesting passage because it has to do with, well, church discipline to a certain extent and one brother who has sinned or trespassed against another brother.” So verse 15 of Matthew 18: “Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he shall neglect to hear them, then tell this brother who has trespassed against you, you can’t solve it man to man. You’ve taken witnesses with you, and he won’t listen to them either. Now what you do is tell it unto the church, but if he neglect to hear the church, then let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.”
There are some very important statements here, but we can’t just read them all or discuss them all. But verse 20, and this is very, very precious to many of us, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name,” says the Lord Jesus, “there am I in the midst of them.” That’s our great principle of gathering. We won’t be talking about that principle tonight, but we will be talking about it in due course.
Right, that’s all we’re going to read for now, and we do look to the Lord, as always, to bless the reading of His Word. There are three things—in fact, there are a lot more than three things—that I’m going to say to you tonight. But principally, there are three things that I want to bring before you this evening as we think about this subject of the meaning of the church, or the meaning of the assembly.
Now, first of all—and this is important—I do want to give you a very simple definition of what the word “ekklesia” or the word “church” actually means. First of all, we’ll try and describe the word; we’ll define the word: a definition of the church. Then you will notice—and I hope this is very familiar to you—that we’ve been reading of the church in Matthew 16 and we’ve also been reading of the church in Matthew 18. When the Lord speaks about the church in Matthew 16, He’s speaking about what you might call the great assembly: the church which is the body of Christ.
But when you come to Matthew 18, the subject is different. I know the word is the same. I know the Lord Jesus is still speaking about the church, but He’s not speaking about the great assembly, the church which is the body of Christ. In fact, in Matthew 18, He’s speaking about a local assembly, a local company of individuals. I mean, that’s obvious, isn’t it? Because there is a brother who’s got a problem with another brother. If he doesn’t listen to his brother and neither does he listen to two or three witnesses that are brought, then he must tell it to the whole church, and quite obviously, that cannot encompass every Christian and every believer on the whole planet; it must be a much more local thing. So I want to talk to you not just about the definition of the church; I want to speak to you about distinctions that you must make between the great assembly, that’s in Matthew 16, and the local assembly, that’s in Matthew 18. Very important.
We’ll give a definition of the church, but we’ll also speak about distinctions of the church. And lest you might think—just before I get to the end of the meeting—now there is no excuse for anyone falling asleep tonight. If anyone has an excuse for sleeping, it’s me. It is me, and only me, right? It’s well past midnight where I come from. I have an excuse; you do not have an excuse. Now, lest you think that is a little dry—and I will try my best not to make it dry because it’s so important—just at the end of the meeting I want to talk to you about the dignity of the church, not just a definition of it and the distinctions that are to be made. I want to talk to you about the great dignity of that which tonight we’re calling the church. There is nothing, almost nothing, that is as precious to the Father and to His Son than that of the church. So we will talk just at the end of the meeting about the dignity of the church.
Right, a little definition: I have presented to you the Greek word which is in our minds tonight. We want to think about this word, “ekklesia.” Remember what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16. He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, Peter, I will build,” the very first mention of this word in the whole of the Bible, in the Greek New Testament. He says, “Peter, upon this rock, I will build my ecclesia. I will build,” in the Authorized Version, “my church.” You say, “What does the word mean?” Well, very simply and very basically, the word “ekklesia” means an assembly, a congregation, a gathering of people for a particular purpose. That’s the meaning of the word “ekklesia.” Now you’ve got that. Essential. So whether it’s “ekklesia,” or whether it’s the King James Version as it interprets or translates that word as “church,” or whether I use the better word “assembly,” because that’s what the word means, we are referring to a gathering, a congregation, a company of people.
Here’s an ecclesia tonight: an assembly of people who are gathering together for a particular reason. Not bricks and mortar. Not a church building. When the Bible uses the word “church,” it’s referring to a company of people. Now, we ought to be careful, didn’t we, in the way in which we use our language? I understand, I do understand that in the English language, the word “church” basically refers to a building. And generally speaking, a very ornate building with crosses on the outside and so on. That’s how we use the word “church” in the English language. But the Bible never uses the word “church” like that. Whenever you read the word “church” in the New Testament, it never has reference to a building. It always has a reference to people. Now, you remember that, won’t you? So when you’re speaking to somebody in the home tomorrow night and you say, “Good night, love; I’m just on my way out to church,” you chastise yourself because you are the church. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus, you’re part of the church. You are the church. You’re not going to church; you are the church. I suppose that technically you’re right as far as the English language is concerned, but we should try and use language that’s biblical.
Far better for you to say, “I’m going out to the gospel hall,” or “I’m going to the hall,” or “I’m going to the meeting.” You’re not going to the church; you are the church. So don’t forget that. It becomes very obvious. When you’re reading through the book of the Acts, for example, the book of Acts will say things like this: “Fear came upon all the church.” That’s Acts chapter 5. Now, as far as I know, buildings do not have emotions, and buildings can’t be fearful. But in Acts chapter 5, fear came upon all the church. Why? Because the word “church” really means a company of gathered people. Those people were fearful. In other places in the book of Acts, the churches, plural, walked in the fear of the Lord. I’ve never yet met a building that’s got legs. If you could design a building with legs, I think you could make a lot of money. The churches were walking in the fear of the Lord, which means that these companies of gathered Christians were living their lives in such a way that they were displaying reverence towards the Lord.
In Acts chapter 11, if emotions and legs aren’t enough to prove the point, in Acts chapter 11, the church has ears. “The tidings of these things reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem.” Buildings don’t have ears; people do. You see the point? So this word “ekklesia,” this word “church,” this word “assembly”—it’s the same word. It has the idea of a gathered company of individuals, gathering together for a particular purpose. Now, I don’t really want to go into this, and I wasn’t a history teacher; I was a geography teacher, which, in my humble opinion, is a far better subject than… but you say these translators of the King James Version now, they translated this in the year 1611. And remember that it’s called the King James Bible because the king who commissioned the translation and the king who had a lot to say about the translators and how they translated it, he was King James I.
You say, “Why did these translators, when they had that word ‘ekklesia’ 115 times all the way through the New Testament—on 112 occasions did they say ‘church’ and on just three occasions did they use the translation ‘assembly’ for exactly the same Greek word?” For this reason: that King James I insisted that when a translation was made, if an ecclesiastical term was already in common use back in the year 1611, that term should be used by the translator. That’s why you get the word “bishop” in 1 Timothy 3. The word means nothing of the sort, but there were bishops in the churches in those days, and King James was keen to make sure that all that was “churchy” and ecclesiastical in those days was encouraged by this new translation of the Bible into English.
Those translators very well knew that the best way to explain this word “ekklesia” was through the word “assembly.” But because of what King James had said, they retained the word “church.” Why did they use the word “assembly” three times in Acts chapter 19? Simply because it wasn’t a religious gathering of individuals. Here was a whole load of individuals that had been stirred up from the city of Ephesus. They’d gone into the amphitheater; they were crying out about the greatness of their goddess Diana. It was a civic gathering of individuals, so they called it an assembly. But on every other occasion, they used the word “church.”
All you need to be aware of is this: When we define the word “ekklesia,” church, we are thinking about an assembly or a congregation of gathered people, and that for a particular reason. Now that’s important.
Point number two: let’s talk about the distinctions of the church. This gathered company of individuals. You will notice that we were reading in Matthew 16 and Matthew chapter 18. Remember that in Matthew chapter 16, the Lord Jesus says this, Peter, upon your confession, this firm foundation, I am going to build. Now just notice this: the Lord Jesus is the builder. He says, “Upon this rock, Peter, upon this solid foundation, I will build.” Matthew 16 is speaking about the great assembly.
Now, you need to note this down. This is the kind of truth that you will find in Ephesians and you will find in Colossians. In Ephesians and Colossians, this great assembly that the Lord Jesus was speaking of in Matthew 16 is called the church, which is the body of Christ. In Matthew 16 it was still future. The Lord Jesus says, “I will build this church. I haven’t started building it yet, but I will.” He was looking forward to Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost. What a remarkable day! Do you know that was the day, 40 days after the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead? Then He ascended back to heaven. Ten days—well, let me rephrase that: the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. Forty days later, He ascended back to heaven. Ten days after His ascension was the day of Pentecost—Pentecost, 50 days since the resurrection of Christ. When the Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, there was a divine person, the Son of God, who left earth and went up to heaven—the movement of a divine person.
Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, a divine person moved again; you say, “Who was that?” Not the Lord Jesus; He was in heaven and He’d been there for 10 days and He’s still there ten days later. The Spirit of God moved from heaven and came down to earth on the day of Pentecost. The movement of the Spirit of God, the movement again of a divine person. He formed the church, the great assembly, which is the body of Christ. He formed that church on the day of Pentecost. He linked spiritually together the head, Christ, which is in heaven, with His body that was on the earth. Every single believer on the day of Pentecost was bound together into one unique entity—the great assembly, the church, which is the body of Christ.
Let me tell you something remarkable. If that church had its foundation, beginning, origin on the day of Pentecost, you say, “When will it be finished?” Well, it’s not finished yet. Christ is still building His church. You say, “When will it be finished?” It could be finished in five minutes. This preacher won’t be finished in five minutes, by the way, but the church could be. Because when Christ descends from heaven into the air—that’s the rapture—when all of God’s people are snatched away to meet Him in the air, that will be the close of the great assembly. So we’re speaking here about—sometimes preachers call it this; forgive me for saying this, but you need to be aware of the differences—sometimes preachers call it the universal church. That’s all right, but it’s not very accurate.
Sometimes preachers call it the church of the dispensation; that’s better. Every single believer in the Lord Jesus—every believer from the day of Pentecost until the rapture—is part… You say, “Millions of them have died; their bodies are buried; they were saved hundreds of years ago, and they’re in heaven unclothed, but they’re in heaven.” That’s right, but they’re still part of that great assembly from the day of Pentecost until the rapture—that complete body, the body of Christ, the church of the dispensation, the great assembly. What a church that is! That’s what the Lord Jesus was speaking about in Matthew 16: “I will build,” and He began to build in Acts 2, “I will build my church.” So every single genuine believer in Christ—and He knows them that are His—is part of that great assembly. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus tonight, you belong to that church, the church which is His body.
Now hold the headlines. You ready for this? Though you belong to that church if you’re a believer, you may not belong to a local church, and that’s something different, and that’s what the Lord Jesus was speaking about in Matthew chapter 18. He wasn’t speaking about the great assembly there, the church which is His body (Ephesians, Colossians truth). No, no. In Matthew 18, He was speaking about a local assembly—a local company and gathering of believers. Listen to what the Lord says. He says, “Go and tell this problem.” We haven’t been able to settle this problem. “Go and tell this problem to the church.” A local assembly. Something which is identifiable. Something which is in a locality. Believers which are meeting in a particular area.
Do you remember we read those verses in 1 Corinthians 1? Do you remember Paul was writing there to a local assembly in Corinth? He says, “I’m writing to the church of God”—a local assembly of God in Corinth. He says, “You’re sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Now, that is a local assembly—an identifiable local company of Christians gathering together for a particular purpose, like the one in Corinth, like the one at Midland Park. But you must make a difference between the large assembly, which is the body of Christ (Ephesians and Colossians), and the local assembly, the church of God. You’ll find that 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy especially are speaking about that local company of Christians.
So listen to this: two distinct entities—they are actually completely different. And though the local church, to a certain extent, is comparable to the great assembly, they are distinct, and they are different. There are similarities, but the contrasts outweigh the similarities. Now let me throw this at you. We’re getting there. Let me throw this at you just to prove the point. When it comes to the large assembly—don’t answer these questions out loud, will you? When it comes to the large assembly, Matthew 16, the church which is His body, how many? One—just one, comprised of every single believer. It will be together for the first time ever when the rapture takes place. What a tremendous thing! Millions of believers raised from the dead; we which are alive and remain, we’re all caught up together to meet Christ in the air. That one great assembly, we’ll be together forever and together for the first time. So the great assembly: one.
How many local assemblies? Well, I belong to one—Bracknell Gospel Hall. You belong to one, I trust—Midland Park. You say, “How many local assemblies are there today around the world?” Thousands upon thousands of local companies of Christians. Do you see the contrast? One versus many. Here’s something else: that great assembly is entered at conversion. As soon as you are saved, and you probably didn’t know it, I didn’t. When I was saved at seven years of age, immediately I belonged to the great assembly. I didn’t know it, but I was part of it. So you enter that great assembly by conversion.
You do not enter a local assembly by conversion: you enter a local assembly by reception. We’re going to talk about that tomorrow. Believers who have been baptized and who adhere to a doctrinal belief can become part of a local assembly. But again, there’s a contrast. Here’s something else. That great assembly only ever eternally has in it true believers. Thank you. Sad to say, it is possible that those who are not saved can work their way into the assembly, which is local. That’s possible. You say, “How is that possible?” Because Christ is building the great assembly, and He knows them that are His. He knows those that are genuine. Every genuine believer is part of that great assembly. But the local assembly is governed by a plurality of elders and overseers, and they will make judgments as to the profession of faith of these individuals and whether they’ve been baptized and adhere to the doctrine—and you can deceive mere men. It’s sad, and we never want it to happen, but it’s possible that those who are not saved can be in a local assembly. Jude verse 4: “Certain men crept in unawares.” It’s possible.
Here’s something else. It is utterly impossible, thank God, to be removed from the great assembly. Once you’re saved, you’re in the church, which is His body, and you can never be removed. Eternal security! Oh, but you can be removed from a local assembly. You say, “Are you sure?” What about 1 Corinthians 5? There is a man who’s been taken in fornication. There is a man who is living an immoral life. And Paul says, “Put him outside of the local assembly.” It is possible to be put out of the fellowship of a local church, but never the great assembly. I may say two more things and then we’ll move on, but these are so essential.
When it comes to that great assembly, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. There are no racial or national distinctions in the Great Assembly. None! But there are in the Local Assembly. In the local assembly, it’s essential that we demonstrate the difference between male and female. That’s part of God’s order; that’s to be seen in the local assembly. National distinctions pertain in the local assembly. Sexual distinctions pertain—male and female—in the local assembly. But when it comes to the great assembly, says Paul in Galatians 3, neither male nor female. I’ll give you just one more.
That great assembly is eternal. It’s eternal! It will never pass, it will never fail, it will never fall, it will never fold. That great assembly will be alongside Christ for all eternity. Not this local church; you see, if the rapture were to happen tonight, this local church is gone, kaput, and it’s not coming back. We’re thankful it’s not coming back. Local churches are temporal; local churches can begin and come to an end. The Lord can remove a lampstand and close a local testimony, but the greater sin can never be closed. Thank God it is eternal.
Now, I’ve labored that, but I’ve labored that because whenever you are reading through the New Testament, and whenever you come across this word “church,” you must distinguish in your mind: Is this a reference to the great assembly, or is this a reference to the local assembly? Make that difference; it’s so important. So if you’re in Ephesians or Colossians, it’s likely the great assembly. If you’re in 1 Corinthians or 1 Timothy, it is likely the local assembly. But read the context—make the difference.
Now, finally, if that’s a definition of the church, and we’ve mentioned the distinctions of the church, I’ve got to throw this one in. Do you know in Acts chapter 7— forgive me, this is a little by-path—do you know in Acts chapter 7, the word “ekklesia,” I think it’s verse 38, the word “ekklesia,” the word “church,” is used? Are you ready? Just hold on to a chair. The word “ekklesia” is used of Israel. Israel! See, I thought you were talking about the church. Now you’ve started talking about Israel! In Acts chapter 7, when Stephen is speaking—when Stephen is giving his great apology, and Stephen is speaking about Moses, and he says, “Moses was associated with the church in the wilderness.” What was that church in the wilderness? Well, you know what the word “church” means now, don’t you? It’s an assembly, a congregation of people. So Stephen is speaking about a congregation of people in the wilderness. You say, “Yes, I know about them; that’s the nation of Israel. They were rescued out of Egypt; they were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and by power through the Red Sea. That congregation of people, Israel, was taken into the wilderness, and Moses was head over that congregation.”
Does that mean that the church is Israel, and Israel is the church? Because the word “church” is used of Israel in Acts 7. Never conflate the two, will you? The word “ekklesia” is just an assembly of people. Now this is misleading many Christians today. God has an earthly people, the nation of Israel. That nation of Israel is separate and distinct from the church, which is the body of Christ. The church has not replaced Israel. The church is not found in the Old Testament; it’s a new work of God that began in Acts chapter 2. These two things are different and distinct. This is what people are teaching today; they are teaching that all of the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament have failed because Israel as a nation crucified their Messiah. So God has finished with Israel; He’s cast them aside never to take them up again. This has led to the rise of anti-Semitism amongst a lot of Christians today.
But they say, “Don’t worry, those promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament, He’s finished with them. He will make those promises good to the church in the New Testament because the church is the replacement of Israel.” Wrong, wrong, wrong! That comes from the devil. There is a difference and a distinction to be made. Yes, God has set aside the nation of Israel; He’s put them temporarily to one side because of their rejection of Christ. God now is doing a new work. Ephesians chapter 2: one new man—that’s Jew and Gentile together in one body. That’s the great assembly! God is doing a new work in the church. When that church is finished at the rapture and the church is gone, a heavenly people, a spiritual people, the bride of Christ, then God will move Israel back in, center stage, and every promise He ever made to Israel in the old will still be fulfilled to Israel. But in a day to come, God is true to His word; God can be trusted.
He hasn’t finished with them; they’re going to be refined through the tribulation. They are going to be made the head of the nations in the kingdom. God has a plan, God has a purpose for the nation of Israel. Now you see, please, there is a difference. Judaism and that which was associated with the nation: an earthly national religion characterized by ceremonial worship—the temple, the sacrifices, the incense, the garments. God has set that to one side, and now in dealing with the church, He is dealing with something that’s heavenly—something that’s universal, not national—and a people that now worship not ceremonially, but in spirit and in truth. That characterizes our worship today—not the ceremony of Judaism and that ceremony which has been carried over into Christendom.
No, no, we worship in spirit and in truth. Please make a distinction, won’t you, between the Great Assembly and the Local Assembly and Israel and the church. Now, finally, let’s talk about the dignity. Let’s talk about the dignity of the church. You just turn over. We didn’t read these verses; we’ll read them now. I’ve still got an hour and five minutes left, so no problem. Just have a look at Ephesians chapter 1. Now, you’ve been listening well. You know because I’ve turned to Ephesians, you know which aspect of the church I’m speaking of. You know now that I’m going to be speaking about the great assembly, the church which is the body of Christ, every true believer. I want to show you something of the dignity of that great assembly.
Look at Ephesians 1 and look at the end of it: verse 22. “God hath put all things under his feet.” This is God putting everything under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and has given Him—who is the head over all things—has given Him to the assembly, the assembly which is His body. And that assembly, this is the great assembly, is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. You know, don’t you, that the church is an eternal thought? I’ll show you that in a moment. You know that at the beginning of time, God created a paradise, and into the paradise He put a king, Adam. And alongside Adam, He put his wife Eve, who was a helper, that was his perfect complement. Eve was perfect for Adam.
God had been bringing all of the animals before Adam and Adam had said, “Oh, it’s a wonderful animal, Lord, but giraffe! It’s a wonderful elephant! It’s a wonderful…” And every animal that was brought before Adam, he was thinking to himself, “These are amazing creations, but they don’t suit me. I’m a human being. I have a particular intelligence. I’ve been made in the image and the likeness of God, and all of these animals are wonderful, but they’re not fitting complements for me,” until God made him a wife out from his side. You know what Adam said? He said, “At last! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” At last, Adam had someone—it was just his complement.
Adam and Eve reigned over the world as God intended: husband, wife, man, woman, until sin came in, and Adam bowed the knee to the devil, cast his crown at his feet. Do you think God’s purposes are thwarted? I tell you, what God has first designed, He will bring to ultimate fruition. You say, “Is He going to put a man, is He going to put a king and a queen, a man and his bride, his perfect complement? Is He going to put them together and reign over the world?” Yes, He is! In a day to come, the second man is coming out of heaven. He’s the last Adam; He’s the fulfillment of all that God desired at the very beginning.
Christ will come out of heaven, His bride alongside Him. Listen to what Ephesians 1 says: “The one who is head over all things.” He’s been given to the church, and the assembly which is His body is the complement of Him, the one who fills all things. What dignity that brings to the great assembly! Don’t you know that you’re going to reign over the earth? Don’t you? You’re going to reign with Him over all the earth! That is the mighty dignity of the great assembly.
Now, Paul hasn’t finished, and I haven’t finished either. Just look at chapter 3 and look at what Paul says here. He’s speaking about the mystery. He speaks in verse 4 of the mystery of the Christ. You say, “What is this revelation of truth about Christ?” That Christ would be the head, that the church would be His body. Paul is speaking about this great revelation of truth in the New Testament that was given to him. He says, “In other ages, this was not made known unto the sons of men, but now it has been revealed.”
What’s this truth about the Christ? Christ the head, the church which is His body? Verse 6: “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise.” That’s the promise of the Spirit in Christ. He says Gentiles are going to be brought in with the Jews—Gentile and Jew together, sharing the same promises, the same blessings, on the same basis, all brought together in the great assembly, the mystery of the Christ. He says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” You know what he’s speaking about? He’s speaking about the dignity of the great assembly.
He says, “You cannot fathom the endless treasures that we have in Christ! What we have in Him and what God has done in his wisdom to bring Jew and Gentile together in one body.” He says, “It’s far too big for our little grasp—the unsearchable riches of Christ! You cannot tread out the wonder of all of this.” He speaks about the wisdom of God—the wonderful wisdom of God.
Look at verse 10. God is doing all this so that in the heavenly places there might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. And this is all according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus. That’s the dignity of the great assembly! An eternal purpose to display the multifaceted wisdom of God in binding together Jew and Gentile in one place—the great assembly.
Now that’s the dignity of the church. Isn’t it wonderful? Pause. I’m finished now. What are we going to do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday? We’re not going to speak about the Great Assembly at all. We’re going to focus in on the local assembly. But don’t think that the local assembly is any less dignified. Do you remember what Paul called it when he wrote to the Corinthians? He said, “I know in Corinth there is the synagogue that used to belong to God no longer. He says, I know that in Corinth there is the idol temple that never belonged to God. He said, but now, There is the Church of God in Corinth!” That’s the local assembly. He says, “It belongs to God! It’s His!” And that local assembly demonstrates and manifests the character, the order, and the dignity of God.
I tell you, it’s a great thing to belong to the great assembly. It’s a great thing to belong to a local assembly and to seek to display something of God’s grace and God’s love in the area in which we live. What remarkable truth, isn’t it?
So there you are: a definition of the church, distinctions of the church, the dignity of the church, and we’ll pick up tomorrow. We’re concentrating on the local church. We’ll pick up tomorrow by speaking about the members that belong to that church.
Spanish
Creo que leeremos algunos versículos de la primera carta de Pablo a los Corintios. 1 Corintios, para empezar, y el capítulo 1. Es un gran placer estar aquí. Su cálida bienvenida es muy apreciada. Muchas gracias. Daniel, debería haberlo sabido, ¿no? Mi tocayo, que produjo este conjunto de notas, es notable. Casi me dan ganas de sentarme en una silla y tomar notas yo mismo. Pero entonces no sé quién haría la predicación si ese fuera el caso. Pero esto es bonito. Muchas gracias. Creo que tengo que llevarte conmigo en los próximos meses, quienquiera que seas. Llevarte conmigo para producir folletos como este. Esto es ideal, y ahora voy a tener que ceñirme, ¿no?, a las reuniones anunciadas y a los títulos de las reuniones, lo que, por supuesto, haremos.
Lo que pretendemos hacer durante estas cinco noches, de lunes a viernes, es pensar en la verdad en relación con la asamblea, la asamblea local. Luego, si Dios quiere, el sábado y el domingo, hablaremos un poco sobre la segunda venida del Señor Jesús: el rapto y la revelación, dos aspectos de Su segunda venida, y cómo debemos vivir a la luz del pronto regreso del Señor Jesús. Así que hay grandes cosas ante nosotros en estos pocos días; la verdad en relación con la asamblea local, la verdad en relación con la segunda venida de nuestro Señor Jesús, y confío en que será de gran bendición y beneficio para todos nosotros. Es un placer conocerte, y espero encontrarme contigo a su debido tiempo.
Casi siento que en este punto necesito explicar un poco sobre mí, porque no sabrán esto si son predicadores o si no son predicadores, pero lo que uno termina haciendo es responder las mismas preguntas unas diez veces al día: ¿Dónde vives? ¿Dónde vives? ¿De dónde vienes? ¿Qué tamaño tiene la asamblea a la que perteneces? ¿Qué himnarios utilizáis en vuestra asamblea? ¿Cuántos niños tiene? ¿Qué edad tienen? ¿Tienen mascotas? Todo ese tipo de preguntas te las hacen cinco, seis, siete, diez veces al día. Así que debería responder a todo eso. No voy a responder a todas las preguntas. Quizá debería llevar un gran cartel colgado del cuello para que sepas exactamente cuáles son las respuestas. Pero ahora no me harás esas preguntas, ¿verdad? Pregúntale a Alistair, él sabe todas las respuestas.
Y unas palabras de agradecimiento, no sólo por convocar estas reuniones, sino por quitárnoslo de encima. Hemos estado tratando de deshacernos de él durante años, y ahora ha encontrado una joven encantadora aquí. Bien, suficiente de todo eso. Es bueno estar aquí. Abramos juntos la Palabra de Dios y confiemos en que será una bendición para nosotros.
Ahora, estamos hablando esta noche sobre el significado de la asamblea, que es como he llamado a esta reunión o sesión en particular. ¿Qué significa la asamblea? Estamos pensando en esta palabra, la palabra “iglesia”, aunque yo voy a usar la palabra “asamblea”, y les diré por qué estoy usando la palabra “asamblea” a su debido tiempo. La Versión Autorizada usa la palabra “iglesia”, y sí quiero hablar de esa palabra en particular y luego decirles por qué es mejor realmente usar la palabra “asamblea”. Así que esta noche será muy fundamental; será muy básica, pero estoy tratando de establecer el escenario. Estoy tratando de establecer una base fuerte y firme para todo lo que va a seguir en las próximas noches.
Escuchen lo que Pablo les dice a estos cristianos que se reúnen en Corinto. El escribe esta carta a los Corintios. 1 Corintios 1, versículo 1, dice: “Pablo, llamado apóstol de Jesucristo por la voluntad de Dios, y Sóstenes, nuestro hermano”. Y entonces Pablo dice, este es quien soy. Esto es lo que estoy escribiendo a. Él dice, “a la iglesia de Dios”. Ahora, no les dire mucho griego porque no se mucho griego, pero necesitan saber esta palabra. La palabra que se traduce aquí, “iglesia”, es la palabra “ekklesia”. Esa es la palabra griega, o “ekklesia”, si quieres pronunciarla correctamente, pero normalmente la llamamos “ekklesia”. Esa es la palabra que los traductores aquí han traducido como “iglesia”. Tenemos que hablar de esa palabra. Pablo dice: “Escribo a la ecclesia, la asamblea, la iglesia de Dios, que está en Corinto”. Pertenece a Dios en un sentido espiritual. Geográficamente, esta asamblea de cristianos se encuentra en Corinto.
Les dice a los que están santificados-no es su ubicación geográfica; es su ubicación espiritual. Son apartados, santificados en Cristo Jesús, y son llamados santos. Y dice: “con todos los que en todo lugar invocan el nombre de Jesucristo, Señor nuestro, así de ellos como de nosotros”. Pero es esa pequeña frase en el versículo 2, “la iglesia de Dios que está en Corinto”. Correcto, al revés. El libro de los Hechos y el capítulo 19. El libro de los Hechos y el capítulo 19. Ahora, estoy leyendo estos versículos. No les serán tan familiares, pero estoy leyendo estos versículos simplemente porque haré referencia a ellos a su debido tiempo.
Ahora, esa palabra “ekklesia” se usa 115 veces en el Nuevo Testamento. Excepto en tres ocasiones, se traduce “iglesia”. Así que 112 veces, la palabra “iglesia” es usada. En tres ocasiones, esa misma palabra se traduce de manera diferente, y todas se encuentran aquí en Hechos capítulo 19. Explicaré por qué se traducen de manera diferente. Explicaré por qué se traducen de manera diferente en un momento.
Así que Hechos capítulo 19, y esta es una ocasión en un lugar llamado Éfeso, cuando un gran disturbio realmente se ha suscitado en esa ciudad porque Pablo está socavando su comercio en ídolos e idolatría. Los efesios adoraban a una diosa llamada Diana. Una gran asamblea fue al anfiteatro en Efeso. Hoy se puede ver; ha sido excavado. Dijeron: “Grande es Diana de los efesios”. Amén. En el versículo 29, toda la ciudad se llenó de confusión. Habiendo prendido a Gayo o Gayo y Aristarco, varones de Macedonia, compañeros de viaje de Pablo, se precipitaron a una en el teatro. Cuando Pablo quiso entrar al pueblo, los discípulos no se lo permitieron. Algunos de los principales de Asia, que eran sus amigos, le enviaron a rogarle que no se aventurase a entrar en el teatro. Así que se ha armado todo un alboroto. No saben muy bien por qué han entrado en el anfiteatro, y por qué gritan: “Grande es Diana de los efesios”. Pero algo los ha agitado.
En el versículo 32, “Unos gritaban una cosa, otros otra”. La asamblea-ahora esa es la palabra “ekklesia,” pero en esta ocasión los traductores no la traducen “iglesia,” y no la están traduciendo “iglesia” porque esta es una reunión de individuos civiles. No es una reunión religiosa; no es una reunión eclesiástica. Es una reunión cívica, y por lo tanto, tradujeron la palabra no como “iglesia” sino como “asamblea”.
La asamblea estaba confundida. Esta congregación de gente en el anfiteatro estaba confundida, y no sabían realmente por qué se habían reunido. Luego esa palabra “asamblea” se usa en otras dos ocasiones sólo en esta pequeña sección: versículo 39, “Se determinará en asamblea legal”. Versículo 41, “Habiendo hablado así, despidió a la asamblea”. Haremos referencia a eso más adelante; sólo manténganlo en sus mentes.
Ahora, finalmente, el Evangelio de Mateo. Leamos en el Evangelio de Mateo y el capítulo 16. Evangelio de Mateo, capítulo 16. Esta es la primera referencia a la palabra “ekklesia”, “iglesia”, en la Biblia. Mateo, capítulo 16. El Señor Jesús está hablando. Dice, Mateo 16, versículo 13: “Viniendo Jesús a los alrededores de Cesarea de Filipo, preguntó a sus discípulos, diciendo: ‘¿Quién dicen los hombres que soy yo, el Hijo del Hombre?’ Y ellos dijeron: ‘Unos dicen que eres Juan el Bautista, otros, Elías, y otros, Jeremías, o alguno de los profetas’. Respondiendo Simón Pedro, dijo: Tú eres el Cristo, el Hijo de Dios vivo. Respondió Jesús y le dijo: ‘Bienaventurado eres, Simón Bar Jonás, porque no te lo reveló carne ni sangre, sino mi Padre que está en los cielos. Y yo también te digo que tú eres Pedro, y sobre esta piedra…’. Probablemente no sea el propio Pedro. Eso sería más bien un fundamento incierto e inestable. Probablemente es más bien la confesión de Pedro de la persona del Señor Jesús, el que es el Cristo, el Hijo del Dios viviente. Pero sobre esta roca, dice el Señor Jesús, ‘edificaré’. Aún no se ha construido, pero se construirá. El dice, ‘edificaré mi iglesia,’ la primera mención de la palabra, ‘y las puertas del infierno no prevalecerán contra ella.’ Ahora, por supuesto, la iglesia empezó a ser edificada en Hechos capítulo 2 en el día de Pentecostés. Pero cuando el Senor Jesus estaba diciendo estas palabras, la iglesia todavia no habia entrado en formacion o ser, y por eso El dice, ‘Yo edificare mi iglesia.’
Y todo esto con el trasfondo del capítulo 13 de Mateo, las parábolas del reino y el hecho de que el Señor Jesús había sido rechazado por su propio pueblo. Ahora Él introduce en este Evangelio el hecho de que Él va a hacer una nueva obra, y esta nueva obra, no Israel, no el judaísmo, esta nueva obra es la iglesia. Ahora, debemos leer algunos versículos también en el capítulo 18 de Mateo. Esta es la segunda mención de la palabra “iglesia” en la Biblia. De hecho, la palabra “iglesia” solo se menciona dos veces en todos los Evangelios, y hemos leído-o estamos a punto de leer-ambas referencias.
Asi que Mateo capitulo 18 dice: “Ahora este es un pasaje muy interesante porque tiene que ver con, bueno, la disciplina de la iglesia hasta cierto punto y un hermano que ha pecado o ofendido a otro hermano”. Así que el versículo 15 de Mateo 18: “Además, si tu hermano te ofende, ve y dile su falta entre tú y él solamente. Si te oye, habrás ganado a tu hermano. Pero si no te oyere, toma contigo a uno o dos más, para que en boca de dos o tres testigos conste toda palabra. Si no los oyere, dile a este hermano que te ha ofendido, que no puedes resolverlo de hombre a hombre. Has llevado testigos contigo, y él tampoco los escuchará. Ahora lo que haces es decírselo a la iglesia, pero si él descuida escuchar a la iglesia, entonces que sea para ti como un pagano y un publicano.”
Hay algunas declaraciones muy importantes aquí, pero no podemos leerlas todas o discutirlas todas. Pero el versículo 20, y esto es muy, muy precioso para muchos de nosotros, “Porque donde están dos o tres congregados en mi nombre,” dice el Señor Jesús, “allí estoy yo en medio de ellos.” Ese es nuestro gran principio de reunión. No hablaremos de ese principio esta noche, pero lo haremos a su debido tiempo.
Bien, eso es todo lo que vamos a leer por ahora, y esperamos que el Señor, como siempre, bendiga la lectura de Su Palabra. Hay tres cosas -de hecho, hay mucho más que tres cosas- que voy a decirles esta noche. Pero principalmente, hay tres cosas que quiero presentarles esta noche mientras pensamos en este tema del significado de la iglesia, o el significado de la asamblea.
Ahora, en primer lugar -y esto es importante- quiero darles una definición muy sencilla de lo que significa realmente la palabra “ekklesia” o la palabra “iglesia”. Antes que nada, trataremos de describir la palabra; definiremos la palabra: una definición de la iglesia. Luego notarán -y espero que esto les resulte muy familiar- que hemos estado leyendo acerca de la iglesia en Mateo 16 y también hemos estado leyendo acerca de la iglesia en Mateo 18. Cuando el Señor habla de la iglesia en Mateo 16, está hablando de lo que podríamos llamar la gran asamblea: la iglesia que es el cuerpo de Cristo.
Pero cuando llegamos a Mateo 18, el tema es diferente. Se que la palabra es la misma. Sé que el Señor Jesús todavía está hablando de la iglesia, pero no está hablando de la gran asamblea, la iglesia que es el cuerpo de Cristo. De hecho, en Mateo 18, El esta hablando de una asamblea local, una compañia local de individuos. Quiero decir, eso es obvio, ¿no? Porque hay un hermano que tiene un problema con otro hermano. Si no escucha a su hermano y tampoco escucha a dos o tres testigos que se traen, entonces debe contárselo a toda la iglesia, y obviamente, eso no puede abarcar a cada cristiano y a cada creyente en todo el planeta; debe ser una cosa mucho más local. Así que quiero hablarles no sólo de la definición de la iglesia; quiero hablarles de las distinciones que deben hacer entre la gran asamblea, que está en Mateo 16, y la asamblea local, que está en Mateo 18. Es muy importante. Es muy importante.
Daremos una definición de la iglesia, pero también hablaremos de las distinciones de la iglesia. Y para que no piensen-antes de que llegue al final de la reunión-ahora no hay excusa para que alguien se duerma esta noche. Si alguien tiene excusa para dormirse, soy yo. Soy yo, y sólo yo, ¿verdad? Es más de medianoche de donde vengo. Yo tengo excusa; tú no tienes excusa. Ahora, para que no piensen que es un poco árido -y haré todo lo posible para que no lo sea porque es muy importante-, al final de la reunión quiero hablarles de la dignidad de la Iglesia, no sólo de su definición y de las distinciones que hay que hacer. Quiero hablaros de la gran dignidad de eso que esta noche llamamos Iglesia. No hay nada, casi nada, que sea tan precioso para el Padre y para Su Hijo como la iglesia. Así que hablaremos justo al final de la reunión sobre la dignidad de la iglesia.
Bien, una pequeña definición: Les he presentado la palabra griega que está en nuestras mentes esta noche. Queremos pensar en esta palabra, “ekklesia”. Recuerden lo que el Señor Jesús dijo en Mateo 16. El dijo, “Tu eres Pedro, y sobre esta roca, Pedro, edificaré”, la primera mención de esta palabra en toda la Biblia, en el Nuevo Testamento Griego. Dice: “Pedro, sobre esta roca edificaré mi Iglesia. Edificaré”, en la versión autorizada, “mi iglesia”. Tú dices: “¿Qué significa esa palabra?”. Bueno, muy simple y muy básicamente, la palabra “ekklesia” significa una asamblea, una congregación, una reunión de personas para un propósito particular. Ese es el significado de la palabra “ekklesia”. Ahora tienen eso. Esencial. Así que ya sea “ekklesia”, o ya sea la versión King James como interpreta o traduce esa palabra como “iglesia”, o ya sea que yo use la mejor palabra “asamblea”, porque eso es lo que la palabra significa, nos estamos refiriendo a una reunión, una congregación, una compañía de personas.
He aquí una ecclesia esta noche: una asamblea de personas que se reúnen por un motivo concreto. No ladrillos y mortero. No un edificio eclesiástico. Cuando la Biblia usa la palabra “iglesia”, se refiere a una compañía de personas. Ahora, debemos tener cuidado, ¿no es así, en la forma en que usamos nuestro lenguaje? Entiendo, entiendo que en el idioma Inglés, la palabra “iglesia” básicamente se refiere a un edificio. Y en términos generales, un edificio muy ornamentado con cruces en el exterior y demás. Así es como usamos la palabra “iglesia” en el idioma inglés. Pero la Biblia nunca usa la palabra “iglesia” de esa manera. Siempre que leas la palabra “iglesia” en el Nuevo Testamento, nunca hace referencia a un edificio. Siempre se refiere a personas. Ahora, usted recuerda eso, ¿verdad? Asi que cuando tu estas hablando con alguien en la casa mañana en la noche y tu dices, “Buenas noches, amor; estoy saliendo para la iglesia,” tu te castigas a ti mismo porque tu eres la iglesia. Si eres un creyente en el Señor Jesús, eres parte de la iglesia. Tú eres la iglesia. No vas a la iglesia; tú eres la iglesia. Supongo que técnicamente tienes razón en lo que se refiere al idioma inglés, pero debemos tratar de usar un lenguaje que sea bíblico.
Es mucho mejor que digas: “Voy a la sala del evangelio”, o “Voy a la sala”, o “Voy a la reunión”. Tú no vas a la iglesia; tú eres la iglesia. Así que no lo olvides. Se hace muy evidente. Cuando leas el libro de los Hechos, por ejemplo, el libro de los Hechos dirá cosas como esta: “El temor se apoderó de toda la iglesia”. Eso es Hechos capítulo 5. Ahora, que yo sepa, los edificios no tienen emociones, y los edificios no pueden tener miedo. Pero en Hechos capitulo 5, el temor vino sobre toda la iglesia. ¿Por qué? Porque la palabra “iglesia” realmente significa una compañía de gente reunida. Esa gente tenia miedo. En otros lugares del libro de los Hechos, las iglesias, en plural, caminaban en el temor del Señor. Nunca he conocido un edificio que tenga piernas. Si pudieras diseñar un edificio con piernas, creo que podrías ganar mucho dinero. Las iglesias caminaban en el temor del Señor, lo que significa que estas compañías de cristianos reunidos vivían sus vidas de tal manera que mostraban reverencia hacia el Señor.
En Hechos capitulo 11, si las emociones y las piernas no son suficientes para probar el punto, en Hechos capitulo 11, la iglesia tiene oídos. “La noticia de estas cosas llegó a oídos de la iglesia en Jerusalén”. Los edificios no tienen oídos, la gente los tiene. ¿Ves el punto? Entonces esta palabra “ekklesia,” esta palabra “iglesia,” esta palabra “asamblea”-es la misma palabra. Tiene la idea de una compañía reunida de individuos, reuniéndose para un propósito particular. Ahora, realmente no quiero entrar en esto, y no fui maestro de historia; fui maestro de geografía, la cual, en mi humilde opinión, es una materia mucho mejor que… pero ustedes dicen que estos traductores de la Versión King James ahora, tradujeron esto en el año 1611. Y recuerden que se llama la Biblia del Rey Jaime porque el rey que encargó la traducción y el rey que tenía mucho que decir sobre los traductores y cómo la traducían, era el Rey Jaime I.
Usted dice: “¿Por qué estos traductores, cuando tenían esa palabra ‘ekklesia’ 115 veces en todo el Nuevo Testamento-en 112 ocasiones dijeron ‘iglesia’ y en sólo tres ocasiones usaron la traducción ‘asamblea’ para exactamente la misma palabra griega?”. Por esta razón: que el rey Jaime I insistió en que cuando se hacía una traducción, si un término eclesiástico ya era de uso común en el año 1611, ese término debía ser usado por el traductor. Por eso en 1 Timoteo 3 aparece la palabra “obispo”. La palabra no significa nada por el estilo, pero había obispos en las iglesias de aquella época, y el rey Jaime estaba muy interesado en asegurarse de que todo lo que era “eclesiástico” en aquellos días fuera fomentado por esta nueva traducción de la Biblia al inglés.
Aquellos traductores sabían muy bien que la mejor manera de explicar esta palabra “ekklesia” era a través de la palabra “asamblea”. Pero debido a lo que el Rey Santiago había dicho, retuvieron la palabra “iglesia”. ¿Por qué usaron la palabra “asamblea” tres veces en Hechos capítulo 19? Simplemente porque no era una reunión religiosa de individuos. Aquí había un montón de individuos que habían sido levantados de la ciudad de Éfeso. Habían ido al anfiteatro; estaban gritando sobre la grandeza de su diosa Diana. Era una reunión cívica de individuos, así que la llamaron asamblea. Pero en cualquier otra ocasión, usaban la palabra “iglesia”.
Todo lo que tienes que tener en cuenta es esto: Cuando definimos la palabra “ekklesia”, iglesia, estamos pensando en una asamblea o congregación de personas reunidas, y eso por una razón particular. Esto es importante.
Punto numero dos: hablemos de las distinciones de la iglesia. Esta compañía reunida de individuos. Notarán que estuvimos leyendo en Mateo 16 y Mateo capítulo 18. Recuerden que en Mateo capitulo 16, el Señor Jesús dice esto, Pedro, sobre tu confesión, este firme fundamento, voy a edificar. Ahora solo note esto: el Señor Jesús es el constructor. El dice, “Sobre esta roca, Pedro, sobre este fundamento firme, edificaré”. Mateo 16 está hablando de la gran asamblea.
Ahora, usted necesita anotar esto. Este es el tipo de verdad que encontraras en Efesios y encontraras en Colosenses. En Efesios y Colosenses, esta gran asamblea de la cual el Señor Jesús estaba hablando en Mateo 16 es llamada la iglesia, la cual es el cuerpo de Cristo. En Mateo 16 todavía era futuro. El Señor Jesús dice: “Yo edificaré esta iglesia. Todavía no he empezado a construirla, pero lo haré”. Él estaba esperando el capítulo 2 de Hechos, el día de Pentecostés. ¡Qué día tan extraordinario! ¿Sabes que ese fue el día, 40 días después de que el Señor Jesús había resucitado de entre los muertos? Luego Él ascendió de nuevo al cielo. Diez días… bueno, permítanme decirlo de otra manera: el Señor Jesús resucitó de entre los muertos. Cuarenta días después, ascendió de nuevo al cielo. Diez días después de Su ascensión fue el día de Pentecostés-Pentecostés, 50 días desde la resurrección de Cristo. Cuando el Señor Jesús ascendió al cielo, hubo una persona divina, el Hijo de Dios, que dejó la tierra y subió al cielo: el movimiento de una persona divina.
Diez días después, en el día de Pentecostés, una persona divina se movió de nuevo; ustedes dicen: “¿Quién era?”. No el Señor Jesús; Él estaba en el cielo y había estado allí durante 10 días y todavía está allí diez días después. El Espíritu de Dios se movió del cielo y bajó a la tierra en el día de Pentecostés. El movimiento del Espíritu de Dios, el movimiento otra vez de una persona divina. Él formó la iglesia, la gran asamblea, que es el cuerpo de Cristo. Él formó esa iglesia en el día de Pentecostés. Él unió espiritualmente la cabeza, Cristo, que está en el cielo, con Su cuerpo que estaba en la tierra. Cada creyente en el día de Pentecostés fue unido en una entidad única-la gran asamblea, la iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo.
Permítanme decirles algo notable. Si esa iglesia tuvo su fundación, comienzo, origen en el día de Pentecostés, ustedes dicen: “¿Cuándo estará terminada?”. Bueno, todavía no está terminada. Cristo todavía está edificando Su iglesia. Tú dices, “¿Cuándo estará terminada?” Podría estar terminada en cinco minutos. Este predicador no estará terminado en cinco minutos, por cierto, pero la iglesia podría estarlo. Porque cuando Cristo desciende del cielo en el aire-eso es el rapto-cuando todo el pueblo de Dios es arrebatado para encontrarse con El en el aire, eso será el fin de la gran asamblea. Así que estamos hablando aquí acerca de-a veces los predicadores la llaman así; perdónenme por decir esto, pero necesitan estar conscientes de las diferencias-a veces los predicadores la llaman la iglesia universal. Eso está bien, pero no es muy exacto.
A veces los predicadores la llaman la iglesia de la dispensación; eso es mejor. Cada creyente en el Señor Jesús-cada creyente desde el día de Pentecostés hasta el rapto-es parte… Ud. dice, “Millones de ellos han muerto; sus cuerpos están enterrados; fueron salvos hace cientos de años, y están en el cielo sin ropa, pero están en el cielo.” Así es, pero todavía son parte de esa gran asamblea desde el día de Pentecostés hasta el rapto-ese cuerpo completo, el cuerpo de Cristo, la iglesia de la dispensación, la gran asamblea. ¡Qué iglesia es esa! De eso hablaba el Señor Jesús en Mateo 16: “Edificaré”, y comenzó a edificar en Hechos 2: “Edificaré mi iglesia”. Así que cada creyente genuino en Cristo-y El conoce a los que son Suyos-es parte de esa gran asamblea. Si tú eres un creyente en el Señor Jesús esta noche, tú perteneces a esa iglesia, la iglesia que es Su cuerpo.
Ahora sostengan los titulares. ¿Están listos para esto? Aunque perteneces a esa iglesia si eres un creyente, puede que no pertenezcas a una iglesia local, y eso es algo diferente, y eso es de lo que el Señor Jesús estaba hablando en Mateo capitulo 18. El no estaba hablando de la gran asamblea. El no estaba hablando de la gran asamblea allí, la iglesia que es Su cuerpo (Efesios, Colosenses verdad). No, no. En Mateo 18, Él estaba hablando de una asamblea local-una compañía local y reunión de creyentes. Escuche lo que el Señor dice. El dice, “Ve y cuenta este problema”. No hemos podido resolver este problema. “Ve y cuéntale este problema a la iglesia”. Una asamblea local. Algo que es identificable. Algo que está en una localidad. Creyentes que se reúnen en una zona determinada.
¿Recuerdas que leímos esos versículos en 1 Corintios 1? ¿Recuerdan que Pablo estaba escribiendo allí a una asamblea local en Corinto? El dice, “Estoy escribiendo a la iglesia de Dios”-una asamblea local de Dios en Corinto. Dice: “Ustedes son santificados en Cristo Jesús”. Ahora, eso es una asamblea local-una compañía local identificable de cristianos reuniéndose para un propósito particular, como la de Corinto, como la de Midland Park. Pero debes hacer una diferencia entre la gran asamblea, que es el cuerpo de Cristo (Efesios y Colosenses), y la asamblea local, la iglesia de Dios. Verás que 1 Corintios y 1 Timoteo hablan especialmente de esa compañía local de cristianos.
Así que escuchen esto: dos entidades distintas; en realidad son completamente diferentes. Y aunque la iglesia local, hasta cierto punto, es comparable a la gran asamblea, son distintas, y son diferentes. Hay similitudes, pero los contrastes superan las similitudes. Ahora permítanme lanzarles esto. Ya estamos llegando a eso. Permítanme arrojarles esto sólo para probar el punto. Cuando se trata de la gran asamblea, no respondas a estas preguntas en voz alta. Cuando se trata de la gran asamblea, Mateo 16, la iglesia que es Su cuerpo, ¿cuántos son? Uno-sólo uno, compuesto de cada creyente. Estará reunida por primera vez en la historia cuando tenga lugar el rapto. ¡Qué cosa tan tremenda! Millones de creyentes levantados de los muertos; nosotros que estamos vivos y permanecemos, todos somos arrebatados juntos para encontrarnos con Cristo en el aire. Esa gran asamblea, estaremos juntos para siempre y juntos por primera vez. Así que la gran asamblea: una.
¿Cuántas asambleas locales? Bueno, yo pertenezco a una, el Salón del Evangelio de Bracknell. Tú perteneces a una, confío-Midland Park. Tú dices: “¿Cuántas asambleas locales hay hoy en el mundo?”. Miles y miles de sociedades locales de cristianos. ¿Ve el contraste? Uno contra muchos. Aquí hay algo más: a esa gran asamblea se entra en la conversión. Tan pronto como eres salvo, y probablemente no lo sabías, yo no lo sabía. Cuando fui salvo a los siete años de edad, inmediatamente pertenecí a la gran asamblea. No lo sabía, pero era parte de ella. Así que entras a esa gran asamblea por conversión.
No se entra en una asamblea local por conversión: se entra en una asamblea local por recepción. De eso hablaremos mañana. Los creyentes que han sido bautizados y que se adhieren a una creencia doctrinal pueden llegar a ser parte de una asamblea local. Pero de nuevo, hay un contraste. Aquí hay algo más. Esa gran asamblea solo tiene eternamente en ella verdaderos creyentes. Gracias. Es triste decirlo, pero es posible que aquellos que no son salvos puedan abrirse camino en la asamblea, que es local. Eso es posible. Usted dice: “¿Cómo es eso posible?” Porque Cristo está construyendo la gran asamblea, y Él conoce a los que son Suyos. El conoce a los que son genuinos. Cada creyente genuino es parte de esa gran asamblea. Pero la asamblea local es gobernada por una pluralidad de ancianos y supervisores, y ellos harán juicios en cuanto a la profesión de fe de estos individuos y si han sido bautizados y se adhieren a la doctrina-y se puede engañar a meros hombres. Es triste, y nunca queremos que suceda, pero es posible que los que no son salvos puedan estar en una asamblea local. Judas versículo 4: “Algunos hombres entraron sin avisar”. Es posible.
Aquí hay algo más. Es completamente imposible, gracias a Dios, ser removido de la gran asamblea. Una vez que eres salvo, estás en la iglesia, que es Su cuerpo, y nunca puedes ser removido. ¡Seguridad eterna! Oh, pero puedes ser removido de una asamblea local. Usted dice, “¿Está seguro?” ¿Qué hay de 1 Corintios 5? Hay un hombre que ha sido tomado en fornicación. Hay un hombre que vive una vida inmoral. Y Pablo dice: “Pónganlo fuera de la asamblea local”. Es posible ser puesto fuera del compañerismo de una iglesia local, pero nunca de la gran asamblea. Puedo decir dos cosas mas y luego seguiremos, pero estas son tan esenciales.
Cuando se trata de esa gran asamblea, no hay judío ni gentil. No hay ni esclavo ni libre. No hay varón ni mujer. No hay distinciones raciales o nacionales en la Gran Asamblea. Ninguna. Pero las hay en la Asamblea Local. En la asamblea local, es esencial que demostremos la diferencia entre varón y hembra. Eso es parte del orden de Dios; eso debe verse en la asamblea local. Las distinciones nacionales pertenecen a la asamblea local. Las distinciones sexuales pertenecen-varón y hembra-en la asamblea local. Pero cuando se trata de la gran asamblea, dice Pablo en Gálatas 3, ni varón ni mujer. Les daré sólo una más.
Esa gran asamblea es eterna. Es eterna. Nunca pasará, nunca fallará, nunca caerá, nunca se doblará. Esa gran asamblea estará al lado de Cristo por toda la eternidad. No esta iglesia local; ves, si el rapto sucediera esta noche, esta iglesia local se ha ido, kaput, y no va a regresar. Estamos agradecidos de que no regrese. Las iglesias locales son temporales; las iglesias locales pueden comenzar y llegar a su fin. El Señor puede quitar un candelabro y cerrar un testimonio local, pero el pecado mayor nunca puede ser cerrado. Gracias a Dios es eterno.
Ahora, he trabajado en eso, pero he trabajado en eso porque cada vez que usted está leyendo a través del Nuevo Testamento, y cada vez que usted encuentra esta palabra “iglesia,” usted debe distinguir en su mente: ¿Es una referencia a la gran asamblea, o es una referencia a la asamblea local? Haz esa diferencia; es muy importante. Así que si estás en Efesios o Colosenses, es probable que sea la gran asamblea. Si estás en 1 Corintios o 1 Timoteo, es probable que sea la asamblea local. Pero lee el contexto, haz la diferencia.
Ahora, finalmente, si esa es una definición de la iglesia, y hemos mencionado las distinciones de la iglesia, tengo que añadir esta. ¿Saben ustedes que en el capítulo 7 de Hechos -perdónenme, esto es un poco rebuscado- saben ustedes que en el capítulo 7 de Hechos, se usa la palabra “ekklesia”, creo que es el versículo 38, la palabra “ekklesia”, la palabra “iglesia”? ¿Están preparados? Agárrate a una silla. La palabra “ekklesia” se usa de Israel. ¡Israel! Ves, pensé que estabas hablando de la iglesia. Ahora has empezado a hablar de Israel. En Hechos capítulo 7, cuando Esteban está hablando-cuando Esteban está dando su gran disculpa, y Esteban está hablando de Moisés, y dice: “Moisés estaba asociado con la iglesia en el desierto”. ¿Qué era esa iglesia en el desierto? Bueno, usted sabe lo que la palabra “iglesia” significa ahora, ¿no? Es una asamblea, una congregación de personas. Así que Esteban está hablando de una congregación de personas en el desierto. Usted dice: “Sí, sé de ellos; que es la nación de Israel. Ellos fueron rescatados de Egipto; fueron redimidos por la sangre del Cordero y por el poder a través del Mar Rojo. Esa congregación de gente, Israel, fue llevada al desierto, y Moisés estaba a la cabeza de esa congregación.”
¿Significa eso que la iglesia es Israel, e Israel es la iglesia? Porque la palabra “iglesia” se usa de Israel en Hechos 7. Nunca confunda los dos, ¿verdad? La palabra “ekklesia” es simplemente una asamblea de personas. Ahora bien, esto engaña a muchos cristianos hoy en día. Dios tiene un pueblo terrenal, la nación de Israel. Esa nación de Israel está separada y es distinta de la iglesia, que es el cuerpo de Cristo. La iglesia no ha reemplazado a Israel. La iglesia no se encuentra en el Antiguo Testamento; es una nueva obra de Dios que comenzó en Hechos capítulo 2. Estas dos cosas son diferentes y distintas. Esto es lo que la gente está enseñando hoy; están enseñando que todas las promesas que Dios hizo a Israel en el Antiguo Testamento han fallado porque Israel como nación crucificó a su Mesías. Así que Dios ha terminado con Israel; los ha echado a un lado para nunca más volver a tomarlos. Esto ha llevado al aumento del antisemitismo entre muchos cristianos de hoy.
Pero ellos dicen, “No te preocupes, esas promesas que Dios le hizo a Israel en el Antiguo Testamento, El ha terminado con ellos. Él hará buenas esas promesas a la iglesia en el Nuevo Testamento porque la iglesia es el reemplazo de Israel”. ¡Mal, mal, mal! Eso viene del diablo. Hay una diferencia y una distinción que hacer. Sí, Dios ha hecho a un lado a la nación de Israel; los ha puesto temporalmente a un lado debido a su rechazo de Cristo. Ahora Dios esta haciendo una nueva obra. Efesios capítulo 2: un nuevo hombre-eso es Judío y Gentil juntos en un cuerpo. Esa es la gran asamblea. Dios esta haciendo una nueva obra en la iglesia. Cuando esa iglesia sea terminada en el rapto y la iglesia se haya ido, un pueblo celestial, un pueblo espiritual, la novia de Cristo, entonces Dios moverá a Israel de regreso, al centro del escenario, y cada promesa que El alguna vez le hizo a Israel en el antiguo todavía será cumplida a Israel. Pero en el día venidero, Dios es fiel a Su palabra; se puede confiar en Dios.
El no ha terminado con ellos; ellos van a ser refinados a través de la tribulación. Ellos van a ser hechos la cabeza de las naciones en el reino. Dios tiene un plan, Dios tiene un propósito para la nación de Israel. Ahora ves, por favor, hay una diferencia. El judaísmo y lo que estaba asociado con la nación: una religión nacional terrenal caracterizada por la adoración ceremonial-el templo, los sacrificios, el incienso, las vestiduras. Dios ha dejado eso a un lado, y ahora al tratar con la iglesia, está tratando con algo que es celestial-algo que es universal, no nacional-y un pueblo que ahora adora no ceremonialmente, sino en espíritu y en verdad. Eso caracteriza nuestra adoración hoy-no la ceremonia del judaísmo y esa ceremonia que ha sido llevada a la cristiandad.
No, no, adoramos en espíritu y en verdad. Por favor, hagan una distinción entre la Gran Asamblea y la Asamblea Local e Israel y la iglesia. Ahora, finalmente, hablemos de la dignidad. Hablemos de la dignidad de la iglesia. Denle la vuelta. No hemos leído estos versículos; los leeremos ahora. Aún me queda una hora y cinco minutos, así que no hay problema. Echen un vistazo al capítulo 1 de Efesios. Han estado escuchando bien. Ya saben de qué aspecto de la iglesia estoy hablando, porque he pasado a Efesios. Ahora saben que voy a hablar de la gran asamblea, la iglesia que es el cuerpo de Cristo, cada verdadero creyente. Quiero mostrarles algo de la dignidad de esa gran asamblea.
Miren Efesios 1 y miren al final: versículo 22. “Dios ha puesto todas las cosas bajo sus pies”. Esto es Dios poniendo todo bajo la autoridad del Señor Jesucristo y le ha dado a Él-quien es la cabeza sobre todas las cosas-le ha dado a la asamblea, la asamblea que es Su cuerpo. Y esa asamblea, esta es la gran asamblea, es la plenitud de Aquel que todo lo llena en todo. ¿Sabes, verdad, que la iglesia es un pensamiento eterno? Te mostraré eso en un momento. Saben que al principio de los tiempos, Dios creó un paraíso, y en el paraíso puso a un rey, Adán. Y junto a Adán, puso a su esposa Eva, que era una ayudante, que era su complemento perfecto. Eva era perfecta para Adán.
Dios había estado trayendo todos los animales antes que Adán y Adán había dicho: “¡Oh, es un animal maravilloso, Señor, pero jirafa! ¡Es un elefante maravilloso! Es un maravilloso…” Y cada animal que era presentado ante Adán, él pensaba para sí: “Son creaciones asombrosas, pero no me convienen. Soy un ser humano. Tengo una inteligencia particular. He sido hecho a imagen y semejanza de Dios, y todos estos animales son maravillosos, pero no son complementos adecuados para mí”, hasta que Dios le hizo una esposa de su lado. ¿Sabes lo que dijo Adán? Dijo: “¡Por fin! Hueso de mis huesos, carne de mi carne; se llamará mujer, porque del hombre fue tomada”. Por fin, Adán tenía a alguien: era su complemento.
Adán y Eva reinaron sobre el mundo como Dios quería: marido, mujer, hombre, mujer, hasta que llegó el pecado, y Adán dobló la rodilla ante el diablo, arrojó su corona a sus pies. ¿Crees que los propósitos de Dios se frustraron? Yo te digo, lo que Dios ha diseñado primero, Él lo llevará a su realización final. Tú dices, “¿Va El a poner un hombre, va El a poner un rey y una reina, un hombre y su novia, su complemento perfecto? ¿Va a ponerlos juntos y reinar sobre el mundo?” ¡Sí, lo hará! En un día venidero, el segundo hombre saldrá del cielo. Él es el último Adán; Él es el cumplimiento de todo lo que Dios deseó al principio.
Cristo saldrá del cielo, Su novia junto a Él. Escucha lo que dice Efesios 1: “El que es cabeza sobre todas las cosas”. Él ha sido dado a la iglesia, y la asamblea que es Su cuerpo es el complemento de Él, el que llena todas las cosas. ¡Qué dignidad trae eso a la gran asamblea! ¿No sabes que vas a reinar sobre la tierra? ¿No lo sabes? Vais a reinar con Él sobre toda la tierra. Esa es la poderosa dignidad de la gran asamblea.
Ahora, Pablo no ha terminado, y yo no he terminado tampoco. Sólo mira el capítulo 3 y mira lo que Pablo dice aquí. El habla del misterio. El habla en el verso 4 del misterio del Cristo. Tú dices: “¿Qué es esta revelación de la verdad sobre Cristo?”. Que Cristo sería la cabeza, que la iglesia sería Su cuerpo. Pablo está hablando de esta gran revelación de la verdad en el Nuevo Testamento que le fue dada. El dice, “En otras edades, esto no fue dado a conocer a los hijos de los hombres, pero ahora ha sido revelado.”
¿Cuál es esta verdad sobre el Cristo? ¿Cristo la cabeza, la iglesia que es Su cuerpo? Versículo 6: “Para que los gentiles sean coherederos y del mismo cuerpo, y partícipes de Su promesa”. Esa es la promesa del Espíritu en Cristo. El dice que los Gentiles van a ser traídos con los Judíos – Gentil y Judío juntos, compartiendo las mismas promesas, las mismas bendiciones, sobre la misma base, todos reunidos en la gran asamblea, el misterio de Cristo. Dice: “A mí, que soy menos que el más pequeño de todos los santos, me ha sido dada esta gracia de anunciar entre los gentiles las inescrutables riquezas de Cristo”. ¿Sabes de qué está hablando? Está hablando de la dignidad de la gran asamblea.
El dice, “¡Ustedes no pueden comprender los tesoros sin fin que tenemos en Cristo! Lo que tenemos en Él y lo que Dios ha hecho en su sabiduría para reunir a judíos y gentiles en un solo cuerpo.” Dice: “Es demasiado grande para nuestro pequeño alcance: ¡las inescrutables riquezas de Cristo! No se puede hollar la maravilla de todo esto”. Habla de la sabiduría de Dios, la maravillosa sabiduría de Dios.
Mira el versículo 10. Dios está haciendo todo esto para que en los lugares celestiales sea conocida por la iglesia la multiforme sabiduría de Dios. Y todo esto es conforme al propósito eterno que El se propuso en Cristo Jesús. ¡Esa es la dignidad de la gran asamblea! Un propósito eterno de mostrar la multiforme sabiduría de Dios al unir a judíos y gentiles en un solo lugar: la gran asamblea.
Esa es la dignidad de la iglesia. ¿No es maravilloso? Pausa. Ya he terminado. ¿Qué vamos a hacer el martes, miércoles, jueves y viernes? No vamos a hablar de la Gran Asamblea en absoluto. Vamos a enfocarnos en la asamblea local. Pero no crean que la asamblea local es menos digna. ¿Recuerdan cómo la llamó Pablo cuando escribió a los corintios? El dijo, “Yo se que en Corinto esta la sinagoga que antes ya no era de Dios. El dice, Yo se que en Corinto hay el templo de ídolos que nunca perteneció a Dios. El dijo, pero ahora, ¡Hay la Iglesia de Dios en Corinto!” Esa es la asamblea local. El dice, “¡Pertenece a Dios! Es de Él!” Y esa asamblea local demuestra y manifiesta el carácter, el orden y la dignidad de Dios.
Les digo, es una gran cosa pertenecer a la gran asamblea. Es algo grandioso pertenecer a una asamblea local y buscar mostrar algo de la gracia de Dios y del amor de Dios en el área en que vivimos. Qué notable verdad, ¿no es cierto?
Así que ahí tienen: una definición de la iglesia, distinciones de la iglesia, la dignidad de la iglesia, y seguiremos mañana. Nos concentraremos en la iglesia local. Continuaremos mañana hablando de los miembros que pertenecen a esa iglesia.
Gospel from David Gilliland.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_15DGilliland09172023.m4a[0:01] Now, I’d like to read from the Gospel according to John, in chapter 3.
We often read from this chapter in a meeting like this, and I’ll read briefly from John’s Gospel in chapter 3.
If you have a copy of the Bible, otherwise you can follow with your ear.
If you cannot, follow with your eye. John chapter 3 and verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night.
[0:33] Verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And that is reinforced by verse 7, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
And later in the chapter verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And then verse 16, So well known for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the final.
[1:34] Verse of the chapter, verse 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Now, a familiar reading to many, we trust the Lord’s blessing.
[1:50] Upon his good word. One of the questions that I’m often asked when traveling in other countries, people ask, where do you come from? Come from Northern Ireland. And whereabouts in Northern Ireland do you live? And I tell them I live in a town called Lurgan. They say, is it a large town?
Well, it’s a town of maybe just a little less than 30,000 inhabitants. So it’s not a very large town.
Then they sometimes ask, is it an old town? Has it been in existence for a long time?
In actual fact, I often say that the town of Lurgan is very much a Bible town.
[2:31] Because the town of Lurgan was commenced in the year 1610. There was a man by the name of Brownlow was given a piece of ground by King James, and he began to build the town of Lurgan with 42 houses in 1610. King James was the same man who gave authority for that noble translation of the Bible, which became available in 1611. So the town of Lurgan is approximately the same age as the King, James translation of the Bible. If you come to the town of Lurgan sometime, I’ll take you to a very old graveyard. It’s not used today, behind a great big wall, just in the oldest part, of the town. In that graveyard is a very, very unusual grave. And this is what it says.
[3:28] Lived once, buried twice. And when you see something like that on a grave, you begin to ask, what’s the story here? Lived once, buried twice. The name of the lady upon the headstone is a lady by the name of Marjorie McCall. What happened was this, and I hope you’re not squeamish just before tea time. Marjorie McCall took ill, she died, was buried. Some of the ruffians in the town knew that she had a very, very expensive ring on her finger. So when it became dark the night that she had been buried, these boys came to the graveyard and they dug up the grave because they wanted to take the ring. And they had a little bit of difficulty getting the ring off her finger. She had a problem with whatever it was and her hand had swollen and they couldn’t get the ring off, so they decided that they would try and cut the ring. She had been buried just earlier that day and they, proceeded to try and cut the ring but in the process of cutting the ring they She also cut her finger, and she sat up.
[4:44] And of course, they ran away, and they didn’t get the ring. And she clambered out of her coffin, and she walked up round to the top of the corner, up to the street, knocked the door.
When she knocked the door, her husband said to the family, they were all sitting inside quiet and really lamenting her death and very sorry that she’d passed away.
She was relatively young.
And when she knocked the door, her husband said, he said, only my dear wife Marjorie had died.
I would have believed that that was her knock.
So he got up and he went to the door and opened the door and he collapsed.
There she was. So, she lived for another 10 years.
She died and was buried again and the dust of her bones are still to be found in that grave.
So she lived once, but she was buried twice.
I would say for the comfort of everyone, that’s slightly before the days of very exact medical science, but when you’re dead, make sure you’re dead and not buried just accidentally, and don’t give your loved ones heart failure.
Twice, twice, a double, double burial in one night. I want to speak to you about some double.
[6:04] From this chapter very quickly. It’s been a long weekend for many who are here. We appreciate all who are here just now, and I not impose very much upon your time. I don’t want to speak just now about a double burial in one life. I want to speak about a double bear in one life, Because the Lord Jesus said, you must be born again.
Everyone here has already been born once.
[6:35] But I say to us all, from the lips of the Lord Jesus, for a place in God’s kingdom, you must have a second birth.
You must be born again. There must be a change.
Because, well, everybody would like to be in heaven, God’s beautiful home.
And I would say, if you’re going to be in God’s heaven, his beautiful home, you have to be born into God’s family.
Way back over 60 years ago, I was born into the Gillieland family.
That’s a good old Irish name. I was born into the Gillieland family.
But then a number of years later, as a boy, I trusted the Lord Jesus as my savior.
And on that particular Wednesday evening at about a quarter past nine, I was born into God’s family.
And because I’ve been born into God’s family and the big change has taken place, and God is now my father, I am his child.
I am 100% sure that when it comes to the end, I will be in God’s great home.
Can I ask everyone here just now, have you two birthday?
[7:58] The first time we were born, we were born as sinners. We were born into the family of Adam.
And in the Bible, we know what Adam did. And Adam sinned against God. And all the members of Adam’s family, right down to us, right down to this meeting, right down to this present day, all the members of Adam’s family have been born as sinners. And I say to all of us here, dear friends, you must, the Lord Jesus said, the Bible said, you must be born again from these little ones here along the front right up to the friends at the back.
This is not something that is negotiable. This is not something that is optional.
This is something that is absolutely essential. Am I speaking to anyone here and you have allowed the years of life to drift by and and you’re still not born again.
There was a famous preacher in Scotland, his name was Andrew Bonner, and he used to keep a diary, and he wrote in his diary when he was 20 years old, he said, today is my 20th birthday.
Is my twentieth birthday.” And he said, They have not yet been born again.
[9:19] Is there anyone here and you would have to put that down and say today is my 15th birthday, but I am not yet born again. Today is my 45th birthday but I am not yet born again.
Gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls, let us take it seriously. This is not something that we can shell. This is not something that we can wave away with the back of our hand. Every person to be in God’s kingdom, in God’s heaven, there must be two birthdays in a single life. The day when they were born into the human family, then the great day when they were born into heaven’s family.
Actually, my parents, my parents were Christians before I was born.
You say, you were born into a Christian family.
Well, in that sense, in that sense that my mother and my father were both Christians and I was born into their family, and you could say I was born into a Christian family, but I wasn’t a Christian.
[10:33] I was just born a sinner, and there had to be a time when I trusted the Lord Jesus, and I was born again.
So I trust, I trust that we’ll all think about the wonder of it, that God is willing, to take people like us, and by a second birth, bring us into his family, the greatest family in the universe, and ye must be born again.
Again. Two births in one light. But then you say, well, how does this, can this take place? Can this happen for me?
[11:11] I can’t be born again myself. No, you cannot be born again yourself.
But I want to tell you what God has done. God has sent into this world his own Son.
Here’s a very, very big thing. I find this amazing, astounding.
I cannot get my mind round it by the way of explanation. It just leaves me amazed.
I want to speak about two natures in one person.
Well, you say that’s very difficult for us to understand. Well, it is difficult.
I’m speaking to you about the Lord Jesus. Do you know, dear people, the Lord Jesus Christ is God.
[11:58] And he’s also man. You say half man and half God? No.
He has two natures. He is 100% God, and He’s perfectly human in one person.
[12:14] I can’t understand that. We’ve read in this very passage, He’s the Son of God, and He’s the Son of Man.
[12:24] The day came in the history of this world when God punctuated the flow of human history.
And the Bible tells us, when the fullness of the time was come, listen for it, people, God sent forth his Son.
And the blessed Son of God, he came from heaven into history, and he came from eternity right down to earth. And that day that the Virgin Mary led the Savior, the infant Savior, in that manger, she could look down into that manger and say, this babe is my son. And God could look down from heaven and He could say, that babe is also my son. He’s the Son of Man. And that’s why, I’ll tell you people, that’s, That’s why today he can be your savior.
There’s no one like him. God is God. Men are men. Angels are angels.
But there is one person in this whole universe who is both God and man.
One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
I remember one day I was in the city of Cambridge in England, and someone had given me a copy of the Quran, the holy book of Muslims.
[13:51] And I was sitting in a Starbucks and I was reading through the Quran.
And I’d picked out some verses, surahs, as they talk about, and read for maybe about half an hour.
Then I had to go and I just closed the book and put it into my bag.
And just as I was about to get up, there was a voice behind me.
He said, excuse me, sir, I see you reading our holy book.
I turned around and I met a man. He said he was called Muhammad.
A gentleman he was, a young student at Cambridge University, PhD and so on, he said I would like to tell you something about the Holy Book.
And we had a very interesting conversation for about another 20 minutes.
And he spoke about a number of subjects, very mannerly, very polished, very well educated.
I enjoyed the conversation with him.
And then we came in our conversation to speak about Jesus Christ.
And I said, what do you think about Jesus Christ? Who said Jesus?
Yes, he said, yes, he’s a great prophet.
[14:57] Said there are seven prophets. He talked about Adam was a prophet, and Noah was a prophet, and Abraham was a prophet, and Jesus Christ was a prophet.
And he said the greatest prophet of all was Muhammad, the last and the final prophet.
But he said Jesus Christ was a great teacher, and a great scholar, and a great communicator.
He was a marvelous prophet.
[15:22] So I thought, I’ll ask, I said, the Bible which I read tells me that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
[15:32] And this boy, young man who’d been so helpful and so mannerly, he said to me, Oh, he said, he’s not the son of God. He said, God, Allah doesn’t have any son.
[15:45] Jesus is a prophet, but he’s not the son of God. Allah doesn’t have sons. I’ll tell you people, that’s what gives the message of the gospel that we preach. Special quality and special dignity.
God is one son.
And it amazes me that for sinners like us, the God of heaven in matchless, measureless love, he gave his one son right into this world.
And it was born on earth and there lived a man that never made a single mistake.
The sinless, spotless, blameless, faultless, flawless Christ.
Christ. What a Savior, God and man. Two births in one life. Two natures in one person. God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. I want to speak to you about two parts in one book.
See, this is the greatest book in the world, and it just splits in here.
[16:56] And in this one book are two parts, and there’s what is called the Old Testament, and there is what is called the New Testament.
Well, you say, which part do you like, and which part do you…
I’ll tell you, we need both parts to give a whole vibe.
The Lord Jesus, actually, you say, why have we got two parts?
Why not just one part, one Bible, one part from A to Z, that is it? Why in two parts?
Well, the old part of the Bible, the Old Testament was written before Christ came.
And it was written to tell us that he will soon be here.
The next part was written to tell us that Christ has come. So that one part makes the forecast, and the other part tells about the fulfillment.
That’s why the Lord Jesus said to this man Nicodemus, he said, Nicodemus, do you see in your Bible way back here, way back in this old part?
As it tells about people that were died.
[18:02] And there was a serpent lifted up upon a pole. And God made the provision and God told him a plan.
And he said that if anyone would look to that serpent, he would live.
He said that was in the old book.
He said, that’s a little picture of me. For he said, the day will come when I will be lifted up upon the cross.
He said, I have to be lifted up. He said, there’s no other way whereby people can be born again.
There is no other way by which people can be brought into God’s family.
I’ll tell you, dear people, listen to this.
God can’t bring us into his family because he smuggles us in.
And God doesn’t bring people into his family and slip them in that no one notices.
If God is going to bring people like us, sinners like us, into his family, I tell you, there’s going to be a price that will have to be paid.
It’s going to be costly, and I’m glad, it thrills my heart to date, just here, right here in Midland Park to tell you that that mighty price was paid in full when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross.
Lifted up was he to die.
[19:20] It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven, exalted high. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
And when the Savior died upon the cross, actually, you see way back in this old part of the Bible, way back early on, it said that it pierced his hands and his feet.
[19:41] And when he came, that’s exactly what happened. They pierced his hand and his feet.
It said a way back in this old part of the Bible that the Lord Jesus, when he would hang upon that cross, that they would gamble for his garments.
It said that a thousand years before he ever came. But when he did come, that’s exactly what happened.
I tell you people, when it comes to getting saved, we do not only have a great Savior, but thank God we have the great scriptures.
And the Bible tells us Christ died.
Good, he really died. suffered shame and pain and disgrace.
And disgrace. But dear people, he did more than suffer, he died.
[20:36] Well, you say, I know he died one day, but the Bible says more that he died for our sin.
And it says more, it says that he died for our sins, according to the scriptures.
And what the Bible said in the old part, Christ has accomplished to finest detail in the new part of the Bible, and we have a complete Bible, and we have a complete Savior. Two parts, two births in one life, two natures in one person. Jesus Christ is God and man. Two parts in one book.
But tell me about a Savior who was coming and a Savior who has come. Thank God he came. We were, singing, was it last night, up in the home there, when I think that God, his Son not sparing.
[21:31] Sent them to die. I scarce can take it in. It’s amazing dear people, we talk about it so often, it’s amazing. I scarce can take it in that on that cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Is it any wonder we can tell you today, you can be born again. He died so that we, might be forgiven. He died to do us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood.
Well, you say, is it that important?
[22:22] Do I really need to be born again? Does it really matter?
Can I not just live my life and forget about all this stuff and just have my own way and do my own thing and go to my own places and I don’t want to worry about all this, all this Christian stuff?
Do I really need? Is it important?
Well, it’s important because I want to speak to you for just a minute about two destinies in one eternity.
[22:52] You see, the message that we preach, it has eternal consequences.
[23:00] We have read in this very passage of the Bible about perishing, and we’ve read about everlastingly.
That’s it. Boys and girls, men and women, that’s it.
Perish. I don’t know, I cannot explain. It’s a word that really upsets me, troubles me, sends a sense of darkness into my mind and soul to think about a soul perishing.
No one here will ever be annihilated. No one here will ever be put out of total existence.
Dear people, it breaks our heart to think there could be people just in this auditorium now who might perish. The awful eternal loss to be in hell forever. It’s unthinkable, it’s unbearable. Take care dear friend, you don’t perish. People who are never born again will perish.
The destiny is eternal doom and desolation and darkness. People who are born again will have eternal life now and thank God they’ll enjoy eternal life in heaven forever. It’s the difference between heaven and hell, for in fact, there was an old preacher in England, way back many years ago, his name was Mr. Ryle, and he said this. He said, if a person is never born again.
[24:29] It’s a pity that he was ever born at all.
Did you get that?
[24:42] All the folks up there, did you catch that? If a person is never born again, it’s a pity that he or she was ever born at all. Lying out before us all tonight is a long measureless eternity without a boundary, without a brink, without a bank that will go on forever.
And I ask you all, dear friend, to think each one of us will face eternity’s ages.
Your soul has to face, in blackness of darkness, our riches of grace.
I conclude.
Very important thing I want to mention as I stop. Two births in one life.
[25:29] Two natures in one person. Two parts in one great book.
The Bible can be trusted. Two destinies in the one eternity, heaven or hell forever.
Just as I close, I want to speak about two categories in one meeting.
The last verse of this great John chapter 3, I call it the millennium chapter of the Bible.
John chapter 3 is the 1,000th chapter in God’s book, and the last verse in this great millennium chapter of the Bible, it says this, he that believeth, he that believeth not.
[26:17] Those are the two categories. And as we bring our brief little message this evening to a close, and I appreciate your kind attention. I want to ask you, dear friend, are you a believer or are you a non-believer? He, that believeth hath. Have you trusted Jesus and his saving power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? I ask you, dear friend, has there been a time when you you rested your weary soul entirely upon Christ and trusted in him and his merit and his love, his grace, his power, his precious blood.
If you have, God has saved you. You’ve been born again.
He that believeth on the Son, ha, everlasting life.
It’s great to be a believer. The satisfaction of it, the security of it.
He that believeth not, shall not see life.
[27:22] But the wrath of God abideth on him.” That’s a predicament to be in. I speak very tenderly, and I speak briefly and plainly to you, dear friend. Pardon me, I’m not going to keep you long, but I want to tell you, if you’re an unbeliever and you leave this meeting still an unbeliever, the wrath of God hovers over your head. And it will just be a matter of a few more summers and a few more hours and a few more days until that wrath over your head as a Christ rejecter descends and sends your soul down to eternal doom. It’s a serious thing to be an unbeliever. Where do you stand as we draw the line? I couldn’t go through the audience. The two aisles split the building. I couldn’t go through the audience and say there’s the line, but you know.
[28:12] Which side are you on? An unbeliever and the wrath of God over your head, or a believer in the possessor of eternal life? The one good thing I have to tell you is this, if you’re on the wrong side of the line, thank God you could change just right now. You might, have come in through some of the doors there, an unbeliever. As you sit in that seat, you, could say just now as a sinner, I will trust Christ as my Savior. And the moment you do, dear friend, you’ll be born into God’s family. You’ll cross the line.
You’ll become a possessor of everlasting life. Have the assurance of your sins forgiven, and have the assurance of a home in heaven throughout the ages of, eternity. Assess your situation. Locate yourselves. See where you are.
Do that please dear friend. See where you are. You say, but I’m quite a nice person.
Now, but you’re no believer.
[29:12] You say, but I’ve thought about this. I bet you’re an unbeliever.
Nothing varnishes it. Nothing coats it over. It’s an unbeliever. And God really takes unbelief, very seriously. An unbeliever. Take a look at where you are. Take a look at where you will be, if you remain as you are. And take a look at where you could be if you were changed.
May God grant, if, if tonight you’re in the wrong position, that you may turn, turn and believe this very art rust in the Savior’s grace and power, and then will your joyous answer be, saved. For a long, I can tell you what side of the line I’m on. I can’t say, dear friend, I’m brilliant. I can’t say I’m highly educated. I can’t tell you that I’m wealthy. I can’t say that I’m famous, but I can tell you this, I’m a simple believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as my saviour. That’s where I stand tonight and I would invite you to cross the line, to the same side and to be saved and satisfied for two births in one life.
[30:22] Two natures in one person. What a Christ, what a saviour, two parts in one mighty book, Look, two destinies in one eternity and two categories just now within the walls of this one building.
May God bless His Word. Thank you for your good attention.
And don’t forget, dear friend, that you must be born again.
And the good news is, by trusting Christ tonight, you can be born again.
May it be so.
Panel discussion, Leadership in the home.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_14Panel09172023.m4a[0:03] Very good, well, welcome to the Midland Park Podcast.
We have our guest today, Mr. Gilliland and Mr. Cain. And we will be reading from Ephesians chapter five.
Ephesians chapter number five. Verse number 22, Ephesians 5, 22.
Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for.
[0:57] It, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that, he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh.
And this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular, So love his wife, even as himself.
And the wife, see that she reverence her husband. Chapter six, verse one.
Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
And we’ll ask the Lord to bless the reading of his word.
[2:06] The word that keeps coming to my mind with respect to this topic is confusion.
Confusion. In our modern day, there’s much confusion about gender roles, about gender, in and of itself, and this has contributed to the breakdown in families, and this has leaked into, I’m sure, the minds of people even in this audience in some way or another, maybe and and hopefully to a very small extent.
[2:34] But what we must do is always return to the scriptures and see what precisely are the roles that we have in our families. How should we structure our families?
How should we lead our families?
And that specifically is what we’re going to look at today, the leadership among the family.
I’d like to think specifically about men, but this obviously applies to our wives, and applies to sisters.
It applies to men that are not yet married, men that will be married in a future day, sisters that aren’t married but that will be married in a future day. And so may the Lord help us. We’re going to think first of all in leadership in the home, leading yourself. Before I can lead others, I must lead myself. Secondly, we’re going to think about leading our wives.
Before I can lead my children, I need to be a leader for my wife. And third of all, we’re going to think about leadership with our children. What does it look like like to be a leader for myself, a leader for my wife and a leader for my children.
To take advantage of the time, I’m going to sit down and we’re going to be going through these three topics and asking different questions.
And we trust that this will be helpful to all the families and all the brethren in the audience.
Starting with number one, leading yourself.
[3:47] There’s a few verses here that we won’t take the time to read, but we find in Philippians 4, 9 and in Acts 20, verse 35, you can look those up later, different verses that speak about the Apostle Paul and the imitation or the life that he led before others.
[4:04] 2035 we find the Apostle Paul, Matthew already talked about this, leading the Ephesian elders, calls him over down to Miletus and he reminds him about what he did, the kind of life that he lived.
He emphasizes finances, he emphasizes the preaching, he spoke to them day and night, they saw the way that he worked with his own hands to be an example to the brethren. They saw him, they watched him and they could follow him. And this was a result of the life, the personal life that the Apostle Paul lived, his personal character and his own leadership.
And so I had three questions. I’m not sure if they’re on your outline, but there’s three questions just in general. And then I have some specific questions for my brethren here. And the three questions that we need to ask ourselves are the following.
Number one, can they imitate my habits? And that’s a daunting question to ask your own, your wife and your children. If you think of the different habits that you might have that you go go through in a week.
Could they imitate everything that I do in terms of my habits?
Can they imitate my character?
The way that I speak to people on the phone? You know, I wonder sometimes.
I’m glad nobody here has heard me talk to telemarketers.
[5:09] And you know, sometimes my kids have heard me talk to them and I’m ashamed of myself.
But can they imitate my character? Third of all, can they repeat my decisions?
The decisions that I make for myself?
20 years down the road, when my children are grown, would I want my children to be making the same decisions that I have made? So that’s kind of the contours of the conversation that we’re going to have.
And before I get to specific questions, I just wondered if you had any comments in general about leadership, either of ourselves, of our wives, or of our children.
[5:54] Okay, well then I have some specific questions. Number one, I- Let me do the general one first.
Okay, good. That might be easier than the specific one. Okay, sure, sure.
We’re talking about leading ourselves and part of that is self-control, but of course self-control is the fruit of the Spirit.
So part of my leading myself obviously is that I am under the leadership of the Spirit, under the leadership of the Lord, right? I need a submissive heart to Him if I am going to effectively structure my life.
[6:27] Right, so that’s actually a helpful clarification. We’re not, as my title says here, my apologies, but we’re not necessarily leading ourselves.
We’re being led, allowing ourselves to be led, that the Lord is leading our lives.
Any comments, Brother, on just the personal life before we even get to other people?
No, go ahead. No, that’s fine. All right, so I have some specific questions.
And these are very general. they have to do more with just your personal life and not necessarily your family or your children or your wife.
But I’d like to depend on my brethren here in thinking about getting alone.
How is it that we’re going to have a character that can be imitated?
How is it that we’re going to make decisions that can be imitated?
How can we have habits that can be imitated? But we have to nurture those things in our own lives.
I thought about it this way, and we just heard about this as well, the multitude, the altitude and the solitude, I think if I got that right.
And so starting with our own lives, What are some different habits that we can work into our life in terms of getting alone with the Lord?
Some practical suggestions.
To build our character, we need time alone with the Lord.
What are some practical ways that we can make sure that happens.
[7:35] I already heard about cell phones, so, mental note.
Well, I’m gonna share something that I heard Mr. Gilliland say over 20 years ago, and maybe he’ll expand on this, but this is something that had a really big influence upon me when I was, I don’t know if I was 18 or 20 or something like this, and he encouraged us in our schedules to set one evening a week, more if you could, but set one evening a week entirely aside, for Bible study.
And I did that for years with much joy and pleasure. This was before having to worry about prepare sermons.
It was just the joy of going through the Bible, going through the minor prophets.
I remember those days. For me, it was a Tuesday night.
Sometimes we’d have someone over for supper and when supper ended, Esther and her friend may continue to chat for a little bit and I would go to my office and give myself to the Bible until I couldn’t any longer.
And I look back with great joy on those times, but that had to be set up in the schedule, right?
That had to be something that was as much as possible a non-negotiable.
This is just something, this is what I do on Tuesday evenings.
And maybe Mr. Gillen, you could expand a little bit on that.
[9:01] Are you sure I said that? You didn’t say Tuesdays, but I’m pretty sure you said one night a week.
I don’t remember.
No, but just what you’re saying there, our brethren are saying, you speak about leading life and what is it, leading ourselves.
Isn’t that a fairly basic thing just to realize that the reins of life are in our hands?
Take responsibility for your life.
And seek the Lord’s help in it. But just to recognize that my life will be what I make it, in fellowship with the Lord and with his word. We blame messed up lives on other people.
And when things are derailed and go off, we have all kinds of excuses. It’s a great start when a Christian realizes, my life, I’m responsible for it, and take up the leadership of life and make those kind of decisions that you have been mentioning, Jonathan, and Matthew as well.
The other day we were speaking to a brother down in Mexico in one of the assemblies, and he’s shown gift. He has shown that the Lord has gifted him in terms of teaching.
It’s been difficult because he doesn’t necessarily have the impetus, impetus we’d say in Spanish.
[10:16] He’s not too exercised to study the scripture. So we actually sat down with him and we talked to him about different ways that he can do that.
You already mentioned one of them, setting aside specific times. If it’s not deliberate, it’s not going to happen. If it’s ad hoc and we just leave it to, whenever it’s going to happen, we will not study the scriptures. There must be a deliberate decision that we make.
Continuing on that topic, I’d like to ask a question about specific materials. Now we have, a large group of young men, some of them have already gone, but they told me that they were, going to be listening to the recording. So we have that benefit as well. But for the young men in the a crowd and young sisters who are studying their scriptures.
And I know to a certain extent this is personal and differences in personality and so on.
Could you give us some help on materials, study materials, tools and helps that we can use to bolster our knowledge of the scriptures?
We start with you, Mr. Gilliland.
Well, I maybe haven’t that much advice really to give Brother John.
People often ask me, what’s the best Bible study method?
I don’t think there is one.
You say, how do you study your Bible? I hardly know, I just do it.
[11:31] I just do it. And people get this idea, if I can get a technique, it’ll kind of work miracles, work semi-magic, and I get the real technique and I’ll become a Bible expert, your method won’t suit me and mine won’t suit you.
Time of the day, demands, commitment. Some are good at night, some in the morning.
Some like to study Bible character.
Some like to study Bible books. Some take a chapter.
When you say character studies the best way, not necessarily.
So I think a person’s, what would I say, There’s a very close link between the W-O-R-D and the L-O-R-D.
And my relationship with the Lord will be fed and dictated and directed by my enjoyment of his word.
And I don’t just study the Bible to become an expert in Bible information.
I peruse the word so that I might be closer to the Lord. So maybe motivation, as you were mentioning there, is as big a thing as any, and then the method follows from the motivation.
Right, okay, so getting those things in order. But what if, let our brother Matthew, if he is maybe more specific, I’d be more than happy to have it and hear it.
[12:53] I’m not going to mention any books before you do. So is there anything you want to mention in specific about that? No, our brother’s already mentioned one book. A very good one.
I’m not going to give him too many books. Well, in terms of the specific study materials, I read a book within the last year. It was about studying your Bible. I can’t remember the name, you might have read it yourself. It’s an old book. And he didn’t say anything about technique.
In fact, the technique that he was teaching in the book was just to read and then to read, and then to read and then to read. So just read over and over and over and over again and things will pop out, things will come out. You’ll start to see patterns, you’ll see, repetitions, you’ll see themes, you’ll see the characters and the different details about their lives. So that’d be one of the suggestions that we can give to the young people here, maybe before we ever get to a book. Just stick with this book and then when you’re really, really stuck, then go to a commentary. That’s another topic as well, different commentaries.
We need to be careful with those. Don’t get whatever commentary you can find, the cheapest one on the shelf, but be very careful about what kind of books you’re reading with respect to.
[14:02] Bible study. But I want to get to the last point, which is… I’m sorry, just on that, brother. Maybe, our brother was speaking about development of character and leading your life with character. Maybe character will not be so much formed, by Bible study. I mean as in study to be ready for a Bible read. That will be helpful, but that will not be nearly as formative in character as Bible meditation. Just saturating your soul until your blood and your brain becomes Biblaine, that you actually think, you start thinking Bible, and you’re so impregnated with Bible truth, and that’s a way beyond that. Like there’s the wee daily reading, you read a passage, sometimes people ask me, do you read two chapters a day or one chapter? Sometimes I don’t read a chapter at all.
[15:01] You say, what sort of an unspiritual iceberg are you? You do read your Bible though, right? Oh, once in a while. I can say that I’m I’m turning it over day and night.
Just turning it over constantly and constantly. And if I forget a verse, I have to read it then to look it up.
But all of that, it’s that scripture saturation, more than scripture study, that makes and molds and marks a man. But sorry, I’m derailing the thing there for you.
We enjoy those tangents. Thank you very much.
Because that’s the very thing that our culture won’t allow us, because there’s the pace, the hurry, the productivity, thinking, And what you’re talking about there is taking time to think.
And that’s what the culture doesn’t want to allow, and it’s what’s necessary.
[15:52] Very good. Okay, so that’s the beginning. This is really just the foundation.
Because when we get to the other aspects of leadership in the home, now we’re not, we’re going past the time when you’re preparing. There’s a time to prepare. There’s a time to mold and form your own character. And then comes, I don’t want to say the show, but then comes the test. Then you have to display your character and show that to the family. And we’ll start with leading your wife, being a leader for the wife. And the first questions that I wanted to ask, what I’d like to focus on, first of all, something that is under attack and has always been under attack.
Actually, this is nothing new, but under attack perhaps in a new way, specifically with different ideas and ideologies, such as transgenderism and so on, and all the new ones that have probably come up in the last 24 hours.
But the attack is against not only leadership, but specifically headship, headship.
We don’t have time to go to 1 Corinthians 11, but I wanted to ask Mr. Gilliland, Could you give us a biblical definition of headship?
Perhaps describe how it affects the assembly and then bring it into the family.
Well, there again, Brother John, I would say in what you have read from Ephesians and headship, I would say there are three things and you know them very well in that whole concept.
There’s a relationship that has been established, whatever that relationship, a head is linked to a body.
[17:16] Not like a Lord, a Lord doesn’t need to be linked as such. So there’s a relationship, there’s a connection, there must be a relationship.
In that relationship, there’s a role.
[17:28] And in that role, there are responsibilities. So those three are, so I learn what is my role in a given relationship?
Now if it’s the headship of the Lord, or if it’s the headship in the home, or whatever it is, what is my role in this relationship?
Having established my role then, what are the responsibilities that I discharge to reflect, this relationship and the authority, the authority which that relationship involves?
So you have other things that you want to add to that?
Just to clarify, so it’s more about a role than it is about leadership necessarily.
What is the role? How do we put these things together? What’s the order?
[18:08] Well, I think you’ve hinted at it already, Brother Jonathan. You take Genesis 2.
Adam was made as head. Eve wasn’t made as head. He was head. She was helper.
She was inferior, not one slightest bit inferior. She had a different role in that relationship.
Her role was helper, vital role, important role, an equal role in many.
Adam’s role was head. The devil says, I don’t like this, I’ll invert the role.
[18:47] So instead of speaking to Adam and asking his opinion first, he promoted Eve to be the prime mover and the first mover.
And he reversed the roles, upset the relationship, and then the whole thing went just from there.
But maybe I’m jumping too far ahead. No, not at all. We see the same thing happening among families today. I’m sure this has happened all throughout history as well, but we see this especially pronounced today. I won’t mention the name of the movie because when you listen to this in 10 years, you’ll think, oh my goodness. But the reversal of roles and the breakdown of the family starts with that reversal. If a wife takes the role of a man, of the husband, or if the husband voluntarily takes the role of a wife, then everything below that will break down in the family.
Same thing in the assembly, but in the family, every single aspect of the family will be off in some way. It won’t be able to function properly. But in connection to that, and I’d like to ask you a question, Matthew, what are the limits of that headship, of those, roles? That’s being abused, right? So I’m the head of this family and I say what goes and you are going to wear exactly the clothes that I say, and the color that I say, and I’m being a little bit extreme, but you know what I mean? And just kind of a tyrant inside of the home.
So what are the limits to that headship? We don’t want to abuse it, but we want to be biblical.
[20:11] I think part of that is understanding that headship isn’t about making all of these orders and commands.
So, I mean, me being head in my home doesn’t mean that I sit back and say, tell my wife how to cook the bacon.
Like that’s not me exercising headship.
The head supplies the needs of the body. Colossians chapter two, the head nourishes the body.
So my responsibility is to care for my wife’s head. I bear responsibility in a measure for her spiritual welfare and physical welfare.
So it’s responsibility. I come back to that R word that Mr. Gilliland used.
It’s not like the perks of being head.
It’s the responsibilities that come with being head and caring for her.
Yeah, feeling that responsibility and understanding that yes, you have decisions that ought to be made. That is a part of it.
There is a rule inside of the home, but it’s not so much that I get to rule or I get to to make all the decisions.
But thinking of the responsibility long-term for my wife, I’m responsible, and we’ll talk about this in a little bit, but as a husband, I am responsible for the spiritual well-being, to a certain extent, of my wife.
[21:21] And furthermore, I am responsible for the spiritual well-being of my children.
And that will become evident.
And I know there’s exceptions and there’s difficult situations, and I’m not picking on those types of things, but that will become evident.
It will become evident how I have been using the privilege and the responsibility of being a head inside of my home.
So we’ve looked at what does headship mean, what exactly does it not mean?
We’re not a tyrant, we’re not a disciplinarian, we’re not a dictator inside of the home, but what are different ways that we can do this in a positive way?
So I had some questions regarding, very practical questions with respect to our relationship with our wives.
We’ve read in Ephesians 5 and 6, and that tells us to love our wives.
What are different ways that we can love our wives? I have two suggestions that I’d like to hear more about this.
Should, let me ask it in this way, make it a little bit more interesting.
Should every single husband in this auditorium be reading with his wife every morning?
[22:26] Start with you, Matthew. Mr. Gilliland’s writing something down, so you can go first.
Well, that’s probably not practically possible for, depending on your schedules. So, I mean, to say something like that is to make an extra biblical command. So, I am responsible for a a spiritual tone in my home, but how that’s going to get carried out is not going to be the same in every home.
It’s going to be a little different in different circumstances.
[22:54] But you touched on something there at the end. There is a responsibility with the wife.
How far does that go?
The husband’s responsibility for the wife’s spiritual well-being, how far do we, she has a responsibility herself.
So what’s the connection there? That’s a really good question.
I’ve wondered that too.
Well, you brother, your parents, I’ll ask the question just for help.
For example, speaking about the spiritual well-being of the wife and consideration and so on.
Young children, and now here’s a situation where for the spiritual benefit of my wife, she needs to get to some meetings, right?
But the assembly’s quite small, not too many brethren to take part.
So I really need to get to these meetings to help out.
As a brother, that’s my responsibility. My wife also needs to go.
So how do you balance that?
[23:56] That’s a really good question. Yeah, Jesus Christ. Yeah.
Does a wife then, so the husband recognizes, it’s just, life is challenging.
He has a relationship in the assembly.
Because he’s in the assembly, but say he’s an overseer, we’ll just say, he has a role in the assembly, he has a relationship in the assembly.
With that relationship to the assembly come responsibilities.
As an overseer, his responsibility is to be there, looking after the flock, guiding and directing.
Just so happens that this dear brother also has a relationship in Amari.
And in that marriage, he’s not an overseer, but he’s a husband.
With that relationship, he has responsibilities to his wife and to his children.
So that will all demand, I don’t think there’s one rule covers all, but that will demand a good deal of personal exercise.
And the wife will also maybe in that situation have to decide with her husband and he with her, How much will my subjection to my husband, and my recognition of his role in the assembly, for example, allow me to make extra sacrifices that’ll maybe allow him to be more involved in the assembly than would be normal?
Yeah. See, all of those things, and that’ll not be a cut and dried answer that’ll be two plus two for every case. Yeah, yeah.
I had a question in response, or maybe just a statement in response.
[25:26] Actually, it’s a question. why does she have to stay home with the children?
And again, I know there’s differences of opinion in families and that sort of thing, but as a general rule, she doesn’t need to always stay home with the kids.
One thing I’ll say about, and here’s me waxing eloquent, my oldest is 11 years old, so take it with a grain of salt, but it’s difficult to bring kids to meeting.
We have six children and it’s very stressful. It can be, more for my wife, because I’m usually speaking down in Mexico and she has all the kids in the back.
However, your children will never learn how to sit in meeting if they don’t go to meeting.
Shouldn’t say never, but it will be more difficult for the children to learn how to sit in meeting, if they’re never in the meeting. So I would encourage young families here, if you have young children, bring them to the meetings.
Yes, they’re fussing, you have to take them out, discipline them, this, that, and the other thing, but bring them to the meeting so they are accustomed to this environment and when they’re older, it’ll be a normal thing to come, to sit down and to listen. Do you have any comment on that?
Maybe you have a different opinion, Matthew.
No, I was gonna shift gears a little bit. Do you wanna go longer on that? You go ahead.
[26:35] The other, so my wife has a responsibility to submit to me as head of the home.
That’s going to be, I think she’s gonna find that a lot easier if I am properly submissive to Christ.
Right, so both in my relationship with my children and my wife as I reflect on times, where I’ve said things inappropriate, lost my cool a little bit, as I have a little bit of time and space from that, I realize more than the problem being them, the problem was me and how I was handling stress and something else going on in my life.
And that’s actually why I spoke unkindly.
But as I am learning to be more submissive to Christ, she’s going to find it a lot easier to live under my leadership or headship in the home.
Yeah, so there’s all sorts of stereotypes about, I guess, men and women, everybody.
But with women, they never wanna submit. That’s a stereotype.
And with men they’re domineering and that sort of thing. Well, putting the stereotypes to the side.
I’ve borne that out in my own experience.
It’s a lot harder for my wife to submit to me when I’m failing, when I’m not being a good husband, when I’m not reading the scriptures as I should, when I’m not obeying as I should, I don’t have a good attitude, I’m not reacting, not communicating in a good way and all that.
It’s very difficult. It is her responsibility to submit, but it is very difficult for what we should live with them with understanding, right?
[28:03] Patient with our wives and consider, take responsibility for ourselves first.
This is just a word for all the men in the crowd and you young men who are about to be or might be married in the future, take responsibility for your own spiritual life first, your own obedience first, your submission to Christ first, before you go after your wife and you take her down the list and start hauling her over the coals for all the time she doesn’t listen to you.
But any more comments about that? Okay, so we’ll carry on then with the limits of headship.
What exactly is headship?
I have a few more points here with respect to our leadership of our wives.
Do we have a responsibility as husbands to set the tone in the house with respect to vision?
So a vision for the future or setting the course for the family?
Is this something that is kind of done in a committee? Do we discuss this among each other with the husband and wife?
Or is this something for the husband to decide and bring the family along?
And that kind of gets into the subject of how much we discuss between ourselves.
I’m not sure what the ratio is exactly, but…
[29:11] And well, I just, I think I just come back to this prime responsibility ultimately rest with me.
But what you’re describing is very much a partnership work and it needs to be.
And especially as some of your brothers are obviously outside of your home for many hours a day. So this is not something that he’s just doing, I don’t think in a take charge way. And this is how it’s going to be. I mean, they are partners, they are one, they want to be united in that, and he needs her help greatly in that, and she’s going to have suggestions that he never thought of as well.
So that is, I’m a big believer in marriage being teamwork.
And so while there’s ultimate responsibility with me, this is a team project.
Teamwork with the leader, right?
Sure. Yeah. And what our brethren are saying, perfectly right, generally speaking, or universally Nearly speaking, nearly.
I’m just thinking, I’m just thinking, communication in marriage, harmony in marriage, unity in marriage.
It’s maybe a pity, it’s maybe a pity that Sapphira didn’t say to Ananias, I’m not going down that road.
They both were privy, they both discussed an agreement, they both were in harmony.
[30:33] It was great unity in that marriage, but it was a disaster. There could be unity in a marriage and what’s wrong.
Do jobs like.
[30:43] She said certain things and Job was able to take up responsibility and say, we’ll go no further.
We’ll not curse God and so and so. So communication and unity is great, but there are limitations as you were saying.
Yeah, yeah, very much. To be even more specific about the communication, I think one of the things that are very necessary in a family is discussing with your wife, maybe before your kids are even to this age, when you will be disciplining them, how you’re going to discipline them.
[31:11] How you’re going to raise them. The different decisions that will come down the road, instead of in the moment, you know, you could have a situation where the child is acting up and you’re not home, or maybe you are home, you’re in a different room, and the wife disciplines the child, and is either too lenient, maybe you think, or maybe you think too severe, and you have a different opinion, and then you come in and you start to have an argument, in front of the child.
Well, now you have about two or three more problems on top of the original problem, which was the child that was acting up.
That conversation should not be had in front of the children.
That’s a conversation to have in private with your wife, with biblical principles.
How are we going to do this so that when you go to implement you’re not causing more problems at that time?
I’m just thinking more about communication. Anything you want to add to that, those types of things?
100%. A brother said to me, I was asking him, how are things, how are you doing?
Just a general question.
Oh, he said, David, he probably shouldn’t have said this to me, he said, I’m getting a lot of dumb dinners at the minute.
Never get a dumb dinner.
[32:21] There’s an underlying problem, but there’s no communication.
It’s not being addressed.
And the breakdown in communication is used as a tool of punishment.
[32:32] So all of those things need to be watched. Yeah, very much. Yeah, we have conflict resolution, coming up here at the next point.
Just one thing before, unless you want to say anything more about that.
One thing before we get to conflict resolution, sole care for our wives, checking in on them.
What have you been reading? What have you been studying?
If it is such a case where you have a very difficult agenda, difficult schedule, and you can’t get up at the same time in the morning, or you can’t pray at night at the same time, all those sorts of things, different situations, well, are you checking in on your wife?
Or has it, because of the children and because of the different responsibilities, she hasn’t been able to read her Bible for the past two weeks, three weeks, maybe a month, maybe longer, and you don’t know, and that’s where all these arguments are coming from.
Well, she hasn’t even had, if not alone, me time? What was it?
Time with the Lord, time with the Lord.
And you wonder, why is there so much conflict? And why is there so much tension in the home?
Well, have you checked in on your wife?
So we have a responsibility for soul care, setting the course, the vision for the future.
I need to make sure that it’s clear, clear communication to the wife, clear communication with respect to her soul.
But then when it comes to those conflicts, I’ll just give you one thing that I listened to recently.
And everybody has different personalities, right?
[33:52] So my wife and I, we have strong personalities. And that can cause problems sometimes.
Conflict, you could say.
So one of the things that has helped us recently, has helped me, is that you don’t always have to agree.
Are you an argumentative type person, Matthew? I don’t think so.
[34:13] Okay. I disagree with that, but anyway. So my wife and I were kind of disagreeable.
Recently, I’ve been saying to myself, if we’re just gonna talk about something, you know, we’ll be in even a Bible passage.
Oh, well, I think Melchizedek, I think that actually was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.
Well, we haven’t had this actual conversation, but it’s something like we would have.
And well, no, I don’t think he was, you know, it’s just the argument that I gave this morning.
And back and forth, do we actually have to come to an agreement on this?
Or can we shelve this, leave it for later, or maybe not even talk about it again?
There are certain things that we can agree on.
So when it comes to conflict resolution, whether it’s Melchizedek, or whether it’s the dumb meals, or whatever it is that’s going on in the house, we don’t always have to have those conversations if it’s gonna lead to something that’s gonna cause more problems.
But I’m looking for help.
Conflict resolution in marriage. The benefits are that we have a peaceful home, and our children aren’t growing up with arguments and raising of the voice and just a disturbing, not a helpful place to learn.
How come we have more peace in our homes?
[35:30] Just as a bridge from your previous point as well about soul care for your wife and knowing how she is doing. One thing I find helpful in knowing how she is doing is the act of praying together, which doesn’t happen every night, but most nights. And I think it’s a valuable thing.
And as I hear her pray, I can perceive how she’s doing. I can perceive what she’s enjoying from from the Scripture sometimes.
And so that act of praying together, praying together is a wonderful thing with anybody, but praying together with your partner is a wonderful way to get a sense of how they are doing and what’s going on in their heart.
What if she doesn’t like to pray out loud?
So I’m assuming you’re hearing her prayer and you’re hearing the things she’s praying for.
Yeah, I can’t read her mind.
Well, sometimes I can, but. Yeah, the only wife I have does pray out loud, so I’m not sure about that one.
Fair enough, good point, good point. Well, I guess I couldn’t force her to, but I think it’s good.
Yeah, good. Conflict resolution, any help for us?
[36:42] I’ll go ahead, you go ahead. So, I actually, if we’ve heard enough about conflict, I don’t want to have any conflict up here, conflict up here because we’ll need another session after this, but I do want to go down to the next section.
Well, let me ask you, if you guys have a little bit of conflict, sounds like you do sometimes. Once in a while.
Is it really important to you to get that totally cleared before you go to bed at night?
Okay, so I feel like I should be sitting on a couch right now or laying back on a couch right now. Bye.
[37:13] How does that make you feel? I need more me time. But in our particular situation, my personality is I want to get this over with and right now and let’s deal with this and let’s move on and carry on.
There’s things to do and forget this whole business of being mad at each other and all that sort of thing.
[37:33] But my wife is a little different. She can’t deal with it right away.
[37:36] So I’ve had to learn, I’m learning, I’m learning, slowly learning, very slowly, that I can’t push her to deal with something if she’s not ready to deal with it.
There’s some patience that is needed. And I wonder if that’s just a tendency that we have, as men, we’re men of action, we want things to be done, but there’s feelings involved, and there’s, as I said, different personalities, so you have to be patient with people, give them time, and later on revisit these different topics.
That’s something that’s been helpful for us.
Is that what you were thinking about? Yeah, well, I’m thinking of this verse in Ephesians 4, don’t let the sun go down in your anger.
It’s really hard to go to bed angry, really hard to go to sleep angry, but late night conversations aren’t really useful things in our homes.
My wife will get a second wind.
I don’t know if I get a first wind some days, so there’s going to be some conversation to alleviate the frustration so that we go to sleep. Okay.
This is something we should talk about tomorrow after we’ve had a night of rest.
Certainly that’s a big thing with my kids.
I recognize, look, nine o’clock at night is not the best time to drop a bomb on them or to have some big discussion with them.
Let’s wait till after we’ve had a night of rest and set aside some time to talk about it a little better.
So the timing of dealing with conflict in every aspect of life I think is a big thing and you don’t want to go to bed angry, so you’ve got to deal with it in some measure but that may not be the best time to deal with the issue in full.
[39:03] So I put this in the category of leadership in the home because I think, I do believe that we as men should take the lead.
[39:11] Not wait for our wife to always deal with it, waiting for our wife to always deal with the, different problems in the home, but take the lead, get ahead of these problems, go to our wives, and obviously the change in our character will help with this, but taking the lead, even in conflict resolution, to maintain a peaceful home. I think many of us have experience with, and maybe here in the assembly, more often children in the Sunday school and this sort of thing, they’re children that are growing up in chaotic homes, and the parents are fighting, like cats and dogs, and every day.
And what’s the product of that? Well, you see kids as they grow up, they reproduce those things in their own homes.
They reproduce that in their behavior as we see them in the Sunday school.
And these are things that we don’t want in our home, a peaceful home so that they can grow and be raised to be faithful believers once they believe the Lord.
But I wanna come to our next. I wanna ask you one more thing.
Yes, sure, go ahead. Okay, so you’re talking a lot about leading and there’s some guys here who have a very different personality from yours.
Okay. So this, yeah. So this, this idea of, of, of leading this concept, sort of a, it, appeals to you. It’s a, I’m not saying leading is easy, but you, you get this and you’re, you’re up for it.
Yeah. Let’s go. But some, some brothers just in their personality, they’re a much quieter, struggled to do that.
And maybe their wife is a very strong and outgoing personality. So in that, in that setting, what, what does this look like? I’d love to hear from both of you. There’s lots of marriages I see like that so…
[40:41] How does that work? I have something to say about it. No, go ahead. I’ll come in later. Go ahead.
Okay, I’ll go first. I think in those situations, I’ve seen that before, I think the best thing in that situation is for the wife who is stronger, has a really strong personality, I think she needs some self-awareness. Self-awareness that yes, I am stronger than my husband if I allowed myself, he would allow me to take the lead in the home. And I need to be to be aware of that because that’s not the biblical model.
So if there is a sister here in the audience or hearing this recording and you notice that in your own personality, you will take charge and you will make the decision and we’re gonna do this and then we’re gonna do that and then the children will be like this and this, that and the other thing, you need to rein that back.
Those are good things. It’s good to have that, there are benefits to having that personality but in terms of the roles in the home, if the wife is always making the decisions, the roles have been reversed.
Throttle that back and give space for the man to come forward.
Maybe sometimes in those kind of situations, the man would lead, but because he doesn’t maybe have that personality and the wife is definitely gonna fill that role, he just steps back.
But if she steps back a little bit, he would go forward and he would lead.
But I mean, it’s both.
I’m not putting the blame on the wife with a strong personality, but self-awareness, I think.
[42:05] No, so I’m just asking, are you, brethren, describing something a little bit like, Isaac-Rebecca relationship?
Obviously, Isaac was quite a retiring, seemingly a retiring personality.
Rebecca had her own ideas, her own vision, was quite manipulative.
She made the first move.
She called the shots, she made the arrangements.
[42:31] Showed favoritism, all of those things that we know from the story, manipulated Jacob to the disadvantage of Isaac and Esau, and well, we know the end result of all that.
It was a home just in quite a bit of chaos. Is that a Bible example of it, Matthew, or do you think?
Yeah, so what should she have done?
That’s what I was going to ask, yeah. Yeah, I beat you to it. I beat you to it. I asked you first.
Yeah, well, I think she should have had more regard for what she knew from the word of the Lord. There’d been a revelation given, two sons are in thy womb, and the elder shall serve the younger, and I think if instead of imposing her own will, she had submitted to the word of the Lord, things would have been altogether different.
So in that case, you know, she could have shared this concern with him.
Maybe she was more perceptive, as is often the case.
She may have more perceived the problem, but she could have discussed that with Isaac, and maybe together, yeah, they recount these words of the prophecy that were given, and he helps her realize, no, we can trust in the Lord to work this out, instead of just taking that into our own hands.
[43:52] We’re thinking about a situation which you’re already married.
We could give some, we could speak to the young men in the crowd, young sisters in the crowd not married yet. If you recognize these tendencies in yourself right now, well that’s ideal because you, can start to work on them. Now wait till during marriage you’re going to learn and you will learn and you will learn and you will learn and you will learn and you’re slowly developed and transformed, and nurtured and engaged and I forget the third one here at the school, but you’re changed over the years of marriage. Transformed. Transformed, yeah definitely transformed. So during your marriage, you will be trans, but before marriage, this is a perfect time to be working on your character flaws and your personality defects and all this sort of thing, looking forward to are you, maybe there’s a young man in the crowd today and you’re not that sort of person that’s going to be at the front and leading the charge, that’s fine.
Not everybody’s supposed to be at the front, not everybody’s supposed to be at the back, not every, there’s a role and there’s a place that you’re supposed to be, but be aware of that.
Person, then start working on yourself. You can change your personality to a certain extent.
Start working on yourself to, at the very least, be able to be a leader in your marriage, to make the right decisions. You don’t have to have a loud voice. You don’t have to have a big presence, but you can make the right decisions in your marriage, starting with who you marry and so on. But any more comments about leadership in the home or conflict and this sort of thing?
[45:21] Maybe I should have mentioned earlier, you’ve already hinted at it.
We live in a world where nearly immediately in a difficulty, someone, what are my rights?
[45:36] I’m going to assert my rights. My rights are being trampled on.
I think maybe scripture comes at things from a different angle.
That’s not the question.
Not what are my rights and I’m going to fight for my corner here.
Are my responsibilities? Not what are my demands? What are my duties in this relationship? And what can I actually do to help the situation?
Yeah, that’s very helpful, looking at the big picture. As opposed to, you know, let’s say there’s a million arguments throughout a marriage, you know, generally speaking, the time frame of a normal marriage. Well, is the point to win as many arguments as possible? Or is the point to lead and to transform and to, help, to be an example to your wife. It’s not about winning every single argument. Take a step back and say, okay, I need to hear this myself, but anyway, take a step back, say, okay, maybe in the big picture, it’s not so important that I stand on my rights right now. The important thing is being a good example to my wife or being a good example to my children. Leading yourself, leading yourself, leading your wife, leading your children.
Fatherhood and leadership. Fatherhood is a big problem nowadays.
[46:50] There’s an absence of fatherhood. Again, brethren here, I’m sure you have experience with children in the Sunday school where we see this most of all. Thankfully, not so much in the assemblies that we know of. We see children, they don’t have a father, there’s only a single mother.
Many, many times. We see this in Mexico, I’m sure it’s the case here as well.
Children in the home have a mother, maybe she has to work, spending most of her time, and the children are at home, or they go to school, they come back, and there’s no leadership, there’s no guidance in the home.
We should, I just wanted to say that we need to appreciate the privilege that we have as fathers to guide our children.
It’s a privilege. We see the examples, we see the product of what happens out in society, but this is a privilege for us.
So there’s three things that I wanted to mention about this that we can talk about.
Attending to the souls of our children, attending to the mind of our children, the minds of our children, and attending to their hearts.
Just thinking about the soul, I just wanted to say this as an introduction, and we can begin to talk about them.
In terms of attending to my children, my child’s soul, they’re always looking at me.
I know they’re always looking at me. Even when they’re not looking at me, they’re looking at me, they’re listening to me.
Your children are too, always, all day long.
They’re playing, they’re watching, they’re observing.
If I talk about sports all day.
[48:18] If I talk about money all day, if I’m just talking about my work, my kid, what are my kids going to talk about? They’ll always be talking about sports, and they’ll always be talking about money, and they’ll always be talking whatever it is. They’re observing, and they’re imitating. The things that come out of my mouth, the things that they see me do, they’re going to imitate that. The second point I wanted to make just, and we can expand on these and give different examples. If the assembly, if that’s not a priority for me, it’s not going to be a priority for my children. If I don’t go to meeting, why would my children go to meeting? If when I’m raising my children, I don’t bring them to meeting and as they’re older, encourage them to come to meeting and encourage them in the scriptures and this sort of thing. Well, what’s going to happen when they’re older? No, they’re not going to have any encouragement to go. They’re not going to be in the habit of going. Why would they go? I didn’t I didn’t see my parents, I never saw my dad read his Bible.
I never saw, my dad went to meeting when he could. He was always working all the time, it wasn’t a priority.
These things will be replicated and they will be repeated in their lives.
So I’d like to think about these three different categories, the soul, I’m thinking in terms of attending to their souls, three things that we can think about, the meetings and the evangelism, mission work, I’ll explain what I mean by that.
In terms of the mind, how can we attend to their minds in terms of, I had a question before this actually.
[49:42] What kind of habits and disciplines can we form in the home when we’re teaching our children?
Bible reading and praying and that sort of thing.
And then number three, the heart. What kind of vision are we going to set for our children?
But let’s start at the beginning in terms of their souls.
How can we as fathers, as leaders in the home, attend to the souls of our children?
And maybe this is just because I’m in mission work or whatever, we’re down in Mexico, not here in the United States.
I’m thinking often about evangelism, that they have a heart for evangelism. I care for the lost.
I would like to give them that example. One of the first things that we can do, is just bring them to meeting.
Just come to meeting. It’s important to be at the meeting.
It’s important to listen to the preaching.
It’s important to listen to the prayers of the brethren. But another thing, a little bit closer to home, or a little more specific, would be involving them in some way, shape or form in evangelism.
Obviously, they’re not gonna come up and preach and that sort of thing.
I tried to when some of them were younger and some of them are still at this age.
And if you go door to door, you can bring little Bobby with you and he can carry your tracts.
[50:49] And that’s not the only way to evangelize, but if you’re going to do door to door, you can knock on the door and Bobby hands you the tract and you give that to the person, they hear you speaking to them. Different ways that we evangelize, bring them to gospel meetings.
You’re going to visit someone, talk to them about the gospel, even bring them along.
Ways that we can involve our family and attend to their souls in this way.
And I just want to put a plug in here at the end, and then I’d like to hear you, men speak. Mission work.
It’s not for everyone. Not everybody’s going to be a missionary, not everybody’s called to go, but you, could visit missionaries.
There’s a bunch down in Mexico. It’s not too far away.
I think it’s about a five, five hour flight from here.
You can bring your children, seed sowers and all these different things that happen, bringing your children to these different areas.
Matthew talked about doing it earlier, down at Hermosillo, so that they can see the work, the different works around the world, different places you can go, and they’re watching and they’re observing.
When I was a kid, some of my best memories, worst and best memories, because a lot of time I was bored, to be honest.
But I remember my dad would always take me with him to a place called Tri-Cities, Washington.
I don’t know if anybody’s ever been there. Tri-Cities, there used to be a work there, and they would go in the summer, and they, would hand out texts, and my dad would preach the gospel, or he would at least evangelize to different people and always take me with them.
At the time, I didn’t appreciate it.
[52:10] At the time, I wasn’t thinking, oh, I’d like to be a preacher someday.
I was pretty bored most of the time.
But in retrospect, as I look back, I wonder about how, what kind of format, what kind of effect that was having on me as a young child. But attending to their souls, what are different things that we can do to attend to the souls of our children?
And you could speak on any one of these three, not necessarily just the souls.
Just, I’ll ask a question for you of more experience Matthew, Jonathan, attending to their souls.
[52:42] If we read that, their soul salvation, of course, a priority, keeping that gospel and so on that you have mentioned.
What about attending to their souls in the sense of psychology, their whole emotional well-being, treating them as persons, not just religious machines, that have to be gospel hall processed, but whole persons emotionally, and what I’m wanting to ask, what does it mean in the text you read, chapter six, verse four, don’t provoke your children to wrath?
What would a, I would take it, that wouldn’t be looking after their souls, that would be doing them psychological damage of some kind or other.
How would a parent provoke them to wrath, or how would a parent stimulate them to what is good?
That’s what I’m thinking about. Yeah, yeah, great. Matthew, go ahead, I’ve been speaking quite a bit.
[53:38] Oh, I gotta think for a couple hours, so you go ahead.
Well, one of the questions I wanted to ask in connection to this, in terms of provoking our children to wrath and that sort of thing.
And maybe this is a little more specific to a full-time worker or preacher, but I could expand to anyone else who’s very involved in evangelism.
I think there’s a point of diminishing returns, right?
So we expose our children to the gospel and you’re giving them tracts every day and are you saved yet, Johnny?
And have you thought more about this, Johnny?
And every day and every night before they go to sleep and treating them as if they’re thinking about this all day long. But I wonder if sometimes we could almost push them away from salvation by so much emphasis and so much focus on it.
I mean, you hear stories, I don’t know these people personally.
You know, they took their kids out to give tracks every Saturday afternoon, never went to the park, never went out for ice cream, never did things with the children, just always evangelism and evangelism, and the children rebelled.
So there’s a balance there. It’s a difficult balance to know how much and when to throttle back and when to keep going and that sort of thing, but.
[54:51] Like in all the relationships of life, We have an ideal picture, get married, exercise, problems come in the marriage, difficulties, real she is the, oh, I’ll tell you what happened, I married the wrong person.
Wasn’t the Lord’s will. She wasn’t the right one. That’s a cop-out. That’ll not do.
Adam married the right person. She was the only one. Turned out bad. There was no doubt that Isaac married the right person. Rebecca had all that big, long story, and yet the marriage got into problems. So, while we try and follow all these principles, there’s no guarantee that we keep certain things, tick certain boxes, and then we just say, oh, it was wrong. Then parents bring up children, do their best. Children turn out very rebellious after the best upbringing. The parents, say, well, it’s… And they beat themselves up and say, I mustn’t have been a good parent.
Wasn’t a good parent. Children not… Well, the Lord said, I brought up children.
[55:59] And they rebelled. So I think he was a good parent. So if you have a marriage in difficulty, the automatic answer is not, I’ve married the wrong person.
And if you have children who have turned out rebellious, the automatic explanation is not that you have been a bad parent.
Because in scripture, the scripture shows the very, and yet we aim at these ideals and these principles very much so.
Much. I think it weighs on the conscience of many people who have children that have rebelled when they’re older. And there’s always the two extremes where we make excuses. But then on the other hand, sometimes we’re too hard. It wasn’t necessarily the parents.
There could be situations where it was the parents’ fault when a child doesn’t turn out.
That exists, that category. But there’s other situations where it wasn’t their fault, and they were great, amazing parents, in fact, and the children still didn’t turn out. I think, I think, I wanted to ask this as a question, but I’m not sure if I want to just throw it on you, but I’m thinking about this.
What can we say to those parents, they’re past this stage, the children are grown up, not as much interest in spiritual things.
What’s the best way for a parent in that situation to interact with their children?
Again, there’s too much or there’s too little.
What are things that parents can do faced with that kind of situation?
[57:23] Well, finding ways to maintain or strengthen that relationship is key.
So maybe there’s something that your child, even an adult child, enjoys, and it doesn’t really excite you too much, but for the sake of relationship with them and contact with them, maybe it’s something that you could become familiar with.
Maybe it’s something that you could engage in with them.
[57:51] Their respect and it facilitates more opportunity for discussion and encouragement of them.
So finding ways to maintain that relationship and build that relationship is key and that does start when they are little.
You know, children are supposed to play, they’ll play in the streets in the kingdom and the great thing about having children is that you get to play with them and it’s a wonderful thing and I think back to a brother who’s now in heaven and he had a pretty big executive position, a very busy life. And, uh, you know, people ask, how do you make time for your family? Well, that, that just got scheduled in his calendar. And so he, scheduled various things in his calendar. He had to schedule business things in his calendar, but he scheduled fun things in his calendar with his family. And if somebody asked for a meeting at that time, well, no, it can’t do that. Sorry, that’s blocked off. So making that time happen, like in all of life, it doesn’t just find itself, we have to make it as a valuable thing, in building lasting relationships with them.
[58:55] Thanks, Matthew, that was very helpful. Coming to the next point, we had a very specific question, or I had a very specific question about how to implement these different habits in the lives of our children.
Some people here have young children, as we can see, different habits in terms of informing their minds about the scripture.
So we wanna deal with their soul, We’re concerned about their souls, the psychology, we’re concerned about their salvation, but when it comes to their mind, it’s our responsibility to teach our children about the scriptures.
What are some ways that we can do that?
[59:27] A specific schedule, a specific regimen? Do they have to memorize large chunks of scripture?
Or what are some practical things that young families can do with their young children, maybe not on a daily basis, but as often as possible, in order to inform their minds?
It has to start when they’re young.
[59:46] So what are the different things that we can do? First, I just wanna highlight that the prime responsibility for the biblical education of my children is with the parents.
It’s not with the Sunday school.
Now, I love Sunday school, and I’m so thankful for the Sunday school teachers in my children’s life and in my own life, and I love that work, and it’s wonderful, it’s a big help, but I can’t just leave the Bible education of my children to the Sunday school.
It’s my prime responsibility. Sunday school’s gonna support us in that, and I wanna know what’s being taught in those classes too, but the responsibility lies with us as parents.
So on a day-to-day basis, and I actually agree with that, I think sometimes we get into this mode where we outsource the teaching of our children to the Sunday school.
Well, we don’t really need to read it to the kids because they go to Sunday school, and they need to memorize their verse for Sunday school, and they need to read that certain chapter for Sunday school, and our role is it’s outsourced to the Sunday school.
Well, it’s not, it’s actually, it’s my responsibility as a father to lead and my wife’s responsibility as well, to teach and to inform these children, and not the brethren or the believers in the assembly, though they can do that in certain contexts.
[1:00:58] I was gonna give a controversial opinion on that, but we’ll just keep going to the practical aspect of this.
Well, I was gonna ask you on that, Brother John, what exactly does that verse mean?
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.
So train him up, teach him in the Sunday school, and scriptures in John 3, 16, and when he’s old he gets saved.
Is that, or when he’s older he gets saved. Is that, what’s exactly that verse talking about?
I’d like to hear what you think about that.
[1:01:35] I’m inclined to think, train up a child according to his way.
[1:01:42] That is, don’t force the personality of a child. So I’m a farmer, I have a son, and he’s going to have to be a farmer, even though the bent of his life and his aptitude is to be an accountant. But because I’m a farmer, I will twist the bend of his life, or the inclination of his life, I will twist that to suit me.
Far better, says the proverb, take the child according to the inclination, in a good sense, his inclination, and it will develop the full potential of his personality.
I don’t think it’s a promise that good training will always produce a spiritual child.
It’s more counsel on how to train up a young plant to grow in a specific direction, but that’s only a suggestion.
Yeah, no, I think that’s very helpful.
It’s stressful being a parent.
You’re thinking about the future. You want them to turn out perfectly.
You want them to get the best grades. You want them to know everything.
You want people to think they’re amazing.
You want people to think they’re smart. You want people to think they’re cute.
And there’s all these different kind of introspective thoughts that go through your mind when you have children, but we really need to come back and just de-stress, as we’ve heard, and depend on the Lord and lean on the word.
If we’re teaching them the scripture and we’re teaching them the way that they should go, we need to leave that with the Lord.
But one of the things I want, just on a very practical note.
[1:03:10] In the mornings, or maybe it’s in the evening, for our family, it works in the morning, might be different for you.
[1:03:17] Bring the children together, put them all in the same room, turn the cell phone off, all the things that are gonna interrupt.
The scriptures, this is just us, You do not need to do this, just what we do at home.
We read the scriptures with them, we do the memory verse, and then we sing a hymn.
And I wanna tell you those are some of the most, those are some of the most precious times.
[1:03:49] Some of the most precious times we have with our family, with our children.
Around the Word, put the Word in their minds, and then praise and adoration to the Lord.
Never regret doing it.
And so I commend that whatever way you do it, you do not need to copy the way, whatever way works for you, getting the Word into their minds.
Those children seeing their parents, they might not understand.
They’re singing those words, those words might not mean anything to them if they’re not saved, but they’re seeing their parents enjoy, Their parents speak about these things.
Their parents enjoy and grow in the Lord, and that will make a massive impact on their life.
They don’t need to imitate us, Matthew, do you have a routine with your kids that…
[1:04:34] Yeah, but we actually try and mix it up on purpose at times.
So at times, part of the reason is that we have two kids in one age group, two kids in another age group, and so it’s a little bit like dealing with two separate families, sometimes we feel like, and what we’re reading with one group, we may focus a bit more with them at a time, and other times we may be focused on reading something that’s more pertinent, to the younger children.
At times we’re just reading the scriptures, other times it may be a Bible storybook, sometimes Sometimes maybe it’s a scripture verse with our older ones.
We’ve read some Lee Strobel question and answers.
Other times it’s been a little book everyone, a child should know, fantastic book, about Christian history and things like that.
So we’re reading different things and I think that adds some stability and security and peace in a way that I can’t actually fully understand right now.
But that process that what’s important to our family is to spend time with the Lord together.
That’s a healthy thing. How you may work that out may vary, but it’s a valuable thing.
[1:05:41] Thank you. Important to spend time with them. The soul, attend to their souls. Do we have time for one more point? Attend to their souls, attend to their minds, and attend to their heart. What I have in mind with this is the kind of vision that we want to set forth for, the children. I’ve noticed that a lot of families, and I’m not actually at the stage yet, so, I’m gonna ask the question, I’ll say a few things.
[1:06:03] But I notice in some families it’s difficult to find a balance, and maybe it’s not a balance, I don’t know what the ratio is, but it’s difficult when kids get to the point where they’re about to leave or they’re going to school.
They’re going to choose what kind of university to go to, what career to have.
Matthew mentioned the schedule you’re gonna choose and what kind of criteria you should use when you’re going to choose your classes and so on.
What kind of emphasis do we wanna give to our children?
I’ve noticed in certain families, there’s a massive emphasis on the career.
This could be a cultural thing or just a personal thing, massive emphasis on the career to the expense or at the expense of the assembly.
Well, little Bobby has to be a doctor. I mean, what else would he do?
Well, he has to be a lawyer because he couldn’t be a construction worker.
That would be a shame.
Or he has to go into this field or he has to do this or the other thing.
And even if he can’t go to meetings for the next five, six, seven, 10 years while he’s getting his doctorate, nothing wrong with getting a doctorate, by the way.
We’re not shaming education in any way, shape, or form.
But he has to do this, and even at the expense of the assembly.
Now, I’m not there yet, so I don’t know the answer to this. Are you there yet? No.
Nope. This is something that we need to think about in terms of the scriptures, when our children are not only in the house, but they’re leaving the house.
[1:07:32] Simply because they need to go to school doesn’t mean that they have to abandon the assembly.
That’s what I mean by setting the vision for the home.
Early, at the beginning.
What is the kind of life that we want to lead? We want a life that is devoted to the scripture, devoted to Christ, and devoted to the assembly.
And for some reason, there’s a point in our lives where we can abandon the assembly.
Not in every case, but in some cases.
I think that we kind of need to rethink that a little bit.
We do, and I mean, part of that is as they are growing up, we are gradually reducing our control of their life, gradually letting them make more decisions so they’re learning to make those right decisions.
And that is a gradual thing, and it’s I’m learning right now is a very, very hard thing to let go, but you need to in some measure because they’re, when you’re talking about encouraging them, the fact is they’re gonna have to make some decisions on their own.
And we need to, we’re encouraging them to make those right decisions, but they also need to learn to make those decisions that are healthy between them and the Lord.
[1:08:35] Very good. Brother, I have a question about, you went to school, you studied.
Could you give us, we have all these young men here, young sisters, they’re at that age, school, time management, choices to make, go to meeting, don’t go to meeting, homework, this, that.
Could you help us with the right priorities, criteria? Well, to be honest, Jonathan, One of the things that simplified life greatly for me, and I know there are, in this country, perhaps distances and all those things, I didn’t have to contend with that.
One of the things that simplified greatly, I’m in a local assembly.
I’m a contributing member in the assembly. I’m responsible as a member to be at the meeting.
So business, career, choices, opportunities, I had quite a number of offers, absolutely.
Nothing to boast about. You say, was that difficult? Not really that difficult.
I am a local assembler.
[1:09:33] That’s point number one. Everything else fits around my commitment to the Lord and his people, in the assembly. Let all the other things fall into place around the assembly. If they don’t fit in, well then leave them out. I know that’s tough advice in a very simple, failing, flickering way. That’s the principle I try to follow and I have absolutely no regrets. Very good. Thank you, Thank you, that’s very helpful. That summarizes the panel today, Leadership in the Home.
Leading yourself, being led by the Lord, leading yourself.
One of the main themes that I’ve noticed throughout this conversation is taking responsibility for ourselves.
Not blaming others, not standing on your rights, taking responsibility for yourself.
Being an example, even to your wife, but even in the relationship with the wife, taking, responsibility for ourselves, our obedience to the Lord.
And as we do that, and we are an example to our children, and we show them the right way to go, we rest and we lean on the Lord. We lean on his word and we leave them with him.
So may the Lord help us to be better leaders in our home.
Tweedie. We’ll close in prayer and then David will come up with some announcements.
Ministry from Matthew Cain on Sunday afternoon.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_13MCain09172023.m4a[0:00] Our reading now will be in the book of 2 Corinthians 5, please.
I again also thank you for the opportunity to be with you, and it’s been a delight for me to listen to the messages that I have heard as well.
I want to think with you about gaining a new perspective. We’re going to do that by observing the new perspective of Paul.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 1.
[0:30] For we know that if our earthly tent, I am reading from the CSB, we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, our present body, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.
Verse 4, indeed we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”, Come down to verse 11, therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people.
What we are is plain, it’s manifest to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.
We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart.
[1:29] For if we are out of our mind, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you.
For the love of Christ, verse 14, for the love of Christ constrains us, it compels us, since we have reached this conclusion.
If one died for all, then all died. And He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves.
But for the one who died for them and was raised.” From now on, verse 16, from now on then, we do not know anyone according to the flesh or from a worldly perspective.
[2:10] Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know Him in this way.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away, and see, the new has come. is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.
[2:49] God is making his appeal through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God.
It’s his message to the world. He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. Now it would be helpful to you and me if you keep your Bible open to this passage to allow us to make some references. Sometimes the Lord allows us to go through some experiences. He gives us the privilege of going through things that are outside of our comfort zone, but he allows us to go through that in order to adjust some of our preconceptions and to give us a new perspective. Sometimes that’s a very painful thing. Could be tensions within the local church or it could be health issues. So sometimes those events cause us to re-evaluate some things and what’s important and set priorities.
[3:54] Other times, the experiences are more positive, while still out of our comfort zone, it is a more positive experience and it shapes our thinking for a little while.
I think back in my own experience, several years ago, 2010, and visiting a little assembly in the city of Beijing, China. Just a small number there in a little apartment breaking bread with them. It adjusts your perspective a little bit.
[4:24] Or traveling with seed sowers to Mexico a couple of times and visiting my brother and his family in the work of the Lord there. A little travel can often broaden and enhance our perspective.
In fact, Paul’s perspective was changed while he was traveling.
Traveling to Damascus, Acts chapter 9, and his perspective is changed. He’s knocked out of his comfort zone. He’s knocked to the ground. And he realizes that Jesus is, Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord of Glory. That man who was crucified is the resurrected Lord of Glory. And now he writes 2nd Corinthians 5 with a changed perspective, and he wants to change the perspective of his first century readers.
And my prayer is that where it is needed in our 21st century hearts, that our perspectives would also change. My prayer in coming to the conference was that people would be changed, and it doesn’t need to be from my message, but I do pray that you’re changed, and I’ll tell you something about being changed from ministry at a conference.
[5:42] Most of the change that is going to take place in your life, maybe you’ve just heard some things and you’ve thought about some changes you need to make, well, if those changes are going to be made, your commitment, your determination to make those changes is happening right now.
[5:58] If there’s going to be a difference when you go outside the walls of Eastern Christian school, most likely the commitment to making that change, the determination to make that change, it’s happening right now. It happens to people in their seats.
As you hear God speak to you through the preaching of the Word, and with the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and the love of Christ, but there is a determination on your part that change needs to be put into practice.
And you make that decision now. And I pray that we’ll be changed like Paul was. He’s changed in his perspective concerning self, and he’s changed in his perspective concerning the Savior and his sufferings, and he’s changed in his perspective concerning the society of men and women around him. Let’s begin with a new perspective concerning self. And prior to that change in perspective on the Damascus Road and his conversion there in Acts chapter 9, it seems to me that Saul had had quite Quite a view of himself.
[7:07] Seemingly a bit of a self-righteous and a self-seeking man, a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
Proud of his religious heritage and observances, definitely intelligent and well-educated, and he would seem, from the outside perspective, like a remarkable specimen of humanity.
But Saul became aware of something lurking in his heart that was the same spirit of idolatry that was in everyone else’s heart.
And then Christ changed his heart.
[7:43] And what he’s doing now in 2nd Corinthians is letting the Corinthians see a changed heart.
A heart that has been changed by the cross. So he speaks of the sincerity of his motives. Verse number 11. What we are is plain. It’s manifest to God and I hope it is to you. Verse 12 he says his critics, they are taking pride in outward appearances, but for me, it’s the heart.
Paul is no longer motivated by that selfish tendency that we all so easily possess of trying to impress the eye of man. He’s not motivated by that anymore. He’s not motivated by trying to earn favor with God. He’s got a new perspective, a new standing in Christ with God.
Come down to verse 17. Just read the words with me again that you may know so well.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come.
[8:52] Having a proper perception of self hinges on you having a proper perspective of your relationship to Christ and knowing your place in Christ.
In the moment that you trusted Christ, in that moment, you became a new creation.
Whether you felt your heart strangely warmed, like John Wesley and Mr. Gilliland, or whether you didn’t really feel anything physically, you became a new creation.
God has said so. So before you eliminated any old habits, and even if you’re still struggling with a few old habits. If you’re in Christ, God says, He’s brought you into that standing. You are a new creation in Christ. So what Paul has learned on the way to Damascus is that righteousness, righteousness with God is not something that I achieve, but it is something that I receive in Christ. And that’s crucial to get a hold of and to remember for all of your days. So, He’s got a new perspective concerning himself.
It’s a very different thing, by the way. Let me just mention in passing I’m talking about a new perspective of Paul.
[10:09] And some of you might sometime in your Bible study and in your reading, you might pick up some commentaries and you will read about a new perspective on Paul, NPP, new perspective on Paul.
And on one hand, I don’t really want to lose you, obviously, in the middle of a Sunday afternoon in the weeds of man’s strange theologies.
But just in case you come across that term, I want to give you a little caution, actually a big caution, a whole lot of caution.
The new perspective on Paul. Essentially, this is what they are saying. Well, one of the things they are saying is this, that what Paul is really saying when somebody is justified, declared righteous, actually what it means is that they are incorporated into the community of Israel.
[10:54] No. Never. Never in the Bible does the word Israel include Gentile believers.
Never in the Bible. Never. And they will say, this new perspective on Paul will say, well, at conversion you are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, but final justification at the judgment seat, that’s going to hinge partly on your works as a professing Christian. Well, I think you’ve all heard enough clear and good gospel preaching to know that that is incorrect and that your acceptance with God now and forever hinges upon the work of Christ, not your own works.
So a right view of self hinges upon my understanding, my relationship with Christ.
That’s how I have a right view of myself. I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior.
[11:56] The world sends you a different message about self.
And the culture teaches you, yeah, you do need to justify yourself. And the culture says, you’ve got to express yourself. And you’ve got to, you’ve got to, above all, make sure that you’re true to yourself.
[12:22] Sam Albury says, just be true to yourself sounds very intuitive.
It sounds very right in our individualized culture, but it is a catastrophic philosophy.
Jesus said that what is the problem with us is in fact our self.
Out to the human heart comes murder and adultery and evil thoughts, Matthew 15.
So in the Lord’s teaching, the most important thing for me to do with self is not to express.
[12:58] It, but to take up my cross and deny it.
That’s in total opposition to the message of the culture.
Of course, the amazing thing is, in the grace of God, when we do deny ourself, we actually do become the real person that God wants us to be in Christ.
Look at the language of verse 15.
He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves.
This is a message that Paul is preaching to 1st century Corinth, and it would fit very well in 21st century North America. We must not, we do not justify ourselves, we are not living for ourselves, we are not expressing ourselves. God has not saved us or called us so that we would try to live according to maximum personal, pleasure. He doesn’t call us to make our bodies idols of self-expression. Chapter Therefore, he says, I want Jesus to be displayed in my body.
He doesn’t call us so that we would then set up a life schedule that is dictated by maximal personal convenience.
[14:15] We don’t want to bring the culture of self-entitlement and self-expression and self-aggrandizement, into the church of God.
In the local church should be where we fight the culture. I don’t mean in angry tirades, lashing out like that, but by living selflessly for the one who died for us and was raised.
What does that look like in your life in the local church?
[14:48] It could be small things. Maybe you inconvenience yourself by staying a little bit later when the meeting has ended to visit with people and to talk with some people who could use a little chat.
Maybe you take care of someone’s crying baby during a meeting to give a young mother a rare chance to hear the preached word.
[15:15] Maybe when you’re choosing your course schedule next semester, instead of just choosing the one that is most easy, maybe you think and you choose the one, what would permit me to be with the church as much as possible, to spend time with the Christians?
Those are all little things, I know. Small things lead to big changes.
They are small ways that we can resist the self-centeredness of the culture and live, not for ourselves, but for the one who died for us and was raised.” You remember what’s happening in Corinth?
Culture seeping in to the church, the wisdom of the world infecting the church, and instead of Christ crucified, it’s sinful man glorified.
They’re afflicted with the cult of personality and super-apostle wannabes, and Paul, he’s He’s the true apostle, He’s the true shepherd and He’s showing them the selfless way of Christ.
By the way, just thinking back to our discussion yesterday about shepherds, how do you tell a wolf from a shepherd?
One way, the shepherd feeds the sheep and the wolf eats the sheep.
[16:34] We don’t want our models to be self-seeking men and women. Look for the Christians who you see, they love God, and they love their neighbor as themselves and emulate them.
Paul’s new perspective is that we don’t live for self, but for the one who died for us and was raised.
Well, let’s come to him now, a new perspective concerning the Savior and his sufferings.
Look at verse 16, even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, according to the flesh, a natural perspective, no longer, he says. Initially, the idea of a crucified Messiah to Paul, that was a contradiction in terms. So according to the flesh, that made no sense to to Paul, but now with this spiritual perspective, with the Spirit of God, he sees the wisdom of God in Christ’s sufferings, in Christ, God was reconciling the world unto Himself.
I spoke a little bit yesterday about suffering and hardship.
I just want to reemphasize this point.
The cross has given Paul a new perspective on suffering.
[17:56] The cross should change my perspective. It should enhance my perspective and continually be impacting my perspective, and it should change my view of suffering.
May the Lord help me and preserve me in this, because the natural perspective of the world is you can’t reconcile a good God with a world of suffering.
Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. But when Paul understood it was the will of God for his Christ to suffer, that’s given him a new perspective.
[18:32] Now he’s enduring suffering like Christ did.
Obviously, many of the sufferings of the Lord’s people, they’re not caused directly by the gospel, but we can still view our difficulties and sufferings with a perspective that’s shaped by the gospel.
It may not be caused by the gospel, but we can look at the hardship with a perspective, a viewpoint that is shaped by the gospel.
I read at the beginning of the chapter to remind us that the gospel is a message of resurrection.
[19:12] And so presently, you groan in the earthly tent of your burdened body.
And some of you are experiencing that.
And you’re wearing down. And you feel the frustration and the impact and the weakness of this earthly tent.
[19:32] But the hope of the gospel is that we’re gonna be clothed with the best looking clothing that we could ever wear, sinless body with no effect of sorrow and sickness so God’s salvation is for our entire person spirit soul and body we tend to speak about body soul spirit, but the scriptures in first Thessalonians 5 says may God sanctify, you spirit soul and body but it includes it all and we look for the Savior in a soon coming day he’s going to come and he’s going to transform the body of our humiliation, our humble condition. He’s going to change it to be like his, glorious body. So a gospel-shaped perspective on suffering, it includes the hope of resurrection. I’m going through this now, but it’s just helping me to look forward and to think about what God has for me in Christ. He raised the Lord Jesus, he will raise up our bodies. And the Christ who loved you when he hung on a cross to die for you, the Christ of resurrection glory still loves you deeply. He wants you to be home with him in glory. It’s great to be a Christian.
[20:55] We think of the Lord Jesus loving us as He hung there on the cross, of course He did, but as He’s up high as our high priest, as our shepherd, as our advocate, He loves us.
[21:07] Cares for every pain you experience, and it does us good to keep contemplating the love of the Lord Jesus for us. It did Paul good. He says the love of Christ compels us.
You’ll often read about God’s love. I think three times in the New Testament, you will read the love of Christ. Romans chapter 8, nothing separates us from the love of Christ. Ephesians 3, I pray that you will comprehend the love of Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the love of Christ, compels us so yes this is why Christ has suffered on the cross because he loved God and he loved us willing to be made sin for us and so it’s not a sign of immaturity to keep enjoying the love of Christ we never want to graduate from Golgotha we never want to get beyond the cross in that sense we always want to cherish this is where Christ has shown his love for me and he still loves me the love of Christ compels us.
And we want to enjoy that love of Christ. And we don’t just want to be a container of that love, but a conduit, a channel of that love to a world around us.
Let’s come there, a new perspective on self, a new perspective on the Savior and suffering.
Lastly, a new perspective on society.
Look at verse 19.
[22:37] In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself. to himself. Verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ. Since God is making His appeal through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf.
[22:56] Verse 14, if one died for all, then all died. You see, his perspective was changed by the cross.
And when he contemplated the cross, he comes to this conclusion. If one died for all, then all, died. And if Christ died for all people, I want all people to know Christ. That’s the heart of Paul reflecting the heart of Christ. This is what he’s getting at in verse 16 when he says, We don’t know anyone according to the flesh.
We don’t know anyone from that natural perspective.
Paul says, I don’t look at people based on their religious heritage or their skin color or their culture or the letters after their name.
I see them in relation to Christ.
And every single person I meet, I want to tell them about Christ.
I see them as a candidate for God’s reconciling grace in Christ.
Notice the word all in verse 14.
It’s there twice, right?
If one died for all, then all died. That’s an interesting statement.
[24:08] I’ve purposely saved the interpretation of these couple verses to right now, in the middle of Sunday afternoon, so that if you disagree with me, maybe you’ll be dozing off by now, and then we’ll never know the difference, and we won’t be the worst because of it.
So if you disagree with me, you can just keep snoring.
But I suggest to you two simple things. Both of those all statements refer to the same group of people.
One died for all, then all died. And I would suggest to you that both of those all statements embrace literally all people.
[24:52] I think that’s supported by verse number 16. He says, we do not know anyone, no man from a natural perspective.
Number 19. God was reconciling the world. He’s thinking of the universal potential of the cross work of Christ. Not that everyone will be reconciled. Sadly, definitely not. But that everyone potentially could be reconciled because, one has died as a representative, as a substitute for all. And because of that, Paul appeals to all be reconciled to God. He’s got a message for every physically living person he meets. They should no longer live for themselves. It’s a message for the whole culture. They should no longer live for themselves, but, for the one who died for them and was raised. I’m likely preaching to the choir.
I know. But there’s a couple of practical consequences of that. Let me just give you the reminder then that all who we rub shoulders with, they are candidates for God’s great salvation.
[26:12] Some people who talk in awful ways and do awful things when they leave your office on the weekend.
And sometimes you wonder, is the gospel, I believe, is that enough for somebody like that?
Sure is. Christ died for all. God was reconciling the world to Himself.
Could God save someone like my neighbor? He could.
He could. I’ve got the message that my neighbor needs to hear.
This is why the scriptures give us accounts of such a variety of people who came to Christ, like blind beggars and people in Caesar’s household, and these sexual deviants in the city of Corinth.
They came to Christ and self-righteous, religious zealots, they came to Christ.
And you might meet someone who could be, maybe there’s someone here today, we welcome you.
Someone could be covered in 29 very offensive tattoos.
You could meet someone else and they’re one of the nuns at the Church of the Nativity up the road. God’s salvation relates to all of them. One died for all.
We need to believe that.
We need to believe that in our hearts.
[27:34] Now when I say that, there’s probably one troublemaker here thinking, I would like to corner Matthew at the supper break and ask him how that relates.
How do you relate that unlimited scope and man’s responsibility on the one side with God’s sovereignty on the other side.
[27:56] That’s a time for a long drink of water, isn’t it?
I don’t like to be cornered at supper time, so I’ll just tell you right now.
I would take the words of Mr. Spurgeon to heart, that he doesn’t try to reconcile friends.
And I believe 100% in the sovereignty of God, and I rest in that, and I trust God for that, and I worship God because of that, and I don’t have it all perfectly sorted out to be perfectly honest with you. I would give you the cautionary words of my father that he’s often told us in Halifax. If you have a view on election that hinders your exercise for evangelism, you know you have a problem. And that’s a problem that Paul did not have. And I can worship and trust an omnipotent, sovereign God and still believe from the Bible with One hundred percent clarity that Christ died for all and that God wants to save all.
The Bible is clear on that.
And 2 Corinthians 5 is part of that.
And I want to say that because of so many different messages that you’re hearing and reading at times.
One died for all. Let me bring the implication of that just a bit closer to home.
Some of us have children that are not yet saved.
[29:18] Maybe some of you have wayward adult children, and I know that’s a grief, and the Lord knows that grief.
You’ve raised them with the gospel. They could be saved in a moment.
They could. You don’t know what they’re thinking right today.
But maybe you have a young child. Maybe sometimes when you’re rocking your little baby to sleep.
I don’t rock mine to sleep anymore. I piggyback them to bed.
They pretend they’re sleeping.
Or not, but I let them pretend that. I don’t mind giving them a piggyback a couple more times before they are too heavy for me to carry.
But maybe as you’re rocking your little one to sleep, you never need to ask, did God choose this child?
Irrelevant question, wrong question. The right question you could ask, did Christ die for this child?
Praise the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5 tells us The answer is yes.
So we want to teach them the gospel.
We want to bring them to hear the gospel. Most importantly, we want to live the gospel before them.
May the Lord help us. God can save your child.
Young boy, young girl, God could save you right now.
[30:35] You could be saved right now, because the work to reconcile you back to God has been done in the Lord Jesus at the cross.
That’s something you can receive by grace.
This is a very liberating thing, when we get up to preach the gospel.
[30:50] And I’m preaching a message from God that has the power to change anyone’s life in that meeting.
Sometimes, sometimes before I get up to preach, I’m just, I would tell you, I’m not really feeling it, and it bothers me.
And then maybe someone will give out a hymn like that grand word whosoever and that’s just what I need it, That’s just that’s just the reminder. I need it that I’m going to step up here now, and I’m preaching to whoever and.
[31:15] It’s a message for every single individual and every individual that believes in that moment that they believe the gospel They’re reconciled to God whatever they look like like, whatever they sound like, whatever they smell like, once they are reconciled, they are a new creation in Christ and we should treat them as such. This is why C.S. Lewis said, you have never met, there are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal. Civilizations are mortal. Nations and cultures are mortal.
But it is immortals whom we joke with and work with. Immortal horrors are everlasting splendors.
There are no ordinary people.
The gospel elevates their significance. It’s a wonderful message.
It’s good news indeed. What a noble calling then.
Maybe specific to the apostle, a bit more general to evangelists, but in a sense relevant to all of us. What a noble calling and a noble title to be ambassadors for Christ.
[32:26] And the world will tell you, maybe on your heart a little bit, is to take the gospel somewhere, and the world will tell you, don’t do that.
Let those people be. Don’t you go and destroy their culture.
Well, your goal isn’t likely to destroy their culture, but it’s to see them participate in the new creation.
And the Lord Jesus said, All authority is given to me in heaven and in earth.
There at the beginning of the gospel, according to Matthew, the son of Abraham.
And in Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
And at the end of the gospel, go into all the world.
Preach the gospel. No, go and make disciples of all nations.
All nations. Go everywhere. So wherever you go with the message of Christ, you’re not bringing Christ where he doesn’t belong.
All authority given to Him in heaven and in earth.
To shape Paul’s perspective on life.
[33:24] The cross has changed his perspective of self, not self-justification or self-expression, but for me to live is Christ. It’s changed his perspective on sufferings. If Christ, the perfect servant, knew sufferings and I’m following him, then there’s going to be sufferings, but there’s resurrection glory to follow. The cross has changed his view of society.
Christ died for this society.
When I observe Paul, I see a very driven man, a hard-working man, a self-disciplined man, maybe a bit of a stubborn man, but more importantly, I see a man who knew the heart of Christ.
Henry Martin knew the heart of Christ, 19th century missionary to Persia and India.
What he says, the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become. I think Mr. Martin was on to something.
The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of missions. You can judge your heart right now, as I know I need to judge mine. But I do think.
[34:46] I do think if I was in closer contact with Christ, I’d be in closer contact with the, society, with the message of reconciliation.
I think if I spent more time apart from the world, alone with God, I would then come back into contact with the world with more spiritual power, with something more meaningful to say, something more of Christ in me because the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of missions. I think if I was more filled with the wonder of the love of Christ for me, I’d be more keen to tell others of the love of Christ for them. And maybe, maybe I pray. I do pray. Maybe some of you, the Lord will take you to take the gospel to China or to Mexico or Peru or New York City or Detroit, praise the Lord.
Well, you’ll want to be filled with the love of Christ. Elizabeth Elliot says there is no other motivation for missionary service that will see you through the trials of the first year than the love of Christ.
You see, I’m not a big fan. I shouldn’t say that.
[36:04] Scratch that one. More than just trying to tell ourselves that we need to spread the gospel more.
Go give a track, come on, what’s wrong with you? And who have you talked to today?
I just wonder if I had more of Christ in my heart, if I was really appreciating that.
I’d love to go tell more people.
[36:28] Because I’d think about what they’re missing, what I’m enjoying, and then I’d have that sense that I am a debtor to men and women in that sense, that God has entrusted this message to us.
Then I’ll be a conduit, then I’ll be a channel full of blessing to the thirsty hearts around.
I know that most of us aren’t going to be missionaries in a foreign country.
I think the perspective that Paul had for service would do all of us good in any sphere of service.
I think the love of Christ can help you in that selfless sphere of motherhood.
The love of Christ can sustain you in changing diapers and doing umpteen loads of laundry to the glory of God.
It can help you in doing that office work or working in the hospital as unto the Lord.
And it can help you to come with a ministry of encouragement to discourage believers.
And it will help me die to self.
Those who live should no longer live for themselves. May the Lord preserve us from living Christian lives for ourselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
So let’s never graduate from Golgotha. Let’s never get beyond the cross.
Let’s look at the world with the perspective not of the flesh, but in relation to Christ.
And let’s look in the mirror in light of the cross.
[37:54] I’ve been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.
May the Lord bless you all.
Ministry from David Gilliland on Sunday afternoon.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_12DGilliland09172023.m4a[0:01] Now, again, I express my appreciation of the kind invitation to be here, the warm welcome, when we did arrive, and the privilege of sharing with our brethren over the various sessions of the conference.
It’s been a very enjoyable time, and we appreciate the care of all the believers.
I’m glad to see all who have been able to stay for what I’ll call the siesta session, of the conference, and as our brother has said, sleep is a problem.
If you’re really tempted, tempted beyond measure, the only little piece of advice I can give you, just feel free to stand up and just keep standing.
It will help you not to sleep, and I’ll know exactly what your problem is, and it won’t, it won’t deflect the message in the slightest.
Now I’d like to read from the gospel according to Matthew, in chapter 14, Matthew’s gospel in chapter 14.
[1:11] And we’ll just pick up one or two verses to give us the context here.
[1:18] Verse 1, At that time heard the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works to show forth, themselves in him. Verse 10, And he sent and beheaded John in the prison, and his head was was brought in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it into her mother.
And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
And when Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart.
And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Then we have the feeding of the multitudes. Verse 19, he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes.
And looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled.
Verse 22, in straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him onto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
And when he had sent the multitudes away.
[2:47] He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.”, Now, I think maybe, I think maybe we’ll read verse 23 again because I’ll come back to it.
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
I think that’s all we’ll read and trust the Lord’s blessing upon his word and what I have in mind to say.
I think, speaking in general terms, there are two New Testament books that have very, much a Jewish background.
[3:38] Out of the epistles, we have Hebrews, and out of the evangelists, we have the gospel according to Matthew. We’ve already heard quite extensively and helpfully from the epistle to the Hebrews, in the earlier sessions of the conference and this morning. And that particular book presents the Lord Jesus as we were reminded as the priest. When we come to this other book that has a Jewish background to gospel according to Matthew, of course, this gospel is presenting the Lord Jesus as the King. Those were the two great aspirations, the two great institutions in ancient Judaism.
They needed a king, a king to rule. They needed a priest, a priest to redeem, a priest to reconcile.
[4:28] The king has a scepter. The priest has a sacrifice. The king has a throne. The priest has a temple.
And all of these things find their resolution in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus. We are thankful that he is, as we have been reminded, both king and priest. Great are the offices he He bears, and bright His majesty appears, exalted on God’s throne.”, I have four things particularly in mind, and I’ll maybe say just a little about each, some of them.
I’ll say quite just a very brief word.
I’ll say something about the book.
[5:15] Then I want to say something about a section within the book.
Then I’ll say something about a chapter within the section.
And then I’ll say something about a verse within the chapter. So it’ll be kind of a zoom lens.
We will take a broad view of the book in general, then we’ll think about a discrete section, then a single chapter, and then we will narrow our focus to consider a specific, verse. That will perhaps be the burden of my message when I get to the end, to that fourth different section. As far as the book of Matthew is concerned, one of the encouraging features of.
[5:57] The conference this weekend, very encouraging, very positive. As a visitor here, I don’t think ever I have been at one of the conferences here where so many younger believers were present.
[6:08] And where the interest was so keen, and the attention was so riveted upon the Word of God.
We commend the younger believers. Some have traveled quite long distances, not only by car, but also by flight and made quite a bit of a sacrifice to be here. Many have been able to stay for this particular session and we appreciate, we appreciate the diligent attendance and attention of these younger believers. That has encouraged our brethren just to give one or two little hints about Bible study. It has already been remarked in an earlier part of the conference that if we, can see the structure and the symmetry and the shape and the cohesion and the coherence and the the connections, the intertextuality, as the scholars call it, of Holy Scripture, and how one text shines upon another and feeds into another and sends those trajectories and tentacles from one section to another.
It’s a great book of organic unity. We see that very much as far as the gospel according to Matthew is concerned.
In fact, if just a broad parameter, if you take the Old Testament for example, Genesis Genesis chapter 1 speaks about the sun. Malachi chapter 4 speaks about the sun.
[7:30] The first reference to the sun in the book of Genesis, God set a great light and a greater light in the sky to rule by day and so on.
So that the sun in the first mention in Genesis chapter 1 is to do with rule, light from heaven for air.
When we get to the last chapter of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi chapter 4, the subject hasn’t changed.
And we are projected forward to that great day when the Lord Jesus will reappear as the Son, of Righteousness with healing in his wings. What a blessed day it will be for this dark old world of ours when the bright and balmy beams of the Son of Righteousness cast their heavenly light across this globe, and planet Earth will bathe in the benign benevolence of the millennial, mediatorial, messianic kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So that the boundaries of the Old Testament have to do with the Son. Come to the New Testament, it’s not the Son, it’s the star. We just commenced the gospel according to Matthew, and those men come, and they have seen his star in the east.
[8:51] They have heard the story of the messianic star and the Messiah who will fill the dark sky of human unbelief and depravity and ignorance. We have seen his star. What a wonderful phenomenon in the sky was that messianic signal that God’s Son had now arrived and light was now beginning to shine such as never shone before, the Messianic star, as we commence the New Testament.
Just come to the end of the New Testament, the final chapter, Revelation chapter 22.
It’s not the Messianic star, it’s the morning star.
[9:33] The Lord Jesus, in that final announcement, cheers the heart of the prophet John.
I am the bright and morning star. Morning Star. Dear Christians, before we go away from the Conference 23, I would like to strike a note, the great note of triumphant rapture. It won’t be long until the Saviour cleaves the sky and we meet Him in the air, gather around His feet. The swelling song of everlasting worship fills the vaulted skies. We don’t belong here. We’re not settlers, We’re strangers and pilgrims, and we scan the horizon of hope, and we long, we wait to see the morning star appear in glory bright.
This blessed hope illumines with beams most cheering the hours of night, and the cohesion and the coherence of the books of Scripture.
The sun at the boundaries of the Old Testament, the star at the parameters of the New Testament, But of course, Matthew’s gospel is a great, I suppose we could call it a bridge book.
[10:50] It’s making the bridge back across the centuries to the Old Testament, the book of the generation, the book of the genesis. That’s the Greek word for generation, the book of the genesis. You say, I’ve heard that word genesis before. I think you have. And you’ve heard the word genesis right at the beginning of the Bible. There was an old genesis. There was a genesis for the natural creation. And the head of that natural creation was Adam. And the book of the generations of Adam we find in Genesis chapter 5. And the book of the generations of Adam tells us, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. But thank God there’s a new genesis. Not the genesis of the natural creation. There is the genesis of the new creation.
And out of the wreckage and ruin of sin, God is going to have a great salvage operation.
And the one who will be instrumental in that great process of recovery is none other than, His blessed Son and the book of the genesis of Jesus Christ.
And you read about His generation, not a death mentioned, in the generation of Jesus Christ, you don’t read of anybody that died, and He begat, begat, begat, begat, begat.
You see, Adam brought her in death.
[12:13] And every entry in the line of Adam’s generation has died. The sentence of sin, the Savior has brought in life, a new birth. And there has been the opening of a window of new hope. What a Genesis there has been with the arrival of Christ. The book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the bridge between Adam and Christ. Abraham is halfway, approximately round figures, 2,000 years.
Between Abraham and Christ, David stands at 1,000 years.
[12:49] And God is telling us that right as soon as sin entered into the world, he said, I have been measuring and I’ve been marching the century.
And after 2,000 years had gone and we reached the midpoint to the incarnation, I made special promises to Abraham.
Then he said, I made special promises to David, the son of David and the son of Abraham.
And we immediately have a bridge that’s built reaching back across the millennia, to let us see the continuity. Oh, it’s a genesis.
It’s something new.
It’s something fresh.
It’s something distinct.
But it has a link with what has already taken place. There is a connection with the Old Testament.
The son of David, the son of David, the son of David. What does the son of David do?
[13:43] You say, David did have a son. He built a temple. Yes, he built a temple. He was a builder.
The book of the generation, the genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the builder.
You say, the son of Abraham, what did he do? Did he build a temple?
No, he didn’t build a temple. He became a burnt offering.
[14:06] The Son of David built a sanctuary. The Son of Abraham became a sacrifice.
You say, I often wondered why.
I often wondered why it was that way around, why the order of chronology was upset.
It didn’t say the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of David first, and then the Son of Abraham. That’s the order of the gospel.
In the early part of the gospel, the Lord Jesus is presented as the son of David. He’s the builder.
And it’s in this great gospel that he tells us he will build a sanctuary.
I will build my church.
[14:44] And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Here we are, dear Christians, they tell me, they tell me in some of the modernistic thinking that Christianity is on the decline.
[14:57] That Christianity is in a shamble, that Christianity is obsolete and dated and will soon be outmoded. It’s struggling for its existence and it will soon disappear and become nothing but a bare mention in the books of history and in the chronicles of antiquity. No, no, I tell you, we trust in the Savior and he said, I will build my church and some of the building blocks, some of the living stones are right here this afternoon and the Savior is building still.
View the great building, see it wry. The scheme, how great, the plan, how wise.
[15:37] Composed of every saint that owns no savior but the living stone.
We salute this afternoon the noble mention of the name of Jesus Christ.
We have trusted him for the salvation of our souls.
He has brought us into the incorporation of this marvelous spiritual structure, through which his presence will be mediated.
The church, which is a wonderful sanctuary, the church, which is his body, and through that body, the glory and the presence of Christ will be mediated and radiated throughout the universe of God until the furthest extremities are all touched by the glory of the risen and the reigning Christ, the son of David, then the son of Abraham. Thank God as the book comes to an end, He goes to the altar.
[16:34] And upon that altar, he stretches out himself in self-abnegating love, and he makes the ultimate sacrifice, covers the throne of God with everlasting glory. And we appreciate, we appreciate that Matthew is not only a book with, with a book that makes a bridge, and a book that makes a new beginning, and a book with interesting boundaries. In fact, in fact, that’s a little thing to look out for when you come to reading the books of the Bible, very pronounced in what we call the four Gospels.
Each Gospel concludes as it commences, almost. Concludes as it commences with a different.
You’ll see exactly what I’m talking about if for a split second you think about the, Gospel according to Luke.
The Gospel according to Luke begins with a man in the temple.
Zacharias is in the temple offering incense and so on and so forth.
The book of Luke concludes with people again in the temple praising God and thanking God.
So it commences in the temple and it concludes in the temple.
There’s a difference.
There’s a symmetry.
When it commences in the temple, there’s a man praying. When it concludes in the temple, they’re not praying, they’re praising.
[18:01] You say, what has happened? When Luke’s gospel commences, there’s a man in the temple praying that the Messiah might come.
When you get to the end of Luke chapter 24, they’re in the temple, not now praying, they’re praising because the Messiah has already come.
And there’s a great transition in this book. The same in the gospel according to Matthew, it begins with Christ being worshipped.
Concludes in chapter 28 with Christ being worshipped. But there is a difference.
When Christ is worshipped in the gospel according to Matthew chapter 2, there are human beings bring gifts and they give him presents, three presents. I think it’s gold and frankincense and myrrh or something like that. Three human gifts, very interesting presents, royal presence, and so on. And they worship Him, and they give Him presence.
When you get to the end of the gospel, again there get.
[19:00] It’s not three human presence. He says, all power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.
And he has been given now, not from the hand of human donators. He’s been given donors. He’d be given from the hand of God himself. And the executive administration of this universe is, vested in a man who has been to the cross and has exited on the resurrection side of the grave.
[19:28] And we represent him this afternoon. That’s what gives Christianity its dignity. So, through the book itself, and I could say quite a number of other things, I refrain from doing that, but the broad parameters, the framework of the book, many a picture, you know there are many pictures, many beautiful portraits and landscapes, it all depends the kind of frame. If you have a nice picture and you put the wrong frame, it will detract from the picture. If you put the right frame, it will enhance the picture and it will lead the eye of the beholder into the center of the picture and will actually facilitate focus. So it is with the books of the Bible. God puts His book in a special frame and when we begin to admire the frame, our mind, our souls, our hearts, our eyes are carried to the interior of the picture and the frame is an invitation to make a closer inspection of the contents. As far as this section is concerned, and I’ll just mention this very, very quickly. In fact, I should nearly omit it, but I’ll just mention it. This section of the gospel begins with chapter 4, verse 17, From that time forth Jesus began to see to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
[20:48] From that time forth. And that goes right on to chapter 16, and again you get this little key From that time forth, Jesus began to preach the kingdom of God. No!
When it’s chapter 4, He began at a particular point to preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
When it’s chapter 16, He began at a point to teach them the Son of Man must suffer.
[21:17] And from chapter 16 to the end of the gospel, it’s the passion of the King. We’ve been hearing about the priesthood and the kingship of the Lord Jesus already today. Our brother was reminding us about Melchizedek, the king of Salem. It’s not a very interesting, it’s not a very provocative title. He has already explained it to us, Salem. The first mention in the Bible of the great city of Jerusalem. It’s Matthew’s gospel that tells us that Jerusalem is the city of the great king.
[21:54] And all of that was presaged in the arrival upon the stage of history of Melchizedek, the King of Salem. The King will come back to that city of Jerusalem, and that very point on planet earth will become the pivot of his rule in the coming kingdom era. And fanning out from Jerusalem right across the world, there will be the global government of the glorious Christ, the city of the great King, the very place where the ground received the precious blood that he shed, the very place that knew his shame, that very same city will become the theatre of his glory.
And as we think of that great day of coming dignified honour and rule, we say with Francis Ridley Havergill within our hearts, Oh, the joy!
[22:52] To see Him reigning, worshipped, glorified, adored. What a grand day that will be. But Matthew tells us about the passion of the King. And from chapter 16, with a steady step, He moves to the cross. But in these earlier chapters, we have the great presentation of the.
[23:18] King. His words. Read about all that great so-called Sermon on the Mount. His works.
Those 10 miracles of chapter 8 and 9. His witnesses. He sends out those men in chapter number 10.
When Galilee has been covered with a message of the King, and they begin to make it clear that they don’t want his message, the Savior gives his warnings in chapter 11. He says, Capernaum. Alas, Capernaum! In Besseta and Chorazin, he says, you cities that have been so privileged to hear the messengers of the king, and yet you’ve rejected his message and his claims and his person. And he pronounces a warning, and then he follows it up with a beautiful word of welcome. There’s a tenderness in the heart of the king, and he has hardly spoken the warning until the welcome come unto me, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, learn of me, ye shall find rest unto your soul. Isn’t it great, dear Christians, to have rest? We already sang today.
[24:25] Rest in pardon and relief from the load of guilt and grief. Rest in perfect peace with God.
Rest in Christ’s atoning blood. Here we have quite a number of us this Lord’s Day afternoon, and we have found a place of calm repose in the blessed Savior.
Once we toiled and were troubled by the burden of our sin.
But what a happy day when we found a resting place in Crete.
I will give you rest, I will rest you, I will relieve you. There’s another link with Hebrews.
We’ve already heard about the epistle to the Hebrews. We which have believed do enter into rest.
And our brother Jonathan was telling us yesterday yesterday about the development of that great subject of rest in Hebrews chapter four, the creation rest on the seventh day when God rested from all his work.
[25:29] The Canaan rest that was partially enjoyed when Joshua brought the people into the land of milk and honey, the conversion rest.
The moment you put your trust in Christ, you find rest.
The Christian rest, the celestial rest, a sabbatismus for the people of God.
I say, dear Christians, in a troubled old world, isn’t it a great thing to find rest?
Just rest. The rest of Matthew chapter 11 is anapausis.
[26:02] The word for rest, the common word for rest, not the sabbatismus word, which is worthy of further investigation.
The word in Hebrews chapter four is not anapausis, it’s katapausis.
And I know that you’re really keen to have a Greek lesson just after a good heavy lunch this afternoon.
Well, you’re going to have it right now. This is the dessert.
This is the dessert for the dinner.
And pausas, well, anybody can see pausas. We get our English word pause, a breathing space.
Just take it in some fresh air. And the tension is all gone.
That’s pausas, the old Greeks.
And in the gospel, according to Matthew, it’s anapausas. And that ana-prefix refers to something that is lifted up.
When you get to Hebrews chapter 4, it’s catapulses, and that refers to something that’s led down.
[26:58] And that’s the rest that we have found in Christ. When we came burdened with our sin, according to Matthew chapter 11, He lifted it up. He took away the old yoke of sin, and our shoulders chafed under all the burden and the blistering heat of our sins. He lifted it up, and he gave us relief.
Happy day when Jesus took my sins away.
And I don’t know about you, but the night I got saved, I think that was the major feeling in my head.
Some people say you don’t feel being saved.
Well, I tell you, I felt it then and I feel it still.
I’m not a theologian. I’m not a theologian. I just enjoy salvation. It was a relief.
I breathed more easily. I had an anapausus and a load that I couldn’t bear.
Another day, the Savior lifted it up and he carried it away, and I’ve never seen it since.
Thank God for the anapauses of the uplifting rest of Christ.
But then there was another side to it in Hebrews chapter 4, the laying down.
I struggled for a while, actually, and I tried to get saved.
And no matter about my struggles and my trials and my tossings and my turnings, I couldn’t find any rest until at last there came a day when I just let it all down.
[28:20] And all the struggles were over, and all the strivings ceased, and He lifted up and gave me rest, and I laid down my useless works and found a resting place in Him.
I say, it’s great to have rest. here today with doubts? I would be, I would nearly be sure in a conference like this, there’ll be some Christian somewhere and you did have rest in Christ, but things have got a little bit upset and disturbed. We have a number of reasons, endless reasons in the Bible why people can have upset rest, nervous problems, physical problems, mental problems, age-related problems, family pressures, business pressures, all of those things can give us, you know what I would say to some believer?
You remember that day when you put your trust in the Savior?
Very simple, very straightforward, nothing sensational, no bright lights, no lightning strikes.
It was all so simple.
Times have moved on and things have developed and now today you’re a little bit at sea.
You know there’s a great verse in the Bible, you know what it says?
It says, return unto thy rest.
Is go back to where you rest at the start.
[29:37] Maybe you’ve walked away from it, just return onto your rest and again go back to where it all began.
And that sweet relief and repose when you stood upon redemption ground. Dear Christian, that rest can be recovered, but don’t be looking introspectively and looking for peace in here.
You will never find it. Just go back to the beginning. Thank God the firm foundation of Christ has never changed, and he still refreshes and he rests. And right in this very passage, that’s the great section, we’re in the section now where the Lord withdraws. Quite a number of times you read about the Lord departing, and he withdrew. In this passage, these sections of Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, every one of those chapters you read, he departed, He withdrew, and the opposition is stiffening, and the Lord Jesus withdraws.
Sometimes He goes to the shore.
Sometimes He goes to the slopes of the mountain.
[30:41] Sometimes He goes to the seclusion of the desert. You say, what do you go to the shore for?
And what do you go to the slopes of the mountain for? And what do you go to the seclusion?
Well, He’s going out to the Gentiles, and He’s going to withdraw from Israel, And he’s going to ascend the mountain slopes of glory.
And he’s going to bring blessing into the barren world of the Gentiles, and out to the shore of the sea.
And thank God he’s withdrawing. And now we have this great chapter 14.
Tells us in this one chapter, very, very quickly here, because I better accelerate.
This one chapter gives us three pictures of what things will be like.
[31:21] When the Lord has gone away. He has been rejected by Israel. He is withdrawn from the nation.
I’m sorry, I can’t elaborate that any further. You say, what will it be like when he has gone away?
Well, the first story in this chapter is John the Baptist is killed.
[31:40] Oh, you see, that’s a sad story, isn’t it? The great servant of Christ decapitated, just to satisfy the base lust and the bloodthirst of this ruthless king. It’s a sad story. It’s a story of sorrow. We’re told the disciples of John the Baptist came and they gathered up the headless corp and they buried him. You talk about a sad funeral. I often wonder why the Lord didn’t go to the funeral. I’ve often wondered why the Lord never visited John the Baptist in prison. You see, the man that served with such sterling dignity, why did the Lord not go to see him at least? If he didn’t bring him out at least, why did he not even go to his funeral? John’s disciple, there’s some sad funerals, dear.
[32:37] Christians. While the Master’s away, there’ll be days when we’ll follow the funeral cortege to many a grave. Story of sorrow, days of sorrow. Then the next is the days of service. The Lord brings these disciples and they have a great day feeding all these multitudes and taking the bread and distributing and a wonderful day of service it was. I think it was a high point in their experience. That’s a good story. Then the third story is the story of the storm.
[33:11] That’s what it’ll be like when the master’s away. Days of sorrow, days of service, and days of storm.
You say, how do you cope? How do you cope with the sorrow? How do you cope with the storm?
How do you cope with the service? Well, the passage tells us, when it was the sorrow, it says they came and told Jesus. They just told him. Maybe there’s a broken heart here here this afternoon, and I would encourage you, dear Christian, just tell him.
[33:47] When you’re sad, and when sorrow grips your soul, and when the tear trickles down the cheek, falling from the fountain of a broken heart, just tell him.
In our sorrow, we can tell him. He is an ear always willing to listen.
There’ll be sorrows that will crush your heart at times that you’ll not be able to tell your closest friend, thank God you can tell him.
When it comes to our service, it’s not a matter of telling him, it’s taking from him.
It says he gave, he gave to the disciple.
And the disciples gave to the people, and they just gave to the people what they took from him.
They didn’t bake the bread, and they didn’t make the bread, and they didn’t break the bread.
They couldn’t take any credit, they were just passing on. Just passing, that’s all preaching is, dear brethren.
It’s just passing on. We do a little bit of cooking and put things into the oven and get a few Greek words in one thing or another and a few headings, and we think we have done something great.
We’re just passing on what the Lord has given to us.
In our service, it’s a privilege.
So when it’s sorrow, tell him.
When it’s service, take from him and just give to others what he gives you.
When it’s the storm, what do you do?
You trust them.
[35:10] He says, O ye of little faith, he treads the way, and he comes with his presence, and he speaks peace into their soul. He says it as I, be not afraid, trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by, till within the jasper wall, trusting Jesus, that is all.
Dear Christians, these beautiful pictures, days of sorrow, we can tell them.
Days of service, we can take from them. And He’ll always be giving more bread.
There’ll never be more mouths than there is provision in Christ. Human need will never outstrip divine grace and provision. And in days of storm, just trust Him, that he’s above the water floods. Every tempest-driven bark with Jesus as his guide shall soon be moored in harbour calms in glory to abide.” There’s another little thing that I want to mention and I’ll be finished. I’ve spoken about the book, the section, the chapter, and there’s a verse. And in this verse, it’s not now the royalty of Christ, that’s the book.
[36:30] And it’s not now the revelation of Christ in this great section, and it’s not now the rejection of Christ, it’s the reaction of Christ. You say, how did the Lord Jesus deal with all these different circumstances? Well, in his service, he becomes an example for us.
And I want to emphasize three things. It tells us in verse number 23, here’s a message for 23, See ya.
[36:59] I should have been here 10 minutes ago. But this is what I want to say and finish, my little message. This is 23, verse 23, for the year 23. Is there anyone here today and you’re finding it difficult to cope? You’re stressed. You’re distressed, D-I-S-T-R-E-S-E-D.
You’re not only a stress, you’re in distress, double stress.
Stress is one of the buzzwords of our society. Many people find it just almost impossible to cope at their tether, just at the brink, at the edge.
In all the pressures of these days, how did the Lord Jesus command his service? And I’m not speaking irreverently of him, but we find in him a pattern for our much lesser selves, how we can cope with the challenges and the pressures. I want to give you not only a secret for stress and distress, I want to think about de-stress, not D-I-S-T-R-E, D-E. I don’t know, if it’s a word, but it’ll do. D-E. It’d be great if you could get de-stressed.
[38:12] What did the Lord Jesus do? Well, there are three words in verse number 23. It says, when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, day. And when the evening was come, he was there alone.” My three words are these, away.
[38:37] Apart on the mountain alone. That’s how to de-stress.
Younger people, just quickly. Older friends, this is how you find your soul being refueled, refurbished, refilled with what it takes to keep pressing on.
You need to send things away. There’s a multitude to be dismissed. You need to go up into the mountain apart. There’s an altitude to be reached, and you need to spend time alone. There’s a solitude to be cultivated.
And if you dismiss the multitude, and climb the altitude, and cultivate the solitude, I can guarantee it will greatly de-stress your life.
There are times, the Lord didn’t wait until they just all went home, He sent them away.
There are times, dear Christian, when you have to draw the line, and you say enough’s.
[39:50] There has to be a discipline, there has to be a boundary. I don’t know what the multitude is in your life.
Multitude of email, a multitude of Instagram messages, multitude of texts, a multitude of friends, a multitude of commitments, a multitude of cares, a multitude of worry.
There’s times when you have to draw the line and say, just stop there.
Every life in this building today, every life of this building is encroached by a multitude, of different worries and burdens that would upset our peace and take away our rest.
You need to learn. I need to dismiss it and say, that’s it.
Have you ever switched the phone off? I see people even using their phones in meetings nowadays.
Can’t even cut out the phone for a meeting.
[40:53] How we expect to hear the voice of God. When we’re always open to the voice and texts of others, I don’t know, you have probably more science in those things than I have.
We pray that God will speak to us, but we’re always switched on to others. Dear Christians, no wonder we have so much stress. It’s time to cut the light, draw the light, dismiss it, Send things away, a multitude of bits and pieces, and lesser things that must be dismissed.
Then go to higher ground.
The Savior not only sent them away, he went into a mountain apart.
Matthew’s gospel is the gospel of mountains.
Isn’t it great to get onto higher ground?
[41:39] You see things with a different vision. You see things from a different vantage point.
Just to climb into those altitudes of quiet retreat in the presence of God.
We have been with Moses on a mountain.
We could go with Elijah on a mountain. How many, even Abraham on the mountain.
Many of the people in the Bible, they got a special touch from God when they were on higher ground.
I know we sing that Mr. Oatman’s hymn. Lord lift me up and help me stand on heaven’s higher table land.
They gave that, a brother gave that hymn out. I was telling some of them recently in ancient times, give that hymn out in a meeting.
Lift me up, help me stand on heaven’s higher table land. Mr. W.W. Ferdy was there.
He said, no brother, we’ll sing something scriptural.
[42:32] He said, we can’t get onto higher ground. We’re already in heavenly places and praise Jesus.
He said, we don’t need to ask the Lord to lift us onto higher ground.
Was, well, I quite like the hymn. I like the tune, anyway. I don’t like all the theology, but I tell you, we could do with higher ground.
Get up to the rarefied air of communion with God and fill your soul with the oxygen of another world and the clear light of heaven to shed its beams into the very interior of your soul, and catch a glimpse of the better land across on the other side.
Dear Christian, always learn what it is for the multitude to be dismissed and for the, the altitude to be claimed.
I’m serious about that, dear Christian. Younger people, you make a space in your life for God.
Set it apart, set it up. Apart and above. And then finally, not only those two that I mentioned, there’s a solitude. He was there alone.
[43:44] Hard to be alone nowadays.
You carry a thousand addresses in your pocket. There’s nearly always somebody there. There’s someone invading your private space. You say, but I need me time and I need me space. No, you don’t. You don’t need me space or me time. I’m not talking about that. It’s not me space that we need. It’s space for us and the Lord. Not just time spent alone. Time spent alone with Him. Alone with Thee, O Master, where the light of earthly glory die. Misunderstood by all I dare to do what thine own heart would place. Young man, if you’re going to develop for God.
You will need to develop a private life with God. You cannot always be available for every cause, and for every call. When you’re alone with God, life becomes deeper. Loads become lighter.
[44:56] The light becomes clearer, and I say send certain things away. Go to the mountain apart and learn what it is to spend time alone. We find comfort in company. Company is good. We’re not meant to be hermits, but there are times we need to be detached from the human and touch the heavenly.
And it will give a depth and a richness and a gravitas and a ballast to your life.
And meetings are good. Oh, I’m all on for meetings. Been marvellous to see the great attendance at the meetings are good, but there’s something about time spent alone with God that is better, better still. Are you stressed? Is there someone here and you find in your service, you’ve lost your rest, your enjoyment of rest, and you’re all disturbed, and you’re all just in a whirlpool of anxiety.
Here’s the distress recipe of the perfect Savior.
Away, draw the line, dismiss the multitude.
[46:09] Above, upon the mountain top, alone with God. We mutter, we sputter, we fume, and we spurt.
And we can’t understand things, and feelings get hurt. We mumble, we grumble, and our vision grows dim.
[46:35] When all that we need is a short time with Him.
Away.
Apart. Alone. That’s my message for this afternoon, and I trust God will encourage us in the solitude, of a deeper spiritual life with Christ.
With Christ. May the Lord bless His Word.
Ministry after the breaking of bread from Jonathan Seed.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_11JSeed09172023.m4a[0:01] Hebrews chapter seven. When I was very young, there was an old Dutch preacher named Hans Bouman, and I remember him saying at a conference one time, when you’re stuck for time, you treat your sermon like a fish and you cut off the tail and the head and you just give them the body.
[0:20] And so that’s what I’m going to have to do this morning. Hebrews chapter number seven, and we’ll start reading in verse number one.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace without father and without mother, without descent, having.
[0:49] Neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham, gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily, they that are the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Verse number 11, if therefore perfection, were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people receive the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses.
[2:00] Spake nothing concerning priesthood. And yet it is yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest who was made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
For he testifieth thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandments going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
Read a little bit further on in the chapter, verse number 26.
[2:37] For such an high priest became us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s.
For this he did once, when he offered up himself for the law, when he offered up himself for the law, maketh men high priests, which have infirmity.
[3:03] But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh a son who is consecrated forevermore.
The Lord to bless the reading of his precious word. Melchizedek sends shivers down the spine of young Bible students. You turn to the book of Hebrews and you come to chapter 7 and you think, I’ll come back to that chapter later sometime. We can think about Melchizedek another time. Well, that’s too bad because Melchizedek is one of the most important components of the priesthood of of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would also say, this is part of my intention this morning, that Melchizedek provides for us one of the most comforting aspects of the priesthood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Three things that I’ve been thinking about with respect to Melchizedek.
Melchizedek is a man of mystery. It’s a difficult subject. You have to get into it. You have to read it and read it and read it and then read it again and read it again. Melchizedek is a man of similarity. This is the most important component to understanding Melchizedek.
[4:09] And I wanted to say this just very plainly and very clearly. When you’re studying or when you’re thinking about Melchizedek and his relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to get it the the right way around. Melchizedek or Christ does not resemble Melchizedek.
Melchizedek resembles the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ does not resemble Melchizedek. Melchizedek resembles the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ll get to that if we have time. Made like unto the Son of God.
He’s a man of mystery. He’s a man of similarity. He’s also a man of superiority. And this is where the comfort comes in when we think of the topic of Melchizedek, the priesthood of Melchizedek, the order of Melchizedek, what it is that he represents, what he contributes to the discussion to the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He contributes is this, a perfect, eternal priesthood that will never, ever, ever end. And for that reason, we can find encouragement this morning.
[5:13] And our love can grow, and our adoration can become deeper as we learn more and appreciate more about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I just wanted to mention very quickly, just thinking about the structure of the scriptures as we have a little bit this weekend and young people here in Bible study and getting things the right way around. Well, when it comes to the study of the Old Testament, one of the things that, sorry, the New Testament, one of the things that I’ve appreciated so much is how the New Testament authors are interpreting the Old Testament.
[5:41] I’ve noticed that they have absolute confidence in the Old Testament. The New Testament writers do.
When they read the Old Testament, they have so much confidence that they will even get arguments from the silence. Now, if you take that to school and you make an argument from silence in one of your essays, you might not get a very good mark. But when it comes to Bible interpretation, these New Testament authors are reading the Old Testament and knowing, with the understanding, that there is a divine author who planned what he was going to write, and who planned and inspired what he was not going to write, and therefore what is written and what What is not written is significant, what is written is instructive, and what is not written is also instructive.
That’s one of the most important principles when we come to Melchizedek.
He’s a man of mystery, but the guiding principle is that the New Testament authors, when they, read the Old Testament, they were looking for Christ.
Not just putting him under every rock and behind every tree and finding him in every witch place and getting imaginative and a little bit creative, but looking for intentional mentions, patterns, principles, even silence, that would speak to us and be instructive to us with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I just want to…
[6:57] I want to say to the young people here, you know, I don’t like dropping names and all that sort of thing, you know, it’s kind of, anyway, but there’s one book I will recommend to you.
If you’re studying your Bible this year, drop all your other study books and just choose one.
That book is called The Riches of Divine Wisdom by Mr. David Gooding. If you use one Bible study book this year for the next five years, let that be the only one. Yes, you’re going to have your personal time, of course, with the Lord, your personal reading. The one book I recommend you use all year long, The Riches of Divine Wisdom. Mr. Gooding puts in there five different ways that the New Testament authors were thinking about the Old Testament. He mentions prophetic insights, direct prophecies, or, predictions. I’m not sure if that’s the greatest word to use, but it’s a word he uses, predictions from the Old Testament that are fulfilled. The New Testament authors will take those predictions and they will show how they are fulfilled.
Another category is literary devices. They take similes and metaphors and they relate them or from the Old Testament and then they express different New Testament truth. The ones that I’m really interested in here that are concerning or have to do with this passage are legal concepts.
[8:07] And especially implied features. Implied features means this, the author recognizes, that there are certain things, certain ways that the Old Testament was written that imply a truth.
That’s what we see in Hebrews 7, in Psalm 110, and in Genesis 14.
They’re recognizing the logical, rational thought flow of the Old Testament authors and how that leads us to the New.
That is one of the most important principles when we come to the Scriptures.
The Old Testament authors were also Bible readers. Bible authors are Bible readers.
Bible authors interpreted other authors. They read previous authors.
They came to conclusions by reading the previous books, the previous authors that came before them.
And the continuity, the storyline, continued in lockstep with the previous authors, not some sort of.
[9:01] Spiritualized, allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament, making things up, whatever was convenient for the time. There’s lots of that in Christian history. But these, authors gave respect. They had confidence in the Old Testament and therefore they could come, to these conclusions. So that’s what we find here with Melchizedek. It’s a comparison.
He sees a story in Genesis 14, and I believe he would have started maybe at Psalm 110.
I think he’s going backwards, reading Psalm 110, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Well, who’s Melchizedek?
And what is this order of Melchizedek? That’s the only other time it’s mentioned.
Oh, I remember Genesis 14.
Goes back to Genesis 14, reads the story of Genesis 14, and he notices a couple of similarities.
He noticed some resemblance with respect to Melchizedek’s name.
[9:55] He notices a resemblance with respect to Melchizedek’s occupation. He notices a resemblance here with Melchizedek and the silence that we see in this chapter, a resemblance with the interaction that Melchizedek has with Abraham. And he says those things are significant. That’s interesting. I never noticed that before.
Look at the name. There’s significance there. Look at the fact that he’s a priest. There’s significance there. Look at the fact that there’s there’s silence with respect to the genealogy. A book full, we’re just speaking about this yesterday, a book that is full of genealogies and we come to Melchizedek and there’s nothing about his parents. And he comes to the end and he sees the superiority of Melchizedek. Look at the interaction with Abraham. Well that’s interesting. Isn’t Abraham, well isn’t he the greatest of the, patriarchs? Isn’t he the first? Wouldn’t he be above all the rest? Isn’t he the great grandfather of Levi? And isn’t he the one that would be considered superior to even Melchizedek? Well, it looks, according to Genesis 14, that that wasn’t the case. And he puts all of these things together, and he comes up with a conclusion that’s just as simple as that.
[11:03] That the priesthood that is described in Genesis 14 is a superior priesthood to even the priesthood, of Aaron. And then that makes sense of Psalm 110. And then that is what brings us to the conclusions of Hebrews chapter 7. He goes back and then he comes forward and goes back and then he comes forward, not reading into the text, but reading out of the text and filling in the gaps all along the biblical storyline until he reaches Hebrews 7 as he’s writing it. And he explains to us, this is how it all makes sense now in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what are these similarities that we see between Melchizedek and the Lord Jesus? He’s similar in terms of his name.
I don’t know if you noticed here, I’m sure many of you already have, Melchizedek, King of Righteousness. Well, that’s an interesting name. But he’s also King of Salem.
Well, there’s another interesting name, the King of Peace, the King of Righteousness. But in fact, it keeps going. He’s also a priest of the Most High God, a fascinating title. We don’t see that title very often. Priest of the Most High God, and then he goes on to a superiority with Abraham.
Just think of those titles, just for a moment. The King of Righteousness and the King of Peace.
[12:14] This automatically brings us to the Lord Jesus Christ, what we were thinking about this morning.
The one who died, who suffered at the hands of God, the wrath that he endured, The wrath that was exhausted on the Lord Jesus Christ, that was the righteousness of God.
It was righteous for God to do that.
It was right for God to punish His Son. As we read in Isaiah 53, in fact, it pleased God to bruise Him.
[12:42] The righteousness of God is what caused the wrath of God to fall on the Lord Jesus Christ as he punished and condemned sin in the Lord Jesus Christ as he was made sin for us and as a result of the righteousness of God leading to the wrath being poured out on Christ. Now, we, have the peace of God. Without righteousness, there is no peace. And therefore, Melchizedek, he looks forward to the day when the Lord Jesus Christ would come. All of these stories in the Old Testament, they are designed. It’s a, fascinating aspect of the Old Testament. It is designed designed so that we would have these pictures that help us to understand who the Lord Jesus Christ is, when he would come and how he would come as we see in 1 Peter chapter number one.
They didn’t know the manner. They didn’t know the time. They knew that he would come.
They didn’t know exactly who it was, but everything else was already filled out from the pictures that we see and the, principles and the patterns of the Old Testament.
He’s a king of righteousness. He is a king of peace.
But another two things that come together in Melchizedek.
Not only a king of righteousness and a king of peace in the same person, he’s also a king and he’s a priest.
[14:00] Have you seen one of those in the Old Testament? A king and a priest. I believe it’s in 2 Chronicles, and there’s a king who tries to be a priest and he’s reprimanded by the other priest because he’s not even able to offer incense in the sanctuary and he suffers the consequences for trying to bring together these two different offices that were never brought together. A king who was also a priest. We find, however, in Zechariah chapter 6 that there will be a priest who will sit, on the throne and that’s looking forward, looking forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, prefigured in Melchizedek. Very odd, very rare. We do not find, this isn’t normal. This is something that is different from the Levitical priesthood. This is different from the Sons of Aaron. This is different than the Old Covenant and it’s superior and it’s better and we should be thankful.
[14:54] And it should help our hearts grow in worship. As we consider our priest, our great high priest, who comes not from a line in which it was impossible to bring together a king and a priest, but from a line in which it was possible to bring these two great offices together.
The priest that will sit on the one who will reign is the one who has redeemed and is the one who continues to intercede and who will save us to the uttermost.” Melchizedek is telling us, he’s painting the picture.
It was of design, the author of Genesis 14 wrote it in such a way, inspired by the Holy Spirit so that we would see these correspondences, we would see these connections, and we would have greater worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What’s another resemblance we see between the two?
We see that the peace and the righteousness came together. The king and the priest came together.
But I want you to notice the silences in Genesis 14. This is probably the most confusing, I don’t know, maybe the most difficult part of Genesis or sorry, Hebrews chapter seven.
It says here, without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God.
Melchizedek is not a pre-incarnate version of the Son of God.
[16:21] In fact, I would venture to say that to think that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ would ruin the argument of Hebrews 7. It doesn’t work.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He has a Father. Melchizedek in picture did not.
Another principle when considering Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, the resemblance that we see between the two is not between the Lord Jesus Christ and the man Melchizedek necessarily. It is between the Lord Jesus Christ and the picture of Melchizedek or the way he is described in Genesis 14. Do you see the difference?
It’s not the actual Melchizedek who had a father and a mother and who did come to die at some point, but the way he is described in Genesis 14 is the connection that we’re supposed supposed to make with the Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter number seven.
The way it’s described in Genesis 14 is, well, there’s no genealogy.
It’s not there. So it looks as from the textual perspective, it looks as if he doesn’t have any parents and it looks as if he didn’t die.
It looks as if he’s eternal. That’s the point. That’s the point.
[17:35] And therefore the Lord Jesus being one who is eternal, though he has a father, he is eternal.
He did die, He was raised on the third day, and He is eternal.
And Melchizedek being made like unto the Son of God, He abideth a priest continually.
He had a moment at which He died, but the way He’s described in the Scripture was designed to point us forward to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a key phrase at the end of verse number three, made like unto the Son of God.
Who was made like unto the Son of God? Melchizedek, in the scriptural description, was made, designed to look forward to our Savior, the Lord Jesus. The significance of the silence. Melchizedek isn’t just a man of mystery, he’s not just a man of similarity, all the resemblances between the two, but this is the most important part that I want to get to, and I’ll close with this considering the time is, far past, but let me just say that he’s a man of superiority.
[18:31] A man of superiority. We see that first with Abraham. With Abraham, we understand that in the loins of Abraham, you understand that in the Old Testament, Abraham, the man, a grandfather, for example, would be considered to have all of his descendants in his loins. He would represent all of his descendants. And therefore, when Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek, paid, the tithe to Melchizedek, it was as if Aaron, as if the Levitical priesthood, you could say, or as if Aaron was paying a tithe to Melchizedek. Now that’s significant because the Israelites were supposed to pay tithes to the priests and not the other way around because they were superior in terms of their role. Now it comes to Abraham representing those priests who were supposed to receive. The one who was supposed to receive is the one who gave.
Who do you give to in terms of tithes? You give to a superior. Therefore, Melchizedek is superior, to the priesthood of Aaron, to the Levitical priesthood.
But there’s another superiority. There’s a perfection in verse 11.
If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek?
You see, when it comes to the old covenant, there was a point at which it would finish.
There’s no, we heard this actually yesterday.
The Israelites were not saved. The children of Israel were not saved by obeying the Ten Commandments.
[19:58] That’s an accusation against dispensationalism, usually, that we believe that the Old Testament saints were saved by works and in the New Dispensation were saved by grace. That’s not the way that it was. They were not saved by the Ten Commandments. This was a tutor, it was a, schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. There was a point at which it would end. It was never intended to perfect. It was never intended to cleanse the inside, cleanse the heart, cleanse the mind, give them a new light, put the spirit in them. That was never the intention.
[20:28] And I should say, by the by, just in connection with yesterday, when it comes to the kingdom and all of these ideas about kingdom now and spreading the kingdom, along with the idea of the kingdom now comes the idea of the legitimacy of following the law today. Those two things always go together. And we must be very careful because the law has been abrogated. The law has been left behind on purpose. That was the design left behind because we have something better, something superior. We have a better priest. And as you go through the book of Hebrews, a good study for all the younger ones here today, all the better things in the book of Hebrews, we have this superior priest because he’s part of a superior priesthood, a priesthood that represents eternality. It goes on forever. And that’s the next argument here in the chapter. It’s a superior product, because through this priesthood, we receive perfection.
It’s a superior position, because He is the one who received the tithes from Abraham.
That’s a superior priestly work. I’ll finish with this.
Turn over, or at least in my Bible, turn over down to verse number 24.
A superior product, superior position. It’s a superior priestly work.
[21:49] What is it that this priest can do that the others could not?
This priest, and this is part of the greater argument in this section, this priest could, enact and sustain the blessings of the new covenant. Aaron could never do that. Aaron could not be the mediator and he could not be the guarantor of the new covenant because he was limited by death, he was limited by his own frailty, and at the moment in which Aaron would have died, which he did, the blessings of the new covenant would have ended.
That is one of the greatest things about the the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lives forever and therefore with his death he enacted it and with his life he guarantees it. It will go on because he will never die. As long as he lives, the blessings of the new covenant are enacted and they are enjoyed by each and every one of us. If he continues to live, I will always have intercession.
I can always go to Him. I can always confess and know that I will find grace, that I will find mercy, that I will find succor at the throne of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who continueth ever with an unchangeable priesthood, the one who lives, the one who lives based on an indestructible life, and therefore he is able to save them to the uttermost.
[23:17] All those that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
This is not dealing with salvation. I’ll have to close with this.
The book of Hebrews, here’s another key that I found. This blew my mind, as some of us say.
One of the greatest aspects or one of the most interesting aspects of Hebrews is that it’s not necessarily dealing with how to be saved.
It’s not necessarily about salvation, though that would be included, obviously, in the work of Christ and his redemption.
It’s about cleansing, cleansing, sanctification.
[24:02] Being purred, our conscience being purged so that we might be holy, So that we might before God be presented to Him at His coming and be presented when He is glorified and all the saints, when He returns with Him down to the earth.
It’s so that we might be sanctified completely, as Paul says to Timothy.
So that we might be preserved, so that He that began a good work in us will perform it unto that day, the day of Jesus Christ.
And therefore we can have confidence of confidence that though there are difficulties in our lives and though there are setbacks in our lives and though there are moments when sin comes in and defiles, we can always go to Christ.
And as a great message of Hebrews, we can keep going and we can make it to the end because, our priest since he is of the order of Melchizedek and not of Aaron our priest, Continueth forever, say the Lord.
Gospel from Matthew Cain.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_10MCain09162023.m4a[0:01] If you have a Bible, I would love you to turn with me to the book of the Psalms, Psalm 75.
This is a little bit of an obscure reading, which is not my custom in a gospel meeting, nor do I think should be the custom, but I am purposely choosing it tonight.
[0:19] There is a well-known New Testament text that I would like you to think about as well, Romans 5 and 6. You could probably quote it with me, that when we were yet without strength or helpless, Just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
So if there is a helpless, lost sinner here tonight, well, this message of the gospel is great news for you.
Christ has died to bless you.
But notice the warnings in this passage as well. Psalm 75, we’re reading from verse two to the end of the psalm.
God says, when I choose a time, I will judge fairly. When the earth and all its inhabitants shake, I am the one who steadies its pillars.
I say to the boastful, do not boast.
And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak arrogantly.
[1:23] Promotion, exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert, for God is the judge.
He brings down one and exalts another.
For there is a cup in the Lord’s hand, full of wine blended with spices, and He pours from it all the wicked of the earth will drink.
This is not a good-tasting cup. This is a cup of God’s judgment.
All the wicked of the earth will drink, draining it to the dregs.
Verse 10, I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
[2:05] I suspect a good many of you have seen some of the BBC Planet Earth video series.
They are fascinating.
You’ve probably at least seen the clip of the snakes chasing the iguana.
That will get your heart racing a little bit.
Or maybe the scene of some young lions that are hungry and they’re trying to chase down a giraffe.
I think that is absolutely lovely. The giraffe just flips off those lions like you would flip off a mosquito.
Beautiful. One of the outrageous scenes that I remember watching and I would love to watch again is the scene of the ibex fighting. The ibex is a goat species, a desert goat species that resides in mountainous areas in the Middle East and in North Africa. And the ibex is known for developing these huge horns that can extend like five feet long and they curve back. They’re massive horns, and the Ibex use those to fight each other. They’ll put their heads back like this, and then they’ll come and they’ll smash in to the opposing Ibex, if that is who they are fighting, and their horns crash against each other with amazing power.
[3:27] I don’t know if you noticed, I tried to highlight in our reading references to horns.
God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. He says, I’ll cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. In the Bible, the horn is a symbol for strength, and victory, because that’s exactly what an animal like the ibex would use it for. The animal will use its horns to fight for top spot in the group against its rival males. It’ll use it in in self-defense. It uses it to fight. It’s a showcase of its own strength. God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. Don’t think that you could storm the gates of heaven like an Ibex against another Ibex. Don’t think that you could storm the gates of heaven and just sort of push your way in by saying, well, my parents go to the gospel hall. I mean, that, should give me a right to enter in, doesn’t it? Well, I think that’s a great blessing if your parents are part of the assembly, but that doesn’t make you saved.
[4:49] Or you might say, well, I know, I’ve memorized Isaiah 53. Fantastic, that’s a good thing for you to do.
The key thing is to believe it.
[5:00] Or you might say, well, I don’t swear and curse like my friends do at school.
I know I don’t sin as much as they do, and I’m actually a pretty decent person.
But if we’re arguing that way against God, it’s a little bit like us taking our horns and trying to push our way into heaven based on our own strength.
That’s a bad idea.
God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. Don’t think that you could be so silly.
[5:32] No, you wouldn’t be this silly. You wouldn’t be so silly to think that you could out-duel God and fight against God and overcome God.
And if you watch the video of the Ibex, you should do that. You should tell your parents that Mr. Matthew said, when you get home from school on Monday afternoon, you need some time to watch the Ibex fighting.
And when you see them fight, you could imagine that if one of those Ibex had lost its horns, it would stand no chance.
It would be absolutely decimated by its foe, because the horn is all it has for its strength.
Well, now God says, I will cut off the horns of the wicked.
Do you know what God is saying?
In your own strength, you can’t stand against God.
[6:29] In the strength of your own righteousness or goodness or purity, you’ve got nothing to go against God. He cuts off the horns of the wicked. He leaves them absolutely helpless.
That’s a good thing for you to realize because Romans 5 and 6 says, when we were helpless, when we had no strength, when we realized our horn was cut off, that’s just the right time, that’s the right understanding because Christ has died for people just like that.
And people that have no strength, people that would love to be saved and just can’t seem to figure it out, people that would love to know their sins forgiven and they’re trying and they’re working and they’re crying and they’re calling and they can’t seem to get it.
Listen, God has a word for you. For people without strength. For people that are helpless and ungodly. Christ has died for those people. That’s why the gospel is so precious. We are helpless sinners. That’s just the truth of the matter.
The good news is that Christ has died for such sinners. The reality is that we We are weak, we are without strength.
We have nothing that we can bring to God to impress God and boast against God.
We don’t have to. We don’t have to.
[7:56] Christ has met our need at the cross.
[8:00] We need to think about what Christ has done for us. We’re all accountable to God for our sins.
What we need is a sacrifice who has met the need of our sins because God is the ultimate judge.
In verse number seven, God is the judge.
And the fate of the world hinges not on man, but on God. We speak of actions that men and women do, that change the course of history.
And some of them do, sure.
[8:29] But not outside the control of the God of the Bible. Think about artificial intelligence.
And even its creators are a little bit scared to what this is going to do to the human race, we’re a little bit uncertain. It does create some uncertainty. It can be a little bit unsettling, but it’s not unsettling to God.
It’s not outside the control of God.
Before the name Oppenheimer became a popular name in the culture these days, our children knew about Oppenheimer because they read a book in school called Bomb, which is the story of the making, the race to build the atomic bomb in World War II.
It’s a great story. It’s a Newbery award-winning book, a simple read. It’s called Bomb.
And Oppenheimer, who helped to create that atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, 70,000 people died when that bomb first fell in 1945.
[9:34] The initial reaction of many Americans, understandably, whether they were just soldiers or politicians or regular citizens or the scientists, when they first heard of the bomb’s success, 70,000 people being instantly killed.
There is celebration. Understandably, we’re winning the war, but then some of those feelings turn to horror and fear. What have we done? What have we started? Today they estimate there are like 13,000 nuclear warheads in the world of much greater power than a bomb that was dropped in 1945 and with all of the war and the striving and the tension in the world through the 20th and 21st century, sometimes you might think it’s a wonder that humanity hasn’t destroyed itself.
But now verse 3 tells me why.
God says, I study the pillars. God’s in control. God’s in charge.
People think that they know better than God.
The people who think that they can out-duel God and outlast God and that they know more than God. They’re making the biggest mistake of their lives.
God is the ultimate judge, but I wonder if you sometimes think that you know a bit better than God.
[11:03] You think maybe you could run the universe a little bit better than God does.
You’ve got some ideas you’d like to suggest to Him.
Or you think you could run your life a lot better than God does.
Or you think that you could work out your own salvation a lot better than God might.
God, if you’re really as strong as you think you are, as you say you are, why haven’t you saved me yet?
Do you know what that sort of talk, that sort of thinking is like?
That’s just us lifting our horn against Heaven.
That’s our pride. That’s us boasting. And instead of lifting our horn against heaven and telling God what He should have done by now and what He should do next, instead of our lifting our horn against heaven, we should bow our knee before heaven. Say, God, You’re right. You’re right, and I’m wrong. You’re a.
[11:57] Savior and I’m a sinner. You’re a judge and I’m guilty. You’re my rescuer and I’ve got no other hope. You’re strong and I am weak. You’re pure and righteous and I’m a sinner.” That would be the right thing for you to do tonight. That would be the right attitude. That would be a right way to respond to the Word of God. Just to bow your knee to bow your heart before him and say Lord I know that you are right and I know that you’re righteous and I know that my sins deserve judgment but I know that the Lord Jesus has come for people just like that when we were without strength Christ died for the ungodly remember it is the heart of God to bless you God is the judge God is also the Savior that’s a lovely title of of God that you have in Titus, in 1 Timothy, in 2 Timothy, God, our Savior.
[13:01] His desire is to bless you, and so he gives you this warning that if you don’t repent and admit your guilt and your fault and your sin, then judgment comes.
But what he wants you to do is to turn and accept his Son and be saved.
So when Peter’s preaching in Acts 3, he calls on people to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus.
He says, remember, God sent his son to bless you, to bless you.
The Lord Jesus said, I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.
First Timothy two, God desires all people to be saved and to know the truth.
There is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all.
God’s desire is to bless you and exalt you and lift you up to heaven with his son, Jesus Christ.
[14:05] But God is our judge.
And if you’re never forgiven of your sins, then you drink this cup of judgment of which he speaks.
God exalts one, and he puts down another.
[14:26] We want to exalt ourselves. We like to convince other people of how good we are and how righteous we are, and how much we deserve to be saved. We read here it says, exaltation, verse 6, does not come from the east or the west or the desert. It’s like somebody who’s looking all around trying to find, is there anybody around here somewhere that recognizes my greatness and how good I am? And we look at Instagram and we look on Facebook and we look on Twitter or we look in the mirror and we’re hoping somebody’s going to see just how good we really are.
God is the judge. God sees right into the heart. And we can put a big show on social media, but God sees right into the heart. And He sees sins. You need to be forgiven of those sins. He exalts one and he puts down another. Which will it be for you? Are you going to be lifted up by God or are you going to be put down by God? You remember that parable that the Lord tells in Luke chapter 18, the Pharisee and the tax collector. In the Pharisee.
[15:49] He’s lifting up his horn against Tevin. Oh God, you know how good I am. I hardly need to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. You know how good I am, and I’m not as bad as this sinner over here. You know how much I give. You know all the good things that I do, and I’m thankful that I’m not as bad as other people. You, You know, God, how good I am.”.
[16:15] And the other man, he prays. You listen to his prayer. This is a prayer of salvation.
Now, he doesn’t look up. He doesn’t want to look up.
He knows there’s a holy God up there and he’s in his sins and he just looks down and he, And he says, God, you have to listen carefully, this is a short prayer, God, be merciful to, me, a wonderful person, no, he doesn’t say that.
God be merciful to me, a Christian’s child, no, what does he say?
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
[17:05] That’s who I am. I’m a sinner. I don’t have a fancy horn to impress God.
I don’t have a whole list of good deeds that I can push against the door of heaven.
I’m a sinner. And the Lord Jesus says, everyone who exalts himself, everyone who thinks like that Pharisee and lifts up his own horn, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. They’ll be brought, down. And everyone who humbles himself, who is honest about their sin, their weakness, their need, their helplessness, everyone who is honest and humbles himself, they’ll be exalted.
[17:54] God will save them. That’s what the text says at the end of Psalm number 75. I will cut off the horns of the wicked but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up and when I put my faith in the Lord Jesus in God’s mercy he counted me among the righteous not because of what I have done but because of what the Lord Jesus has done and he’s already exalted the Lord Jesus and he’s going to lift me up with him it’s gonna be great one day I’m gonna be in heaven with the Lord Jesus? Are you going to be there? I hope you’ll be there because otherwise you’re drinking this awful cup that he describes. He says there is a cup, there is a cup in the Lord’s hand, and it’s not a cup of clear spring water. He says it’s a cup full of wine blended with spices.
It’s a cup of judgment, and he pours it out for the wicked to drink, and they will drink it.
They won’t want to drink it, but they’ll drink it.
[19:05] When I was a boy, I used to listen at times at night. My father was in sales and he had this set of cassette tapes.
This was before the Johnny Seed era of CDs.
And he had a set of cassette tapes called The Psychology of Winning by Dr. Dennis Waitley.
I loved those. So I listened to them regularly. I don’t know how I got into this, but I was maybe 10, 12 years old.
And I would often listen to those as I went to bed at night.
If you started the lines, I could probably quote the lines to you from all of that.
And Dr. Dennis Waitley tells a story of when he was an Air Force pilot and he comes home to his home one day, his wife and daughter, and he’s coming there, pretty macho man, he’s got his Air Force uniform on, he’s carrying his helmet, he’s been flying a fighter jet for the day, and he comes home and his wife’s a little bit discouraged and he says, what’s going on? What’s wrong?
And she says, well, our daughter won’t eat her peas. She doesn’t like peas. Oh, come on!
[20:00] My daughter’s gonna eat her peas. No daughter of mine’s gonna refuse to eat peas.
Why don’t you just tell her to swallow the peas? Well, she won’t swallow them.
She spits them back out.
I’ll make her eat her peas.” So he goes in, she goes in, the mother goes into the living room, and he goes in the kitchen with his daughter there in the high chair, maybe two-year-old or something, and he takes a spoonful of peas, stuffs it in, and she tries to spit it back out.
So he holds her mouth closed.
I think this was their first child is my guess. He holds the mouth closed and he says, swallow, swallow those peas.
And she’s resisting and the pressure’s building and he’s holding it tight and her cheeks are getting bigger and bigger and you know it’s going to go one way or the other.
Either those peas are going down because this child needs a breath or else the peas are coming out and he’s determined that those peas are not going to come out.
He’s going to make her swallow it.
And he comes back out into the liver room covered in peas. And she says, what happened?
Oh, well, she doesn’t eat peas, that’s all, yeah, no big deal.
Can’t make her eat the peas.
But God’s a judge, And the wicked are going to drink this cup.
[21:12] And if you meet God on judgment day in your sins, you can’t say, no, I’m too bad, I refuse to drink. You’ll drink it. To the dregs, eternal punishment, separation from God forever. Worse than we can even imagine.
You know who the wicked are? You say, I’m not the wicked. The wicked are sinners that do not repent.
And they will drink that cup. Admittedly, I have the same wicked heart and I am not going to drink the cup of God’s judgment. Do you know why? Because the Lord Jesus has drank it for me. And in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22, the Lord Jesus says just before he goes to the cross, it’s the night before he’s in Gethsemane, Father, if you are willing, please take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but your will be done. If you want me to drink the cup, I will drink the cup.
And the Lord Jesus went to the cross, and when he’s on the cross, it’s like he drank a cup.
He didn’t really get handed a cup, but this cup symbolizes, just like the horn symbolizes strength, the cup symbolizes God’s judgment.
And when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, It’s just like he took the drink.
[22:37] But see, I’ve left a lot in there. When the Lord Jesus drank the cup of judgment, he drank it to the last drop. Drained it for me.
So I’m not afraid of meeting God and saying, will I have to take judgment for a little while?
Will I need to go to hell for a little while? Will I need to pay for my?
I have no fear about paying for my sins, because the Lord Jesus drank it to the last drop.
Took God’s judgment.
Sometimes we sing that on a Sunday morning. You’ve maybe heard it.
You’ve heard your parents sing it and you haven’t thought much about it, but it says, death in the curse, we’re in our cup, oh Christ, it was full for thee.
But thou has drained the last dark drop.
[23:26] It’s empty now for me. He drank it for me.
Listen to what the Bible says. Maybe this is the best way to put it.
Listen to what the Bible says. He was wounded, he was crushed for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquity. The Lord God has laid upon him the punishment of us all.
With his stripes, we are healed.
The punishment to bring us peace was upon him. He bore the sin of many.
First Peter two, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
1 Peter 3, Christ has once and for all suffered for sins.
The righteous one, for us the unrighteous ones that he might bring us to God.
[24:16] Now, the righteous one, the Lord Jesus, he has been lifted up, his horn has been exalted.
God raised him from the dead to tell you and me that what the Lord Jesus did on the cross was complete, it was wonderful, it was good.
He drank the last drop, and God raises him up, not just out of the grave, but all the way up to heaven.
[24:39] And now God says that He’s raised me up with Him. And it’s like I’m seated with Christ in heaven.
That’s a wonderful thing. It’s a great thing to be saved.
Wonderful thing to know your sin’s forgiven. Wonderful thing to know that I’m not relying upon my own horn, my own righteousness, my own strength to get to heaven. I am a weak sinner.
But when we were yet without strength, at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Now, if you were here in the Spanish language meeting, I think that Johnny finished off his message by saying this, that salvation depends upon the work that Christ has done, but now you You need to receive that by faith.
[25:31] So listen to Ephesians 2. For by grace are you saved through faith.
This is not of yourselves. This salvation is not of yourselves.
It’s a gift of God, not of works, so that we don’t boast.
So we’re not boasting. We’re not lifting up our horn against heaven.
Receiving the Lord Jesus by His Word, by faith, knowing that what He’s done has satisfied God. And I’m going to be in heaven. I’m going to be in God’s kingdom, resting entirely upon the Lord Jesus, who drank the cup for me. And it’s His strength that will take me there. Don’t rely on your own strength. Trust in Christ. You can just bow before Him tonight. God, be merciful. To me, a sinner, This is the one that God will exalt.
Gospel in Spanish from Jonathan Seed.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_09JSeed09162023.m4a[0:00] Primera de Timoteo, capítulo número uno, por favor. Versículo número quince, primera de Timoteo uno y quince.
Dos epístolas de Timoteo, la primera es donde leemos el versículo quince.
Una afirmación, un resumen de la vida del apóstol Pablo, de su interés en el evangelio, cómo es que él fue salvo, y cómo él anuncia que todo aquel que todos los todos ustedes también pueden ser salvos en esta misma noche.
Versículo número 15 de Primera de Timoteo dice lo siguiente Palabra fiel y digna.
[0:35] De ser recibida por todos que Cristo Jesús vino al mundo para salvar a los pecadores, de los cuales, yo soy el primero y pedimos que el Señor bendiga la lectura de su palabra.
Podemos dividir el versículo en tres partes diferentes. La primera parte habla el apóstol Pablo acerca de una palabra, una palabra fiel, una palabra digna de ser recibida.
Y primeramente es el anuncio que dice el apóstol para todo aquel, para todos los hombres.
Hay una palabra que merece nuestra atención. Es una palabra fiel, pero también es una palabra digna.
En segundo lugar, menciona el apóstol que también el núcleo, es decir, la esencia del mensaje es el hecho de que Cristo vino al mundo y el propósito por el cual él vino al mundo fue para salvar a los pecadores.
Él no vino para bautizar, Él no vino para ser un rey en este momento, Él no vino para ayudarnos a vivir, Él no vino para que transformáramos la vida, sino que Él vino exclusivamente en esta venida para salvar al hombre, para salvarnos del infierno, para salvarnos del pecado, y para salvarnos de manera individual.
En este mismo momento, en esta misma predicación, usted puede ser salvo por medio del Señor Jesucristo.
Finalmente, menciona el aposo la tercera categoría, la tercera sección del versículo.
Dice el aposo el Pablo que esto es para todos.
[2:04] Es parte de un argumento que él está haciendo en el capítulo.
Él quiere hablar acerca de el alcance del evangelio, cómo extiende a todos los hombres, cómo es que el evangelio llegó a la casa del aposo el Pablo y él quiere decir de los cuales de todos los pecadores, de los cuales yo soy el primero.
Llegaremos aquí al final.
Pero quiero pensar nada más unos momentos en esas palabras fiel y digna.
Dice el apóstol, la primera característica, el primer adjetivo que yo puedo usar acerca del mensaje que nosotros predicamos es la fidelidad.
Es un mensaje fiel y digna.
¿Es fiel el mensaje que viene de Dios?
[2:43] Nosotros escuchamos mensajes todos los días, si lee las noticias, usted, pues usted recibe el mensaje, ¿no?
Pues el noticiero dice que mañana va a llover, que en dos semanas viene un huracán, o el noticiero dice que alguien fue asesinado, que la economía está muy mal, y recibimos la palabra.
Aunque no conocemos a las personas, aunque no conocemos la dignidad o el carácter o la persona, de las personas que están dando las noticias, pero recibimos la palabra.
Dice el apóstol Pablo, hay una palabra que es más fiel que aquellas palabras.
Es una palabra, es un mensaje tan importante porque viene no de un noticiero, no viene de cualquier persona, no viene de alguien aquí o miembro de esta asamblea, sino que viene directamente de Dios.
Es fiel porque Dios es fiel.
La palabra de Dios, vemos la fidelidad de Dios.
Él da una promesa y él cumple la promesa.
[3:36] Y por lo tanto, en el Nuevo Testamento, cuando predicamos el Evangelio, pero estamos hablando del mensaje que Dios prometió.
Sabe que Dios sabía que Dios prometió a Abraham una herencia.
Y le dijo a Abraham y le dijo a su hijo y le dijo a su nieto Abraham, Isaac y Jacob que ellos tendrán una tierra, ellos tendrán parentela, ellos serán benditos.
Ellos tendrán una gran familia que va a cubrir toda la tierra.
Y qué es lo que ellos recibieron?
Pues la palabra de Dios nos muestra y podemos ver la evidencia de que ellos recibieron.
[4:07] El cumplimiento de la promesa que Dios dio. Dios prometió en el Antiguo Testamento que su hijo iba a venir para morir, para vivir una vida encarnado, tomar un cuerpo, llevar ese cuerpo al Calvario para ofrecerlo y para morir en lugar de nosotros, en lugar de los pecadores, para pagar por los pecados. Y ¿sabe lo que sucedió?
Ah, bueno, pues Dios lo prometió, pero no vino. Entonces ahora lo interpretamos de otra manera. Es una metáfora.
Es algo que podamos aplicar a la vida, pero de manera literal.
Dios no envió a su hijo. Así fue.
No, no, sino Dios envió, prometió su hijo y él envió a su hijo para venir y para morir de manera literal.
Tal como Dios prometió a su hijo, Dios cumplió al enviar a su hijo.
Y Cristo vino y tal como Dios lo dijo, él fue encargado.
Él a él sobre él fueron puestos los pecados.
Las iniquidades de todos los otros fueron puestos sobre él.
Sobre él cayó la justicia de Dios en aquella cruz, en aquellos momentos cuando Cristo murió.
Dios es fiel. Dios promete y Dios cumple. Dios dice y Dios cumple. Dios es fiel.
Y por lo tanto, querido amigo, podamos creer en este mensaje.
[5:25] Quizás otros no. Este sí. Otras personas van a fallarlos. Dios no. Yo puedo prometerle.
Puedo fallarle. Quizás varios. Dios no.
Cuando Dios dice palabra fiel es porque la palabra es fiel. Querido amigo, en esta noche usted pudiera creer en él, y por la fidelidad de Dios.
Usted puede saber a ciencia cierta.
Cristo murió por mí.
Mis pecados han sido perdonados. La salvación es mía y mía por toda la eternidad.
Porque Dios lo dijo, no porque yo lo dije, sino que Dios lo dijo y Dios es fiel.
[6:02] Dice que es una palabra fiel, pero también una palabra digna.
De nuevo, pensamos quizás en el noticiero aquí en los teléfonos.
Usamos teléfonos, teléfonos todos los días.
Mensajes vienen por medio del teléfono.
Y la pregunta que tenemos que hacer es, ¿es digno ¿El teléfono o digno estos aparatos y aplicaciones que nosotros usamos son dignos de mi atención?
La atención de nosotros es algo muy importante. Y todos los días hay personas queriendo agarrar, llamar nuestra atención. Hazme caso. Quiero decirte algo. Y tenemos que hacer una decisión todos los días, no cualquier persona que viene y nos dice, ah, le quiero hablar, le Le quiero comunicar un mensaje.
Ah, bueno, hacemos la decisión. Alguien viene y le quiere hablar acerca de darle dinero y usted dice, ah, bueno, ahorita no.
No es digno de mi tiempo en este momento. Diferentes situaciones que enfrentamos a lo largo del día.
Personas que son dignas y personas que no son dignas de nuestra atención.
De nuevo este mensaje, querido amigo, es digno de su atención.
[7:08] Si hay un mensaje en el mundo, si hay un mensaje en esta noche que es digno, que merece su atención en esta misma noche, es la preg… es el Evangelio.
El hecho de que Cristo vino para morir por nuestros pecados. Es fiel el mensaje.
Nunca terminará. Es decir, lo que Dios prometió siempre lo cumplirá. Nunca fallará.
Es digno, digno, digna el mensaje, digno de nuestra atención, digno de nuestras vidas, digno de nuestra fe y querido amigo, si nosotros podemos humillarnos y creer la palabra que Dios quiere comunicarnos. En esta noche podemos ser salvos. La segunda sección no es tanto la comunicación, comunicación en versículo 15 es fiel y es digno de ser recibido por todos, sino que ahora llega a la esencia de qué es el mensaje. Ya hablamos de la dignidad, la fidelidad del mensaje. Sí, pero qué es el mensaje exactamente?
Allá en México, no sé en sus países, pero en México encontramos personas todos los días y ellos tienen su propia versión del evangelio.
Una versión del evangelio es que nosotros tenemos que cambiarnos.
[8:23] Pues hay varias maneras de cambiarnos y aún usando la Biblia, usando la Biblia, ellos dicen pues con la Biblia yo veo que tengo que vivir una vida santa.
Ah, qué bueno. Sí, exactamente. Absolutamente.
La vida cristiana, es decir, una persona que es salva, Es una persona que debe vivir una vida santa.
[8:41] Pero cuando la Biblia habla acerca de la salvación, no habla de santidad, sabía.
Cuando la Biblia habla del perdón de los pecados, no habla de cambiarnos, no habla de transformarnos y unas personas.
Sí, sí, sí, sí, de acuerdo, de acuerdo.
Absolutamente. Sí, sí.
No, no, no podemos cambiarnos, no podemos transformarnos. Ah, pero usan otra palabra.
Pero sí tenemos que arrepentirnos.
Arrepentirnos del pecado. Creo que esta es una de las palabras más comunes cuando escucho a personas hablando acerca del Evangelio, arrepentimiento.
[9:18] Tengo que arrepentirme. Al arrepentirme, yo voy a estar bien delante si lo hago todos los días, si me arrepiento de mis pecados, si a lo largo de la vida yo muestro una vida de arrepentimiento.
Al final, si Dios es bueno y si Dios es fiel, él me va a dar entrada al cielo, me va a dar la salvación que yo merezco.
Por qué? Porque me arrepentí.
Sabía que la palabra de Dios jamás dice que la salvación viene por el arrepentimiento, viene por medio de la fe.
El evangelio no es arrepentimiento. Arrepentimiento es una reacción al evangelio.
Es una reacción a la EVA, no salva al individuo. Es una reacción al evangelio que vemos en la palabra de Dios.
Igual con la fe. La fe no salva al individuo, sino que por medio de la fe recibimos acceso a lo que Cristo hizo por nosotros en la cruz del Calvario.
El arrepentimiento nos salva, la fe nos salva, Cristo salva.
El Evangelio es, según el versículo, Cristo Jesús vino al mundo para salvar a los pecadores.
[10:34] Hace poco estaba hablando con una señora, se llama María, estaba en un centro de rehabilitación, son todos los detalles que les voy a dar, centro de rehabilitación, ella estaba recuperando de unas cosas que, vicios, etcétera, ese tipo de cosas, estábamos predicando allí un sábado y después de la predicación ella se me acercó y me dijo, yo quiero ser salva, quiero ser salva. Fue muy interesante su historia porque María, según ella, había servido en su iglesia por 15 años. Creo que fueron 15 hasta 20 años. Sirvió en una iglesia.
Y me dijo María, por tantos años yo he buscado el evangelio, yo he buscado la salvación, yo he servido en mi iglesia para poder darle, ofrecerle algo a Dios, por lo menos para ganar mi salvación y no siento paz.
Yo no siento que tengo la la salvación. Siento que algo hace falta en mi vida delante de Dios.
[11:37] Entonces empezamos a hablarle acerca del evangelio y fuimos a Hebreos, capítulo número nueve.
En Hebreos no tiene que buscarlo, pero en Hebreos, capítulo número nueve.
Hay unos versículos que hablan acerca de la vida o lo que hizo el Señor Jesucristo por nosotros para darnos la salvación.
Y le dije a María, María, ¿puede leer los versículos?
Y ella empezó a leer los versículos y ella dijo, bueno, el sumo sacerdote entra en el lugar santo cada año con la sangre de otros, más adelante.
Pero ahora una vez el fin del mundo, él ha aparecido para quitar el pecado por el sacrificio de sí mismo.
Yo le hice una pregunta, María.
Cómo se quita el pecado?
Y me dijo María. Pues como entregándonos, ¿no? Yo le dije a María, léelo otra vez.
Lo leo. Una vez en el fin del mundo, él ha aparecido para quitar el pecado por el sacrificio de sí mismo. María, ¿cómo se quita el pecado?
Bueno, ¿bautizándonos?
[12:42] Le di María, léelo otra vez y lo leo otra vez. Una vez en el fin del mundo, él ha aparecido para quitar el pecado, por el sacrificio de sí mismo y la tercera vez.
María, ¿cómo se quita el pecado?
Pues no sé, como asistiendo y ofrece mi vida, dar mi vida a Cristo, entregarme a Cristo.
Me dijo María, le lo otra vez.
Lo leyó una vez en el fin del mundo, él aparece para quitar el pecado.
Por el sacrificio de sí mismo, María.
Cómo se quita el pecado?
Y me dijo, ya me cayó el 20, ya me cayó el 20.
Se quita el pecado por el sacrificio de sí mismo. ¿Sí puede ver la diferencia?
Por el sacrificio de sí mismo, no por el arrepentimiento, no por su bautismo, no por su fe, incluso la fe no quita el pecado.
[13:51] El bautizarme no quita el pecado, o el apóstol Pablo ha de haber sido un muy mal predicador, porque dice en 1 Corintios 11, yo no he venido para bautizar, sino para predicar el evangelio.
Si el bautismo quita el pecado, el apóstol Pablo fue mal, falló en la encomendación que Dios le dio.
¿Qué es lo que quita el pecado? Le cayó el 20 a María, el sacrificio de sí mismo es lo que quita el pecado.
Momento cuando Dios cargó, puso sobre su hijo, cuando Cristo pagó por el pecado.
En aquella cruz, Cristo fue no para mostrarnos un ejemplo.
No para mostrarnos cómo vivir, aunque podemos aprender eso, no para mostrar, mostrarnos cuáles son las cosas que tenemos que hacer, sino que Cristo fue a la cruz.
Para que Dios le juzgara y le condenara a él mismo. Para que el pecado suyo y el pecado mío fuera puesto sobre él.
Por eso, según el Corintios 5, dice acerca del señor al que no conoció pecado.
[15:03] Dios lo hizo pecado al que no conoció pecado. Dios lo hizo pecado porque en ese momento Dios le trató a su hijo.
Dios trató al Señor Jesucristo como si él fuera el pecado, ni el pecador, el pecado mismo.
Dios le trató a su hijo como si él mismo fuera el pecado.
Un pecador en la cruz del Calvario y así murió. así sufrió para que usted, querido amigo, fuera liberado, para que usted fuera salvo, salvo de los pecados, salvo del infierno, perdonado de todo pecado.
Perdonado para siempre, perdonado en este mismo momento, si creen en el Señor Jesucristo.
Cristo Jesús vino al mundo, ¿para qué? ¿Para qué vino el Señor Jesucristo?
Vino para salvar y para salvar a los pecadores.
[16:01] La última parte del versículo nos aclara exactamente cómo es. ¿A quiénes? ¿Quiénes son los que pueden recibir esta salvación? Dice el final del versículo, 1 Timoteo 1, versículo número 15, dice, de los cuales yo soy. ¿De quién está hablando? De los de los cuales yo soy el primero.
Es parte del argumento del apóstol Pablo en la sección.
Él está hablando acerca de las personas que pueden ser salvas.
Él quiere enfatizar algo maravilloso. Es es una maravilla lo que dicen este en este estos versículos, porque él él está argumentando que él es el peor de todos los pecadores del mundo.
Pero hay un este es el argumento, este es el razonamiento del apóstol Pablo. Escucha muy bien.
Ok, ¿están escuchando?
Pablo dice, de los cuales yo soy el peor.
El argumento del apóstol Pablo es este, porque más adelante él dice, para ser un ejemplo para todos los demás, que creerán en el Señor Jesucristo.
El ejemplo o el razonamiento es lo siguiente.
Si yo puedo ser salvo.
[17:19] Si yo puedo ser salvo y yo soy el peor, cualquier persona puede ser salvo.
[17:29] Si yo puedo ser salvo, cualquier persona puede ser salva. No hay excepción.
Querido amigo, no hay una persona en esta audiencia, o en esta ciudad, o en este mundo que está fuera de la gracia de Dios.
Qué puede decir? Oh, pero yo no lo merezco. Yo soy muy pecador.
Yo soy demasiado pecador.
Yo he hecho esto, he hecho aquello. Yo he rechazado. Yo hemos querido amigo en esta noche.
Si el apóstol Pablo es el peor y él fue salvo, usted también.
Usted también puede ser salvo, dice el apóstol Pablo. Para resumir el mensaje, es un mensaje fiel.
Es un mensaje digno de ser recibida por todos los hombres. Cualquier hombre, todo aquel que quiera hoy puede ser salvo en esta misma predicación.
Dice que el Evangelio es que Cristo vino al mundo, no lo que yo doy, sino lo que Cristo dio, no lo que yo ofrezco, lo que Cristo ofreció.
Él, su sacrificio, su muerte en la cruz, eso quita mi pecado.
Y al creer en Él, recibo el perdón.
[18:36] Al creer en Él, soy salvo. Una vez y para siempre.
Jamás cambiará, porque Dios nunca cambia. La salvación en esta noche depende de la muerte, muerte de Cristo, pero se recibe al, momento de descansar y de creer en Él.
Querido amigo, en esta noche sea sabio y sea salvo para el perdón de sus pecados.
Panel discussion, Leadership in the assembly.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_08Panel09162023.m4a[0:01] You could open your Bible to 1 Timothy 3, please.
Our subject title is Leadership in the Local Church. And this is a little bit intimidating, honestly, for a young man such as myself to be leading this.
So that’s why I’ve got Johnny here beside me.
[0:20] And Mr. Gilliland as well. And it’s intimidating because I know there are a number of brothers in front of me and you’ve served as overseers and you know a lot more about this work than I do. I’m aware of that.
Our comments this afternoon are really, I think, targeting younger men in particular, future leaders in local churches.
And to those who will not be leaders, and to beloved sisters, this meeting is not irrelevant to you for at least three reasons.
[0:47] Number one, it’s good for you, as it is for all of the assembly, to recognize those whom the Holy Spirit is fitting for this work.
Secondly, as a sister, you may one day be married to an overseer, and you can be a great help to him.
Thirdly, remember that the shepherds themselves are sheep, and they need your prayer and your support.
Now, if you have the handout, you have a broad outline in front of you that’s going to facilitate our discussion.
This is a little bit challenging. We’re not just focused in one passage, but a topic, So there’s gonna be some wide ranging conversation.
And I gave the brothers about 16 hours notice of some questions that I will throw at them that will help direct us to some practical discussions.
The outline says, the call for shepherds, men who will lead, the characteristics of shepherds, men whom we can follow, and the charge to shepherds, men who will feed and tend us.
Let’s notice this verse in 1 Timothy 3, Verse number one.
[1:53] This saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to be an overseer, in our King James, if anyone aspires or desires the office of a bishop, if anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.
Has come to Acts chapter 20.
[2:29] Acts 20, verse 17, now from Miletus, he’s sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church. Notice who he summons, the elders.
Come down now to verse 28.
[2:42] Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore, be on the alert.
Remembering that night and day for three years, I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.
And now, I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
Verse 35, in every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak, by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.
So notice that the brothers who were addressed as elders back at verse 17, he now says, he calls them overseers at verse number 28.
So the elders are also the overseers, and then they are told to feed or to shepherd.
[4:00] The Church of God. The shepherd is the word pastor. In Spanish, are they the same word?
Shepherd and pastor? Yeah. All right. Smart Latin language people. So the word pastor, that’s just the Latin word for shepherd. So shepherd and elders and overseers, three separate titles for the same group of men. You get them all identified by these multiple terms. They are elders because they are mature. They are overseers because they are responsible. They are pastor-shepherds because they feed and protect. And in Hebrews 13, they are leaders because they set an example and, they direct. And in the New Testament church model, this group of men lead the local church in plurality. Not one lead pastor assisted by a supporting group of elders, but a group of pastor, elder, overseers who shepherd the flock of God, for the protection and the spiritual growth of the flock and for the glory and honor of the chief shepherd. While leading the flock, they are not lords over the flock. Let’s read a few verses, one more passage, 1 Peter chapter 5 5, please.
[5:18] 1 Peter 5, verses 1 to 5.
I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed, shepherd God’s flock among, you, not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not out of greed for money, but eagerly, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”.
[6:24] A picture of people like a sheep under the Lord’s shepherd care is very common and a very precious imagery in the scriptures.
And Peter, you were as sheep going astray, but you’ve returned to the shepherd and the, overseer of your souls.
And the scripture also commonly uses that figure of a shepherd for the leaders of his people.
So David is presented as a shepherd king and a lovely figure of the Lord Jesus.
And remember the scene when the Lord had compassion on the people because they were as sheep without a shepherd.
What that phrase means is there was no one to lead them.
No one to lead them.
So the burden of my heart in this time we have together is just to remember younger brothers in particular, local churches will always need shepherds who are willing to step, up to lead and to feed.
The Bible doesn’t say that we need eloquent preachers, but it does say we need godly leaders.
So we’re going to start here, Brothers, point one on the outline, the call for shepherds, men who will lead, and I leave it open to the two of you for a moment.
If there’s any general comments that you would like to make pertaining to this, please feel Very free.
[7:47] I was just going to say, Brother… That’s good.
I’m just going to mention, Brother Matthew, you referred to one of the passages.
There are five, if I remember correctly, five Bible passages that describe people that have no shepherd.
In Numbers 27, Moses asked the Lord to provide a leader that will go out and bring the people in.
Go in and out before them, that they be not a sheep without a shepherd.
So if there’s no shepherd, a shepherd is needed to give direction.
You have mentioned that.
The next passage is 1 Kings chapter 22, and Micaiah said that he had a vision of Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep without a shepherd.
So we need a shepherd for direction in Numbers 27, going it out.
We need a shepherd for unity to keep the sheep together.
Then there’s a reference in Zechariah chapter 10, and it says, they go their way as a flock.
They are troubled, as sheep that have no shepherd.
[9:05] So we not only need shepherds for direction, and we need shepherds for unity to keep the sheep from being scattered tither, thither.
We need shepherds for peace and for calm.
They are troubled like those that have no shepherd. Matthew chapter 9 is the fourth reference, if I remember.
The Lord saw the people, and they were distressed, and they fainted as sheep that had no shepherd.
So sheep needed shepherd for strength.
[9:33] And then of course, in Mark chapter 6, he saw them as sheep having no shepherd, and, the time was far spent, and they needed food.
The people were hungry.
So the shepherd is needed for direction.
He’s needed for unity.
He’s needed for calm. He’s needed to give believers strength, and he’s also needed to provide food.
So all of those pictures give us an insight into a situation that doesn’t have a shepherd, and it’s quite demanding.
That’s very helpful. I’m surprised those weren’t alliterated.
I’ll give that to you, but that’ll… Okay, all right, a little bit later.
Johnny? General comments now. Okay.
All right. Our first point, the call for shepherds, men who will lead, and the call for men who will lead, let me just ask my brothers here, as you contemplate the scene of local church, testimony, and you both are in different places at times, and in light of the scriptures that we’ve read, what do you think young men need to be thinking about in relation to this work?
Or what would you say to young men who maybe have a speck of desire to serve the Lord and His people in this way?
[10:47] I think chapter three would lead us to think that the very first thing that she- Of what book? I’m sorry. First Timothy chapter three.
Yep. So first Timothy three would lead us to think that the very first thing that a young man should be thinking about is actually his character.
Before he ever thinks about the work, how to conduct a visit, how discipline ought to be carried out in an assembly, so on and so forth.
Number one, your character before the Lord. If you do not have the character described in 1 Timothy 3, you have no business leading the Lord’s people.
And that’s really good for all of life. Character is key, obviously, and we’ll deal more with character in that second point, but that’s very valuable, thank you.
[11:33] Again, a very general point. Brother Matthew, Moses, who became a great leader, as we all know, I think one of the early things that’s said about Moses in Exodus 2, that he saw their burdens.
And I think it touched his heart just to see his people, the Lord’s people, and the burdens that they carried.
And having felt their burdens and having seen their burdens, then he became the man whom the Lord later used to relieve their burdens.
So maybe that’s one of the things that even a younger man can see, the cares and the burdens and the hardships of the Lord’s people and have a heart for them.
And I would link that with the carry.
I mean, it’s not as if it’s, you work on your character for 10 years and you never think about the believers.
And then once you’re done working on your character, then you can start thinking about believers.
But those things happen simultaneously.
[12:25] So even as young men, you can be looking around the assembly and even though you are not going to address such and such a problem, you can be thinking about it, praying about it, and even thinking about what the biblical way of addressing said problem would be.
In fact, I think that blends in with the truth that the Holy Spirit fits people and raises people up.
One of the reasons or one of the ways that the Spirit guides people to different things is according to the burden that they have.
[12:52] Different ways that you could find your gift or your role of service in an assembly, but part of that is sensing what burden has God placed upon your heart, and maybe the reason that you have that burden is because God wants to use you to meet that need.
So I think that’s part of the Spirit directing certain people in this work.
There could be some bad motives in somebody wanting this role.
Maybe they want the role more than the work.
First Peter 5 speaks of not lording it over those entrusted to you.
So, you know, church leadership isn’t about satisfying a power trip.
It’s not getting to the top of the org chart in the local assembly.
The only one at the top of the org chart is the one at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and others are under shepherds.
So it’s not a matter of getting to run the church our way, But that noble, motive that Mr. Gilliner just mentioned about recognizing the burdens of the people.
This is a service to carry out.
And to want to serve the people of God this way and support them and help them is a noble thing. It’s a noble desire.
And just running alongside that, Brother Matthew, you take David, who again became a great leader.
I think that very language is used of David.
The Lord raised him up as a shepherd of his people.
[14:20] He didn’t, it wasn’t so much that he saw the burdens, but he came to see the battle.
I know he was blamed for coming to see it in the wrong way, but he saw the battle and the struggle, and he saw the people of God in a situation of defeat, that they didn’t need to be in.
And having been concerned about the battle, in due time, David became the very man under God’s hand, who became a leader and brought them to victory, and brought them to freedom. So help us, Brother Matthew, just, it’s a question that I’m often asked, traveling about in places, about the recognition or the appointment of overseers.
Who appoints them, or how do you become an overseer?
[15:07] You have read a passage from Acts 20 that speaks about the Holy Ghost begging overseers.
And then you’ve read the passage in 1 Timothy about a man desiring to be an overseer.
And Titus was told to appoint overseers. So you say, which is it?
Does a man desire it? Does the Holy Ghost make a man an overseer?
Does someone else appoint him? You say, which of the three is it?
And so can you help us maybe in general on that whole subject.
[15:39] I don’t think that we’ve, I don’t think they’ve asked you to cross the ocean, you’re to ask the questions.
But you mentioned three things and I think it’s all three of those, right?
But can you go ahead and expand on that? No, surely, surely.
So one doesn’t exclude the other.
So the man is the burden and as the exercise and the spiritual desire, not the ambition for power, but the spiritual concern, care, desire.
And the Holy Spirit puts that in his heart.
So the Holy Spirit’s working. the man’s own exercise and then other brethren notice this developing exercise and they can encourage it. So all three, all three coal. But would it not be far easier maybe, should we not introduce a voting system? Would that not be a helpful thing? Democrats and Republicans. That’s not going too well. Well sheep don’t choose their shepherd, do they? That’s part of it. Were you going to say something there, Johnny? Looked like you were.
Yeah, no voting. No voting. That’s about it.
[16:48] That’s what you’re going to say. What about, though, so you’ve said there’s a desire within them, the Holy Spirit’s working, others are recognizing this. Is this something that should be formally announced to the assembly if the brothers want to bring someone else on to to join them in the work of oversight, should there be an announcement or should it just be obvious to everyone already?
[17:13] I personally, I think an announcement is part of doing things decently and in order.
It should be no problem.
But I think that it should already be so obvious to the believers that when the announcement is made, the announcement will mean very little.
Everybody say, if the announcement is made and everybody says, oh, what happened to him?
Did he go away for a weekend seminar and suddenly became an overseer?
If everybody’s shocked, something wrong. So if the brother hasn’t already shown the qualities, the announcement won’t validate it and the announcement wouldn’t suddenly make it.
If he has shown the qualities, the announcement will be decent and in order and mean very little, really.
[18:03] Yeah, I agree 100%, and I do know of situations where there never was any communication announced, and it does lead to some awkwardness.
If you asked, in fact, if you asked one of the overseers in this assembly, are you one of the overseers?
He kind of shrugged his shoulders, well, I don’t know, nobody ever told me that.
Well, that’s not very good. And then you ask the saints who are the overseers here, well, maybe this guy, maybe this guy. That’s not a good thing either.
So there should be communication, but it should not be a shock.
It should be obvious because you’re recognizing people who are already engaged in the work.
We’re in a situation, and this is, you may want to call this an argument from experience, but in a situation in Guadalajara where the brother that has been recognized as an overseer, there’s not been a formal announcement, and I actually think there should be, so it’s kind of hypocritical.
I think there should be an announcement for the man who is being recognized.
However, like Mr. Kanan said, it should be obvious to everyone.
But one of the ways that we found out that it was obvious to everyone, was actually sitting down with every member of the assembly individually.
Now this would be very difficult in a large assembly. I’m not sure how you do that logistically, but we’re small enough that we met with every single member of the assembly individually, including the wife of this man.
[19:17] And we actually went through 1 Timothy 3, every single characteristic, and for every, maybe you think this is too laborious, nobody’s gonna wanna come visit us and go to the heart, but anyway, we went through every single characteristic and said, does he qualify for this characteristic?
Does he qualify? Does he qualify? And thankfully, the answer was yes for every single one.
Even his wife agreed that he qualified for these characteristics.
Anyway, that’s another way of ascertaining, do the brethren have confidence in him?
Is he already your shepherd? Is he shepherding you right now?
Speaking to them on an individual basis.
[19:53] And what about if there is a brother whom the saints do perceive as doing this work and current overseers would love to have him formally, communicated as being in this work, but he’s maybe not willing to participate or he’s not willing to join them.
What would your advice be to him or to the brothers there?
[20:18] Well, I’m not sure, Matthew, but all I would say, speaking about and to that brother, if the Lord fits a man for a work, and the man reluctantly refuses to take that work, maybe he sees it’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be demanding, which is true of overseership, if he’s reluctant and refuses to take that work, he needs to be very careful that he doesn’t grieve the Lord. And there would then come into his life a state of spiritual stalemate.
Do what the Lord wants you to do, what he has fitted you for, no matter how difficult it is.
And if he puts you in a position, he will sustain you in it. But you refuse that position and stay back. Grieve the Lord, and you could just be left on your level of spiritual progress.
It. You know, we could selfishly try and retain a position for our own comfort zone and think we save our skin, save ourselves a whole lot of headaches, a whole lot of troubles. You, might save your skin and spoil your soul. So there’s far more to it than just, it’s, not just like a man being offered promotion in his work and he refuses that. Refuse to to do what the Lord fits you for.
[21:41] And there will be consequences for the other people and consequences for yourself as well.
I have a question for you, Matthew. So verse number one where it says, if a man desire, I see that as a first qualification, actually, would you agree with that?
There must be a desire. Right, so I’m thinking a little bit of 1 Peter 5 that says he’s to do it willingly, not by constraint or compulsion.
So a little bit of hesitancy might be encouraging, right? Because he recognizes the seriousness of what’s before him.
But so it’s not something I want to pull someone into kicking and screaming against their will because when things get hard, that’s not gonna be good.
And likely the risk of burnout for them is all the greater if this is something that they were really resisting.
But if God is fitting them for it, we trust there would be a desire, some hesitancy recognizing the weight of it, that’s one thing.
But there should be a willingness to obey what God is calling them to.
And sure, it can be an intimidating thing in some ways.
But I would just love to appeal to you with coming back to those five references to why the sheep need shepherds.
Christian life can be hard, and it’s easy for sheep to stray at times.
And there’s wolves and lions out there.
[23:00] And the people of God need to hear the perspective of godly wisdom and spiritual men with their experience.
So the people of God need shepherds.
So this is a noble thing. Remember in Acts chapter 20, Paul says he shed tears for that church in Ephesus.
Well, the Lord shed his blood for it.
So it’s a valuable thing. There’s nothing more valuable on the earth, by the way.
[23:26] Than the church of God, nothing.
Okay, it’s a greater market capitalization than Amazon and Apple and anything else.
It’s worth a lot. Christ has shed his blood for the church of God.
And the people of God matter. And if God is calling you for that, I appeal to you to be willing to obey the Spirit’s leading.
And just in connection with that, Matthew, isn’t it significant, thinking of the demands of the work and so on, that the Bible’s first shepherd had to pay the price of his own life?
[24:03] So being a shepherd will likely kill a man.
[24:09] I’m over-exaggerating. It’ll cost him his life. It’s not a hobby.
It’s not a side line.
I have known men, in my own experience, and I have no doubt that the weight and the care of a local assembly took them to their grave.
We can leave the Lord to deal with that, but it’s a lifelong commitment, very demanding, very draining, and very sacrificial.
And we’re encouraging you to do it, how about that?
But that shows that it is a Christ-like ministry.
[24:42] Some of you, there’s a couple of you probably in this room. I did do a little email survey a few years ago for another message and for ultimately for our podcast and I emailed a whole bunch of elders.
I got 37 responses across 16 states and provinces about one thing you would tell potential future overseers.
Listen to this one reply.
I believe the best sentence I could give is the final one that the Apostle Paul left with the elders from Memphis.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
And a true overseer, if he’s going to be effective, must be committed to a life of giving.
Giving his time, finances, mental energies, his all, and he must do it for others at times with no thanks, so that Christ may be glorified in his body, whether by life or death.
Sounds to me like the brother who wrote those words has been through some stuff.
But it also shows this is a Christ-like ministry. This is a noble work.
And in 1 Peter 5, there is a promise that the chief shepherd will reward you.
He appreciates that shepherd care.
[25:44] I think we should move on. Anything else? Go ahead, Jonny. – I was just going to say about the counsel you’d give to somebody who’s intimidated by the prospect of it. We kind of already covered this a bit, but I think you should be having healthy intimidation.
– Yeah. – Right? So a healthy understanding of what it’s going to cost you. Don’t walk into, I’m going to say the oversight, maybe we could talk about that, but anyway, don’t walk into the elders in the assembly thinking that it’s going to be a bed of roses, it’s going to be fine, where I can leave a lot of these duties to the other overseers, and then you get in and you realize, as Mr. Gilliland just said, your life expectancy was just reduced by 30 years.
So, a healthy intimidation is good. Know what you’re getting into, but don’t let that stop you.
It’s worth it. That’s all I want to say. It’s maybe a little bit off-beam, Matthew, but I’m just wondering, and you may want to bring it up later, but anyway, We’ve been speaking about the brother’s exercise, the Holy Spirit’s enabling, and the other brethren encouraging.
There’s one thing I would say to overseeing brethren.
There’s a thing that I’ve observed happening quite often. There are certain brethren.
[26:59] And we’ve heard about character and so on, and vitally important, but unfortunately, there are certain brethren, And you never really see what they are, until they get power.
[27:15] And by the time they show what they are and have authority amongst the Lord’s people, it’s too late.
So just keep that in mind, brethren, and what you encourage, because you need to be careful you don’t encourage.
Just look for those tendencies, those domineering, bad-tempered tendencies in a man, those extreme outlooks and extreme attitudes, I mean, in a young man, and I think that those things, those things should make older brethren very wary to encourage such an individual into responsibility.
So David, I have a question about that. Later on in 1 Timothy chapter three, he gives a list for the deacons, and then he talks about a time of probation or a time of testing.
Do you think that could legitimately apply to the list for the elders as well?
Yeah, surely. Okay, so that would mitigate that.
Yeah, under observation. What would that look like?
[28:17] You’d ask me the question. Yeah. Do you mean that what the examination would look like or what? Yeah.
Yeah, I think it’s just the general, you know, it’s the general observation of how a man behaves.
Listen, we all know, I’m not thinking about oversight, just that we all know assembly life is very testy and we have a mixture of personalities and chemistry and you’re not just like everything and you have to take into consideration other people’s opinions and ideas.
And that happens right across the board. And if a person in early life shows himself or herself to, be intransigent, and it has to be my way or no way, very domineering and dictatorial.
Because it’s not only a man doing a work and looking after believers, looking after the assembly.
It’s a man on oversight, sharing, sharing in the presbytery.
[29:18] So he has to be able to work in fellowship and in harmony with other believers, not a one-man band.
And all of that, all of those things have to be taken into consideration, as you have said.
So a practical example of that could be something like bringing a brother with, let’s say a few elders are going on a visit, and maybe it’s gonna be a topic that’s not too sensitive, something that he could listen in on, and even ask him to contribute.
And so you’re listening to the way he answers questions, the way he handles people, that sort of thing.
Anyway, that’d be one example. Even inviting a brother into certain meetings that the elders might be having, invite him to listen, maybe even to contribute so you can hear the way that he reacts and the things that he says and so on.
Anyway, did you think of other examples how to do that?
[30:06] That could work, I’ll say this is a bit of a judgment call and in circumstances that could be fine.
In other circumstances that can lead to a bit of a pseudo elder role, which I have learned can also be very unhealthy for the flock because the flock is a bit confused.
Well is this guy one of the overseers or not?
And in fact that brother can be a little bit confused just as to how much authority he has in the local church as well.
So as long as communication is clear on that, Obviously, it’s a way to learn people’s ways and bring them along, but there’s overseers, but there’s not pseudo overseers, I know you know that.
No, and just in connection with that, Brother Matthew, again, I hope it’s a situation that has disappeared.
During COVID, a very challenging time, we all know that, and we’re not sitting in judgment.
Many decisions were made in the fear of the Lord, and brethren did their best in very, very difficult circumstances, and thankfully we have emerged from it.
But I noticed that during COVID time, what happened in many places, because of the medical side of things and this, that, and the other, there was almost, what would I call it, a medical oversight developed in the assembly, over against the local oversight.
[31:26] And the assembly was directed by the decisions of medical practitioners, not the oversight.
Now always, this is where it gets back to what our brother said about a pseudo oversight, always be very careful, dear brethren, about an oversight, and these are unbiblical terms, seriously unbiblical, but you know what I mean, an unofficial oversight, developing, working at a different level or behind the scenes from the official recognized oversea. And you get a two-tier thing going in the assembly, which is a recipe for division. But that’s only by the way.
That’s an issue in places where the deacons form a board, you know, you have a board of deacons and there’s kind of the battle between the elder board and the deacon board. And the deacons form almost like a shadow cabinet to the elder board. And so I think in connection with a brother’s comment.
It’s important, I think, to point out in chapter three of 1 Timothy, he’s not saying that the deacons, I don’t know if you were planning to mention deacons later, but the deacons are not recognized in the same way that an elder would.
Now we might differ on exactly how much recognition they’re given, I don’t know, we haven’t talked about this, but that’s for another time.
But they’re not recognized in the same way that elders are. So there should not be any competition, between two committees, as it were, in the assembly.
It’s the elders of the assembly, and they’re the ones that have authority over things to do with faith and practice.
[32:50] All right, I’m determined not to let the discussion go to deacons, there’s three brothers here and I suspect we’ll get four views probably.
So let’s move on. The characteristics of leaders, men whom we can follow.
The example of life is a big thing.
And I’m thankful that Johnny first mentioned this. This was the key thing in their character.
Robert Murray McShane, not part of a local church like we are, but pastor to flock there in the 19th century in Dundee, Scotland.
He said, my people’s greatest need is my own holiness.
That’s true.
That’ll make me a blessing to the people of God. And I just read recently in regards to pastoral ministry, your character will be tested more than your competency.
May be fair to say that your character is your competency.
Now, as you think about these lists, let’s say 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, if our brothers want to read anything from either of those, that’ll be helpful.
I would just like to know from them, if there’s one or two attributes that they would like to, maybe think are particularly needful to highlight today.
Think of those character qualifications. We’ve got them a little bit in 1 Peter 5, but especially Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3, any particular attributes you would like to highlight, brothers?
[34:08] It has always impressed me, brother Matthew, what isn’t said.
He’s to be righteous, he’s to be just, and dependable, and so on, faithful, and all these character features.
What does he work at? Is he a degree?
What kind of a vehicle does he drive? What university did he attend?
What official qualifications does he have?
Those kind of things, education, social status, family connections, we cut out of those things.
Very often, and they’re never mentioned in 1 Timothy or Titus.
It’s more a man’s character than his career. It’s more his character than his charisma.
And we need to keep, I think, keep the emphasis. And you mentioned any one of them stand out.
Maybe the one that stands out to me, Matthew, is the reputation in different forms of being sober-minded.
Suburban, vigilant, clear-headed.
[35:19] You know, I have known in my little experience, I’ve known assemblies where men got into power, and authority and positions. I don’t know about one way or another they did, and they weren’t, mentally stable. They were men off in the head, oddballs, just unusual characters.
And so, in oversight, there’s nothing so essential as being cool-headed, level-headed.
Don’t flare up with a raging temper, don’t quick take a knee-jerk reaction, don’t have hasty decisions.
Cool, calm, and collected, careful, sober, sober, sober, sober-minded, and all those words that feed into that area of thinking, those are the ones that impress me quite a, bit in those two lists.
That’s good advice for life. Don’t freak out when you don’t have to.
[36:15] Good. Johnny, what’s on your mind? I was thinking verse 5. Now, I know there’s exceptions to this, right?
Different family situations, but 1 Timothy 3 verse 5, starting at verse 4 actually.
One that ruleth well his own house.
So speaking of a time of testing, having his children in subjection with all gravity, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
So it seems as if he’s emphasizing in fact here the family life or the home life of this, elder and it’s a testing ground where you can show and you can display these characteristics and then you can display them in the assembly. You can rule your own house and then you can rule in the assembly. Something I’ve noticed though, and I can say even in my own life.
[37:02] Is that the positive, just as the positive things that you do in your own house can be be replicated in the assembly.
The negative things and the sins and the way you treat your wife and the way you’re raising your children, sometimes we see that replicated in the assembly as well. And the way an elder is discipling his own children, that’s the way he treats the rest. The way he talks to his wife, that’s how he talks to the sisters. And so it’s almost genius, or of course it is, it’s inspired by the Spirit, but it’s very instructive and very helpful that he does emphasize the home life, before you’re ever in the assembly ruling the brethren.
Certainly an important way that we can gain or lose respect amongst the people of God, as well. That’s very valuable. Obviously, this isn’t something that you just, you know, turn on when your kids are 15 or 16. You’re in trouble then if that’s when you want to turn it on. Character isn’t something that we just turn on at the age of 30 or 40, which is why this is something to focus on starting today. As you’ve raised the issue about our home life.
Let me just ask you about one of the qualifications in particular, Titus 1.6, because people often wonder about this.
An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful or believing children.
How would you render that, and what does that mean for us today?
[38:24] Just as we come to that, this whole thing that we’re talking about, the correlation, the engagement between home life and assembly life, It’s the opposite in the world.
The man’s president.
He says, my home life’s nothing to do with that. He says, I can live in my private life and my personal life and I can live quite immoral or whatever way I like and do this and that and be quite outrageous, outlandish.
This is my official position.
It’s irrelevant. Whereas we come to the Scriptures as the very opposite.
What a man is at home feeds into what he is in the assembly and he cannot divorce the one from the other.
I’m maybe inclined just to…
[39:08] Is it Titus has the qualifier not unruly or given to riot? What does it say?
Having faithful children. Who are not accused of wildness or rebellion, yes.
Yeah, so I think maybe that additional clause Clarifies. Elucidates or amplifies what faithful means.
Not necessarily believers, but respectful to family life and so on.
Obviously we are responsible to create an environment in which our children would want to be saved, but that’s not something we control.
But we do have a lot of influence over whether they are wild or obedient.
I remember a brother asking one time at a conference, Bible reading, on Titus chapter one, he asked the brethren, he said, brethren, are overseers essential for the being of an assembly?
And so can you have an assembly without overseers?
[40:11] So one of the brethren, I thought, gave a very wise answer. He said, no, he said, overseers are not essential for the being of an assembly, but they are essential for its well-being.
[40:24] Yeah. Our brother Jonathan will know here, these brethren, you could go to an area, see number were saved, an assembly planted, and at that point there will be no overseer.
So the assembly is planted, but no overseers as such have developed.
I think the Holy Spirit will develop them remarkably quickly.
And while they’re not essential for the planting of an assembly, they will become essential for the preservation of an assembly.
If there was one of the attributes or calls for overseers’ qualifications that stood out to me just over the past week, it’s the words in Acts 20, Take heed or be on guard for yourselves.
That’s a striking thing. That’s the first thing he tells him.
He says, watch out for yourself. It’s the same thing Paul tells Timothy.
So my biggest threat, my biggest problem is not going to be difficult sheep.
It’s not gonna be my relationships with fellow shepherds. It’s not gonna be the world.
My biggest problem is gonna be me.
That’s my biggest danger, my own heart and my own sinful flesh.
And the needs of the flock and the needs for public participation can so occupy us that we can fail, to take care of our own heart.
And that’s dangerous. So Paul says to Timothy, He says, pay close attention to your life.
[41:45] Secondly, if I’m not taking care of myself, there is a greater risk of burnout as well. And so we need to be mindful.
I mean, that can still happen at times, but you’ve got to take care of your own heart, and your own walk with God, that’s number one.
That’s how you’re gonna be a better help to others.
[42:04] Just when you’re saying that, I was thinking immediately of John 21.
I know it’s not oversight in the sense, but the feeding of sheep.
But before the Lord Jesus asks the commissions, Peter, feed my sheep, he has already asked the disciples earlier in the chapter, have you any meat?
[42:26] He gets them off the boat. He gives them breakfast on the beach.
And when they have been feeding in his presence, and are personally satisfied from his hand, he then says, I have fed you, you have been at my table.
Now he says, feed my sheep.
And it’s very important, I would say, for all brethren, in feeding others, make sure that you also feed yourself.
And in looking after the sheep, and the cares of other people, and the worries of other people, and the demands of other people, in tending after all those things, and looking after the sheep, make sure that you don’t compromise your own enjoyment of the Savior, because it’s your fellowship with him that will give you the necessary spiritual energy to carry out the work.
All right, I wanna come to our final point, the charge to leaders, men who will feed and tend us.
We’ve thought a little bit about their character.
I want to think more now about the specifics of their ministry.
David, the time is 4.26. Can we go to 4.35, is that okay? You sure?
It’s hard for him to say no in public, isn’t it, like that?
But that was nice of him nonetheless.
[43:41] All right, the church is not a corporation. It’s a group of people.
So your calling as a shepherd is not, you’re not strengthening a system, you’re not building an organization.
You are taking care of people.
You’re serving people. That’s what the church is, is a group of people.
[44:01] What would you say are just one or two things that you think need to be the emphasis of their work?
And maybe I’ll ask you as well, at the same time, what are they likely to get sidetracked on and how do they avoid those traps.
[44:30] If someone just simply said to you, what is an overseer’s main responsibilities? What would you say?
[44:38] Well, it’s not the word feed, of course, as you have emphasized, is the word tend and shepherd and so on. First of all, sheep are very ugly animals. You know, this idea, lovely wee sheep, a lovely wee lamb, oh so cuddly and so nice, you just love to look after them.
Sheep in the Bible were awkward creatures. They get into all, they get trouble in their fleece, they get trouble in their eyes, they get trouble in their nose, they get clubfoot, they get tummy worms. It’s just endless. Looking after sheep and looking after human sheep is just as bad. That’s why God uses sheep. So, that you ask, what’s the work of a shepherd? Well it’ll start about 8 o’clock in the morning and finish at eight o’clock the next morning.
He’ll be visiting people that are sick.
He’ll be trying to recover people that are straying. He’ll be trying to look after people, encouraging people to eat that are not thriving and not developing.
He’ll have all kinds of situations and all of that will be very, very, very, very demanding.
I think he’ll fit into Psalm 23.
The Lord’s a good shepherd. What does he do? Well, he makes his sheep lay down.
Then he brings them to the still waters.
Even if they’re going through dark valleys, he stays with them.
[46:00] Then, if they’re in opposition and surrounded by enemies, he’ll give them a special portion, spread a table in the midst of their enemies.
That’s what the Lord does as a shepherd. I think a shepherd will do the same.
He’ll see that the sheep in the assembly are getting rested, they’re getting fresh water, they’re going into good pastures. Some of the sheep will go through dark valleys.
He’ll go and visit them, he’ll draw close, he’ll support them, and he’ll strengthen them.
And some sheep that are being exposed to special danger, he’ll give them special comfort and special training.
So, but maybe you’re looking for something beyond that, Brother Matty, or something extended. It’s all good.
I mean, if those few points you mentioned all show that the shepherd is going to have to be, in contact with the sheep, know them.
In fact, as I did that little survey, that was the most common response.
Obviously, a lot of brothers emphasize the need for knowing the word.
Of course, that’s vital.
But the most frequent response was the need to know the sheep and spend time with the sheep.
That’s why hospitality is mentioned. So often there’s something that will be easier dealt with around the table than from the pulpit.
And how do you recognize a shepherd? Well, a shepherd smells like sheep.
[47:12] And so he should be spending time with them and have them in his home and know what they’re facing.
And to do this proactively, right? Our impulse is, okay, they’re doing okay, good, okay, I don’t need to meet with that person, that’s all good.
Then crisis comes, and then you’re trying to deal with that.
But see, if there’s not that relationship in the first place, it’s very difficult to deal with the crisis.
Far better to be proactive, and to have built that rapport with them, and to know what’s going on in their life.
And I mean, in a sense, I know it’s overwhelming. We’re not gonna be perfect, but the attempt to be proactive, and to spend time with them, and you meet them for coffee and you have them in your home, that stuff is key to know what their struggles are in life and how best you can help them, and what words of teaching they need as well.
[48:00] I think it was Mr. Hull that I heard once give a message on a shepherd and how to man it.
He said, the shepherd’s eye, you need to see.
A trained shepherd can just look through the flock, can walk gently through them, and there’s a sheep not in good form, his eye.
There are overseers, and when they meet a Christian, they can tell by looking at them, there’s a Christian down, there’s a Christian needs attention.
His eye, his ear. You need to hear a sheep bleeding, some situation of emergency. His arms, you need to have strong arms, sometimes can lift the sheep. His feet, his legs, sometimes he’ll have to travel over rocky roads and thorny thickets to reach sheep that are in difficulty.
And most of all, not just his eye and his ear and his mouth, my sheep hear my voice. He’ll speak, in words that’ll give them guidance, not just his arm to support them, not just his feet to find them.
[49:06] But most of all, he’ll need a heart to love them and to appreciate.
One thing I was gonna ask, and I see your time, I’m not gonna hold you up, Brother Matthew.
The Apostle Paul here in Acts 20, he says about these overseers, you take heed of yourself, and the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.
And then he says of your own selves, things will happen, divisions will come in of your own.
You say, but these men were made overseers by the Holy Spirit.
[49:38] We sometimes say, if an overseer goes wrong, we say, ah, the trouble was, he never should have been an overseer. The Holy Spirit never made him an overseer.
That gets us out of it. Never should have been an oversight Holy Spirit, but the Apostle Paul says to these men, He says, the Holy Ghost made you overseer.
And he says, from you, Holy Ghost-appointed overseers, there’s gonna rise trouble.
So the fact that the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit, a man has become an overseer, it doesn’t reduce the need for self-vigilance and looking to himself.
He could be a Holy Ghost-appointed overseer and yet later go wrong, according to Acts chapter 20.
But I hope that hasn’t derailed what you’re saying there.
We’re good. You made a comment earlier about what overseers are not called to do.
Yeah. Okay. Uh-oh, it’s got something coming here. So, let me put it positively.
As far as I can see in the scriptures, to proclaim and protect.
Proclaim the word, feed the flock of God, and protect the flock, just like we were hearing in Acts 20.
Those are the things that we’re supposed to be doing but overseers as well. Now, if you don’t do those things, if you go outside of those categories…
[51:01] I’d almost want to say you’re clearly on prohibited ground. Not prohibited, but you know what I mean. You’re not doing the job you were called to do. So, for example, if your work as an overseer consists of inviting speakers, of cleaning the hall, of doing practical things, around the building and among the believers and that sort of thing, I think you’re spending your time doing things that you weren’t called to do. I don’t want to be too harsh, but, If we stick to those two categories, which I think encompass quite a few things, that we see in Acts 20, 1 Peter 5 and 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1.
[51:39] To proclaim the word of God and to protect the sheep, what you will find is that there actually isn’t any more time to do anything else.
If you’re doing those things. So obviously in some small assemblies, brothers are doing more.
But one of the reasons that happens, I mean, I would love to get this across to you as younger brothers. You know, you’re not gonna come on to oversight, you’re not going to become an overseer so that you can choose the carpet color, okay?
Like, you know, please spare me.
But if you do choose, choose a good one. But I mean, it’s not really your work.
So here’s the point. Why does that happen?
Because you feel a sense of responsibility and you care.
And well, somebody has got to do it.
So here’s what we need. Obviously there needs to be a part, there needs to be a willingness on the part of overseers to delegate and assign responsibility to others.
And there needs to be a part in the rest of us, a willingness to step up and take responsibility for things, to free them for this work of proclaiming and protecting.
[52:40] That double side there in Titus chapter one, they are to encourage with sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.
Obviously, we’ve got to know the word.
We need to know, have some sense of awareness of what’s out there in the culture, in the evangelical culture.
Like think of this ready, not already, not yet. If I heard a young brother mention that in a Bible study at home, use that phrase, already not yet.
The phrase in itself is not bad, like Johnny said, but as soon as I hear that, I’m thinking, okay, this guy’s probably reading some different stuff.
And it’s good to have an awareness of that. But I can’t be aware of everything.
But I can know the Bible well.
And if I know the word well, I’ll be able to sense when something is a little bit astray.
So knowing the scriptures is key. Applying the scriptures is key.
Those are the vital things. We do gotta wrap up, don’t we, David? All right, okay.
Sorry we couldn’t do more. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much, brothers, for your help.
I know it’s a bit haphazard.
Ministry from Jonathan Seed Saturday afternoon.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_07JSeed09162023.m4a[0:01] Hebrews chapter number one.
Hebrews chapter one.
Start reading in verse number one.
[0:23] Hebrews one, verse one. God who at sundry times and in diverse matters, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
And again, when he bringeth in the first born, first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him.
And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. We’ll go a little bit later down the chapter to verse 13.
Same chapter, 113. But to which of the angels said he at any time.
[1:44] Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Read chapter two as well, a few verses here.
[2:00] Verse number five, small section of exhortation here at the beginning of chapter two.
Another way you can divide the book of Hebrews just by the by, beginning of chapter two, the first section of exhortation, chapters three and four, another section of exhortation at the end of five, the beginning of six, another section of exhortation, and then 10 through 13, another section of exhortation 11 through 13.
So you can take those out of the book, focus on the doctrine, and then come back and that’ll make sense of all the exhortations. But we’ll just skip the exhortation for now.
Go to verse number five of chapter two.
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come.
[2:44] Wherever we speak. But one in a certain place testified saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, thou crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the work of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for every man.
We’ll go ahead, just for sake of time, chapter number 11. Just want to notice a few verses here in chapter 11.
Very familiar to the audience, many ways that we can divide chapter 11 and many things we could focus on, but I really would like to just notice the sentences or the phrases, the statements, that have to do with the future and looking forward.
So in chapter number 11, we’ll notice here, first of all, verse number.
[3:51] Come down to verse number seven. In verse number seven, by faith Noah being warned of God of things as seen not yet, not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith.
A little bit further on, verse number eight, next verse. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing whether he went.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles and so on.
We go a little bit later on down to verse number 12.
[4:41] Verse number 12, speaking of Sarah, sorry, verse 11, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even one of one and him as good as dead.
So many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand, which is by the seashore innumerable.
Verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Emphasize that phrase, they saw them afar off.
“‘They were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country that is unheavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.” And for sake of time, we’ll ask the Lord to bless the reading of his word thus far.
[5:49] I’m a little concerned for my generation and perhaps even younger generations.
Part of my concern has to do with what we’ve just heard, the structure of the Bible.
Part of the concern has to do with Another word that we’ve heard today, hermeneutics, the way that we interpret the main storyline of the scriptures.
And my concern to be very specific has to do with our understanding of, we could summarize it, with the kingdom.
And I’m not going to speak about the kingdom today and all the aspects of the kingdom, and how, when, and where, and who, and so on.
But I would like to notice once again from the epistle to the Hebrews that it’s very instructive, how the writer to this group of people.
[6:35] Decided that he would design and how he would structure himself and how he would speak about, the storyline of Scripture. It’s very instructive, it’s very helpful, and I think that we should follow when we’re going to interpret Scriptures, we must follow their train of thought, follow, their line of thought, follow their logic, follow their reasoning, and not read into the text what.
[6:52] It is that we might think. When we go right back to the beginning of Scripture, we can think of a garden, and I love thinking about the storyline of the Bible with these two bookends, the garden at the beginning and the garden at the end, the presence of God at the beginning and then the presence of God at the end. A door at the beginning and then an open gate or gates at the end. A man who or an angel with the flaming sword at the very beginning in the garden barring access on the eastern gate or on the eastern side into the presence of God. And as we’ve just heard about the pattern that is seen in the tabernacle, we see once again a door on the eastern side. And yet at this point and at this time with the presence of God among his people, now there is access. Now we can go in from the eastern side, as it were, retracing the steps of Adam and Eve themselves.
We come through on the basis of a sacrifice and the blood that is being shed, and we enter in in the person of the high priest, the holiest of all, and we have access to God, forgiveness.
We have reconciliation, the presence of God among us.
And you see this repeated all throughout the New Testament, in the tabernacle, and then, in the different temples that we see in the Old Testament.
We see it in the assembly, though that’s a parenthesis. I’ve struggled with that word, parenthesis.
Talked to some people about this.
I don’t really like that word, but it’s true. It is a parenthesis.
[8:08] So it’s kind of difficult. What do we do with the word? Well, maybe we can make another word up, but the point of the parenthesis is this.
What the time that we are living in right now is different than the time that came before, and it’s different than the time that we’ll follow after.
That just takes too long to say. So we’ll stick with parenthesis for the purpose of this message.
In the assembly, we have access. We come into the present with boldness.
We approach the throne of grace with boldness because of our great High Priest, the one who has shed his own blood, not the blood of the animals, not a man after the order of Aaron or the order, the High Priesthood, the order of the High Priest after Aaron, but a man who has come in the order of Melchizedek.
He has gone into a better sanctuary and heavenly tabernacle, As it says in chapter number 10, Heaven itself, chapter 9, Heaven itself…
[8:54] And we once again enjoy the presence of God among us. Even here in this very meeting we, have the presence of God among us. But it doesn’t end here. It keeps going. The story of the Bible keeps going past the church age and we see that there’s a millennial, there’s a future millennium.
There is a great millennial future ahead for us, for those of us who are saved, who will be with Christ. And again, I won’t be dogmatic and I won’t come down hard on exactly what these different views are, but I would take it that we will be here on the earth with Christ and eventually we will get to the day of God, and it will come full circle.
Except it won’t be Eden. You could say it would be, it will be Eden 2.0.
Eden remade. A better Eden. That better country, the better Eden. The time when we will be even closer to Christ than Adam and Eve were close to God. The proximity that they enjoyed in Eden will be magnified and it will be enjoyed by each and every one of us on that future day, on the day of God. That is the broad, very, very broad strokes, the broad structure of the scriptures.
But again, we have to come back to this parenthesis. Where are we? Where are we exactly in this whole storyline of the Bible? We’re in that parenthesis between the first coming of Christ.
[10:10] And the second coming of Christ. You see, there’s another way. There’s another way to explain the the storyline of the Bible. The other way to explain it is this, that really the entire story of Scripture is about the kingdom, and that’s actually true, the reign of God on the earth. But this kingdom that begun really at the beginning and was exemplified in Israel, again as we have heard, and a great illustration for the world that Israel was, and they had their own Israelite kingdom. But that kingdom came to an end. And we read in the book of Daniel that another kingdom is going to come and it’s going to destroy all the different kingdoms. It won’t be the kingdom of Israel, this will be a different kingdom, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this kingdom, when it comes, it will come, and it will take over the earth little by little, piece by piece, city by city, city council by city council, culture by culture, person by person. It will slowly grow and it will slowly permeate the earth and it will slowly spread to each and every corner of the earth that we inhabit today. The kingdom has come, in this understanding.
[11:17] Of the scriptures, the kingdom has come. We ought to build the kingdom. We ought to spread, the kingdom. We ought to enjoy our kingdom life. You know, the reason why I’m worried about my generation, I say it for this reason, all the books that you go to a Christian bookstore, every single, I would venture to say, almost every single book that you’ll find in the bookstore would tell that story. We’re in the kingdom, the kingdom is now, we build the kingdom, we spread the kingdom.
[11:43] Every song that you might listen to, again, I’m exaggerating, over-exaggerating, just I’m exaggerating.
Almost every song that you will hear on a Christian playlist on Spotify or on whatever, do they do CDs anymore?
That was my generation. Anyway, whatever Christian music you might get your hands on, it’s all about the Kingdom.
And the kingdom now, and the king is here, and we expand, and we build, and we grow, and we get to all the four corners of the earth.
What you see when I come to the epistle of the Hebrews, it’s a totally different, not a totally different, but it’s a different storyline. I say not totally different because the kingdom is coming, and the king has come.
And I think we can confidently say that the Lord Jesus Christ is king today, though it would not be quite accurate to say that he is sitting on David’s throne.
However, he is king, but is he reigning as king on the earth at this point in time?
The epistle to the Hebrews would tell us, we’re not there yet.
[12:45] Therefore, look forward. Not just keep going as we saw earlier today, but look forward to that future day because it is not here yet.
And I’ve been impressed as I read through this book that I find the writer continuing to implore us and to exhort us and to tell us, Keep looking forward because we are not there yet.
We heard already in 2 Corinthians, they were reigning as kings.
And Paul tells them that is an over-realized eschatology. That’s just a fancy way of saying, they thought the kingdom was here.
They thought the kingdom was now, and they suffered the consequences.
[13:21] The writer to the Hebrews, he starts in chapter one and he tells us about this majestic Son of God, focusing on his Sonship, but he is the one who is the Son of God.
He was sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. From the beginning, we see even seven different Old Testament quotations, and many of them are coronation psalms that would have to do with Christ as King or the coming Messiah as one who will sit on the throne and who will execute his judgment and display his righteousness to all of Israel and to all the world.
There is a coming kingdom.
But we come to chapter two, he brings up another Psalm, Psalm chapter eight or Psalm number eight.
And he emphasizes just one aspect of the kingdom. I want you to notice this.
The whole Psalm has to do with the subjection, the dominion, that’s a popular phrase these days, by the way, older people, I’m not sure if you know that, that’s a very popular, taking dominion.
[14:17] Well, Psalm eight tells us that there was a man there are men who have been chosen to take dominion. This is back in Psalm 8. This is a positive psalm. Look at the son of man. Thou art mindful of him. What is man? Or the son of man that thou visitest him, thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crowned him with glory, and honor. These are all positive things. These are great things about man and about his dominion.
And did set him over the works of thy hands. Dominion, kingdom, taking over, subjection. These are the themes of this psalm. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that, He put all in subjection under Him. He left nothing that is not put under Him.
[14:57] Then we come to this phrase, but now, but now, younger people in the crowd, maybe older as well, I don’t know, I have a burden for the younger, here with this topic especially, is a very important phrase, But now, we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus. There’s a writer and he.
[15:32] A lot of benefit to a lot of believers, and I’m not trying to tarnish his legacy or anything of that sort, but he was famous for promoting pre-millennial eschatology. Pre-millennial eschatology would essentially be the belief that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, there will be no rapture.
It’ll be one coming to the earth and the millennium will start.
But this is a premillennial, that is to say a belief in the millennium that excludes Israel.
It’s really about the church replacing Israel.
He coined a phrase, if I’m not mistaken, already-not-yet. Already-not-yet.
And it was a paradigm for understanding the Bible. You see, in the scripture, sometimes it is confusing.
Even here in chapter number two, he speaks about the world to come.
But then later on we read in the book of Hebrews that we have come to the heavenly city, to the heavenly Jerusalem.
We are already there. And so he thought of this paradigm to explain those things that are already, there are some things that are already, but then there’s other things that are not yet, and then sometimes they come together.
It’s an already not yet.
[16:42] What has happened, I noticed with this phrase, is that the emphasis today is on the already, and not on the not yet.
Hebrews emphasizes the not yet, not the already. Did I confuse you sufficiently yet?
Already not yet. It’s all here, but it’s not here. We have it, but we don’t.
He’s the king, but he’s not the king.
Well, there are certain times in the scripture where that it is actually helpful to look at it through that lens in Hebrews and in general, and in terms of the trajectory of the biblical storyline, it’s not yet.
And the reason why I think this is important, Johnny, why are you bringing this up?
You know, maybe you just have some weird interest in these sort of biblical themes, but you know, this doesn’t really affect our lives.
We came here to be encouraged. We came here to be exhorted. I think it affects us in this way.
If we believe that everything is already here, or if we believe that even half what we’ve been promised is already here, then we will not be looking forward, we’ll be looking down.
Looking down.
[17:44] Getting things ready here, preparing here, setting things up here, gaining and gathering treasure here, and not thinking about what is to come, the world to come. Just look at the way He does the trajectory here in chapters 1 and 2, and if we have time we’ll get down to chapter 11, where I’m impressed at the forward look at each one of those worthies in chapter 11. But 1 and 2, there’s a trajectory, it’s a storyline. In chapter 1, He speaks about the Son. He is the one who has come from heaven. God is finally this final revelation, this final prophet who has spoken to us. The Lord Jesus.
[18:19] Christ who is God’s own son who has come to the earth. He is the majestic one. He has been exalted. He is at the right hand. Then he comes to chapter number two and the focus is on what has not yet happened but we see Jesus not necessarily the one who is reigning on David’s throne but we see one who came to suffer and that is the great tenor of the Christian life. It is suffering. As we read in the, epistle to Timothy, suffering and then glory. That’s the pathway of Christ. First we suffer and then we come into glory. First we suffer with him and then we will be even glorified with him at his coming with the rest of it when he is glorified in his saints. The storyline in chapter number two is one who was glorified, who was with the Father in his glory before the world began.
And yet he came down to earth and he took on flesh, the incarnation, the great theme of chapter number two.
He took on flesh and he suffered.
[19:15] If you get that wrong, you will be very confused when you suffer.
[19:21] If everything is now, and if we receive everything in this moment and in this life, then we will not know what is happening when there’s loss, when there’s sickness, when there’s failure, when we don’t get what we want, when we don’t receive what we’re asking for.
If we have a different paradigm and emphasis on the now and not on the not yet, we will not be looking forward to what God has for us.
And so chapter number two, I think very accurately, obviously, the scriptures, but in a very helpful, way, shows us in the way that he interprets Psalm number eight, it shows us what we should focus on.
Notice that in chapter number eight, let me just say that, sorry, Psalm eight, he mentions much about subjection. He mentions much about dominion.
He mentions much about kingdom, crowning and glory and honor.
But what does he repeat?
[20:13] Go further down the chapter. What does he repeat? What does he take from the psalm?
What is he emphasizing about the psalm?
You know, I read many, I’ve read many commentaries on Hebrews and the focus of chapter two, according to these commentaries is that Hebrews two is all about the kingdom.
And it’s about how Christ has come. And now Christ has sat on David’s throne and therefore Christ’s kingdom has began.
And this whole kingdom program is slowly unfolding ever since the ascension of Christ, to the right hand of God. That’s not what the author focuses on.
This just struck me recently. That’s not what the writer to the Hebrews focuses on.
And he tells us what he focuses on by quoting it later on.
We read from verse 10 in Adelante, I was gonna say that’s Spanish, but anyway, 10, verse 10 forward, you see that he will mention again what it is that is important about this Psalm.
He says that he too was crowned, or sorry, was made a little lower than the angels.
Verse number, sorry, just so you’re following with me, verse number nine, we see Jesus who was made a lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
[21:16] Crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, suffering and death, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
[21:37] We see later on, verse number 16, if you could look down there, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
He didn’t come to be glorified at that moment. He came to suffer. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a faithful and a merciful high, priest.” That is the theme of Hebrews, that we have a priest. He wants to tell these people, you need to go on, keep going. And guess what? In that journey, in that life of faithfulness toward the Lord, you’re not alone. You have a high priest and he will be with you. He was better than the former priests. He is an eternal priest. He can sympathize with you. He’s lived the life that you have lived. And therefore, every time we go to Him, He has the right word. Every time we go to Him, He knows the right thing to say. He knows the right way to comfort us, comfort us and to succor us so that we might continue on down the path. I’d like to switch over to chapter number 11 because we’re going to see this borne out in the life of all those who who have gone before us, given to us as an example so that we might imitate it in our, own lives, looking forward and not looking down.
[22:52] First example I want to notice is Noah in chapter number 11.
See this down here in verse number six, verse number five, sorry, verse number seven.
And when we see Noah, it says he was warned of God of things not seen as yet, yet he moved with fear and he prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
I thought of a brother down in Mexico when I was preparing for this.
This brother down in Mexico, he’s suffered in different ways, not great suffering, not in terms of his health, but in terms of his business.
We’ve heard about careers and career choices and that sort of thing.
This brother’s an artist.
He’s an elder in the assembly in Guadalajara.
Very talented artist. You might see some of his paintings tonight, I don’t know. But anyway, he’s a very talented artist. He’s given up many opportunities to make it big. He’s not one of these guys in some other country where they’re just kind of imitating and copying other paintings and sell them for half or a quarter of the price. No, these are original paintings, sell for quite a penny and they’re worth every penny they’re sold for, peso. But he’s lost a lot of opportunities to climb the ladder, not necessarily the corporate ladder, but the ladder in the artsy world, in the artistic world.
[24:10] I was thinking of this brother because he’s also a brother who’s an example of sacrifice, but not an example of the other extreme.
You see, we have bad examples in the past, not Noah, but we have bad examples of the past of men who faced opposition or men who saw that our lives should be focused on the future and they had families and they had wives and they left the kids behind and they, left the wife behind and they went out to give tracts and they went out to preach the gospel and they abandoned the family and they abandoned the wife and it’s just all about the gospel and gung-ho all the way up to fifth gear, sixth gear and 6000 RPM.
And let’s just go and get the gospel out to the ends of the earth.
And they have failed in their home lives and their children are rebellious and, their wife has no respect for the husband, not this man, there’s that extreme.
But he’s found a way, he’s found a way to make a balance where he provides for his family.
He’s doing something he’s even interested in.
But I’ve never yet met an elder, this is probably just because of my ignorance, but I’ve never yet met an elder who spends so much time visiting the brethren, looking for the believers, phoning the believers, going to their houses, giving them counsel, preparing for meetings, teaching the believers and the assembly.
And many times, after a meeting, he won’t tell anybody this.
[25:40] But he’ll go home and he’ll keep working till midnight, one in the morning, two in the morning, so he can do it all over again the next day. Take care of the family, attend to his wife.
[26:00] Attend to the brethren, live a hundred percent. I agree with our brother when he said, you know, you can’t be a professional in baseball. I agree with that. This brother’s not trying to be a professional artist and a professional elder. He has a job, he attends to his job, he provides for his family, he gives them what they need, but all of his extra and his spare time as an elder, this isn’t for all the brethren, but as an elder, it is all dedicated and it is devoted, to the assembly. And he does it because he’s looking forward. I speak to some of the elders here and I speak humbly as one who has not been many years at this type of work. Men here in the crowd who’ve been at that work for much, many more years than I have. But brethren, I wonder if sometimes we have the ratio off. It’s the career and it’s the making the money or it’s a hobby, it’s the motor, whatever it is, whatever, it doesn’t matter, fill the blank. And when it comes to the assembly, well if there’s extra time, let’s see if we can visit so-and-so next week. I’ll look at my calendar, I think it’s in about a month, it looks like I have a little blank spot in the calendar, we’ll see if we can squeeze you in. No, no, these brethren, they looked forward, they realized that this is not the time to prepare, this is not the time to build barns, unless you’re a farmer, This is not the time to accumulate wealth, the time to think about everything that I can get.
[27:28] It’s a time to be faithful, but looking forward and not looking down.
See another example here, if we want to look forward, we see examples throughout Hebrews chapter 11, not just with Noah.
But we see as well that further on we have the example of Abraham.
The first example that we saw in verse number seven is that to look forward requires reverence.
We must have reverence for the things of God.
Things not seen as yet.
In verse number eight, we see that to look forward requires self-denial.
It says about Abraham that he went out not knowing whither.
He did not know where he was going. You know, recently we had to make a decision down in Mexico and I won’t give any details, another brother and I, another worker down in Mexico, we had to make a decision.
There’s a very difficult decision to make.
And I wish I could tell you, I wish I could tell you exactly how things will end up, but I can’t.
[28:38] We don’t know. But like Abraham, we’re standing on the word of God, we see biblical principles that are foundation of the decision that we’ve made and we’re going out in faith and we trust that the Lord will bless his word. That’s exactly what Abraham did. He didn’t know where he was going.
[28:59] He had the Word of God. This experience, the presence of God, Abraham did just as with, Moses and with Joshua and all the great men of the Old Testament, those great encounters with God.
He was confident in the Word of God. He was persuaded by the Word of God. He embraced the word of God. He was looking forward and therefore he trusted the word of God. You know, another reason why I’m worried about my generation and I’m including myself in this, it’s very much an anxiety generation, an anxious generation. Now we hear a lot about anxiety today, but when I was, I don’t know, in my teens, I never heard anything. I was anxious many times. I never heard anything about anxiety. It seems these days, anxiety to the left and anxiety to the right. Everybody’s on medication for it and all this sort of thing. It’s very, very much an anxiety generation, a nuanced generation. I think that’s part of it. Everything has to be explained.
You know, that’s kind of my tendency. I’m not throwing you guys under the bus.
That’s very much my tendency, my natural way of everything must be explained in fine detail to the nth degree. I was thinking about this again, just working with an older brother recently.
You know, it’s a different way of thinking. I’m not saying we should always, the previous generation we need to imitate every single thing that they did. One of the good things that I think think we could learn as younger people from the previous generation.
[30:19] Is that they didn’t overthink, overthink as much as we do. You know, well, I remember some interactions with his brother and talking about how we’re going to speak to someone and we’re going to go on a visit and we’re going to talk about a certain subject and I’d be worried about how he’s going to feel.
And, but what if he, what if we offend him?
And what if we, like, we got to make sure we say it the right way, because, you know, if it lands, if it doesn’t quite land right, then he’s going to be mad at us.
And I’m going to have to deal with his scowl. And I don’t like it when people scowl at me and all this kind of thing. You know, I was going down that train of thought.
He knows this phrase and it comes back into my mind often. If he ever hears this message, he’ll know I’m talking about him.
Says, it doesn’t matter.
[31:04] It doesn’t matter. And I’d say, what do you mean it doesn’t matter?
But he’ll be offended. It doesn’t matter.
Yeah, but what about it doesn’t matter? Stop overthinking it.
Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s go. Wasn’t quite that dramatic, but you get the idea.
Stop thinking of all the reasons why something might fail.
Young people, stop thinking of all the reasons why you shouldn’t trust God.
Stop thinking of all the reasons why something might fail, and start thinking of all the reasons why God is trustworthy.
Start thinking of all the reasons why we ought to trust God.
That’s what Sarah did.
That’s what Abraham did. That’s what Noah did. That’s what all the worthies of this chapter did.
They didn’t focus on everything that could have gone wrong.
Just imagine Abraham as he’s about to go out not knowing whether but I don’t have a map and I don’t have the GPS and there’s no, Uber and I don’t know how to get there and I’m not sure what it’s going to be like and what is the food and how am I going, to feel and what are the accommodations like and how we’re going to what is the road going to be?
What are the what kind of vehicle are we going to use and thinking of all, all the different reasons why this might be difficult.
Stop, stop thinking about it. Just go.
Moses, go out, lead this people into the desert. Just go.
Joshua, cross the river, go into the land, conquer Jericho, just go.
And do you know where they went?
[32:26] It wasn’t because of a stiff upper lip. It wasn’t because of the families they came from.
It wasn’t because they were just stronger. They were part of the right generation.
They were just, it was just in them.
They had the steel in their spine. No, no. They stood on the word of God. They were leaning on the word of God. They were, confident in the word of God and they went forward. As we read here towards the end of this section right here, verse number 12, sorry, verse number 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.
Not yet. Not yet. Look forward. Look to the future, having seen them afar off. And that’s what gave them the confidence. They They could see them. They were persuaded of them. They embraced them.
They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
I see it in the distance!
God has promised that we will get there. That is affecting everything I do, everything I think, every decision that I make. It’s affecting my life. I think my time is gone, so I’m going to need to close. I’ll just close thinking of chapter number 10. Many more examples in chapter 11 that we could think of, more applications that we could make. Just think of chapter 10, verses 34 through Just flip back, it’s right there, one chapter back, verses 34 through 37.
[33:50] See how the writer to the Hebrews handles the assembly here.
To look forward, sometimes we need to look back. To look forward, sometimes we need to take stock and understand where it is that we are.
And he reminds them in verse number 34, he says this to them, you had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that?
I had my laptop stolen a couple of months ago. I wasn’t very happy.
You took joyfully the spoiling of your good. How would you feel?
These people were in such a state of mind. Their faith was this firm, so firm that they took it with joy, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
They can see forward. We’re not there yet. The kingdom isn’t here yet.
We’re not yet in the millennium. We are not yet reigning with Christ.
That is coming, the better country, that heavenly Jerusalem, even the millennial reign, we will be there with him and we will reign with him.
Not yet.
Not yet.
[34:59] For you had compassion of me. You took joyfully the spoiling of your, you knew in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Two dispensations, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come.
And He will not tarry. Look forward. We’re not there yet. Christ came to suffer.
He was raised. He has sat on the right hand of the majesty on high where He will be until His enemies, all of His enemies will be made a footstool for His feet. But we’re not there yet.
Keep going.
Look forward for the coming of our Savior and that blessed future day when we will reign And with Him, may the Lord bless His Word.
Ministry from David Gilliland Saturday afternoon.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_06DGilliland09162023.m4a[0:02] It’s most encouraging to see all who have assembled for this afternoon, and we look to the Lord for his help.
And I would like you to read two passages. First of all, the book of Exodus and chapter 19.
The book of Exodus and chapter 19.
[0:26] And we’ll commence at verse one of Exodus chapter 19.
[0:33] In the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, for they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the mount.
And Moses went up unto God, And the Lord called unto him out of the mountains, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, And tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, And how I bare you on eagles’ wings, And brought you unto myself.
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, And keep my covenant, Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, Above all people, for all the earth is mine.
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
[1:39] Chapter 20, we have the commandments, verse one, God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Now with that, a reading from the book of Numbers and chapter 10, the book of Numbers on chapter 10.
[2:09] And we read in verse 1, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver, of a whole piece shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
Verse 11, It came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony, And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. In the first place went the standard of the camp, of the children of Judah according to their armies, and so on.” Now, I think that will be sufficient for reading, we trust the Lord’s blessing upon His Word.
[3:13] I know if I told you that I was going to try and cover 60 chapters of the Bible, you might think it a rather daunting task, especially for the first session after that very enjoyable lunch, but that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
And I want to just present to you a large canvas of the first five books of the Bible, and then a discrete section within those five books. I’m more and more convinced, the more I read the Scriptures, that if we can see how the Scriptures hold together, the shape.
[3:58] The structure, the symmetry of Holy Scripture, then we’re in a better position to appreciate the substance.
Very often we’re a little bit guilty of proof texting, and we reach for a text and we lift it out, and we use it sometimes to great advantage, sometimes spiritually, but we just take the text maybe a little bit out of context and better to see it in context. And so I want to spend 40 minutes or so or whatever the time will be at Mount Sinai. Wonderful place, interesting place it is. Interesting place geographically, very bleak, barren wilderness. The landscape is very bare, Anything but picturesque. Once you get to Mount Sinai you can see nothing but those towering mountain peaks. You feel yourself to be very small. You look to the left, to the right, there’s nothing exciting. Grass is very scarce. Desert and granite rock in abundant supply. Everything amazingly quiet. Hardly anything to be heard but the chirp of a bird. And in the silence and in the solitude of Sinai.
[5:27] God brought a people and he settled them there for a year.
[5:33] It was quite a marvelous year, 11 months and two-thirds of a month.
When they had finished that almost 12-month period at Mount Sinai, they were poised to be the greatest people on the face of planet Earth.
[5:54] When they arrived there, they had just been slain, making bricks, down in Egypt, under the thralldom of the prince of this world, Pharaoh.
God by a mighty arm had brought them out.
[6:11] He has great things in mind for this people, but before he launches them on their worldwide mission, he stops and he gives them a crash course of spiritual education at, what do, we call this place, Eastern Christian School.
Well, we’ll talk about Eastern Sinai School.
And at the School of Sinai, it was quite a marvelous experience for God and a nation.
And in the silence of that auditorium, an auditorium which he, as the creator, had already carved out and had erected, knowing that it would be needed, a ready-made classroom.
They were separated from all the noise, the excitement, the sensations, the bright lights of Egypt.
And God said, I want you out here, and you will give me your undivided attention, undistracted, undiverted attention.
And he said, within a space of a year, I will teach you.
What did it say here?
What do they do? Eastern Christian School, engaging, Nurturing, transforming, well, that’s what God did.
Said I’ll engage you.
[7:33] And I’ll talk to you, and I’ll speak to you.” And they stood, riveted, shuddering at the foot of Mount Sinai. They had never been in a classroom like this before, and they heard literally the voice of God. He engaged them. He nurtured them. They’d just been born as a nation.
[7:58] Under the banner of the blood of the Lamb, they had exited Egypt.
They’re just a fledgling nation just commencing out on their national history, and God nurtured them.
And for those 12 months at Mount Sinai, he treated them very, very tenderly, and he gave them quite a number of concessions.
And as a newborn nation, they were given very, very special attention. He engaged them.
He nurtured them. What was the third word? You have to get your sermon somewhere. Transform.
Oh, I tell you, he transformed them. When they came to Mount Sinai, they were just a little bunch of families and tribes.
When they left Mount Sinai, they marched out as a highly-formed, disciplined nation to conquer the world for God, altogether different and transformed.
Now, you’ll come with me then, just for these minutes, to the school of Sinai, and we’ll observe God giving a people the equipment so that they will be able to become for him what he intends them to become.
[9:23] It’s quite an interesting thing that in the first five books of our Bible, we have about 60 chapters.
I read with you at the beginning of Exodus chapter 19.
Then we skipped over to Numbers chapter 10.
So the rest of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus, the first 10 chapters of Numbers, about those 59 or 60 chapters, are all taken up with that 12-month period at the School of Sinai.
[9:55] That has never been repeated in world history. That is a one-off. The making, the molding, the marking, and the maturing of the infant nation of Israel in the school of Sinai.
Before we get to Sinai, we have what, 50 chapters in Genesis, 60, 70 chapters. We have about 70 chapters before Sinai. We have about 60 chapters after Sinai, and the whole middle of what we call the Pentateuch, the first great five books of the Bible with its 187 chapters, about 60 chapters right in the middle of those five books are all devoted to 12 months period. At Sinai, when the, The God who had accomplished the emancipation, he said, you have seen that I brought you out of Egypt and they were set free from the galling chains of Egyptian bondage.
Great to be free.
[11:03] Here we have a congregation of people this afternoon and we have often sung together, my chains are snapped, the bonds of sin are broken, and I am free.
We once were slaves to the prince of this world. Grace has intervened.
Redemption price has been paid.
We have become the recipients of a marvelous emancipation.
[11:29] We have known redemption, Lord, from bondage worse than theirs by far.
Sin held us by a stronger cord.
By thy mercy free we are. What an emancipation! he said, I brought you out from Egypt.
And then there was an elevation.
He said, I not only brought you out, But he said, I brought you on eagle’s wing.
[11:56] He said, I lifted you to a higher level, and from the mud plains of the River Nile, making bricks, with your nose grinding in the dust. He said, I have brought you across the sea and into the uplands of Mount Sinai, and I’ve planted your feet upon higher ground. Well, I tell you, dear Christians, we are higher still. Not only has grace brought us out, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We have experienced an emancipation. We have enjoyed a spiritual elevation with Christ. And God said, now, He said, I’m interested in your education.
[12:38] He said, just when I have you here, having brought you out and brought you up, He said, I want you to sit at my feet and I will teach you. And He said, in this 12-month period of teaching, Well, we all know that there is no teacher like the Lord himself.
When the Lord takes in hand to teach people, he can do it. It doesn’t take a six-year course or a 10-year course.
The Lord Jesus, in three years, took rough pieces of Galilean granite and he produced a little college of men that moved out and took the world for his glory.
He can teach great lessons in a short space of time. So, at the Eastern Sinai School, God nurtures them, He engages them, and He transforms them in that period of 12 months, and the details are given to us over those 60 chapters. You say, I don’t like those chapters, all that stuff about Leviticus, and all those things about entrails of animals, and kidneys, and liver, and all that kind of stuff. You say, I skip those, pieces in my Bible. Do you? Do you do that? Do you think God has put them in there just to fill up space? This was part of God’s education of this people. And in that period, I want to highlight, and I’ll do it very, very quickly. I want to highlight five great institutions which God.
[14:01] Gave them in that one year crash course of spiritual instruction at Mount Sinai.
[14:09] And when they left Mount Sinai, the God who had emancipated them and elevated them and educated them, he had equipped them.
[14:19] By means of these five institutions, he had equipped them to go out and to be a marvellous…
He said, in fact, you’ll be a treasure. You’ll be a treasure. He said, I’ll value you. He said, you’ll be a real treasure. He said, all the people of the earth are mine. He said, I own the whole business. All the Amorites and the Hittites and the Hibbites and the Jebusites and the Hooligites and the Girgisites. He said, I own them all. But he said, out of them all, you’ll be special. You’ll You’ll be my treasure.
I’ll value you. For he said, I have a work for you to do that none of the rest of them will have.
And he said, you’ll be really valuable because you’re going to become witnesses for me.
It’s a great thing, dear Christian. If you can appreciate just today how valuable we are to God, he’s made us witnesses, not only saved us, but we are to become sounding boards for the spread of the message of his son.
We are to become testimony bearers to the rejected, but returning Christ, and we are valuable.
So he said, you’re going to be a special treasure unto, and he said, I have a task for you.
He said, the reason you’ll be a treasure unto me as a special nation above all the nations of the earth, he said, you’re going to be a holy nation and you’re going to be a kingdom of priests.
[15:41] Hmm, you say, what does that mean? Well, he said, that’s what I intend for you.
He said, I want you to become a mediatorial nation, a kingdom of priests.
We were reminded earlier that a priest is a man that introduces people into the presence of God.
He said, I want you to become testimony. Do you see all these heathen people all around you that know nothing about me?
He said, I want all those people to get to know me through you.
[16:08] You’ll become a kingdom of priests. You’ll become a conduit directing people to the knowledge of the true God. He said all of those people out there have no idea who God is or what God is and they’re worshiping all kinds of idolatry and frogs and lizards and wizards and all kinds of things. But he said you are the monotheistic nation, you know the true God and I have saved, you and he said through you these people were brought out of the ignorance of their idolatry to get to know me you will be a mediatorial nation he said that’s a big task well he said as well as that you will not only be a mediatorial nation he said you will be a model nation you’ll be a holy nation he said because you know me and because your testimony bearers for me he said you’ll live holy lives.” He said, those people don’t live holy lives. They don’t know the word holiness, not even in their vocabulary. He said, associated with their idolatry is all kinds of immorality and all kinds of confusion and all kinds of corruption. And he said, they don’t know it.
But he said, through you, he said, when they see the way you live, they will get to know me and they will be attracted by the morality of your life and by the standards of your behavior.
So he said that’s quite, well I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, God had some big ideas, didn’t he?
[17:35] When he saved Israel, you say I thought he just brought Israel in so that he might stir up world politics a little bit and that he might create some kind of a social construct in the surface, of planet earth and leave everybody a little bit out of joint because of this weird people, that have been brought into existence. No, God brought Israel into existence so that they may become testimony bearers to him and that through their testimony and their holy living, and their knowledge of God that other people might be brought to know God as well. Is it any different for us? Is that not why he saved us? He’s brought us out and given us a spiritual elevation, lifted us to higher level, given us an intuition into the understanding of spiritual things that the clever people of this world know nothing about. And He not only has touched our personality at the deepest level by His indwelling Holy Spirit, enriched our minds, He has ennobled our behavior. We live according to a different standard. We march to a different drumbeat.
The people out there, through our life, through our testimony, they could be brought to inquire why do they live differently.
[18:56] What is there about this people that seems to be so distinct?
What is the driving dynamic of their belief and their behavior?
And they begin to inquire and get… Oh, you had one or two like Rahab the harlot.
She wondered what sort of people are these and she got saved.
Queen of Sheba, she saw some of these people and she got saved.
And there were a few here and there.
And Israel did become the vehicle, the avenue through which some of these forlorn Gentiles were brought to know the true God of Israel.
God said, that’s the task, that you would be a holy nation and that you would be a kingdom of priests. And he said, you’ll be valuable. He said, I’ll really appreciate you. You’ll be a treasure.
[19:44] Because you will have such a task. It’s a big task. But he said, so that you can fulfill that task, I will give you a special training.” And that’s the 12 months at Sinai. And God did give them at Sinai a very, very special training. And He put into their possession, I say, those very unique implements, items, institutions. They didn’t have any of these when they came to Sinai.
When they left Sinai, they were furnished and they were equipped with all that they needed.
You know, I’m glad. I’m glad that we serve a God. And He never sends people to do the impossible without giving the equipment.
I’ve been reminded already of that today. The Apostle Paul was a chosen vessel to bear the name of God before the Gentiles, and he was given the equipment to do exactly what he was to do. So with the other apostles, so with Moses. Moses met God at this very same mountain.
[20:45] A number of months before this, and God gave Moses the equipment to do his work.
Now, it’s not a man at the mountain, it’s a whole nation, 603,550.
It’s a very large classroom. It’s a wonderful auditorium. It’s a marvelous teacher.
It’s an interesting syllabus. It’s an amazing goal, and it’s a short course.
And when it is over, I say, these people will be the students of the one true God of heaven, able to reach the world for his glory. And if they don’t fulfill their task.
[21:27] It will not be because they didn’t receive the equipment. There will be no blame with the teacher. So you say, well, what exactly did he teach them? What was the training? What were the subjects that were involved? The five subjects that you have mentioned? Well, those five subjects cover these 60 chapters from Exodus 19 to Numbers chapter 10. And I could go through them in fine detail, but you would only become lost in the crowd. And so would I, and I’ll not do that. But the five of these, first of all, the stone. You should look after those, stone. It said, inscribed the engraving of the great creator. God scratched out on the, the granite stones of Horeb, his word.
[22:19] There’s not another nation in all the world of that day or this day, ever received stone written with the very finger of God.
He said, that’s the first part. You need to get a revelation from me.
If you’re going to be a witness for me, you’ll have to have a word from me.
And so he had the stone.
That’s Exodus chapter 19 to maybe chapter 24.
Then he said, there’ll be a sanctuary. He said, I’m going to give you a sanctuary that you can build for me and I will live in the midst of you. For he said, you couldn’t. Oh, he said, you couldn’t.
You couldn’t be a witness for me if you didn’t have my presence.
He said, you’ll not be able to do it on your own strength. He said, the secret of your success in this great mission to reach the Gentiles will be my presence in the midst of his people.
So he said, I’m going to give you the specifications for a very special tent, and I will lift the stones and the sanctuary.
Then he said, I want to teach you about sacrifices.
[23:28] And I’m going to show you just how the sacrifices are all to be laid upon the altar.
And there’ll be sin offerings and meal offerings and burnt offerings and peace offerings and trespass offerings and consecrate… Oh, you say, I thought you just killed an animal and that was it.
No, no, God said you need to get all the sacrifices. You need to know what’s what.
And you need to know the different aspects. You don’t just talk about sacrifice as one grade block category. He said, learn the distinctions my people. He said, I’m going to initiate you into the understanding of the whole thesis of sacrifice and the meaning of the altar and the, value of sprinkled blood. And he said, through you, when you become witnesses for me amongst the nations, he said, they will learn that relationship with me depends upon the value of satisfaction that has been made at the altar. So the stone, and the sanctuary, and the sacrifices, and he said, there’s more. He said, I want to give you a new calendar, And I’m going to give you a calendar with seven seasons.
[24:39] And he said, this calendar of seven seasons, I will detail it for you.
You’ll read about it all in Leviticus chapter 23.
And that great sabbatical calendar, you say, did other nations not have a calendar?
They might’ve had a calendar, but they didn’t have a calendar like this calendar.
God put the stamp of his own understanding upon this special seven season calendar, which he gave to Israel.
And he said, you’ll discover, you’ll have seasons all together, when other nations are involved in all kinds of orgies. And he said, they’re having all kinds of licentious celebrations.
He said, you’ll have holy convocations, and you’ll have holidays of a totally different kind, and you’ll be thinking about things at these special seasons that never enter into the mind of the heathen. And he said, it will make you distinct. And because you will be distinct, you’ll be able to make an impact for me because people will want to know why the difference?
[25:45] Why the difference? I think I’m not taking time. I don’t have the time. I’m not taking time to apply all of that. But you see, God has given us certain things that make us different. And people, should be asking why we do this and why we’re marching to a different drumbeat and why we have different outlooks and priorities in life and a totally distinct worldview. So, you’re following with me, I think, in this crash course of education at the School of Sinai. And I say, separated from all the distractions of Egypt, they listened and they looked and they learned, from the stone, from the sanctuary, from the sacrifices, from the season. Then you.
[26:34] Get into the early chapters of the book of Numbers. God says I’m going to give you signals, two special signals. They didn’t have these signals coordinated before they came to Mount Sinai. He said there’ll be a signal for your ear, The silver trumpet, there’ll be a signal for your eye.
And he said, you’ll march through the wilderness and your pathway will be dictated by most unusual phenomena.
He said, the other people don’t go to the sound of silver trumpets and the other nations of this world don’t move according to a pillar shaking a cloud, but he said, you will.
Teaching, oh I say, isn’t it great to think of the teaching of the God of.
From the stones they would learn God’s principle.
[27:20] If God redeems people, they need to learn how to behave and live with each other, don’t steal and tell lies, and all those kinds of things that Christians would never think of doing.
And they learn God’s principles from the stones, thou shalt not.
From the sanctuary, they learn God’s pattern.
That is, if God is going to be with us, if we are going to enjoy His presence, there will be a sanctuary that is made according to his pattern.
[27:51] We’ll learn a little bit about that, I hope, just in a couple of minutes. From the sacrifices, they’re going to learn something about God’s rich provision. What a marvelous provision. Even if they fail, they had a sacrifice that would cover their failure. Thank God we learn, as Christian experience goes on, we learn the perennial and eternal value of Calvary, not just for the salvation of our soul, but for the maintenance of our communion with God. And they learned all of that, his provision from the sacrifice, his program from the season. Those programs, that great sabbatical calendar, those seven seasons throughout the year, they marked out the great stepping stones of God’s redemptive program. All of you, dear believers have often heard those special bible lectures by competent brethren on the seven feasts of Jehovah. Some of these younger brethren and sisters here get your hand around these things when you say it’s very difficult you I was only saved last year you wouldn’t expect me to know Israel has only saved six months. God said I’m going to teach you these things and they’re only saved six months, there’s no better time to learn than just at the start. Learn early.
As a young believer, put your mind to the big things of the Bible. Don’t content yourself with.
[29:21] Paddling around in the shallows of scripture and being an expert at baseball at the same time. You can’t be an expert in baseball and the Bible at one and the same time. I’m sorry to tell you, it won’t work. Get into God’s book as a young Christian. Make it. Make it the mold of your mind.
Make it the mark of your life. And it will challenge. And you will be for God what God intends you to be. That’s what he was doing for these people. And from those signals, they were going to learn not now God’s principles or his pattern or his provision or his program.
They’re going to learn God’s pathway. That we don’t go through the desert just at random.
It’s not a haphazard pathway. We take our stepping stones through the desert, guided by light from heaven.
[30:12] Guided by the sound, the signal of a silver trumpet, sounded by men of the sanctuary.
Wasn’t that it, dear Christians? Well, well, I better stop there. I better stop there.
Where do I start now? We’ll just go back over them again. I see some people beginning to sleep, so I’ll stop before you all sleep. But at the same time, we talked about a great meeting last night at the Mount of Transfiguration, and they fell asleep. If people could sleep at a meeting like that, well, surely they could sleep here this afternoon. But do it all when our brother’s speaking here. Don’t be tempted. Don’t even be tempted to think about it now. God says, I’m going to speak. He says, keep quiet, keep quiet. Moses, tell the people to keep quiet.
I’m going to speak in ten words, the great Decalogue. They’re never called in the Scriptures, the Ten Commandments, we call them the Ten Commandments, it’s just called the Ten Words.
[31:15] Written by the finger of God. And he said, put them in a golden box.
Don’t tamper with them, don’t tinker with them, don’t try to change them, don’t dilute them.
He said, don’t exchange them. He said, this is my word.
And he said, that’s the first thing you need to get.
You need to get a word from God.
If you’re going to be a witness for God, you need to get a word from God.
And you need to know how to treat his word.
Treat it, handle it with care, and treat it with reverence, and obey it with implicit trust.
You say, why 10 words?
What do you think?
[31:53] Why not 12? You see, I thought that would be a good number. Had to be a good number. 12 tribes, one for each tribe.
A lot of 12s. 12 low. 12 words. No, no, 10 words. Why 10?
That’s how the Bible commences. There’s a whole watery mass in Genesis chapter 1. At the beginning, when you reach the end of the chapter, It’s a beautiful creation, all transformed, and what has happened 10 times between the beginning of Genesis 1 and the end, you read, and God said.
And it was a statement of God’s Word that brought beauty and order and shape and form and symmetry to creation at the beginning, God’s creative Word.
I say to all of us, say to young believers here, if you want to have shape in your life.
[32:53] Let the Word of God have its power in your heart.
See what I’m saying? Many people complain to me about life. My life has gone a bit, pear-shaped, a bit topsy-turvy, a bit upside down. My life doesn’t seem to have any discipline, doesn’t seem to have any real order. I don’t seem to be going any… No, no, I tell you what to do, dear Christian young believer. You give God’s Word space and power in your life. God’s Word brings order. God’s Word brings light. God’s Word brings beauty. The very last statement of God’s Word, he said, let us make man in our own image. He said, I’ll put my image here and God’s Word will imprint upon your life and mine the very image of his son.” That’s what God wants to do.
Is there an old hymn that says somewhere, speaking about spiritual things, it says, Engrave this deeply.
[33:52] On our hearts with an eternal pen, that we may in some small degree return, would it be great if God would take an eternal pen. There’s a young man here today, and God could incisively scratch out on the tablet of his heart, at the very center of his personality. The God who left a permanent engraving of his word upon the stones to equip Israel. There’s a sister here and God could engrave upon your heart a message from heaven.
So indelibly imprinted by divine power that you would never forget it for the rest of your life.
God’s commanding Word, God’s creating Word, God’s changing Word.
You know I haven’t time to develop it. You know that Israel were never meant.
It’s a distortion. They say you’re to keep the Ten Commandments so that you can be saved.
[34:59] You could hardly find a bigger distortion of the Bible. God said to Israel, He said, you see these Ten Commandments, these Ten Words?
He says, I’m the Lord God that brought you out of Egypt.
He says, you don’t keep these commandments to be saved.
You keep them because you are saved.
He says, these are the responsibilities that you have because you’re my redeemed people.
You’re already mine. You don’t keep these to become mine.
You keep these because I have made you mine. That’s it, dear Christians.
We are so thrilled with the wonder of God’s grace that has saved us, redeemed us, has made us his very own.
That a response of obedience and appreciation. We give back to him our willing hearts.
I say to all of us, let us do that just now and say here, oh God, at this Midland Park Conference 2023, We give you the tablet of our heart.
[35:53] With that eternal pen in scribe what we need to learn and the impression of God’s sanctuary in my heart will become the expression of my testimony to the world and his word will make a mark on me that means that I will then be able to make my mark for him it’s the word of the stones he said He said, you keep them, take my word seriously, the stones.
The sanctuary.
[36:23] Well, he said, I’m gonna live with you, I’m gonna give you my presence.
He said, you live in tents, I live in a tent too.
I’ll accommodate myself to your situation. Isn’t that the God that we serve?
But he said, you’ll have to make the tent according to my specification.
And he said, the rooms and the shape and the sizes, all of those things.
And he said, be very careful that you make it according to the pattern.
And he said, arrange your whole lives around that pattern. He said, make this house, and I can’t go into all the details, but he tells them all this at that year in Mount Sinai.
He said, make your camp around this pattern, the 12 tribes right here.
And he said, have it in the center. Don’t put the tabernacle out at the edge.
He said, put it right in the middle. He said, my presence will be there with my pattern.
I say, dear Christians, that’s another thing. If I can transfer it very quickly, without terminutical justification, if I can transfer it very quickly onto New Testament ground, God has not only given us his word, thank God he has given us the pattern of his dwelling place.
[37:30] There are a lot of ways of doing church in our day.
Used to be denominational churches. I speak with respect to many dear people and good people that were associated with such institutions.
Now it’s the megachurch.
Now it’s the community. You say, but there’s so many ways of doing church.
How do you know what way to do it? The pattern.
[37:56] And make the pattern the center of your life. Young people here with corporate world backering, climbing the ladder, the commands and the demands of career, the peer pressure to succeed in the material things of this world.
It’s very, very easy to put the assembly out to the air.
[38:20] Especially on Primary Day night, Wednesday or Tuesday night or whatever it is, put it out on the… Oh, I’ll turn up on Sunday and I’ll dip my toe into the water of Assembly Fellowship at the Remembrance Meeting and I’ll give it a bye for the rest of the week and I’ll organize my life and I’ll have the Assembly just nicely in one little comfortable corner that doesn’t interrupt my program. That’s not the way to do life for God.
If we are going to be a testimony for Him, we must appreciate the value of His Word and the principles of His Word, and we must appreciate the pattern and the centrality of His sanctuary.
I represent a generation before me, and maybe a little bit before that, they had many weaknesses.
They weren’t perfect.
But I’ll tell you this, dear Christians, we have to lift off our hat to a previous generation of brethren and sisters who lived in the 50s and 60s, and whatever we say about them or whatever we do not say about them, we have to say this, the things of God and the assembly, of God were their absolute priority.
Far too many of us are living second-rate Christianity.
Today, this conference is the time to reshuffle our priorities.
You say you don’t know anything about it. Are you sure?
Was I not in corporate world?
Did I not experience the demands of education and this, that, and the other, at least in measure?
[39:45] Did I not know what it was to say no to some of the offers because of the assembly?
By the grace of God, I say, we need to get back to basic Christianity.
[39:55] We’re trying to convince ourselves that we can be high flyers in the world with its possessions and its pleasures, and at the same time be men and women for God, hardly likely.
That was the education, and then the sacrifices. I say I’m going to have to stop here.
Well, that was a great thing. You say, what is it, the burnt offering, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, the trespass offering, and all that in Leviticus 1 to 7. You say, we started the trespass offering. What do you mean? We started the trespass offering, and you go back up to the burnt offering. Who told you that?
[40:37] It. You don’t start at the Trestle, you start at the Passover. We start at Exodus 12. Those, offerings in Leviticus chapter 1 to 7 were not to tell these people how to be brought into communion with God, it would tell these people how to maintain communion that had, already been established. And if I’m in communion, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, brought out into freedom, into fellowship with God, and I make mistakes and I fail in my commitments. You say that’s the whole relationship over. No, thank God for the, value of sacrifice and the value of Calvary. And we go back to the cross. The, Apostle Paul would say, for example, in Ephesians chapter 5, Christ loved us, gave himself for us, and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet, you say, that’s a burnt offering. Hallelujah!
You say Ephesians chapter 4, God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us our sin. You say that’s the peace offering. Exactly. Ephesians chapter 2, he is our peace and he has slain the enmity by the blood of the cross. You say that’s the peace offering. Yes. Ephesians chapter 1, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. It’ll say in the margin of your Bible, trespasses.
The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches. You say that’s the trespass. Yes, exactly.
We are coming on. You see, if we didn’t have the pictures of Leviticus.
[42:03] There are facets of the death of Christ that we would never be able to distinguish.
[42:09] That’s why we, you’re coming into New York and you look at the skyline and you’ve got your, you’ve come from just the dark woods of Ireland And you have a little handbook that says New York and all the details.
And you see all these buildings. And you say, that’s the Empire State Building.
And that’s the Rockefeller Center.
And, oh no, you say, no, no, that one’s the Empire State Building.
And you go back to the handbook.
But you say, you’ve got to New York. You’ve got to New York.
Forget about the handbook. Throw the handbook overboard. You’ve got the real thing.
Don’t worry anymore about the handbook.
No, the handbook is still useful, even when you get to New York.
And the handbook can tell you, oh, that’s so that when we get the real thing in Christ, we still go back to the pictures of the Old Testament and the pictures of the Old Testament.
If I was just reading the New Testament, I couldn’t distinguish those things that I have just mentioned.
[43:04] Anyway, that’s it, that’s it. I’m stopping here. We’ll have to leave the season.
God has given us a different calendar, a redemptive program.
Even the youngest believer here carries within his heart or within her heart some idea of God’s great program for the future, what a difference it has made to our lives.
We come to meetings like this where we hear the sound of the silver trumpets, the clarion note that would call us, and point us out the way to go and show us the path.
And you say, well, after 12 months like that, where did they go?
They pulled up their stakes.
[43:43] They marched out from Sinai. They had a great task, they had a great training, and they went out and they conquered the world for God. Oh.
[43:57] It would break your heart. They didn’t obey his word. They didn’t respect his tabernacle.
Get away to Samuel’s day, and there were men in the tabernacle, and they were having illicit relationships with Saul. That was terrible.
They didn’t appreciate the cloud. They missed the mark. And instead of worshiping the one true God, they themselves, like the Gentiles, began to worship the very same idols of the Gentiles, and they lost their power, and they lost their identity. And when God was speaking to old Elijah, hundreds of years later, this nation that God had trained for a mighty task for him, He says, Elijah, there’s only 7,000.
[44:41] You say, what? 7,000? And it started off with 605,000 that were at the school of Sinai.
Now there’s only 7,000? A meager number, a mere fraction that haven’t bowed the knee to Baal.
What an abysmal failure.
And yet the day will come when God, through Christ, will bring that nation back.
And they will be what God intended them to be, and they will become a model nation, exhibiting the glory of the reigning Christ to the whole world.
I’m saying this, dear Christians, God made us to be a testimony for Him.
He has given us a training, His Word, the local assembly, the ministry of the Holy Scriptures, the value of Calvary, the great prophetic program.
He has given us all that we need so that we might be a mighty force for his glory.
May God grant we’ll not dilute our effectiveness and that we’ll not compromise our service, by a failure to appreciate the training and the transforming teaching which God has given to us in his word.
[45:58] Eastern Christian School, Eastern Sinai School, I trust the Lord will help us to learn the lessons of this ancient 60-chapter document of Old Testament Scripture.
May the Lord bless us.
Ministry from Jonathan Seed in Spanish Saturday afternoon.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_05JSeed09162023.m4a[0:01] Leamos en Josué, capítulo número uno, Josué uno, y quiero hablar acerca de la persona de Josué.
Inicialmente, íbamos a predicar dos veces, pero creo que tuvieron misericordia de su, servidor para predicar solamente una vez.
Entonces Josué, capítulo número uno, es donde tomaremos el pasaje para pasar los comentarios, y la exhortación al pueblo de Dios en esta tarde. en Josué capítulo 1 y quiero leer desde el versículo número 1.
[0:30] Dice lo siguiente Aconteció después de la muerte de Moisés, siervo de Jehová, que Jehová habló a Josué, hijo de Nun, servidor de Moisés, diciendo Mi siervo Moisés ha muerto.
Ahora, pues, levántate y pasa de este Jordán tú y todo este pueblo a la tierra que yo les doy a los hijos de Israel.
Yo os he entregado, como lo había dicho a Moisés, todo lugar que pise la planta de vuestro pie, desde el desierto y el Líbano hasta el gran río Eufrates. Toda la tierra de los Eteos hasta el gran mar donde se pone el sol será, vuestro territorio. Nadie te podrá hacer frente en todos los días de tu vida. Como estuve con Moisés, estaré contigo. No te dejaré ni te desampararé.
Esfuérzate y sé valiente, porque tú repartirás a este pueblo por heredad la tierra que juré a tus padres que les daría.
Solamente esfuércate y sé muy valiente para cuidar de ser conforme a toda la ley que mi, siervo Moisés te mandó. No te partes de ella, ni a la diestra, ni a la siniestra, para que seas prosperado en, todas las cosas que emprendas.
Que no sea parte de tu boca este libro de la ley, sino de qué día y noche.
[1:40] Que de día y de noche has de meditar en él para que guardes y hagas conforme todo lo que en él está escrito, porque entonces harás prosperar tu camino y todo te saldrá bien.
Mira que te mando que te esfuerces y seas valiente, no temas ni desmayes, porque Jehová tu Dios estará contigo en donde quiera que vayas.
Y Josué mandó a los oficiales del pueblo diciendo pasad por en medio del campamento y mandada al pueblo, diciendo Preparaos comida.
[2:11] Porque dentro de tres días pasaréis el cordón para entrar a poseer la tierra que Jehová, vuestro Dios, os da en posesión.
Y pedimos que el Señor bendiga la lectura de su palabra.
Los principios de la conquista que leemos en el libro de Josué.
Primeramente vemos una preparación del hombre de Dios.
Josué fue preparado para hacer esta obra y de hecho vamos a hablar acerca de esto en unos momentos más adelante, al hermano Caín nos va a hablar acerca de la obra de los ancianos en la asamblea y la preparación de los hermanos para poder hacer esta obra.
Así también Josué fue preparado una audiencia con Dios que él recibió para que Dios le instruyera para que Dios lo preparara, para que él tuviera la palabra de Dios debajo de sus pies, para que él fuera bien establecido en lo que Dios dice, en lo que Dios dijo, en lo que Dios hizo, en lo que Dios hará, y por lo tanto Josué fue preparado como hombre de Dios.
Pero vemos en segundo lugar en el libro de Josué la prioridad de la palabra de Dios, porque no solamente vemos una preparación de un hombre de Dios, sino una prioridad de la palabra. imposible.
[3:19] Que el pueblo de Israel cruzara y entrara a la tierra de Canaán sin que ellos estuvieran basados en la palabra de Dios, sin que ellos entendieran lo que era la palabra de Dios.
Preparado el hombre, la prioridad de la palabra. Y también tenemos la preparación de otros hombres, porque no fue una obra que él hizo a solas.
Esto no fue una obra que Josué hizo con su fuerza y con su inteligencia, con la sabiduría humana que él poseía, sino que Josué entró por la palabra de Dios que le había dado y con la comunidad de Dios que estaba a su alrededor, con todos los hombres y hermanos y también las hermanas que estaban allí con él para ayudarlo a entrar. No lo hizo solo, sino que necesitaba de sus hermanos. Vimos un poco de eso en Hebreos.
También no exhortados cada uno cada día. Debemos exhortar a nuestros hermanos porque los necesitamos.
Tal como Josué entró con sus hermanos, nosotros tenemos que conquistar o tenemos que avanzar, ir a la madurez, a la vida espiritual, junto con nuestros hermanos.
Fijamos que observamos que fueron dos espías, pero dos espías que fueron preparados.
[4:27] No dos espías que fueron escogidos de la nada.
A ver, a ver si hay uno por allá, ese sí, el güero y el morenito.
Ah, bien, muy bien. Véngase para acá y vamos a ver si ustedes pueden entrar a la tierra.
No fue así nada más al azar, no algo ambiguo, sino que los escogió porque los había preparado.
Y esa es parte de la obra. En la asamblea tenemos que preparar a nuestros hermanos para que nuestros hermanos nos ayuden en la obra.
No podemos esperar varios años para ver si quizás algunos hermanos van a estar preparados, sino que tenemos que hacer el esfuerzo de preparar a los hermanos para que ellos estén listos para ayudarnos.
[5:07] Dos espías y fueron. Muy interesante hablando de los dos espías y a ver cuánto tiempo nos nos da para alcanzar, para a ver cuánto podemos ver. Pero en cuanto a esos dos espías, ¿alguna vez habían pensado que Josué pudo haber ido él solo? O sea, ya lo hizo, ¿no? Él ya había entrado. Número 14.
Él ya había entrado. Él vio los muros de Jericó. Él sabía cómo era la gente, cómo era el pueblo, pueblo, cómo era la fuerza de ellos, las armas que tenían, los recursos que tenían, etcétera.
Él ya sabía todo. Él había ido. Él fue fiel. Él regresó. Él quiso entrar. Los demás no quisieron, pero Josué sí quiso. Y él pudo haber dicho, pues yo voy solo. Pues por qué usar a esos jóvenes, Yo lo puedo hacer.
[5:53] Sin embargo, él escogió a dos espías, estos dos jóvenes para que le ayudaran a hacer una obra que él pudo haber hecho, pero que él quiso dejar para los demás, dejar para otros hermanos, para que, ellos funcionaran, para que ellos pudieran servir de esta manera y no siempre y solamente Josué.
Parte de la obra de un líder en la asamblea de Dios, de un líder en la familia, de un líder en en todos los aspectos de la vida, parte del trabajo es preparar a los demás.
No es para que seamos una estrella solitaria. No es que nosotros tengamos toda la gloria y toda la hondra, para que nos vean todos a nosotros mismos, para que estemos enfrente de los demás, sino es para atraer a los demás, para ayudar a los demás, para preparar a los demás, para ayudarnos y para poder entrar para el beneficio de toda la asamblea, el beneficio de todos los hermanos.
Él preparó a dos espías más. Vemos que él usó sacerdotes rápidamente.
No puedo mencionar todo, pero usó sacerdotes que llegaron. Y ya sabemos la historia muy familiar para todos, muy conocido para todos aquí.
Hombres de cada tribu que llegaron para usar las piedras o traer las piedras. Una conmemoración.
La conmemoración que fue tan importante en el Antiguo Testamento.
Él preparó a otros hermanos. No lo hizo solo él, pero también preparó al pueblo.
[7:17] Algo interesante del cruce del cordón es que para poder ir adelante, para poder avanzar, tenía que ir hacia atrás.
Para poder cruzar el río, tenía que ir hacia atrás. ¿A qué me refiero?
Vemos en el libro que ellos tenían que ser circuncidados.
[7:38] Y después, posteriormente, tenían que celebrar la Pascua. Creo que Josué entendía muy bien un principio que es explicado a profundo, no a detalle en el Nuevo Testamento.
El hecho de estar crucificado con el Señor Jesucristo, con la carne crucificada, el viejo hombre que ha sido crucificado, y después nosotros resucitados para andar en novedad de vida.
¿no? Romanos capítulo seis.
Y esto vemos en figura. Tenemos Josué que dice no podemos avanzar en el desierto.
El pueblo de Dios estaba viviendo sin obedecer a la voluntad de Dios.
No fueron circuncidados esta segunda generación. De hecho, solo leemos acerca de Moisés y sus hijos que fueron circuncidados antes de entrar al desierto, antes de salvar al pueblo.
[8:28] Pero después nadie es circuncidado. Es más, no celebraron la Pascua, lo celebraron en Egipto, obviamente.
Pero cuando salieron y entraron después, eso también leemos en números, deberían de haber celebrado la Pascua, pero no lo hicieron. No celebraron ni una de las fiestas que Dios les había dado en el libro de Levítico. Y dice Josué, tenemos que regresar, porque todo, si vamos a hacer esta obra, tenemos que regresar a las bases, a la base y hacerlo bien. Querido hermano, así es en la vida cristiana también. Tenemos que regresar. Este lugar Gilgal o Gilgal, ese lugar donde ellos regresaron y fueron circuncidados y así también los otros. Tenemos que regresar al momento cuando el viejo hombre fue crucificado y uno dice, pero ya sucedió, ya se hizo, ya fui crucificado, ya fui circuncidado en ese sentido. ¿Por qué regresar? Es tan interesante que el pueblo de Dios, en, aquel entonces ellos regresaron a Gilgal, repetidas veces.
[9:25] Cada vez que fueron para conquistar otro pueblo, otra ciudad, regresaron a Gilgal para prepararse de nuevo, para pensar de nuevo en qué es lo que iban a hacer.
Así también en la vida cristiana, hermanos, tenemos que regresar a la cruz.
Es interesante que en Primero de Corintios, qué es lo que hace el apóstol Pablo para instruir a la asamblea?
Pues él no inicia con la resurrección. Él no inicia hablando de todos los problemas que tenían en aquella asamblea.
Capítulo 5, capítulo 7, capítulo 11, capítulo 12 al 14, todos los problemas del desorden que había en la asamblea, el desorden que había en diferentes relaciones en la asamblea, el desorden que había en cuanto a la fornicación, capítulo número 5, pero él no habla de aquellos problemas primeramente, primordialmente, sino que regresa en capítulo 1 a la cruz del Calvario para.
[10:16] Que vieran, para que reconocieran, para que regresaran y para que ellos se dieran, cuenta una vez más que Cristo murió por nosotros, pero yo también morí con Cristo.
Hálatas, capítulo número 2.
Ya lo vivo yo. Ya no vivo yo.
Más. Ustedes ya saben cómo termina, no? Más vive Cristo en mí. Ya no vivo yo.
Más vive Cristo en mí. Hay que regresar, hermanos.
En la vida cristiana hay que regresar con regularidad, a la cruz del Calvario, al lugar donde fuimos crucificados para poder avanzar a la madurez espiritual.
La Pascua también.
No hay tiempo para hablar de esto, pero es interesante ver que fueron circuncidados y celebraron la Pascua.
Fueron crucificados y se acordaron de la redención que Dios había hecho por ellos.
No hay tiempo para entrar en esos detalles. La preparación del pueblo, la preparación de otros hombres, la prioridad de la palabra de Dios, la preparación del hombre de Dios.
Si tenemos número cinco, también el pueblo ya preparado.
[11:23] El pueblo ya preparado pudo avanzar. Hermanos, no debemos entrar a la batalla.
Debemos tener mucho cuidado en cuanto a las tribulaciones y en cuanto a las pruebas que Dios pone en nuestras vidas.
Debemos tener mucho cuidado de estar preparados antes de entrar, preparados antes de batallar.
Ellos fueron preparados, circuncidados, celebraron la Pascua, recibieron la instrucción.
Josué mandó, envió a varios siervos para que fueran e instruyeran a todo el pueblo de Dios y preparados.
Preparados, ahora pudieron entrar a la tierra, cruzar ese río, entrar hasta los montes donde estaban los cananeos, o los de Jericó, perdón. Y que no esas siete veces que rodearon los muros de la ciudad de Jericó, ellos conquistaron. ¿Qué sucedió después? Como suele suceder en la vida cristiana, en el momento de conquista, justo en el momento de la victoria, viene.
[12:23] Satanás para atacar. Ha sido así en su experiencia también, justo en esos momentos cuando todo va bien, viento en popa. Estamos con la familia y la relación con la esposa, todo bien, relación con los hijos, el trabajo, una chulada, como decimos en México, no sé si así en sus países. Pero bueno, todo bien, todo bien, perfecto. Y de repente viene algo. ¿Y eso de dónde vino?
[12:54] ¿Por qué me manda esta prueba en este momento, cuando todo iba bien?
Y ahora lo va a arruinar a todo lo que está.
El pueblo de Dios, justo en el momento de la victoria, justo después, perdón, ellos fueron corrompidos.
[13:11] Más adelante leemos en el libro acerca de, pues acerca de la ciudad de Ai y este señor llamado Akan.
Y él entra a la ciudad de Ai y él quita cosas. No, pues Josué les había dicho, no pueden entrar, no pueden quitar, bueno, pueden entrar, no pueden sacar ciertas cosas. Y si lo sacan van a ser los juzgados.
No pasa nada.
Él entra, lo quita, lo oculta, lo esconde. Y Dios ve todo.
Y no hay ninguna cosa que se pueda esconder delante de los ojos de Jehová.
Y él lo vio. Josué hizo la investigación interesante en la investigación, nada más de pasada, que en la investigación, Akan no fue un voluntario. Voluntariamente no se ofreció al inicio. Se han dado cuenta de que fueron por todas las tribus y por todas las secciones del pueblo de Dios hasta que finalmente llegan a la familia de Akan y llegan a Akan. Ah, tú fuiste. Ah, ¿por qué no nos dijiste? Hubiéramos ahorrado mucho tiempo, no, no lo digo. Fue encontrado, fue tratado, fue juzgado, y fueron limpiados y avanzaron.
[14:30] Hermanos, esto no es una acusación a ninguna persona aquí, pero lo que yo he observado en mi vida muchas veces, en la vida cristiana, si hay pecado oculto, no hay avance. Si tenemos esos de vez en cuando aquellos hábitos, no que digo hábitos que muchas veces son pecados, como esos pecados favoritos. Pues nadie se da cuenta. Pues nadie sabe. Yo lo hago a solas, a escondidas en mi casa, en el closet, etc. No, pues no pasa nada. Puedo seguir haciéndolo.
Una de esas cositas que hacíamos quizás antes de la salvación y después de la salvación, está todavía. Muchas veces la mente va a las cosas más obvias, a la fornicación o al adulterio o la borrachera o ese tipo de cosas. Esos pecados que son obvios, son horribles, son pecados que no deben estar en nuestras vidas absolutamente. Pero que de aquellos pecados también mencionados en Gálatas capítulo 5? Hay que leer versículos 16 al 26, toda esa sección. Que de esos pecados? Quizás no tan famosos. Si me puede acompañar, quiero Galatas capítulo 5, nada más quiero mencionar algunos rápidamente antes de terminar.
[15:54] Gálatas capítulo número cinco versículo dieciséis dice lo siguiente.
Bueno, voy a leer de 16 en adelante.
Galatians 5 16 para el que sigue, no puede hablar español, Galatians 5 16, Galatas 5 16.
Digo, pues andada en el espíritu.
Y no satisfagáis los deseos de la carne. Ah, pero ¿cuáles son esos?
Pues dice, esas son las obras de la carne. No se llaman, no se llama fruto, las obras de la carne, no es fruto de la carne. Dice el deseo de la carne es contra el espíritu y del espíritu es contra la carne y estos se oponen entre sí para que no hagáis lo que querríais. Pero si sois guiados por el espíritu, no estáis bajo la ley. Ahora bien, las obras de la carne son evidentes. Los cuales son? Ahí vienen los obvios, no? Adulterio, supuesto. Fornicación, absolutamente no. Inmundicia, lascivia, sí, sí. Idolatría, no. Hechicería, no, no. Hermanos, no, no hay que ser hechiceros, etc. Claro. Enemistades.
[17:05] Oh. Estamos llegando a algo más común, ¿no? Es la misma lista. La misma lista del adulterio.
Misma lista de la fornicación. Enemistades. Bueno, está bien tener una enemistad entre hermanos, ¿no? Ese hermano no me gusta. No me cae bien. Pleitos. Es uno que otro. Un pleito que otro. Está bien. Es mi carácter. Es mi personalidad. Así somos. Mi familia.
Siempre hemos sido de esa forma. Así hablamos. Muy fuerte con los hermanos. Pleitos. Celos.
Ah, pues aquellos hermanos, ellos, como que les están dando mucho a ellos, ¿no?
Y a nosotros, ¿no? O como que ellos tienen muchas oportunidades y nosotros, ¿no?
O como que ellos tienen muchos recursos y nosotros, ¿no? O aquella hermana, ella tiene todos los servicios o ella puede participar en todas las cosas de la asamblea y nunca me preguntan a mí.
O aquel hermano siempre le preguntan o le piden hablar o predicar y nunca me piden a mí. CELOS.
[18:10] Explosiones de ira, contiendas, divisiones, sectarismos. Ah, pues aquel predicador, ese sí.
Oh, sí, ese es de los míos, ese predicador es de los buenos.
Él es el que cree esto, es el que cree aquello.
Él es el que dice que se viste de esta manera y no se viste de la otra.
Y él es el que dice X, Y, Z. Y bueno, él es de los míos. Ese es el bueno.
Apolos, Pablo, Cefas, Cristo. Yo soy de Pablo, yo soy de Apolos, yo soy de Cefas, yo soy de Cristo.
Primero, otra vez, la misma actitud, la misma mentalidad de aquellos corintios que estaban mal.
[18:50] Explosiones de ira, contiendas, divisiones, sectarismos, envidias.
Y ahora regresa otra vez.
Es como un sándwich. Regresa otra vez a los más pesados homicidios, borracheras, orgías, y cosas semejantes a estas, acerca de las cuales os amonesto que ya os lo he hecho antes, que los que practican tales cosas no heredarán el reino de Dios.
Oh sí, no, no, la primera parte de la lista, muy bien, no, no, fornicación, claro que no, adulterio, no, no, yo amo a mi esposa, yo tengo ojos solamente para ella. Al final, borracheras, yo no he tocado la botella en 30 años y ni me da ganas de tocarlo, homicidios, etcétera. No, yo tengo problemas con aquellas cosas. Lo que está en medio, bueno, podemos leerlo muy rápido, como leerlo…
Brincamos a los demás. Esos son los que evito. Hermanos, hay que confesar.
[19:41] Hay que confesar. Cuando estas cosas los vemos en la vida, de repente sale ese celo, de repente esa enemistad, de repente ese pleito, de repente esas explosiones de ira, la contienda, la división.
Cuando sale, pues yo no quiero andar bien con aquel hermano.
Me ofendió. No quiero perdonarlo.
Aunque dice Mateo 18, que si tu hermano te ofendiera, ve a él, tú y él a solas y repréndele tú y él a solas.
No, no, yo ni quiero hablar con él. No, no, hermanos, hay que confesar esos pecados, son pecados, son obras de la carne, no viene del Espíritu Santo.
Y cuando hay ese pecado en la vida, no hay avance, no hay el deseo, no hay el anhelo de seguir al Señor, el anhelo de leer la palabra, el anhelo, el deseo de orar, el deseo de seguir y avanzar y madurar.
En la vida cristiana, sino que quedamos estancados.
Como vimos en Hebreos capítulo número tres, hermanos, hay que confesar tal como Acán fue juzgado.
Gracias a Dios que primero el Corintios 5 no dice que tenemos que ser apedreados.
Acán fue apedreado y su familia también.
[20:50] No, no, en el día de la gracia hay la opción de disciplina en ciertos casos cuando es necesario.
Pero hermano, sabe que algo que he notado acerca de hermanos que son fieles y son fieles hasta el final. Me he dado cuenta de algo. Son hermanos que obviamente no son disciplinados de la asamblea, pero creo que es porque se disciplinan ellos mismos. ¿Verdad?
Se disciplinan ellos mismos todos los días. Todos los días. Aquí hay una raya. No lo, voy a cruzar. Ciertos principios voy a guardarlos, voy a observar, voy a vivir y andar conforme el Espíritu Santo, no la carne, no voy a dejar que el pleito, que la enemistad, que la ira, que las contiene, que esto crece en mi corazón.
Sino que voy a entregarme completamente cada vez que lo veo, lo confieso y sigo adelante, así fue el pueblo de Dios.
Vieron el pecado, reconocieron el pecado, confesaron el pecado, pecado, juzgaron al pecado.
[21:53] Y continuaron en la vida cristiana, oh, qué bueno es confesar, qué bueno es para el corazón, qué bueno es para la mente psicológicamente, espiritualmente, qué bueno es cuando confesamos y continuamos y lo dejamos atrás.
[22:12] Atrás. El pecado de Acán atrás, confesado, tratado. El pueblo de Dios avanzando, avanzando, cambiando, transformados, más maduros, recibiendo la herencia que Dios les había dado, que Dios les había prometido, la preparación del pueblo, el pueblo preparado, el pueblo corrompido, pero también el pueblo corregido. Yo no sé cuánto tiempo tengo. Puedo continuar, pero háganlo así. Si ya quieren que termine, pueden hacerle así. Ya me voy a sentarme. Pero un punto más acerca de Josué. Se me hace muy interesante. La última cosa que voy a mencionar, quizás en otra ocasión, su confianza, la confianza de Josué. Una de las cosas más maravillosas de Josué es su confianza en la palabra de Dios. Es muy semejante a Josué. Hablamos de Éxodo 3 y cómo va de la mano con hebreos.
Encaja muy bien en el mensaje del hermano con toda la pístola.
Pues aquí también vemos que Josué, de hecho, encaja muy bien con la pístola a los efecios y también Josué.
Como ya saben, hermanos, Josué es una figura de nuestro capitán, el señor Jesucristo.
El señor Jesucristo fue fuerte y él fue valiente.
[23:26] Él tuvo confianza. Él descansaba en la palabra de Dios. Dios le llamó.
Dios le dio su palabra. Cristo obedeció la palabra y Cristo terminó su carrera aquí en la tierra.
Llegó hasta el final.
Ha resucitado, ha ascendido, sentado a la diestra de la majestad y muy pronto regresa para nosotros. Y así también Josué.
Vemos que aquí él tiene mucha confianza y uno dice ¿Por qué tiene tanta confianza? Josué.
[23:53] Ha de venir de una de esas familias grandes, esas familias buenas.
¡Ha de ser muy inteligente, Josué!
¡Ha de tener mucha experiencia en la vida, Josué! ¡Ha de tener mucho dinero, Josué!
Él tuvo todas las oportunidades y todos los recursos y por eso, no, no, dice la palabra aquí en capítulo número uno, sé fuerte y valiente.
[24:23] ¿Cómo?
Con la palabra de Dios. de Dios. Una comparación a estas tareas. Pueden buscarlo en otra ocasión.
Primera de Samuel, capítulo 13, el versículo número 7.
[24:38] No tienen que buscarlo ahorita, pero es su tarea. Pueden buscarlo en otra ocasión.
¿Quién es? ¿Dónde estaba y qué hizo?
¿Quién es? ¿Dónde estaba y qué hizo? Primera de Samuel, capítulo 13, versículo 7. Es su tarea, pero vemos lo opuesto, completamente lo opuesto de aquel hombre, en primera de Samuel. Lo opuesto lo vemos en la vida de Josué.
Crucificado en Gilgal, había celebrado la Pascua, entró y confiando no en sus habilidades, sino fuerte en la palabra de Dios.
Se me hace tan interesante que Josué fue un líder, el capitán del ejército, y él es el que tenía que planear y las estrategias y todo lo todo lo que se tiene que hacer cuando uno va a ir a la guerra y Josué toma el tiempo para leer la palabra en la mañana y en la noche, de día y de noche, de día y de noche, leyendo y leyendo, estudiando, gozando, meditando, absorbiendo, saturada la mente y por lo tanto Josué pudo ir y pudo conquistar por la palabra que estaba en la mente y en el corazón.
Josué fue fuerte y fue valiente por la palabra de Dios y así también nosotros.
Número 14, Josué y Caleb, nadie más.
[26:00] Josué capítulo 1 y los siguientes capítulos, Josué, Caleb y todos los demás.
[26:10] Termino con eso. El COVID fue muy contagioso, ¿no? Pues también una buena actitud, y un buen ejemplo para nuestros hermanos también puede ser contagioso.
Inició a solas, el único, Pero con la nueva generación.
Él mostró el ejemplo, lo que conocemos ahora como la persona de Cristo y el ejemplo de Cristo, y mostró este ejemplo a todos los demás y lo siguieron.
Ese es nuestro líder.
A él sí podemos seguir.
A él sí podemos oír. A él sí. Este sí es uno a quien podemos tomar como un ejemplo y podamos ir detrás de él.
Que seamos esos hermanos para nuestros jóvenes, para los jóvenes de la asamblea, para nuestros hijos, hermanos, nuestras esposas, nuestros familiares, líderes como Josué, basados en la palabra de Dios, no las habilidades, enfocados en la meta que Dios pone por delante de nosotros.
El pecado quitado y avanzando para conquistar y recibir la herencia que Dios tiene para nosotros.
Que el Señor bendiga su palabra y nos ayude a vivir como Josué y como nuestro, gran capitán, nuestro salvador, el Señor Jesucristo.
Estamparemos.
Ministry from Matthew Cain Saturday morning.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_04MCain09162023.m4a[0:01] Good morning. It’s great to be with you. It is a blessing for me to be at the Midland Park Conference for the first time. And so I thank the assembly here for giving me this opportunity and for the brothers who have spoken good words already today, I’m very thankful. I would like you to open your Bible with me to the book of 2 Corinthians and chapter.
[0:26] 4. My reading with you is going to be from the Christian Standard Bible this weekend.
You may wish to pull that up on a device, or you will have no problem following along, and I will speak with a familiarity with the King James text as well.
I’m reading from the CSB, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1.
Therefore, since we have this ministry, because we were shown mercy, we do not give up. We faint not.
We do not give up.
Let me just pause and re-ask a question similar to what Johnny was just asking you.
Is there anyone here that has thought recently about giving up?
Maybe you feel like you’re fainting in your walk with God, or the ministry, the sphere of service in which you are engaged in, you feel it’s too much for you, and you feel maybe Maybe it’s time now to throw in the towel.
You feel like giving up.
[1:39] I want to speak with you this morning about when serving the Lord is hard.
When serving the Lord is hard.
Let’s pick up again at verse 5.
For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now, verse 7, we have this treasure in clay jars, earthen vessels, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair.
[2:30] We are persecuted, but not abandoned. We are struck down, but not destroyed.
10, we always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that Jesus’ life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. So then death is at work in us, but life in you. Verse 13, And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, Psalm 116, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore, speak.
For we know, we know, that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.
Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that His grace extends through more and more people it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.
16. Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day, for our momentary light, affliction.
[3:47] Is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
There’s a song in our hymn book with which I have a bit of a love-hate relationship.
I love it because it directs me to the cross and it expresses gospel truth with crystal clarity.
So I love it for that reason. My negative feelings toward the song are because of one line in the chorus and because it’s in the chorus, of course, it gets repeated. So I hear it all through the song. Maybe you know it. I’m gonna, I’ll start the first line, and if you know this song, you join in.
[4:39] With me, okay? At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day. I gotta delete that from the recording. It’s the happy all the day line that makes me a little bit grumpy. Because, maybe I’m just a little bit jealous of Mr. Ralph Hudson who wrote it, but while I do rejoice in my Savior and my salvation, I don’t sense happiness all the time. Do you? And I wonder if you were to take that song, I mean, imagine some of the experiences that Paul writes about later in 2 Corinthians 4, I wonder if you could meet him with the words of that song when he’s going through some of of those experience, maybe you interject just after lash number 37 of 39 has come down for for the fifth time.
[5:53] Or when he’s in his third shipwreck and your head is bobbing with his, and he’s reaching for a piece of driftwood, and you say, sing it with me, Paul. Now I am happy all the day. I don’t know. Maybe, he would have. He was a remarkable servant. He did sing in the prison cell in Philippi. He did carry on for Christ, even when ministry was hard. But why does serving the Lord have to be so hard sometimes. You probably haven’t been stoned like Paul but you could say with him in verse 8 that you have you have been perplexed. You probably haven’t been without food and clothing but you know what it is to sense a little bit of increasing antagonism and persecution from the culture and if we serve the, the enthroned Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of our Confession, seated at the right hand of God.
If God is with this assembly, why is it so hard sometimes?
[6:57] Why is it hard to serve the Lord? Verses 7-12, the challenge of Christian ministry.
Why serving the Lord is hard.
And if you’re a young believer, and you say, well, I haven’t actually yet found serving the Lord to be a difficult thing, that’s okay, I don’t think any lesser of you, but you will one day.
[7:25] And serving the Lord in an evil age, which is what we are in, was never supposed to be easy.
The Lord Jesus said that when we enter that narrow gate, we are stepping onto a narrow, hemmed-in, difficult road that leads to life. So don’t be surprised when you face some adversity, and serving the Lord. And don’t think you should give up just because it gets, hard. And when you press on and it gets a little bit harder, don’t think that you should give up then. It’s the way it was supposed to be. I just read recently the words of one preacher, and this isn’t just the experience of preachers, it’ll be in whatever sphere of ministry you are in, but after, he says, after 21 years of ministry, I’ve sensed a theme. Ministry is hard. Every year is different, but one thing is certain, it’s not going to be easy. And at times you may question, did God really call me to this? You may feel alone, and you may feel overwhelmed, and you may feel absolutely spent, and at times you might even resent the ministry role that God has given you.
[8:51] But he says the Lord never said it would be easy.
[8:55] Well I would agree with all that. I would add one thing to it.
Serving the Lord is also wonderful.
It’s well worth it. It’s a good thing. Verse 11, it ultimately leads to the glory of God, but the pathway to glory, not just for preachers. The pathway to glory for anyone who wants to serve the Lord is going to be paid with some perplexities and some difficulties. Maybe, maybe you just offered to teach a Sunday school class and just not long after you get engaged in teaching that class, you discover that the parents of one of the children in your class are very difficult to work with.
[9:35] Well, that doesn’t mean you give up and leave the challenge to somebody else.
Somebody has to deal with them.
Maybe you just step forward in fear and trembling, with confidence in God, and you’re helping out in a role of oversight in the local church, and just after you step into that role, it seems like crisis after crisis after crisis hits the assembly.
[10:00] Or maybe, maybe you try to preach the gospel a little bit, and some of the older sisters at the back throw rotten tomatoes at you.
Well, be aware in advance that 2 Corinthians 4 is teaching us that the Lord has told us it would be hard at times.
But why has God let it be so? Well, I see two reasons here in the immediate setting of 2 Corinthians 4.
Number seven, to display the power of God. To display the power of God. And here’s this brave, mighty, spirit-filled Apostle Paul. He understood this. I am just a clay jar.
And there is an impressive treasure and knowledge of God’s glory. There’s an impressive treasure within the vessel, but I am a vulnerable, fragile vessel of clay.”.
[11:07] Mr. McShane, in his commentary, What the Bible Teaches on 2 Corinthians, he says, “…likely in no other part of the New Testament do we have such an emphasis put upon the frailty, of the human vessel as in 2 Corinthians 4-5.”, And this treasure has been placed in fragile men and women, such as you and I, so that, – there’s a purpose clause, did you notice that?
Verse 7, now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that we can more clearly perceive, the extraordinary power of God.
[11:47] So one of the reasons that serving the Lord is hard sometimes is for you and I to remember that we are just clay vessels, and all the glory belongs to God, and the power for ministry success—whatever that may be, that’s an interesting phrase—but the power for ministry success belongs to God.
I would like you, as a young Christian.
To learn this really well and to remember it. I need to get reminded of it from time to time, probably just about 52 times a year. And Paul’s been on this theme since he began this section.
Back at the end of chapter 2, he mentions Titus. He’s going to come back to Titus in chapter 7, but all in between that, from the end of chapter 2 into the beginning of chapter 7, he’s on this theme of the ministry of the gospel, the ministry that he’s been given. And this is what he says, It’s not that we are competent in ourselves. It is not that. But our adequacy is from God.
We are just clay jars. And whatever aspect of Christian ministry you engage in, true, God-glorifying ministry success hinges upon not how strong you are and how great you are, but upon the power of God.
[13:12] And that’s a humbling thing, and that is a thrilling, encouraging thing.
And it is a humbling thing when we come face to face with our own weakness and frailty.
But it’s encouraging to see what God can do in the face of human weakness.
And I’ll be honest, I don’t like the fact that I am just a clay jar, it bothers me.
I don’t like the fact that teaching the Bible doesn’t come easier to me.
I don’t like the fact that I am mentally, physiologically far weaker than I ever thought I would be.
I don’t like the fact that there’s people that I care for and they’re in situations and I don’t know how to help them or I can’t help them.
But every one of those afflictions and perplexities, What does it cause me to do?
It causes me to kneel in dependence upon God.
It causes me to stand back and see the mercy and the power of God. That’s good for me.
That’s good for God.
So Paul is emphasizing this contrast between how the Corinthians thought, Christian ministry should work and how it really worked.
They thought Christian ministry depended upon lofty human credentials in the world standards and the strength of men and an impressive exterior presence.
[14:42] And Paul says, it’s a priceless treasure in clay jars. The Corinthians had this mistaken thinking that the power of the apostle lay in the power of the apostle.
Paul says, no, you’re mistaken.
The power of the apostle lay in the weakness of the apostle.
So that what is displayed is the power of God. Look at the language here in verse 7.
We have this surpassing power, this excellency of power, this extraordinary power.
That’s where we get our English word hyperbole, you know, like exaggeration.
We have a… Well, we hear a word sometimes now, over-exaggerate.
That irks me a little bit. That’s not a word, but it’ll probably end up in our dictionary nonetheless.
That’s hyperbole when we go beyond the truth a little bit.
Well, this original word in the New Testament, it meant to be beyond measure.
More importantly, this is the word that you find back in chapter 1, verse number 8.
Listen to how the CSB renders 2 Corinthians 1.8.
[16:00] We are completely overwhelmed, beyond our strength, so that we even despaired of life itself.
Now, some of you here know that feeling, and that’s a very frightening feeling.
You’ve been given a work from God, and you feel you can’t fulfill it.
You’ve put your heart and soul into something and your body can’t keep up.
[16:35] You know you’re supposed to go stand before the flock and you don’t even feel like going to meeting. You’ve got children to care for and you can’t get out of bed.
Well, Paul was there and he says in chapter 1 verse 9, he says, I learned something when I was there. When I was completely overwhelmed and I despaired of life, this is what I learned, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God.
Now, I perceive this has been a bit of a recurring lesson in the few messages we have heard.
And so maybe this is a lesson that some of us need to learn and hear carefully.
Because God uses these trials and these valleys to remind us that the power isn’t of us, but it’s of God.
The power isn’t in your female intuition. The power isn’t in your leadership style.
You.
[17:32] No, we are vulnerable jars of clay, all of us. But the answer for vulnerable jars of clay who sense the exceeding pressure and stresses of life is the exceeding power of God.
So there is reason to be encouraged.
Your weakness, your anxieties, your health issues, your insufficiencies for ministry, those are all things that teach us the sufficiency and the power of God.
Wasn’t that what Moses learned in Exodus chapter three? Human frailty and human weakness are not the hindrances to the work of God.
There are hindrances to the work of God.
Christian weakness is not one of them.
That just gives us a window into God’s power. Christian ministry is hard so that we might see displayed the power of God.
[18:30] A second reason ministry is hard, verses 10 and 11, so that our experience parallels the pathway of Jesus.
That it displays the power of God, that it parallels the pathway of Jesus.
Now I know the language in verse 10 and 11 is a little bit awkward, but I think what he is saying is this.
Just as Jesus actually died, so the sufferings that I’m enduring are killing me.
[19:03] And just as Jesus actually rose from the dead, the life of Jesus in verse 10 and 11 is his resurrection life.
Just as he actually rose from the dead, so my escapes from near-death experiences, they’re like many resurrections.
[19:21] Suffering, death, weakness, the power of the life of Jesus. See, the Corinthians had this problem of over-realized eschatology, right?
They were talking like they should be reigning with King Jesus now, and Paul is teaching them the theology of the cross, the way of the cross.
The cross is what shapes Paul’s ministry. Look at Philippians 2.3.
That is cruciform, that is cross-shaped Christian ministry.
And here in chapter 13 of this book, he says, he says, Christ was crucified in weakness, and we also are weak in him.
So a life that is molded by the cross, shaped by the cross, is going to involve some weakness and some suffering.
Now our culture goes to great extent to eliminate suffering, to erase it.
We worship the idols of ease and comfort and convenience.
Ryan Lister gives us this warning. He says, when our hearts fall in love with convenience, the call of Jesus to shoulder a cross will seem strangely foreign.
[20:46] When our hearts fall in love with convenience, the call of Jesus to shoulder a cross, will feel strangely foreign.
I don’t want to sound extreme or hypocritical here. I like conveniences too.
I like a vehicle with Apple CarPlay.
That is really helpful.
And a heated seat. That’s also nice. And when David Hamilton called me the other day on Labor Day to chat with me about the conference, I answered the phone from my hammock.
And I didn’t hide that from him.
I was enjoying the hammock right then.
But what the flesh does is it takes good gifts from God, like rest and hammocks, and it turns them into idols. And I need to hear that too, because I sense within me, I like my creature comforts a little bit too much at times too, but I’m trying to remind us today that it’s okay to have to do some hard, inconvenient things. And it’s only reasonable that Christian and ministry will sometimes be hard because it takes its shape from the cross and the, pathway of the Lord Jesus.
[21:52] Now remember, the cross, the weakness of the cross, that’s followed by resurrection power and along with his service, excuse me, along with his sufferings, this noble servant experienced the resurrection power of life in his ministry.
But I’m going to stop talking about that because I don’t know a whole lot about either of those things. But let’s notice the two reasons that serving the Lord is sometimes hard here.
So that the power of God will be displayed and so that we learn to parallel the pathway of Christ and His cross. It’s okay if it’s hard sometimes.
[22:32] However, I would like to shift gears a little bit now and give you a few more encouraging, words. Verses 7 to 12, the challenge of Christian ministry. Verses 13 to 18, conviction and courage for ministry, why we don’t give up.
[22:53] Now, verse 13 gives us this brief, simple, yet fascinating quotation from Psalm 116, by the way, younger believers, as you’re studying your Bible and you’re reading in the New Testament and you see there’s a quotation from the Old Testament, you go back and look into the context of that Old Testament passage and why is he using that now and how is he using that?
And there is often a treasure trove of glory in seeing how the Old Testament is used in the New.
Psalm 116 for example, this little quotation come from Psalm 116 and Psalm 116 has plenty to say about sufferings and victory. The sorrows of death wrapped, around me. You Lord delivered me from death. Then the psalmist says, I believed.
[23:45] Even when I suffered.” And as Paul is meditating on Psalm 116, he sees a shared experience between himself and the people of God in Scripture. And he concludes, my faith is built upon the same Scriptures as the people of God in the past, so in my sufferings too, I also will choose to believe what God has said.
So he takes encouragement from the scriptures. Verse 16, verse 10, excuse me, we also believe and therefore we speak. I mean, what gives you the courage to speak up for Christ at times in a culture that is antagonistic towards God and hates the Christian ethic? What could give you the courage to do that? Well, you’ve, You’ve got to believe the Scripture.
[24:44] You don’t need more authority than the scripture. There is no greater authority.
Maybe at times you think, boy, the Bible is being mocked so much and what I stand for is being attacked. I didn’t anticipate it being quite like this. Well, this is when you remember that attacks against the Bible are actually nothing new. That that’s been happening for centuries and it doesn’t bother the Bible in the least little bit. I know you and I don’t always have instant answers for the critic and the skeptic, but we don’t need to be ashamed to engage in Christian ministry with the authority of the scriptures sustaining us. And the scriptures do sustain us. They embolden our faith. They give us courage to keep going, just as Paul takes courage from Psalm 116.
You know what, Psalms, I saw this in the life of my father. He was always a man of the Bible. I’d.
[25:44] Come out of my bedroom in the morning and he’s there at his desk with his Bible in front of him and shelves of commentaries behind him. He was always the man of the Bible. But when life started to crumble around him a little bit, he just drowned himself in the Scriptures and especially the Psalms. And some of the words that he gave, some of the messages that he gave from the Psalms at times after the Lord’s Supper there in Halifax was amazing, honestly. Powerful words. The Word of God sustained him. How could he speak in the midst of the chaos in his life when business crumbled and other things attacking him? He believed, he was in the Scriptures, and he spoke. So in your weakness and in your affliction and in your perplexity, when you don’t know how to carry on, Make sure you get into the Bible.
Get into the Bible before then.
[26:40] I’m currently reading with our younger children a book. We read it with our older children a few years ago.
The book is called In Search of the Source. It’s a story of Wycliffe Bible translators in Papua New Guinea.
And early on in that story, Neil Anderson writes about an experience that’s very similar to what I’m speaking of here.
That paralyzing sense of weakness matched by encouragement from the scriptures to press on.
He knew plenty of challenges. He didn’t have the threat of persecution.
They were welcomed by the Fallopa people, Neil and Carol Anderson.
There was the peculiar hardship of a foreign diet.
They were on a journey through the jungle and he needed a little quick boost of energy.
So he took out his Cadbury Chocolipper and there’s 40 eyes on him wondering what this is and would he share.
Well, he has to share. So he lets them have a bite of the Cadbury Chocolipper.
They never tasted chocolate in their life.
[27:39] The others are watching. What’s it taste like?
He said, he said, brothers, I am dying from the deliciousness of whatever this is.
And he’s licking his lips and they said, well, what does it taste like?
What could he compare it to? He said, this is like, this is as good as pig’s liver.
Well, they all, they all thought that was pretty good.
He shares the Cadbury Chocolat Pie with him. So that means that they would, they would share their sage beetle larvae with him, roasted over the fire, a big mouthful of it, and he got it down. That was a challenge. And the challenge of health, his wife had an allergic reaction, fell into a coma for days, near death. And then just the challenge of ministry itself. He’s there to translate the scriptures into a language that he’s struggling to grasp, and he’s given a deadline, such and such a day you’re to have 10 chapters done for the first meeting. And he was overwhelmed. He I wasn’t ready, and I didn’t think I’d ever be ready.
This is what he prayed. Lord, I can’t do this. And the man who willingly came here with excitement must have been someone else because I am weak and I can’t do this by myself.
[28:54] Is there somewhere in your word where you will tell me that you will help me?
That’s an interesting request.
And over the next little while he read through he read through several New Testament books and he comes to Hebrews And he gets to the end of Hebrews chapter 13 and he reads, now may the God of peace who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus equip you with everything good, to do his will.
He said, I got what I needed.
God said he will equip me and I gripped those verses like the oars of a lifeboat.
Those scriptures kept him afloat so that he did not give up.
[29:32] And when serving the Lord as hard as it will be, We need to be sustained and encouraged from the Scriptures.
And the experience of Old Testament saints has emboldened my faith on many times.
We were reminded last night of Joseph.
You face temptation.
Did anybody in the Bible deal with what you’re dealing with?
Joseph was there before you.
Or you go away to another city for university. Nobody in the Bible went through something like that, did they?
In Bible times and there’s Daniel in a foreign city being educated in that city, maintaining his purity. Maybe there’s something and you wish that your assembly could really get in this and give it your all and then you think, no, we’re probably too small to try this work for God.
Well, Gideon’s been there before you.
[30:24] Maybe you feel a little discouraged because you’ve heard the call of God to do something in the past and you know that you’ve disobeyed the will of God. You haven’t followed His leading and you feel defeated and you wonder if God would have anything for you still.
And you read the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. God still works with you.
Maybe you’ve reached the end of your rope, and you feel like quitting on God’s people.
[30:54] And you read about Elijah in the cave, or you read about Moses in the wilderness.
Maybe you feel the challenge of speaking up to a pagan culture, and you think of how Esther has been there before you, and you take courage.
Maybe you feel you’re a young sister, and you don’t have a real role to play, you’re insignificant, and you read about Naaman’s maid, and the role she played in serving that man, she tells him of a prophet of God.
Maybe you feel completely overwhelmed with stress and anxiety, it’s too much, it’s too hard, and you come to the Psalms, that’s where the Apostle Paul was.
And he comes into Psalm 116, and he believes the word, and he takes courage to continue.
Now listen to his conviction in verse 14. knowing, we know that the one who raised the Lord, how do you know, Paul?
How do you know? Because I believed.
That’s how it works, by the way. Faith will lead to certainty.
Believing the scriptures will lead to confidence.
And he’s got Psalm 116 ringing in his ears. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
We know the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us.
Verse 16, therefore we faint not.
We do not give up.
[32:22] That conviction has bookended this chapter. Verse 1, we don’t give up.
Verse 16, we do not give up. He’s just a fragile, vulnerable clay jar.
That’s who the mighty apostle is.
But as long as God keeps supplying divine power, then he’s going to continue to engage in ministry.
As long as God will keep supplying power, then he’s going to keep keeping on, because his willingness to do hard things despite his personal weakness displays the power of God. It’s for God’s glory and it allows him to experience a parallel pathway to the Lord Jesus. And now in verse 17 it produces an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. Now you see that language there in verse 17, the King James far more exceeding. There’s our word again, right?
Beyond measure. So the extraordinary pressures of chapter 1 that overwhelmed.
[33:32] Him, that led him to see displayed the extraordinary power of God in chapter 4 that enabled him, and that has led to this extraordinary weight of glory that awaits him. Extraordinary pressures pave the way for the extraordinary power of God which lead to this extraordinary weight of glory. Two things I would like you to remember today. Serving the Lord is going to be hard sometimes. Two, serving the Lord is wonderful. It’s good. It’s worth it. Don’t give up. Don’t give, up, lean heavily upon God, remember the pathway of the Lord Jesus, and take courage from God’s, infallible word.
Ministry from Jonathan Seed Saturday morning.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_03JSeed09162023.m4a[0:01] Hebrews chapter number 3. I’d like to read a few verses from the beginning of the chapter. Hebrews chapter number 3.
I thought it was interesting. Our brother’s message goes very well with the entire book of Hebrews. In fact, his outline is an outline you could use for the epistle to.
[0:28] Hebrews and I thought to myself, well isn’t that just so characteristic of the Word of God? Perfect continuity from beginning all the way to the end. We think right at the beginning of the message that, we heard, He’s the God that comes close, well that’s the Book of Hebrews. This is the incarnate, Son of God. This is the one who is not ashamed to call us His brethren. You think of the second point? Well, he is also the God that makes claims on us. Well, Hebrews is a book that is full of exhortation. I believe if I counted correctly, there are roughly 38 different exhortations in the epistle to the Hebrews, maybe a few more, maybe a few less. He’s the God also who keeps covenant. Well, that’s the epistle to the Hebrews. And in the epistle to the Hebrews, we see the Lord, Jesus Christ, the one who has become a surety of a better covenant, the one that is founded upon better promises. He keeps covenant as he did in the Old Testament. He does in the New and the person of his son. He’s a God who cares. Well, we see this in the, epistle to the Hebrews, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who comes. He is the one that himself hath suffered, being tempted so that he is able to succor them that are tempted. We see in the epistle to the Hebrews that he’s a, God who comes close, and I missed your last point, it was to see that He’s consistent.
[1:54] He’s consistent, He’s the same, the I Am, we could say He communicates.
[2:01] Well, we see this in the epistle to the Hebrews. He is Jesus, the same yesterday and today and.
[2:10] Forever. He’s the same. He will never change. And so it’s my desire this weekend and the few messages that we have in the little time that we have to speak, to speak to you from the, epistle to the Hebrews.
And I’d like to notice in the exhortations that we have, the same exhortations that we heard from the Old Testament, but the writer to the Hebrews will tell us if we could boil them down or we could reduce them down to just four different exhortations.
The writer to this epistle, sorry, to these believers will tell us number one, to keep going.
[2:41] That’s chapters three and chapter number four, chapter number 12 as well.
Keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t go backwards. Don’t be stagnated.
But go forward. The second exhortation that we could see, if we boil them down, 38 different exhortations, we can see that the writer to the Hebrews will tell us, look forward, keep going, and look forward. Don’t look back, don’t look down, look up, and look ahead. And we see this especially in chapter number 11, in chapter 12, and also in chapter number 13. But it’s all through the book, chapters 1 and 2 as well. I’ll get to that in a different message. We see that in chapter number six, the writer to the Hebrews will tell us to go deeper into the Word of God. He wants to, explain great things about Melchizedek, but because of their dullness of hearing and because they were so slow to listen to the Word of God, he’s not able to go on. We have many things to say.
They are hard to be uttered, but you are dull of hearing. He goes on and says it anyway. I noticed that as well in the epistle to the Hebrews. So I’m going to go on and talk about Melchizedek anyway as well, even if some of you might be a little dull of hearing. My apologies, I hope you’re not.
[3:49] He says to go deeper, and we see also in the book towards the end, not only to go deeper, but very similar to the bush as we’ve heard this morning, come closer. Not only the God who comes close, the God who comes close to us, but the God that asks us to come close to Him with boldness and with confidence that we might approach the throne of grace.
For all that he is considering, all that he has done for us, considering all that he has provided for us, we boldly approach the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find help in the time of need.
Find grace and help in the time of need. And so may the Lord help us as we consider the epistle to the Hebrews.
I’d like to read the beginning of chapter number three and where we see this writer, Not sure who it is and that’s not my purpose this weekend. Not enough time for that.
But in chapter number three, I’d like to just consider right at the beginning, keep going.
Keep going. I’m wondering if there’s someone among us this evening, this morning, and you’re just wondering about putting the brakes on.
[5:04] And you’re thinking there’s not much gas left in the tank. Times are tough, times are difficult.
I’m not sure that I can keep going.
Hebrews chapter three has the answer.
Verse one says this, wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.
[5:22] Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, As also Moses was faithful in all his house, for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house.
[5:43] For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God.
And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are, are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
And I’m really interested in verses seven down to verse number 12.
They say this, wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my works forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said they do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, so I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, into my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is cold today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
And we’ll stop the reading there, considering the time, and ask the Lord to bless the reading of His Word.
[7:05] The setting of Hebrews was hardened hearts, unbelief, the deceitfulness of sin.
It’s difficult when we come to these epistles where we don’t know much about the author, and that might be part of the epistle, part of the reason why there isn’t a mention of the author, but we don’t know much about him. We also don’t know much about the audience. You know, you read all the different commentaries and they’ll tell you one theory and another about who the audience is. They’re all Gentiles, say some. They’re all Jews, say another. It’s a mixed audience and different ratios that you hear from different people. Well, we’re not exactly sure. What we do know is this, they understood the Old Testament and they could receive an exhortation and an example from the Old Testament, an example of the people of God who had the same problems that they did, the hardened hearts, the unbelief, the deceitfulness of sin. So it appears that for these believers who received this letter, they were having trouble going on. They wanted, they needed to keep going. Well, the writer thought to himself, this reminds me of something.
I remember in the book of Numbers, he says, I imagine, this is my imagination.
I remember in the book of Numbers and back in Numbers 14, perhaps he was, thinking about, we know very specifically he mentioned Psalm 95 as he quoted here in the verses that we read. Back in Numbers 14, I remember the people of God and I remember how they provoked the Lord, the provocation among Israel in, Numbers chapter number 14. You see, one of the things that I’ve noticed in Numbers 14 is that they brought up an evil report of the land. I wonder if, I wonder if that’s what happened in the assembly there with these believers.
[8:34] The people be strong that dwell in the land, they said. The men went to the city. They saw the fortifications.
They saw the giants. They saw all the resources.
They saw the infrastructure and they thought to themselves, it’s too big. It’s too much. We can’t go in.
The cities are walled and they are very great.
Great reasons, all the reasons not to go in.
We saw the children of Addak there.
The Amalekites, they dwell in the south, the Hittites and the Jebusites, they all dwell in the mountains, the Canaanites, they dwell down by the sea. All the reasons we should never go in, to Canaan. They are stronger than we. It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.
The evil report. Imagine to yourself, I wonder how the people felt. Imagine them coming back from Canaan. You’re all excited. We heard about the promises from God himself, Jehovah to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and the land that we are to inherit, that we are to possess, and we come to the border, just about to enter, and they come back with a report. No, sorry guys, it looks really difficult. I don’t think we’re going to go in. You know, I wonder if for these believers who received this letter, it was much of the same thing. Provocation, it was an evil report.
He tells them in verse number seven, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
[9:55] There was an evil report from someone. I don’t know exactly what the evil report was.
This is my, again, I’m surmising here. The evil report, maybe somebody in the fellowship, somebody in the assembly came back.
Somebody who was part of the, maybe who had one foot in the synagogue or one foot in Jewish life.
And they came back to believers in the assembly and they’re telling them, you know, we could always go back.
You know, there’s always a back door in Christianity. Maybe it’s the way that they saw it.
We could go back where we have the rabbi. We could go back where we have our fellow believers.
You know, here in this part of the country, I’m from Canada, but this part of the country, I notice lots of Jewish people. Something I notice about at least the Orthodox sort.
Similar kind of dress. There’s almost something attractive about it.
Maybe I’m weird, I don’t know. There’s almost something attractive about it. You know, it’s a community. There’s things in common. Common dress. Common traditions. Common history.
Most, a lot of them probably related.
[10:53] And you think to yourself, it’d be very difficult to leave. I wonder if that’s precisely what was happening here with these believers, a provocation to fall back, to go backwards, to go back to Egypt.
These are the kinds of things that we see later on in the letter.
I’ll mention that in a moment.
But we see that they were provoked to return. I thought about it this way.
All the reasons not to believe the report. That’s all they heard.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about in my own mind as I consider my own life and I consider my own journey or my own life and walk with the Lord, is I think how many times I consider all the reasons why something will not work out.
And dear believers, I’d like to tell you this afternoon, one of the things that helped me from time to time, it’s a struggle, but that helped me from time to time is this, instead of thinking of all the reasons why something will not work out, think of all the reasons why God, all the reasons why God is faithful.
[11:58] Remember all the reasons why God can be trusted, not all the reasons that things can go wrong.
You see here, these believers say they were provoked. I wonder if here in the assembly, those who are visiting from outside, being provoked, maybe not to return all the way to Egypt, maybe not to leave the faith, but you’re being provoked to be stagnant, to not move forward, to not keep going. I think of young mothers here in the crowd, wrestling with the kids, day in and day out. It’s not worth it. Clock out. Get the iPad. Turn the computer on. Put the movies on. I don’t want to be a hypocrite. People here have been to my house. They know I have an iPad.
I have computers. My kids do watch movies. So I’m not throwing stones to you young mothers.
But you know, sometimes you just throw in the towel. It’s too much. Why read my Bible in the morning? I have four kids, five kids, two kids. I have one child. It’s too much. Keep going.
Harden not your hearts. Don’t be fooled by the deceitfulness of sin.
You know, you think also of older mothers.
It’s a difficult time. I’ve never been one. It’s a difficult time, but I can see from a distance.
Mothers wrestling maybe with bitterness.
[13:12] Maybe with jealousy. It’s kind of a difficult juggle, you know, you don’t want to be too involved, but you don’t want to be too distant. Your kids are grown, they have their own children, you want to be a help, but you don’t want to be overbearing. You get complaints that you’re too involved, you get complaints that you’re not involved enough. She’s always at her house, she never comes to her house, she never babysits, she’s kind of always babysitting. You know, it’s a difficult thing for an older mother, for a mother-in-law. Don’t give up, keep going.
The deceitfulness of sin, the hardening of the heart, wanting to stay in one place, in fact, even wanting to go backwards.
I think of the young sisters here in the crowd, you know, it’s a difficult thing.
You’re not quite at that stage yet, you’re still at the beginning.
Thinking of marriage, you don’t want to move too soon. Nothing’s happening, maybe for others, nobody on the horizon.
Harden not your hearts, keep going.
[14:04] Keep going. Don’t be fooled by the deceitfulness of sin. Young men, wrestling with temptation, it’s easy to give in.
It’s easy to stay in the same spot. All my friends are the same.
My friends indulge the different temptations that come to my mind, the different things that I can be involved with.
Well, it’s easy just to give up again and to throw in the towel.
The writer to the Hebrews wanted to tell these believers, keep going.
Do not be fooled by the deceitfulness of your sin. As the Israelites, as they did in the provocation, they said to themselves, or they said to Moses, would God we had died in Egypt in the wilderness, why did you bring us all the way out?
Why to suffer all of these temptations, to suffer the hunger?
We want the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
We’re not better for us to return into Egypt.
You know, one of the things that I found interesting, this isn’t really the point of the message, he says there, they say, let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt. They didn’t realize it, but that day they made a captain.
[15:10] That wasn’t a captain to take them back to Egypt. They made a captain. Do you know who it was?
It was Joshua. They didn’t ask Joshua at that moment to lead them into the promised land, but that’s where, I would suggest to you, that’s where Joshua was made.
And that moment, as Joshua returned, he saw the failure of his peers, the failure of his fellow companions, the men who came back, they gave the evil report. Joshua and Caleb, they saw what was right. They knew that God could take them in. God had, promised. God had made the promise. God would be true to the promise. God would guide them in, lead them in. God would fight their victories. God would give them the inheritance and all the rest of the brethren, they gave up. And I think in, that precise moment, I imagine that Joshua was made as a leader. I wonder if there’s young men today. We heard last night about the, the goodness of carrying a burden in your young age. Are there young men in this crowd today? Difficulties abound. Lots to complain about. Lots of reasons to go back. Lots of reasons to stay in the same place. Maybe all your friends, they’re in the same spot. Go forward. Keep going. Don’t give up.
[16:22] The deceitfulness of sin, the hardening of the hearts. But he says here also, verse number 13, I want you to notice something about the exhortation of the writer to the Hebrews.
Not only the hardening of the heart. But he said there’s a way, there’s a way that this will come about. There’s a way that we can help our fellow believers. There’s a way that we can keep going.
Look down at verse number 13. He says to them, take heed brethren, take heed brethren, but jumping down to verse number 13, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest you be be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Don’t you remember what it was like? Go to the house, going to the house of the brethren.
I imagine the writer to the Hebrews, if he was around physically, going to their house, just keep going, don’t go backwards, exhorting one another daily.
You know, I find so much help when brethren come and they come to help me and tell me to keep going.
I find that help even in my own wife.
I find that in fellow believers, family members, et cetera. When somebody comes along and just gives you a little word to keep going.
The other day we were at a sister’s house. Maybe some of you relate to this. We’re at a sister’s house and she hadn’t been to meeting in quite a while. How are you doing, sister? Won’t say the.
[17:39] Name. And while I’m doing okay, you know, kind of sitting on the couch slouched, didn’t look very enthusiastic, tried to encourage her with a few words, you know, I just feel kind of lethargic.
You know, I go to work and I come home and I don’t really want to get out of bed. I’m struggling to find motivation.
[17:58] Different things. I’m not sinning necessarily. I’m not going into the things of the world, but I just find myself in a stagnant position. And we didn’t have anything brilliant to say to her.
You know, I didn’t give her five Ps or give her a long message or a great exegetical sermon on Hebrews chapter 7. We just gave her a few words of encouragement. Just keep going.
Why don’t you come to meeting tonight? We’ll be at 7.30. We’ll pick you up.
You know what? I think I’ll come. It’s been a while. I think I’ll come. Exhort one another daily while it is cold today. One of the greatest resources that we have in our Christian life is our fellow believers. I know it’s maybe a little more difficult in America. I don’t know what it’s like further afield. In Mexico, everybody lives close together. Everybody’s in each other’s business, for better or for worse. And you have a lot of contact with, other people and you can speak to them on a daily basis and you can go and visit them and you can give them these words of excerpt. A little bit more difficult here in the United States, everybody’s spread out, everything’s through the telephone, maybe through email, don’t look at me, don’t touch me, I’m in my home, you’re in your home, especially during COVID, you know, a lot of people enjoyed that, six feet, six meters, whatever it was, and we’ll keep our distance, and we’ll carry on with our lives and you do you and I will do me and etc. We’ll go on.
[19:21] Exhort one another daily, while it is cold today, lest you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
How is it that we keep going? It’s not an individualistic type life that we live with Christianity.
How is it that we carry on? How is it that we persevere? How is it that we look forward and go on to the rest that the Lord has for us?
Well, he tells them here, not just the exhortation with your fellow brethren, brethren, but we have to go back to the beginning of the chapter.
[19:50] You see, the great theme of the book of Hebrews is the Lord Jesus Christ, from the beginning all the way to the end.
It’s a fascinating book. I recommend it to you. For many years, I avoided it.
The book of Hebrews was daunting. I thought it was too complicated.
There’s too much, a lot of chapters, hard to outline, hard to distinguish things, hard to understand things. It’s a beautiful book, not as complicated as it looks.
[20:13] But right from the beginning, we learn about Christ and His Majesty.
We carry on to the next chapter where we learn about Christ and His incarnation.
And there’s a reason for this trajectory.
I want to talk about that later on in a different message.
But we learn about Christ, the one who was sat at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. But in the following chapter, we learn about the one who was made a little bit lower, a little lower than the angels.
He was crowned with glory and honor. He tasted death for all men.
He was not ashamed to call us his brethren.
The one who defeated he who had the power over death, that is the devil.
The one who partook of flesh and blood, the one who was able to become a merciful and faithful high priest for each and every one of us. And one of the things that the apostle or the writer says to these believers is he said, as you encourage one another and as you exhort one another daily, and as you think about going forward or you think about staying in the same spot, consider him at the beginning of the chapter number three, consider him, consider, the apostle and the high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, faithful to him that appointed him. He says it again later on in chapter number 12. I believe it’s chapter 7. He might say it a third time in a slightly different context. Consider him. How do we move forward? We keep Christ before us.
[21:27] How do we keep going? We consider the one who endured such contradiction of sinners so that we may not faint. How do we keep going? We consider him who is the apostle and the high priest, the one who was sent from above and came down to the earth, the one who endured the spitting and the shame, who endured the rejection, who endured all of his own family, endured all of his own nation being against him, the apostle who came, who was sent from God, faithful and obedient to his God, the heavenly calling called from above.
[22:01] He’s a high priest. He intercedes between. This would have been especially helpful for those believers who receive this letter, especially if they were Jewish, but it’s no different for us. And the priest is someone who goes between.
[22:15] They had priests. They had priests that could help them. But not one of those priests could help them in the way that this priest would help. And as he goes through the epistle, he would like to explain to them how this priest is different. He just teases us in chapter number two, towards the end, he brings up the topic. And one of the things you’ll notice about this book is that he’ll bring up a topic, and then he’ll go to the next one, and then he’ll circle around and pick it up again, and then he’ll explain it to a greater degree, and then he’ll bring up another topic and he’ll drop it and he’ll go on to something else and come back to the topic again and explain it to a greater degree. That’s one of the things that he does with the topic of priesthood. At the end of chapter 2 he’s following the storyline all the way from incarnation to glory and as he comes to the end he mentions his mercy, he mentions his faith, he mentions his sucker, but then he drops the subject. Fix it up again in chapter number 3. He’s the high priest, he is the one who comes down, who comes between, but he is Christ Jesus. He is the one who was faithful as a son. The son who became a priest. The son who was, faithful over all his house. The son who became a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The son who became a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who sits at the right hand and waits until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. And he says, look, consider this man. Look to this man. He’s gone before. He’s the pioneer. He’s the perfecter. He’s the author.
He’s the finisher, He goes before, consider Him.
[23:43] He’s gone through it all. He’s endured it all. He knows what it’s like. He feels your pain.
Consider Him and you’ll keep going.
[23:55] The last thing I wanna mention here is, in this little section, I’m not going to go through expositionally through every verse here in verses one through six, but I just wanted to mention this.
I think what He wants to emphasize In chapters 3 and 4, it’s faithfulness.
Faithfulness.
How’s your faith? How’s your faithfulness?
[24:20] Chapter three and four are difficult and I’m not going to throw my hat in the ring or nail my colors to the mast with respect to rest. Whether it’s a present rest or a future rest, I think I’m young enough to say I’ll figure that out later and that both are true.
We have rest and there will be a future rest. That’s for another discussion. But the point is Jesus, keep going, be faithful.
Faithful like who? Well, faithful like your overseers. He’ll say that in chapter 12 and 13.
Remember the overseer. Remember the men who have the charge over you.
But here it’s, remember Christ who was faithful. Moses was faithful.
We’ve heard about that.
[24:58] Moses was faithful, but he was faithful as a servant and faithful as a servant in the house.
But Christ was faithful as a son and faithful as a son over the house.
Christ was faithful.
He was faithful all the way to the end. It’s kind of an awkward topic when we think about the humanity of Christ, but he was faithful from first to last, faithful from day one to the very end when he was resurrected and ascended and sat on the right hand.
He is faithful today. He lives in the power of an indestructible life.
He has gone before as a faithful example to each and every one of us.
And so the author says this, Don’t be like that previous generation.
Don’t return to Egypt.
Don’t fall in the wilderness. Why did they not enter? Why was it the second generation that went in?
It was because of unbelief. They didn’t believe.
They didn’t keep going.
My time is up.
[25:56] But dear believers, as we go through the epistle to the Hebrews this weekend, remember that most of the exhortations, the Christian life, it’s actually very simple.
Keep going, you’re thinking about stopping, maybe a slightly different turn. You’re discouraged.
It’s your health, it’s your finances, your prospects, whatever it is, your career.
Keep going all the way to the end.
And once we reach our inheritance, we will see that it was all worth it.
And we’ll meet the one who went before us with a perfect life, perfect faithfulness, and a perfect example for us.
May the Lord help us to keep going.
Ministry from David Gilliland Saturday morning.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_02DGilliland09162023.m4a[0:01] For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction.
[0:18] Of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters.
For I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land onto a good land and a large, onto a land flowing with milk and honey, onto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hevites and the Jebusites.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Moses said unto God, who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And he said, certainly I will be with thee and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee.
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
Moses said unto God, behold, when I come to unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you and they shall say to me, what is his name?
What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am.
[1:32] And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses and so on. I think perhaps we’ll terminate the reading there, and trust the Lord’s blessing upon his word.
[1:59] I, as far as I can remember, today’s date marks the death of Anne Bradstreet.
[2:09] A famous lady in this part of the world. She came from England way back in the early 1600s and arrived in the New England states. She was born into a wealthy Puritan family, was a very famous lady in her day and generation, a woman marked by great piety, feared God, brought up a family of eight children, became a very accomplished poetess in her day, and in fact she’s the first American lady, as far as I know, to have her poetry published in English. And some of her poetry is very well worth reading and is being published even to this present day. So, on the 16th of September 2023, we remember the death of Anne Bradstreet on the 16th of September 1672. She was, I think, around 60 years of age. She lived in difficult circumstances, and although she had a very affluent beginning in life, she came into considerable difficulties in poverty and hardship. On the 10th of July, 1666, her house was completely burned to the ground.
[3:20] She awoke in the early hours of the morning to hear the crackle of violent flames, and she managed to escape out of her home, and she stood and watched everything just being turned to smoke and dust and ashes. As she saw the rubble begin to accumulate, she thought, that’s where the table we used to be and never sit there again.
[3:47] That’s the room where we used to have the children. We’ll never sit again.
And everything just seemed to be turned to ashes before her very vision.
She wrote a poem, I read a little bit of it here. It’s not the subject that I want to speak about in particular, but she said, when I could no longer look, Luke. I blessed his name, who gave and took, that laid my goods now in the dust. Yea, so it was, and so it was just. It was his own, it was not mine, far be it that I should repine.
And when she begins to think about the loss of all our earthly goods, she goes on in this poem.
[4:37] To say, thou hast a house on high erect, formed by the mighty architect.
It’s purchased and paid for too by him who had enough to do, a price so vast as is unknown, yet by his gift is made thine own.
She concludes the poem to say, then would no longer, The world no longer let me love.
My hope and treasure lies above. The title of the poem, Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July the 10th, 1666.
[5:20] Well, fire is destructive, isn’t it? We hear a lot these days about these uncontrollable fires, that create such havoc and move at such speed and leave behind in their trail so much damage.
Fire, I say, is destructive.
Fire can also be instructive.
It was destructive, as far as this lady was concerned, destroyed her home.
It was very instructive in the sense that it made her think about a better home above the sky.
The Bible is a book that is ablaze with fire, right from the early chapters of the book of Genesis, Right to the lake of fire in the book of Revelation chapter 21.
The blaze, the flame of fire covers the pages of the Bible. Fire can be the fire of retribution.
[6:18] It can be the fire of refinement. God can sometimes use the refiner’s fire to improve, to purify, to cleanse away the dross.
It can be the fire of revelation.
The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in fire.
I think there’s another verse somewhere that tells us that the fire shall declare it.
It shall be revealed in fire, and the day shall declare.
Well, I tell you, this was quite a day of revelation for Moses.
He stood and saw the blazing bush.
[6:59] He’d never seen the likes before. This was not a phenomenon that was explainable, naturally speaking.
There’s something significant. There’s something supernatural about it all, and he stands and he gazes and he listens and he looks and he learns.
What a day of revelation it was as Moses stood at the burning bush.
A man of 80 years, his first encounter with God.
[7:27] He believed in God, I think, from early day. His faith in God had been established for many years.
But now he’s coming into a conscious sense of a relationship with God, and of the nearness, of God, and of the intervention of God, and the impact of God in his life.
And it’s a day of significant revelation at the bush.
In fact, there was another English poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she said, Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every bush aglow with God.
But only those with eyes to see take off their shoe. The rest sit round and eat blackberry.”.
[8:16] Quite an emotive piece of poetry. I hope we not eat blackberries this weekend at the conference.
I hope we’ll take off our shoe, and that this very place will become ablaze, aglow with the warmth and the glory of the presence of God.
They’ve given us quite a few bushes here.
It’s very kind of them to do that, seven of them. And they’re all aglow, they’re all aglow.
I don’t know whether in the words of Barrett Browning, aglow with God, but there’s something about every bush that reflects the ingenuity of the great creator.
But here’s a bush, and Moses, I say, he finds on this particular day things to learn about God.
One of the things that he learned was that God is the God who comes close.
[9:05] Moses has taken, in the discharge of his duties, he has taken his father-in-law’s flock into the backside of the desert. He’s off the margin.
He’s been buried in the wasteland of Midian for 40 years. The man that used to strut the palaces and the corridors of power.
He rubbed shoulders with the royalty of Egypt.
Suddenly he finds himself exiled and dislocated to a nomadic life into no man’s land. No one knows where he is.
He has disappeared off the map, but suddenly just there, in the solitude of his isolation, in the detachment of his position, God is just as close as the bow.
[9:55] God comes very near. He’s the God who comes close, and he arrives in strange places, and he breaks unusual sight. God hasn’t been heard for 400 years. The centuries have passed since great promises were made to Jacob and to Isaac and to Abraham. Some of those men had personal experiences with God, but God hasn’t been seen or heard for 400 years.
God is distant and Moses is detached. Now the two of them connect in a special…
Isn’t it good to know, dear Christians, we have a God that comes close, Right down into the loneliness, into the isolation of our experience.
Whoever you may be here, just in this opening meeting, I want to encourage you.
We have a God who knows exactly what our situation is.
You know, time passes. There’s between the last communication of God and this one at the bush is just the tissue page.
And in that tissue page of my Bible, 400 years lie.
[11:09] There’s another tissue page, just after the book of Malachi.
There are 400 years there, 400 years of silence.
[11:23] The prophetic voice is no longer heard. And just as God appeared in a common bush, just a thorn bush, in a common bush in Exodus chapter 3, and He broke the silence of four, centuries and appeared in an unusual it all again. There’ll be four centuries of silence and suddenly God will shatter the silence of those years and he will reappear, not now, in a bush, flesh and blood in the poverty of Bethlehem’s manger. This is the God who comes close and he becomes involved in the human situation and he reaches right down to where we are, and he meets us at the point of our need.
I say, dear Christians, we should never think, we should never think that God is so detached and so distant that he’s far removed and is forgotten.
No, God was right here, and Moses learns.
The first great lesson he learns, this is a God who comes close.
God is mentioned three times in Exodus chapter one. Exodus Chapter 1 He Never Says a Word.
[12:47] He’s just mentioned three times at the end of the chapter.
The body of the chapter tells us about the children of Israel increasing in number and being persecuted and made to serve with rigor and with hard bondage and their little children being thrown into the waters of the river Nile and God says nothing.
You just get three meager mentions at the end of the chapter.
Then you go into chapter number two. There’s a boy born, has to be put into a bulrush, put out into the the Nile, all the different things that happen in chapter number two. And again, God is just mentioned five times at the end of chapter two, never says a word.
[13:34] In Exodus chapter one and in Exodus chapter two, God is invisible and he is inaudible. When you When you get to Exodus chapter 3, God is mentioned 21 times.
The God who has almost disappeared in chapters 1 and 2, he now appears in a very visible and he now speaks in a very vocal manner. Most of the speech in Exodus chapter 3 is God that speaks.
Out of 22 verses, God speaks about 15 verses.
Not a word was heard. in life, you know, dear Christians, God seems to be distant and he seems to be silent.
Difficult things happen.
We wonder, has God forgotten? Has he disappeared? Is he letting things go?
But in the silence behind the scenes in chapter 1 and chapter 2, God is still moving.
And now in chapter 3, I say he comes close.
Jehovah, the Lord, is not mentioned once in Exodus 1.
[14:44] He’s not mentioned once in Exodus chapter 2.
[14:50] How many times is Jehovah mentioned in Exodus chapter 3? Seven times.
So that this faithful Lord, this covenant-keeping God, even though He has been silent and invisible and inaudible, He’s always there keeping watch above His own. And now the perfect revelation, of God is being seen in Exodus chapter three, right here in the flame of fire, in the burning of the thorn bush.
I’m sure Moses wondered at times, what has happened to the people that I left behind?
When I left Egypt 40 years ago, they were being severely persecuted by a ruthless pharaoh.
I wonder, are they still alive?
Do they still exist?
[15:38] Have they been persecuted into the dust of the ground and disappeared from being a people at all.
And as those 40 years slowly dragged by, there must have been many thoughts in Moses’ mind.
Suddenly he sees a bush that burns and is not consumed.
And he, I think, discerned the lesson that God’s people are invincible.
God will preserve his people. God will protect his people.
God will sustain and will maintain his people, even amidst the fires of adversity and the protecting, preserving presence of God, it became the God who comes close.
He’s the God who makes claim.
[16:25] Moses is obviously fascinated by the presence of God, by the flame of fire in the bush, and he goes to go closer to see this, take just a little bit of, God says, no, stay, just enough.
Don’t come any closer, just take your shoes off.
[16:48] The great man Moses now stands unshod in the presence of God, and he keeps a safe distance.
He doesn’t dare to cross the boundaries, and he doesn’t push the limits.
[17:03] This God who comes close is now the God who makes claims, and he tells us where to go, and he tells us what to do, and he tells us how to act. And I say, Moses appreciates its, holy ground. You’re well aware of the fact this is the first time that the, word holy appears in its adjective form in the Bible. God is now coming close, but he doesn’t want Moses to take undue liberties, and he has a claim upon Moses’, attention. It says, when God saw that he turned aside to see. He has a claim upon on Moses’ attitude, the sense of awe in his heart.
He has a claim upon Moses’ availability. He says, Moses, Moses, and the good man responds, here am I.
I say, dear Christians, maybe that’s a good thing for us to learn, even in the first session of the conference.
God is not only a God who has come close and become involved in our human situation, And from the transcendence of his eternal abode, he has touched planet Earth as a babe.
[18:18] He died on one of our crosses, and the body of his son lay in one of our tombs.
We can never doubt that God is a God of human involvement, but he’s also a God who makes claim.
I don’t want to be critical in any shape or form, But I think, I think that maybe, maybe.
In the casual atmosphere of 2023, in the dumbing down atmosphere of the secular age in which we live, we’ve always a danger, always a danger that we might begin to take liberties with God.
[19:03] Just to lose a sense of awe and a sense of reverence, just to lose a sense of what is appropriate for the presence of God. And I think Moses is going to learn. There will be further claims and further demands that will be made in the book of Exodus, but Moses is already learning that in the presence of God you stand with unshod feet.
Even when priests move in God’s sanctuary, as the book comes to an end, they will carry out their priestly service without any shoes upon their feet.
I trust that God will help us to appreciate his claims upon our lives, our appearance, our attitude, our activity, all of those things.
Are part of the demands that God sets upon us, the boundaries that he establishes, the limits which he identifies.
Thirdly, Moses also learns in the flame of fire in the bush, not only the God who comes close and the God who makes claim, But he learns that he is the God who keeps covenant.
[20:20] He said, I know, Moses, I know that it’s a long time since I spoke to your great-great-great-grandfather, Abraham. I know it’s a long time, and I know that the centuries have passed by.
[20:33] And I know that the delay seems to be endless and interminable. But he said, I haven’t forgotten, you know. He said, I made promises all those centuries ago to Abraham. I reaffirmed those promises to Isaac, and I confirmed them with Jacob. And he said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And he said, when I make covenants, I don’t revoke them.
[21:00] And I don’t forget about my promises, and I don’t go back upon my word. He said, you can trust me, you can trust me, that the promises which I made then, I’m coming down now, after centuries of delay to fulfill those promises. You say, well, I don’t know. Does God keep his promises? Does God really fulfill his promises? I think there’s something significant in those three titles. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Those are the promises. Those are the very features of God that guarantee that he will keep his promises. The God of Abraham is the God of Revelation. The God who revealed the promises is the God who will keep them. Behind those promises, there comes all the authority of the everlasting God. The God of Abraham is the God of Revelation.
That’s why we believe the Bible and the promises of the Bible, because they have come from God with all their divine authority, and the stamp, the insignia of eternity is upon this book, the promises.
The God of Isaac, well, the God of Isaac is not so much the God of revelation, the God of Isaac is the God of resurrection.
[22:26] Out of the deadness of Sarah’s womb, Isaac was born. When everything seemed to be humanly hopeless and beyond human, the possibility of life.
Out of death, God brought life. And even when Isaac was stretched out upon the altar, again, there was the principle of life out of death.
That’s why, dear Christians, we can trust God.
Not only because he has revealed the promises, but he’s the God of resurrection.
And when we come to the New Testament and the Apostle Paul was speaking about the believers that it passed on.
He said we speak by the word of the Lord.
[23:09] We believe that Jesus died and rose again. Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
What about all the believers down the last 20 centuries that have gone to glory?
Their dust lies smouldering in the earth.
And there were all those wonderful promises of heaven and home and everlasting glory.
Will those promises ever be realized?
Or is it just pie in the sky that comes to nothing?
Upon what is our Christian hope for the future founded?
It’s founded upon the history of the past.
We believe that Jesus died and rose. We trust the Savior who has broken the barrier of death.
[23:50] Has moved the horizons of possibility to the resurrection side of the grave.
And because of what has already happened, we look forward with joyful, confident anticipation of what will happen.
The God of resurrection. Dear Christians, we’ve a great God. He will keep his promises. But you say, what? I don’t know.
I don’t know what happens if I, I might fail. And I might, I might let the Lord down.
And I might get far away. What about the God of Jacob? Old Jacob gets away out of the land for all of those years. And after he cheats his brother and does things that never should have been done, spends those 20 years of exile in the land of Paddanuram. And you say Jacob is far removed off target. Will he ever get back again to the land of God’s promise? Oh Jacob will get back.
It took a while and it took a few twists and turns, but God saw to it that Jacob came back because he is not only the God of Abraham, the God of Revelation. And he’s the God of Isaac, the God of of resurrection, I’m glad today that he’s the God of Jacob, the God of restoration.
[25:08] And he can bring us back, bring us back. That’s why we believe the promises for Israel will be fulfilled, because God will see to it that the nation that rejected his son and have become exiles across the globe and have been evicted for centuries, they will, Jacob-like, do the cycle and be brought back to their own land.
And the promises to Israel, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, they will be literally fulfilled in that very same locality, because God revealed himself at the bush There’s not only the God who comes close.
[25:48] As the God who makes claim, as the God who keeps covenant. He also revealed himself to Moses at the bush as the God who really cares.
Oh, he says, Moses, I have seen, I have seen the affliction.
He said, I have heard the cry. the cry. And he said, I know their sorrow. So he’s a God who sees. He’s a God who hears.
He’s a God who knows. One of the other verbs that is used, he’s the God who remembers. He remembered his covenant with Abraham and he had respect unto his people. I say, isn’t it a great comfort this after this morning to know, dear Christians, we have a God who is intimately acquainted with.
[26:49] The detailed circumstances of our life. It’s not even that God heard their prayer. I don’t think they were praying so much. He heard their cry as those dear people groaned.
Beneath the crack of the taskmaster’s rod, and they just groaned, those cries of suffering and depression, they penetrated to the very throne of God, and he heard them all.
Maybe there’s some Christian here today, and you have sorrows, you’re carrying burdens, you find yourself surrounded by circumstances that are breaking your heart, family problems, financial problems, health problems, assembly problems, and on and on it goes, physical problems, mental problems, spiritual problems, and your heart has, come to the conference today and you’ve just been crying. There’s that internal groan of unrelieved suffering. My dear Christian friend, can I tell you, the God, that was revealed at the bush and the God of the Bible is a God who really He really cares, and He knows, and He feels, and He sympathizes for His people in the midst of all their sorrows and all their woes, and He says, I’ll come down.
The seventh verb, I think, actually, that is used concerning God in this passage, He not only hears and knows and looks and remembers.
[28:19] And has respect and see, He’s a God who visits. He’s a God who visits.
That’s a beautiful term in the Bible. He’s a God who visits with delivering mercy and power, and he comes right into the center of the circumstances of his people.
Moses learned God hasn’t forgotten about his people. God is not detached from their suffering.
God is not far removed from the awful dilemma of these people, and when the time is right, when the time is right, God will intervene for the fulfillment of his own program.
Fifthly, I think the only one that I’ll mention just in this particular session of ministry, what kind of God is the God of the bush?
The God of the Thornbush.
[29:06] He’s the God who comes close, and in the dusty sand of life’s desert experience.
[29:14] He can come right down to where we are. He’s the God who really cares, and He knows all our sufferings, and all our sorrows, and all our burdens, and all our pains. He’s the God who makes claims upon us in our lives. He’s a God who keeps covenant and will fulfill his promise.
He never goes back upon his word. He’s the God who is eternally consistent. That’s the great question that comes up at the end of this interview and Moses speaking to God at the bush. And again, I emphasize it’s God speaking. God does most of the talking. Moses says a few things, throws in a few interjections here and there. God speaks seven times in chapter 3. Same thing happens in the first 17 verses of chapter 4. Moses makes a few comments. God speaks seven times. It’s a great thing. It’s a great thing when God does most of the talking. I hope God will do a lot of speaking this weekend. Does our brethren rise to minister one after another. That the voice of God will be clearly articulated and the light of divine revelation and Holy Scripture.
[30:35] Will shine into different corners of our lives. And one here and another there and up yonder and from front to back and left to right. That every believer will.
[30:46] Hear the voice of God speaking through his word. We’ll not do the talking, just, sit down quietly, take off your shoes, stand in his presence with reverential law, and may God speak.
[31:01] And we quietly listen to hear what God the Lord would say. He said, Lord, he says, who am I?
He says, you tell me that I have to go down to Egypt and deliver your people. Quite a tall order it was. Moses knew the protocol of Pharaoh’s court. Moses knew the power of that court. He says, Lord, But who am I?
[31:25] The Lord says, Moses forget about it. He says, it doesn’t matter who you are.
He said, the question is not who am I? The question is, who am I?
He says, it doesn’t matter who you are. He says, the big thing is, who am I?
He said, you’re just an 80 year old gentleman here.
And he said, you could do nothing, but who am I? I will be with thee.
And he says, Lord, I’ll need to tell them your name. What’s your name?
He says, just tell them I am.
I am. Strange grammar, strange title. He said, that’s my name, I am.
And he said, I am that I am.
And if I had a dollar for all the pages that have been written in explanation of that great title, well, I would be a multimillionaire.
That expression, I am, it’s what would be called in common English grammar, the future tense of the verb to be.
When God said, I will be with thee, That’s exactly the same word as is later in the chapter translated, I am that I am.
The scholars debate, well, how should it be translated? Should it be translated the second time, I will be what I will be?
[32:37] Or should it be translated, I will be what I am? Or should it be translated, I am what I will be?
Or I am that I am? How do you work all this? I am what I will be.
Well, that’s the majesty and the mystery of God’s great be. He says, listen, Moses.
He said, there’ll be no situation that will arise for which I won’t be sufficient.
He says, I am what I will be.
And he says, whatever emergency arises, he said, I’ll have what it will take.
[33:14] And he says, what I will be is what I am. You know, you could have people in life, and maybe 40 years ago, I’m speaking to some of the older believers, they were a tremendous help to you, and they were encouragement, and they were a great support, and a great strength, and they brought you on, and saw you through many difficulties, and you’re indebted to them, but they don’t help you very much today.
They’re not the people that they used to be.
They don’t have the energy.
They don’t have the wherewithal. They don’t have the ability today that they had 40 years ago.
They’re not what they were, and you find yourself in difficulty, and they’re not able to provide what is required by your prayer. No, no, says God.
God says, I am what I will be, and I will be what I am.
[34:00] He said, Moses, a thousand years down the way, I will still be what I am.
I will never weaken. I will never waste. I will never weary.
And he said, all that will be required in any given situation, anywhere by any of my people at any time, he said, I will be what I am.
And he said, I never decay. I never age. I never need to sleep.
I never need to take rest. I don’t take any food.
He said, in the timelessness of my eternal being.
He said, I am what I will be. Dear Christians, can I tell you, you can face the future with God.
And whatever situation might arise in your life, you need not be afraid that God will be shortchanged or he won’t have the sufficiency to meet the situation.
[34:55] That may just arise. What a great God we have.
And all that is in the great I am has been incorporated in the one who has become Jesus the Saviour.
And God has committed his unchangeable character in the person of his Son and vouchsafed to us every promise made secure in Jesus Christ. And so, the revelation of God at the bush.
That’s all I’ll say. Leave time for my brethren.
I say this, dear Christians.
I think one of the best tonics that the 2023 Midland Park Avenue Conference could provide for us, is to give us a fresh vision of the greatness of God.
[35:41] Just a sense of God. In most of our minds, God is far too small, maybe even in Moses’ mind.
After 40 years of keeping shape, God said, I’ll stop him at the bush and I’ll tell him exactly who I am and what I am and what I want him to do in light of what I am. And when he came to die, good old Moses, and he was writing a piece of poetry in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 33.
He looked back across the landscape of life, and the one thing that he mentions is this. He says, the good will of him that dwelt in the thorn bush.
[36:31] You say I thought God would dwell in the lofty cedar? Yes. You say I thought that God would dwell in the mighty oak? Yes.
You say I thought that God might dwell in the beautiful olive? Yes.
But as Moses looked back over life, he didn’t speak about the God that dwelt between the cherubim.
He didn’t even speak about the God that dwelt within the tabernacle, or the God that dwelt within the holy of holies.
He said, as I look back on life, and I want to pick out something that has stood me in good stead, it’s the good will of Him that dwelt.
In the thornbush. Dear Christians, that’s the kind of God that we have.
May God help us to appreciate Him more and to serve Him better until we see the Savior face to face.
May the Lord bless his work.
Ministry from David Gilliland Friday night.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2023_01DGilliland09152023.m4a[0:00] Privileged to be here again, a joy to be here, and good to share together in the exercise of prayer in light of the conference.
We appreciate the warm welcome, and a privilege to share with the other brethren as well who, will be carrying public responsibilities.
Now, there are three scriptures that I would like to read just for a simple word.
The Gospel according to Matthew, and chapter 17 will be our first place of reading Matthew, chapter 17. It’s the Mount of Transfiguration. We know the passage well. Verse 1, After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, bringeth them up into.
[0:48] A high mountain, a part was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And we have Moses and Elias. Verse 4, Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tower- knuckles, one for thee, and one for Moses, one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and.
[1:17] Behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased here, ye him,” and so on. Now back to the Old Testament, to the book of Lamentations, just slipping in there after the long prophecy of Jeremiah and Lamentations and Ezekiel, just right into the middle of the book of Lamentations and chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 22. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust.
[2:27] If so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. He is filled full with reproach, for the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause grief.
[2:37] Yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
And a last reading familiar from the book of Psalms and Psalm 73, Psalm 73.
[3:01] And verse 1, just for context, “‘Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.'”, And verse 16, “‘When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castest them down to destruction. How are they brought into desolation? As in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors. Verse 28. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.
Now that’s all we’ll read, just for a brief meditation at the close of the prayer meeting.
Trust the Lord’s blessing upon his word. I think amongst the other things that our, brother Hamilton mentioned in his announcements at the opening of the meeting, he expressed a desire that when the conference is over, that we might all be beneficiary, that’s the word.
[4:22] Word, beneficiary of the Midland Park Conference 2023, that we’d all be the better of, we’d be advantaged.
And I want to speak about things that are spiritually beneficial.
[4:41] A lot of things not beneficial, a lot of things injurious. We live in a world where many things are inimical to spiritual health, many things would bring us down and do us damage, but there are certain things that are good.
[4:57] And said the apostle in Matthew chapter 17, it is good for us to be here.
I tell you, that was some place.
That was sound play. Those three men, it was a small meeting, just a small conference, a few from earth and a few from heaven, and the voice of God was clearly heard.
The atmosphere was enriched with a sense of eternity. They’d never been in a venue like that before. They’d never been on ground that was so high, so holy, and so impressed was the, spirit of Peter that he confessed, it is good for us to be here. It is good to be here, isn’t it?
[5:55] You think of the many places where we might be, a Friday evening in a modern world, all, its pleasures, all its allurements.
Think of the possibilities and think of where we might have been apart from the grace of God, but we are here, just here, with all the anticipation which an annual conference brings, and I think I can hear an echo of this statement in the heart of many believers.
It’s just good to be here.
[6:30] This is where we might go and might be and might have been, but we’re here.
And what a place is this.
How rich and how relevant and how real it is.
It’s good for us to be here.
Then we have another spiritually beneficial matter, Lamentations chapter 3, it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
Are you finding it tough as a young person? good for you.
[7:05] It’s good to have challenges in your teens. We don’t want cotton wool Christians.
[7:15] We want Christians that are made of sterner stuff, stronger material. We don’t want to mollycoddle younger believers. It is good for a man to bear the yoke, and it’s you.
Good. It’s good to have the challenge of the difficult teen. It’s good to have the challenge of the difficult twenties. That’s something that’s good. And we’ll try and learn how it is beneficial, just not only to be here, but it’s beneficial. It’s good to bear the yoke in their youth. And then of course, he said, it’s not only good for us and not only good for a man.” Psalm 73, he said, is good for me. To draw near unto the Lord, and to the disorientation of his mind and soul and spirit. He slipped into the sanctuary of God, and he regained his poise, and his peace, and his perspective. And the conclusion which he drew from the experience was simply this. It’s good. It’s good for me. To draw near, Unto the Lord do you pray.
[8:41] Do you cultivate the habit of personal prayer, quietly slipping into the sanctuary of God unseen, by the public glare of human eye, and open up your soul just to the blazing light of God’s sanctuary and find the very interior of your being illuminated by things that can only be enjoyed when you come close and you draw near.” There’s a summit that’s worth remembering.
[9:16] He said, it’s good for us to be here on the mountaintop, a summit that is worth remembering.
There’s a shoulder that is worth yielding. It’s good to give your shoulder to the yoke, to bear the load, and you don’t shrink, and you don’t shy away, and you don’t faint, You don’t collapse, and you don’t resent, and you don’t complain.
He said it’s good, a shoulder that is worth yielding, and a sanctuary that is worth visiting.
These are the things that are spiritually beneficial.
I hope it’ll be a mountaintop experience just in the weekend of conference.
We could do with having our feet upon higher ground. Now, Peter was very well aware that they wouldn’t be there had the Lord not brought them.
[10:11] They didn’t arrange the meeting. I know there’s a lot of work and planning and thinking goes into the arrangement of the conference, and our brethren have done the best in exercise before the Lord.
But away and above any human arrangement, I trust we will become conscious as the days pass by, and as one meeting follows another, that the Lord has arranged that.
[10:39] And after six days, it’s almost…I don’t know that it was a Sabbath. I couldn’t prove that, but it was certainly a Sabbath experience. After the six days, we might say, and a working week, the Lord said, gentlemen, it’s time to go to higher ground and to get a taste of better things.
Isn’t that good to be here, dear Christians? After all the demands of city life, and all the demands of office life and all the burdens and all the cares, isn’t it good just for a weekend to draw a line, to step across into higher and richer and bigger and brighter and better things and say, it is good for us to be here.
The moment of the meeting, the mountain of the meeting, the majesty at the meeting.
[11:33] I tell you, these men got a glimpse of the glory of Christ such as they had never seen before.
They had been with Him for quite a number of months. They had been with Him in quite a number of travels.
They had been with Him in quite a number of situations.
But now just in the seclusion of that Galilean mount, on the summit of that particular place, The majesty of the Lord Jesus is in here in glory, resplendently shone forth, and they were bathed for a little while in the glory of Christ.
[12:10] It eclipsed anything that these men had ever seen, boats and fish and nets and villages, and clowns and Galilee.
Now, just for a short time, their souls are caught up and wafted up into scenes of glory.
And Christ, an Israelian person, becomes the focus of their attention.
No wonder this has got to be here.
[12:43] I hope we’ll all say that. And it is such an unveiling of the beauty of our glorious Lord.
[12:52] That we’d feel ourselves to be treated to a feast of celestial blessedness just to see the glory of Christ and to grasp something of His dignity and His deity and His distinctiveness and What is royalty?
Oh, I say, the majesty of the mount.
It was so impressive. Good to be here.
Haven’t you been at conferences where there was just that extra touch?
Wasn’t the preacher? Wasn’t the singing? Wasn’t all of those things?
It was nice to meet each other and to meet new… These fellows met a couple of nice, interesting kind, Moses and Elijah.
They’d never met them before.
Men from another dispensation, men from another country, men from another world, it’s good to meet each other.
Our brethren have been thanking the Lord for just those that have come from different parts, and there’s a social aspect to conference gatherings that is spiritually beneficial.
It’s good to be here.
But way above it all, you know, when Peter came to talk about this, the memory of this, meeting, he’s an old man now, and he’s putting down his pen, and he’s telling, he’s reminding the Christians that we were eyewitnesses of his majesty and we were with him in the holy mount and he says guess what we saw Moses and we saw Elijah never mentions Moses and Elijah.
[14:18] Never mentions them.
[14:24] Thirty years later, the only thing that Peter remembered was the glory of Christ.
It would have been great if we looked back in 2023 and we were glad to meet the Christians and have a little bit of chat and visit in the corridors and in the aisles and see people that maybe we haven’t seen for a while and people from another country.
All of those things are part of the ingredients of a happy occasion.
But when we look back, with a hindsight of appreciation, it wouldn’t be the people we met, just the Lord.
This is the only thing, the only thing I… The message of the mouth, he said we were there, and the presence of Christ was felt.
And he said the glory of Christ was seen.
And he said, best of all, the voice of God was heard.
[15:23] That’s what Peter talked about. That’s what Peter talked about when he came to write his second letter.
He said, we heard the voice.
We heard the voice that came from the excellent glory.
This is my beloved son.
Hear him. Would not be great, dear Christians, when all the externals were over and we were looking back just upon the conference and our times together, you and I and someone else would be able to say, I tell you, I heard the voice of God at those meetings.
There’s a message. This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
It’s not easy listening to Christ always. Sometimes Christ has very tough things to say.
This doesn’t feed us on platitudes.
[16:16] In fact, he just had told these disabled at the end of the previous chapter, take up your cross and follow me. And he said, I’m going out to be spat upon and to be mocked and to be vilified and crucified.
He said, there’s a tough road of rejection, scorn, shame and suffering.
Oh, Peter says, Lord, don’t you, shh, don’t speak like that.
[16:35] Don’t talk about those things. Don’t, we don’t, don’t speak like that, Lord.
Those are things that are not nice to mention.
We don’t want it. He says, Lord, be it far from you.
And Peter thought, I’ll tell the Lord what to say and what not to say.
When Peter got up to the mount, he heard the father’s voice.
The father says, he’s my son, listen to him.
He said, don’t you be telling him what to say.
He says, you keep quiet and listen to what he has to say. I said, dear Christians, I hope that beyond the voice of our good brother here from Mexico, and our brother, our brother Cain here, and above a struggling, rasping voice from Ireland.
I hope above, beyond it all, we’ll just hear the voice of God that will leave a mark upon us and will command attention in the very depths of our souls. And there is no wonder, it’s no wonder at all that Peter said, it’s good to be here. I tell you, what a place of rich and relevant experience that was. And actually, you say, why did the Lord give them a meeting like that?
[17:48] What was the purpose of it all? Well, there were a number of purposes, And one of them was this, this great meeting, it was just a miniature of glory yet to come.
When the Lord Jesus comes back and establishes His kingdom in this world and His glorious scene, and the Father’s voice will command global attention, and right across the circle of this earth, the message will resonate, my beloved Son, listen to Him.
Whether it’s Alaska or Australia or China or Chile, Every heart on planet earth will bow and listen to the voice of Christ.
Nobody wants to hear Him now, but in that coming day of kingdom glory, all will listen to the authority of the reigning Christ.
And this day on the mount was just a foretaste, a foretaste of bigger things to come.
I think that sometimes happens.
You’re in conference gatherings, you almost think it’s a glimpse of glory before we get there.
[18:58] It’s a little miniature of heaven, and you enjoy the praises that we’ve already been singing about, and you enjoy the fellowship of saints, and you enjoy the atmosphere of the Lord’s presence, and Christ is worshiped, magnified, and glorified, and you say, it can’t get much better than this.
It’s just heaven before heaven comes for taste. It’s good to be here. I think maybe there was another motivation in this great meeting. It was preparatory. Each of these men had very tough times ahead. Good old John. They had the dark days for John in the Isle of Patmos. James, Well, James will suffer by the sword. Peter too will suffer greatly. These men have dark days ahead, but you see the glimpse of glory in the mount, it It prepared them.
[19:59] It prepared them, it fortified them, it strengthened them, it fitted them for things which they didn’t know were ahead, but the Lord knew. And He gave them an experience, that just put within their souls a veritable body of spiritual strength equipping them for the road ahead. Maybe that’ll be true at the conference here this year as well, that some will hear a word from the Lord. I don’t know what’s around the corner for me, but the Lord does.
[20:31] Nor do you know what is around the corner for you or your family. We can leave it all in His hand.
Maybe there will be a preparatory ministry that will just set us up for situations in life which, Which none of us as yet has seen, but the Lord who is over, it is good, it is good, it is good.
Oh, it’s good, dear Christians, to be at a conference. May God grant, as our brethren were praying, I could sense within their prayers a positive attitude.
We approach this weekend just with the positivity that it’ll be a special time in the presence of the Lord.
And we’ll say, it’s good, it’s good, and has been good and will be good for us to be here.
A summit that is worth claiming.
A shoulder that is worth yielding, very quickly. I’m not going to, we’ll have a lot to say, we’ll have a lot to say, you’ll have a lot to suffer for the next two days.
So I’ll just cut it short.
Good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
We have an idea, and I’m not saying it’s a misplaced idea, but oh no, shh, don’t, shelter the young people.
[21:55] You don’t want young people, it’s tough, you don’t want young people to have to face difficulties.
Shelter, shelter them as much as, we do try to protect young people, don’t we?
And we do our best, we do our best to create a safe spiritual environment where young people can survive and can thrive under the teaching of the Word of God.
But they can’t always be there.
Would you say what’s gonna happen to our young people? It’s a very tough old world, and there never was a society so challenging and so demanding as our society.
And we feel sorry, we feel sorry for our young people. And we say within our sinking hearts, they don’t stand a chance. Where did you find that in the Bible?
It’s good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. It’ll make him a man.
It’ll broaden his shoulders. There’s a flexibility in you.
[22:56] That doesn’t come with older year. You don’t travel too far in life until you become set in your way. And when you become set in your ways, really, really, when all is said and done, there won’t be much improvement. That’ll just be it. But an earlier day, the branch is still supple, or supal as you might say, and it can be shaped when it’s just a young branch. If it grows too long and becomes too strong and too stiff, it won’t be easy to shape. So it’s good, it’s good.
Young people, young people, you’re tough. University, the challenges of work, a very secular society, the winds of change that are blowing quite ferociously. And you say, well, we just give up.” No, no, don’t give up. It’s good that a man should bear the yoke in his youth. And the flexibility of youth will contribute to the maturity of youth. That’s, what will make the young person develop. If he’s almost put into a greenhouse of artificial protection. He will never strike down his roots deep. He will never develop branches that are strong. But if the young plant is exposed to a certain amount of test and hardship.
[24:25] It will develop into a mature plant. You say, well, I don’t know.
I don’t know, you say. I’m finding it very difficult. I’m finding it very tough as a a young person, I’m just about to give up. You have no idea about the temptations that I have had to encounter in my place of employment, the propositions that I’ve had to face. What about Joseph? One of the finest young men that ever left the soil of Canaan land and and crossed the border into Egypt.
The darkness of the pit and the solicitations of Potiphar’s house, you say, he’s spoiled.
He’s spoiled. That beautiful young lad of 17 that had such potential in the family of Jacob.
Look where he is now, detached from his country in a very alien environment, being propositioned by this scheming woman.
You say, this young man, he will be spoiled. This young man will be stranded.
[25:36] And he bore the yoke of temptation, and he bore it well, and I’m not going into the details of the story, the sense of God within his soul and the convictions that were wrought.
The day will come when what was just a pliable, fresh young man slipping down into Egypt, and you’ll see he was swallowed up in a secular culture. He will stand for God as the administrator of the whole land. He bore the yoke and as you, young person, don’t expect it to be easy.
[26:12] You be a man, be a woman for God. Maybe it’s in your family circle, maybe it’s in your place of employment, maybe it’s in your place of education, and the pressure is on. And, you say, I feel as if I’m being called upon to carry burdens that are beyond what I’m able to bear. Just keep in mind the little text from the 2023 Midland Park Conference, the book of Lamentations. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Daniel could tell you that. He bore the yoke, all the pressures that went with dislocation from his country. We know the story of Daniel purposing his heart that he would not defile himself. Did David? David more the yoke than his youth, when with pure motive he went down to help his brethren in the battle, and his older brother said, what are you doing here?
You’re just here to spy. You’re just here nosing. You’re just here looking for a position.
Sometimes, sometimes it is pressure from the outside world that assails a young person.
It’s the criticism of carnal brethren.
[27:26] When you do nothing, you’ll be all right. But once you begin to stretch your arm for God, and put your head a little bit above the parapet and seek to live for His glory, you’ll find, you’ll find there will be people just step out of the woodwork, ready to down you at the first… You say, but it’s tough. It’s tough. It’s not easy for a a young person in assembly life, even in culture.
No, it’s not easy.
Was it expected to be easy? Was it easy in Bible time?
[28:00] Again, dear brethren, really what I’m saying is this, and I’m going to have to leave it.
We protect young people.
We prepare young people.
[28:13] We sympathize with young people. We make excuses for young people.
Some of the finest men in the Bible that stood for God, they developed character in their youth.
And it is good, it is beneficial, it is advantageous for a young person to have an easy time.
No, it’s good that a man should bear the yoke in his youth.
So don’t despair.
I can’t go to the passage, it also says, it’s good that a man should quietly wait on the salvation of the Lord.
Of the characteristics of you can be impatient.
Just finding it difficult to wait. All was wanting for a bigger thing, wanting to throw off the yoke, wanting to have a little bit of independence and just go for it.
And they’re impatient. No, no, he says, burn the yoke and sit and quietly wait.
Joseph had to wait. David had to wait. And the years passed by, and they counted the calendar and the clock, and it was all there. But Joseph became a great man, so did David.
But they had to wait for years, and they would tell you if they were here tonight that it was good.
[29:32] That they had to bear the yoke, and the young brother, young sister, and just all I want to get over tonight is this, it’s spiritually beneficial. I see in this text a back and a, burden that is to be borne, and a blessing that is to be achieved, a benefit that can be reaped.
Lastly, just as I sit down, well, it was difficult from the perspective of the psalmist in Psalm 73.
He saw the prosperity of the wicked and the righteous suffering, wickedness prospers, all of those things that are so obvious, and he wrestled with it and derangled with it, and the inequalities of it and the distortions of it.
He says, I couldn’t until I went into the sanctuaries, the sanctuary, and he said everything took on a different complexion.
[30:33] In fact, the word sanctuary in that text is plural.
I went into the sanctuaries. I’m inclined to think maybe that it’s a reference to the holy of holies, not that he went in physically.
He was a Levite, but in his mind, he went into the sanctuaries, the holy of holies.
Oh, he said, things were all right there.
Things were different there. He says it was all a cube.
Ten by ten by ten. He said there was no inequality there.
He said, I not only appreciated the cube, he said, I saw the chest, the acacia wood and gold. He said that impressive chest, he said, I had lessons.
And then he said, I saw the crown.
Then he said, I saw the cover, the value of atoning blood. Then he said, I saw the chariot, Ben.
[31:42] Then I saw the cloud of glory.” He said, when I spent my visit to the inner sanctuary of God, he said, I saw things that settled my spirit.
It’s good, dear Christians, to get into the presence of God just to see the glory of Christ, the crowned Christ, to see the cover and the value of Calvary, to see the custodians of God’s eternal throne, to see the shekinah glory that has never changed, to see the cube where everything is equal, nothing out of shape, nothing skewed, nothing distorted, such as we see so commonly in this world.” But he said, that settled it all. That settled it all.
He said, I discovered there’s a sphere where all is peaceful and where all is pure and we’re all as proportionate, and we’re all as perfect.” And he said, I drew the conclusion, it is good for me. I said, it was good for me. It was a tonic to my soul. It was the medicine that I needed for the pain, the heartburn of my inner being.
It’s good for me to draw on to the Lord. Good, dear Christians, we’re glad to have a prayer a meeting like this. You wouldn’t feel comfortable, sure we wouldn’t, just to march into a conference without pausing a little while to pray.
[33:11] Just to acknowledge that any good that might come from the meetings, and all, the activities, and all the expense, and all the labors, and all the preachings, and all the conversations, any good that might come, it comes from the sanctuary of God himself. May God grant that there might be a release of all that would be essential to make, Midland Park Conference 2023 spiritually beneficial for every one of us. A summit, worth remembering, a shoulder worth yielding to the yoke of responsibility and so on and so forth, and a sanctuary worth visiting. It is good. It is good. And I hope by the time Sunday afternoon comes, We’ll be saying, Lord, that was good, and that was real good.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230723.m4aPeter[0:00] Now we’re going to read in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 27.
And while you’re looking up Matthew 27, I need to tell you what these gospel services are all about.
If I can get this little contraption hung up here.
This is what this meeting is about. We’re telling men and women, telling you folks, about Christ who died on the cross for our sins.
[0:29] I don’t know whether this is Corey and Peter over here, but we’ve been trying to communicate Christ to people.
And our desire and the desire of Christians is that you won’t be like the mob on the other side of the cross who rejected Jesus Christ.
That even tonight, you will be on the right side of the cross.
You will join the ranks of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who continue to despise him.
And so the great question for you tonight isn’t whether you will join.
See, these services are put on by the Midland Park Gospel Hall.
We haven’t asked you one night if you will join the Gospel Hall. What will you do?
What shall I do with the Gospel Hall?
It’s not about that.
And it’s not, what do I do with religion? The question tonight for you is, what shall I do with
[1:35] Jesus. That is the most consequential, the most important question you will ever be faced with in life. And our prayer is, as this little service continues, you will make the right choice. People make choices in meetings like this. I remember I was much younger. It was a Friday night. We were closing the gospel effort, just like we’re closing tonight. Della had been coming to those gospel services, gospel, but Della was younger than I was at that time, and it was last night.
[2:14] And Della still wasn’t a Christian. She still had never received Christ as their Savior, even though she came out. And I was really bothered about Della, wondering why. And so what was most uncharacteristic of me around suppertime, I had a tremendous burden on my heart for Della. It may be the last time I will ever see Della. I’m leaving this town, and I don’t know what will happen to me. I don’t know what will happen to Della. And, I skipped my supper and I knocked on Della’s door at suppertime. She answered and I said, Della, her boyfriend was there. I said, I’m not here for supper. I just have come because You’re on my heart. I’m heading home
[3:05] tonight after this gospel service, and I would love to know that I will meet you in heaven.
And I tried as best I could to explain what Jesus did on the cross.
I even got on her carpet on my knees and I tried to graphically portray it with books.
This is God. This is you, Della.
And then I put a big thing in between. I said, that’s our sins.
The barrier. And I said, you can’t come to God.
And then I brought another object in and I put the big thing in the middle on top of that object.
And I said, this was what happened at the cross. The barrier, the burden of our sin was placed on Jesus.
Jesus suffered for our sins and He removed the barrier between the sinner and God.
And now the question is, What will you do with Jesus? Will you come?
He’s dealt with the problem of sin. He’s opened up the way.
Della, will you come? Her boyfriend sat on the sofa and said, Della, I think what Peter is saying is that we need to be ready. We never know when our last day will be on earth.
Della didn’t come that night.
I made it back to Prince Edward Island that night, early morning, Saturday.
And then Saturday morning, I got a call that Della died.
[4:34] She was found in bed that night. The next morning, she had died.
Through the night, Friday night, made quite an impression on my young mind that I was.
[4:42] Speaking to someone who had a privilege and an opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Now, no, Della never thought, nor did her boyfriend, nor did I, think that on Saturday morning someone would be leaving a message in our answering machine saying, Della died in her sleep. If you died in your sleep tonight, where would you go?
Do you know what it depends on? Not whether you’re baptized, not what church, you go to, not even your lifestyle. Where you will be five minutes after you die depends on what you do with Jesus, plus nothing else. We’re going to read, about a man who asked a question. Matthew chapter 27 verse 15.
See, some people only read these verses at Easter time, we’re going to read them tonight, and it’s a longer story, it’s just leading up to the crucifixion of Christ.
Now at that feast, verse 15, Matthew 27, the governor was wont to release onto the people a prisoner whom they would.
They had then a notable or a notorious, a very bad prisoner called Barabbas.
Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Pilate was the governor, whom will you that I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus?
[6:07] Which is called Christ. They had a choice to make. Who should be released at this special feast?
Barabbas? I think some will probably shudder and think, oh, Barabbas, a notorious criminal.
Or Jesus? I think Pilate thought it’s gonna be an obvious answer.
No one would ever want Barabbas back out in the streets again.
Verse 18, where he knew that for envy they had delivered him, when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife, Pilate’s wife, the governor’s wife, said unto him, saying, have thou nothing to do with that just man or that good man or that righteous man?
Don’t have any part to play in condemning him to death.
Have nothing to do with that just man.
I’ve had suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
I don’t know what kind of dreams my wife had, but she was obviously afraid.
And she told her husband, this is a just man, this is a good man.
You be careful what you do with Jesus, because I had a scary dream last night.
But the chief priest and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask, Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
The governor, Pilate, answered and said unto them, whether the twain, which of the two, will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
[7:32] Pilate saith unto them, you look at verse 22. Pilate said unto them, are you looking at verse 22?
What shall I do then with Jesus?
He knew it was a personal decision he had to make. Paul was in his court, he had to make the next move. What shall I do? What are we all going to do now about Jesus? No, it’s very personal. And tonight you need to know it’s very personal with you. The person next door to you, sitting beside you may choose to reject Jesus, but that’s not, the question, what shall I do with Jesus?
Say unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why, what evil has he done?
They cried out the moor saying, let him be crucified. You can almost hear the chant of the mob.
Crucify him, crucify him.
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but that rather just a riot was going to break out or a tumult was made, he took water, basin of water, And he started going like this in front of the people.
Poor Pilate, he was washing his hands.
[8:48] He took water and he washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.
[8:55] I don’t want to have his blood on my hands. Then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children.
Then released he Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered onto him a whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him, Jesus.
[9:18] And put on him a scarlet robe.
And when they had whited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand.
Kings hold beautiful scepters, but they gave him a flimsy reed and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail King of the Jews.
And they spit upon him and took the reed, and then smote him on the head.
You would think a lightning bolt would have come from heaven. God gave his son. God so loved the world that he gave his son. And think of the treatment that he was receiving, spit on his face, pounding his head with a reed. And they smote him on the head. And after that, they had mocked him. They took the, robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. I’m going to stop, the story there. What shall I do with Jesus? That question is very relevant.
[10:27] Pilate had to make a choice. You have to make a choice. That question, what shall I do with Jesus?
It is the most biblical of all questions because the central theme of the Bible is the unfolding of God’s Son. That’s what the Bible is about. The story of the Bible is God’s love and God’s Son.
People talk about the meta or meta-narrative of a book or the big story, and people might, read the Bible and say it’s just a hodgepodge, a collection of disconnected, disjointed stories.
There are people in this tent tonight, and they have been reading their Bible for decades.
[11:11] Ask them if there’s a common theme throughout the beautiful Bible.
You know the theme of the Bible is?
It’s a presentation of God’s beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You read and re-read the entire Bible, there’s one overarching theme that clearly emerges.
It is love of God.
God isn’t some mean, cruel, despot, ruling in the skies, black hat, sword drawn, waiting to strike out at people, arbitrarily, indiscriminately.
That’s not the God of the Bible. The overarching theme of the Bible is God is a God, a holy God, but he’s a loving God.
And his love, this is a character of his love, that he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins.
Did you thank him today? You say you’re a Christian? You say you’re a Christian? Really?
And you have never thanked Jesus today for dying on the cross?
It’s a mark of a Christian. A mark of a Christian is someone who is overflowing with appreciation.
There’s a lot of people who say they’re Christian. I go to a Christian church.
Going to a Christian church doesn’t make you a Christian.
[12:37] Going and getting a baptism doesn’t make you a Christian. Saying your prayers doesn’t make you a Christian.
[12:45] What makes you a Christian? The moment you embrace Jesus Christ as your savior. It’s a moment.
You became a Christian. No one was always a Christian. No one.
The central theme of the Bible, the central figure of the Bible, Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation 22, even so come Lord Jesus.
All through the Bible, he is a central figure of the Bible.
You say there’s a lot of stuff in that Old Testament I don’t understand.
A lot that I don’t understand either, and there’s probably no one here that has grasped it all because every day we crack it open, or turn it on if it’s digital.
[13:28] Every day we discover new things in the word of God. But ask a Christian who’s been reading their Bible about some of the things in the Old Testament that are difficult to understand.
And they’ll tell you, ah, I discovered, oh, that’s a picture of Christ.
That’s a title of Christ or that’s a prophetic utterance about the Christ who will come 1500 years down the road.
This is a fulfillment of scripture, Christ is. And then all of those different materials in the tabernacle that you read about in Exodus and all those places, the colors and the animals used, the characters, do you know, they all speak of Christ one way or another.
It’s a beautiful book.
John 21 says, the world itself, I know Corey mentioned the biggest libraries in the world and then he brought you to this verse in John chapter 21.
The world itself could not contain the books that should be written about him.
[14:32] Jesus is a central theme of the Bible. He’s a central figure of the Bible.
So it’s no small wonder then that the central question of the Bible is, What shall I do with Jesus?
This just isn’t a lecture. Our prayer is that you’re responding in your heart, inside.
Not to us. We can’t save you. You don’t.
[14:54] To us. There’s no person on earth who could ever remove one of your sins or forgive one of your sins. Our sins are against God. Only God himself can forgive, sins. But in your heart tonight, answer this question, what will I do with Jesus?
That’s the central question of the Bible. John wrote at the end of his beautiful gospel account, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the, Christ, the promised one, Messiah. That’s why it’s written that you might believe.
Is there someone tonight, and you’ve been putting it all, procrastinating. You’re listening, we’re thankful that you are listening, but you have never actually made the choice.
You’re still over here with the hundreds of thousands of millions of people who are just just getting on with, you know, there were people who stood by the cross.
They continued to call it their insults, throw their insults at them.
There were another group of people that were throwing their dice at the bottom of the cross.
And they said, oh, who’s going to get that piece of clothing?
People were on their business trips and the Bible says they were passing by and they looked up as it traveled down the road and they say, ah, they kept on going.
Is there anyone here tonight brave enough to leave the crowd, come to Christ.
[16:20] It takes a spine. Not everyone will be happy for you. Some people may criticize you.
Some friends may drop you. But my friend, this is so important.
This will determine whether you’re going to be in heaven or hell.
And so it’s okay to lose a friend or two. This is your soul.
What are you going to do with Jesus? Matthew 26, the Jewish high priest said, are you the Christ, the Son of God?
And Jesus said, no, they thought they had him cornered, really, I’m just thinking, they thought they had him cornered.
If he said yes, they would say, well, that’s blasphemy to say that you’re a God.
And then if you do say this, if you say you’re a king, Pilate asked him, are you a king?
If they say, if he says he’s a king, well, then that would be, he’d be guilty of treason against the Roman Empire. And they went through all those charades.
But the context for the central question is this. Pilate’s day was interrupted.
He wasn’t planning on it.
This kind of business that particular day, maybe your day has been interrupted.
So Pilate, we need you out here. We’ve got a monumental choice to make and you have to make it.
[17:32] You’re responsible. I don’t know whether it was early, how early in the morning it was, whether Pilate had to wipe the sleep out of his eyes and say, really, yes, I guess I am the governor.
I guess I am responsible. The Jews say, this is an urgent matter.
What’s the great matter?
And they bring in before Pilate, Jesus.
He had already been through the night, stood before the powerful Exi priest, Annas, and then another one, Caiaphas, and Jesus had been through that through a long night.
And now they’re asking Pilate, the Roman governor, approve the death sentence for Jesus.
You have the authority. We’re just Jews, we’re under the Roman domain.
You’re the one that can pass the death sentence on this man, Jesus.
[18:18] So it’s morning and Pilate listens to all the accusations. Then, he said, he’s looking at Jesus.
He said, I find no fault in this man. I’ve looked into the eyes of many criminals and dishonest people.
I’ve seen their heart and countenances. This is what I think Pilate is thinking as he looks at the face of Jesus.
He looks at his innocent hands that were always outstretched to do good and to bless others.
And maybe in his mind he’s thinking, this isn’t a criminal.
[18:54] I know what a criminal looks like. He doesn’t have eyes of tender compassion.
He doesn’t have hands that aren’t clenched fists.
He’s innocent. He says, I find no fault in this man. And they kept at him three times, four times.
Pilate says, I tell you again, I hear you crying, I hear your accusation, but I find no fault in this man.
Then he comes up with a Barabbas option. Would this be an out for him?
And then they say, Pilate, here’s a message for you.
Then he opens up the message. Dearest Pilate, have nothing to do with this just man, this good man, this righteous man, this holy man.
I’ve had a bad dream last night about him. Don’t you become involved in condemning this man, this righteous man, is a message from his wife.
But the chant of the mob gets louder, louder. A riot, that’s actually the word used, a riot is about to break out.
Pilate asks, Barabbas or Jesus? The unanimous instant response is, Barabbas!
And Pilate says, what?
Do then? Jesus. They said, let him be crucified. What would you say tonight about Jesus? You must
[20:16] have something against him if you’re not willing to embrace him as your savior. What shall I do with Jesus? Then he was, Jesus was scourged. The scourging didn’t satisfy. That means he was whipped many, many times on his back. The scourging didn’t satisfy the crowd. And then Pilate gets that bowl, and he washes his hands and he says I am innocent to the blood of this just man.
If you could see Pilate, if you could see Pilate tonight in hell, you know what, he’s probably still doing? Why? I knew he was without sin. I knew he was faultless.
Why did I make the wrong choice? Because I was afraid of the crowd. Why? Friend, if If you turn Jesus down, it will haunt you for all eternity, that you heard the story of the cross.
You heard about his precious blood that was shed for your sins.
And you had the privilege of sitting and responding to the gospel.
And you said, no, I’m just going to say farewell.
I’m going to get on with life. I’m gonna stay over here with the crowd.
Friend, it’s the wrong choice. This choice is for eternity.
Your eternal future depends on what you do with Jesus.
[21:42] We know what Pilate’s choice was. Don’t you make the same mistake as Pilate.
As you hear from Corey just now, couldn’t you trust Christ as your savior?
Wouldn’t you want him?
Wouldn’t you want to have all your sins forgiven? God will save you tonight, if there’s a cry from your heart for salvation. Romans 10 verse 13 says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Kory[22:17] I’d like to read tonight in Acts chapter 26, if you have your Bible.
And I’d just like to echo what Peter said at the start. I’m just thankful for the time spent here and have enjoyed the time and the invitation and working with Peter, but I was thinking as well, all those things have been nice and good, but really the purpose of this gospel series is it is a rescue mission.
And each night the life raft, the life preserver has been cast out.
I know there’s no greater joy that could come after working here and preaching the gospel each night than hearing of one that has reached out in faith and taken hold of the only one that can save, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we would hope tonight, as you hear this last message of this 10 series, that even still yet, you would reach out and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re gonna read about another man who is presented with the choice of what to do with Jesus Christ.
And we’ll read about him in Acts chapter 26.
And here, Paul is before a large group of royalty, a King Agrippa and many others there that day.
And he’s going to recount a bit of his testimony in his life, and he’s gonna tell them about Christ.
And it says in Acts 26 in verse 12, when thus, this is Paul speaking, while thus occupied as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, along the road.
[23:40] I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
So I said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand on your feet, for I’ve appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
For these reasons, the Jews
[24:56] in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand witnessing both the small and great, saying no other thing than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.
Now, as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself. Much learning is driving you mad.
But he said, I’m not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.
For the king before whom I also speak freely knows these things.
For I’m convinced that none of these things escapes his attention.
Since this first, since this thing was not done in a corner.
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to become a Christian.
And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.
[26:08] What a scene of great pomp and majesty that day. We’ve seen throughout these weeks in the book of Acts, many preachers preaching to many different people.
But it was that day when what great privilege to speak, to preach to the very king of the land.
And the one who was known often as the king of preachers, Paul, he was also the preacher to kings.
And you see that right here, when he presented to King Agrippa and told him of one who is the king of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And friend, tonight from the very first meeting of this series till now, the message has not changed.
And this is the message that we have preached, that this same Jesus is the only one that can save.
We’ve declared him every single night and these three words, this same Jesus.
And maybe response tonight would be two words. The words of this King some 2000 years ago, and hearing of this same Jesus, he would say this, almost persuaded, almost persuaded.
[27:11] There’s no such thing Peter was saying as an always Christian.
There’s no such thing also as an almost Christian. There’s a famous preacher who would say, Almost persuaded to be a Christian is like a man who was almost pardoned, then was hanged.
An almost Christian is like the man who was almost rescued, but he was burned in the house.
A man who is almost saved is lost forever.
And friend and I, you could leave here thinking, I almost believe the message.
And tonight, friend, hell is full of people who were never close to being persuaded of trusting in the gospel, but it’s also full of people who are almost persuaded.
And that’s the message that that was the response that day of the King, King Agrippa.
And he would hear and consider everything that Paul preached him, that this Christ would suffer.
He would die and he would rise from the dead and he was promised in the prophets. He would even say, King Agrippa, you know the prophets, you know the promises. And yet, even considering all that, he would say, almost persuaded. Almost persuaded. But friend, tonight, the reason we’ve had these gospel messages is not that you would go home almost a Christian, because that has no, value. It has no value. But friend, that you would go home, knowing this. Not that I’m a part of a church now that I can join the Midland Park Gospel. None of that. But you could go home knowing tonight. I am saved. I am a Christian. There was a.
[28:40] Old bishop that was speaking in England and he was, he, he, he said this. He said, he who is almost years ago, a few hundred years ago, and as he went home, those, those words struck a chord in his heart. Almost persuaded is almost saved, but to be almost saved is to be entirely lost. And he sat down and he wrote a hymn. A hymn that’s in the hymn book we have.
Almost persuaded, Philip Bliss, almost persuaded, now to believe, almost persuaded Christ to receive.
[29:08] Seems now some soul to say, go spirit, go thy way, some more convenient day, on thee I’ll call.
And friend tonight, tonight might be the last opportunity by God’s grace that he has given to you as we have heard, to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. And you might linger, and you And you might go home almost persuaded.
Paul could recount to King Agrippa the purpose of the gospel message, or in other words, the definition of a Christian.
We find it right here. Five things in verse number 18 that we have read.
The purpose of the gospel, the results of the gospel is this.
He says that your eyes might be open.
God appointed him, he said, he appointed me to preach this message.
Why? That their eyes might be open.
And friend, the gospel is preached this night just like the other nights, what?
That your eyes might be open.
Do you ever feel like you’re going through life and you’re in the dark?
That you’re blind? You don’t know what one day will bring. You don’t know where you’re going.
You don’t know where you’re headed. Salvation is often in the scriptures, in the word of God, referred to looking. Look to me and be saved.
[30:16] All the ends of the year. Oh that your eyes might be open tonight, and you’d look, You’d look to the only one just like those many years before when they would erect that serpent in the wilderness that serpent of bronze, Dying from that from the wounds and friend tonight in your sins. You’re not dying The Bible says you’re already dead and know that you would look, Not to a serpent on a pole not to a religious system or ceremony, but that you’d look to Jesus The only one that could see, that your eyes might be open.
There was a blind man who, I love the story, the blind man who encountered Jesus.
And after he was interrogated, after he received this sight and all those religious people were so worked up about what had happened, about Jesus who would heal them, he would say this, I don’t know very much, but one thing I do know, having been blind now I see.
And friend, you could have come in here and you can also leave knowing hardly anything about the Word of God, anything about the Bible, but you could do this coming in, being blind, you could say, one thing I do understand, I came in here lost and I’m going home a free person.
I came in blind and now I see how. It’s through the message of the gospel.
It’s through the one who bled and died on Calvary. The purpose of the gospel, the definition of a Christian.
[31:34] Is those who have had their eyes opened to see the wonderful works.
[31:39] Of God, the wonderful work of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t stop there.
He doesn’t say, I was sent that their eyes might be open, but he says to turn them from darkness to light.
Friend, tonight, this world is full of darkness.
Sin brings nothing but darkness into our lives. One sin after another, it’s like you reach out in the dark, just hoping to find something to hold on to.
Find something that’ll bring satisfaction, bring peace. And when the Lord Jesus Christ was promised to come, I would say the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, have seen a great light.
In the light of the world, he came in and he walked here on this earth.
And all those who walked in darkness in that day, they saw one who was full of light.
And friend tonight, the gospel, the purpose of the gospel has not changed.
And we preach the message so that you might turn from darkness to light.
You know why many people don’t do it?
The scriptures tell us why. John could write, this is the condemnation that light has come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light. Maybe tonight you’d say, I’m almost persuaded, but I love my sin too much. Men love darkness rather than light.
It was true in Jesus’ day, it’s true in our day.
[32:48] It says, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light.
Oh friend, tonight that you might turn from your sins, turn from the darkness and look to the light.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world, he offers tonight freedom from the darkness, how?
Because he endured the darkness for you. On Calvary, he took the darkness of our sins.
[33:10] Three hours and eternity of darkness upon himself so that you could see the light, that you could turn from darkness to light.
And he doesn’t even stop there. He doesn’t even tell them that their eyes might be open and they turn from darkness to light. What else does he say?
He says, turn from the power of Satan to the power of God. Friend tonight, if you are not saved, you are under the power of Satan. You’re a slave to sin.
But there’s one who came and we announced this message, that you might turn from the power of Satan to the power of God.
What a contrast. One leads to death, one leads to destruction.
[33:42] One leads to condemnation the power of Satan the power of God leads to salvation leads to light leads to, That is the purpose of the message preached that is the purpose of why Paul preached the gospel message, That’s why we preach the same gospel message some 2,000 years later that you turn from the power of Satan, to the power of God the gospel message is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that would believe and Paul that day preaching to that King. He doesn’t even leave it at that for the King, He gives them another reason as to why he’s preaching, why he was sent.
Not just that they would turn, they would be free from the power of Satan, to the power of God, but that they would receive the forgiveness of sins.
Friends and I, we preach the gospel message so that you could receive, not because of us, not because of some great show of emotion, but from the God of heaven himself, who has promised in his eternal world, he that believes in the son has forgiveness, that you would receive the forgiveness of sins.
There is not a single person who is almost persuaded that has received the forgiveness of sins.
With God, there is no almost forgiven.
[34:48] There’s condemned and completely set free. Almost persuaded means to be forgiven nothing.
Forgiven nothing. Blessed is the one whose transgressions, whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.
It leaves that king with another tremendous blessing, another tremendous definition of what the gospel is, to receive the forgiveness of sins, and what does he say?
And an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
The same Jesus that we preach is not just the Jesus who desires to forgive your sins, to set you on a road for heaven, but he’s one who wants to share with you an internal inheritance.
What greater message is there than that? that the Son of God desires to you be a part of His family, co-inheritors, the Bible says, of an eternal inheritance.
That is the purpose of the gospel. That is the definition of a Christian, one who has an inheritance with God, one who has received the forgiveness of sins, one who has come out from the power of Satan and is under the power of God now saved, one who has turned from darkness to light, one who has had their eyes opened.
And hearing all that, friend, of what Christ offers you, How would you respond?
King Agrippa, after hearing all that, he would say, almost persuaded. Almost persuaded.
That was the response.
[36:13] The gospel. I remember a young man, we were preaching at a coffee farm in a very rural area of Costa Rica a few years ago.
And I remember as we preached each night and kind of the open air there to some chairs with a spotlight set up on that coffee farm and many of the workers were coming from the farm.
There was a man, a young man out in the street and he always, like you could always see him because he was standing back, maybe back where the school was and there was a light post there and he would stand there. And as the meeting was ending, he would just leave. And the last night of those meetings, he came in and he spoke with us. And that night had been preached on, the, the, the parable of the great supper. And it was emphasized of, of those excuses that were made. One who, who said for a piece of land, he could not come. Another for a material things, another for the relationships of this world, they would not come. And he came in and with tears in his eyes, I’ll never forget. His name was Martin. And he said, I’ve listened every night. And the things that you spoke about, tonight, those three things are the things stopping me from from being saved.
[37:13] And he said, I’m certain that if I do not get saved tonight, I will never be saved.
You know, sadly, I can’t tell you tonight that he was saved because after he spoke a little with us and he left, we gave him our number, never to be heard from again.
You know, someday I hope I see Martin in heaven, but you know what, maybe that night he heard and he went home saying this, almost persuaded, almost, almost saved.
And tonight he could be in a lost eternity.
This came after he heard a tremendous message of freedom, of forgiveness, of sin.
Almost persuaded. It’s like the man who had his sentencing would hear that life sentenced and as walking back to his cell, he could say, I was almost set free.
But he went to spend the rest of his life in a jail cell.
Almost set free means completely lost. Thirst is not quenched by almost drinking.
Hunger is not filled by almost
having something to eat. Being saved from drowning is not accomplished, by almost reaching out for the life preserver.
Friend almost persuaded tonight. If you leave this tent almost persuaded, you go home completely and entirely lost before God.
[38:27] That was the response the king gave that day. And what was Paul’s reaction to hearing that answer?
He said, I would to God that not only you, but all those here today might become both almost and altogether, such as I, except for these chains.” That man was a literal prisoner.
He said, I just wish everyone here could be just like me, minus the chains.
In other words, he was saying, I wish everyone here just knew Christ like I knew him.
I wish everyone here was just saved like I am.
They could know Christ precious like I do. You know that same man, Philip Bliss, who wrote that hymn, Almost Persuaded.
He had a tragic ending to his life. When he was 38 years old, he was in a train accident with his wife. And he was able to escape, But as those train cars began to burn, he entered back in to try and save his wife.
And him and his wife were consumed in the flame, leaving out two children of four years old and one year old.
And that man, as they brought his belongings and gave it to the family, one of his family members found a hymn that he had finished writing, maybe even on that very train ride.
And these were the words of that hymn. I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me on the cruel cross he suffered from the curse to set me free.
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer.
Blood, he purchased me on the cross. He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free.
Wait!
[39:52] The same man who could put the thoughts in others’ minds of this almost persuaded.
What he wanted more than anything was that all those that heard his hymns would be able to sing of his Redeemer.
And the apostle Paul to this king of Gripa, he had the same desire.
Oh, king of Gripa and everyone present, that you might be able like me to do this.
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer.
On the cross, he purchased me.
That in all things, he said that in all things like me, that maybe he was thinking of the words he had wrote in Romans, that therefore there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.
Oh, King Agrippa and all those here, he would say, that you can understand there is no condemnation.
For me, why? Because I’m in Christ Jesus and I desire everything.
All of this for each one of you. Maybe he had the words that he wrote in Ephesians.
[40:43] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
Oh, King Agrippa, almost persuaded. My desire is that you would understand something of the redemption that is in the blood of Jesus, forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
You know, some of the last book of the Bible But Paul wrote, this is what he would write, and maybe he hadn’t quite written it at this stage, but maybe in a future day, he was thinking back to King Agrippa.
He said this, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he’s able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
I know in whom I have believed, and he is able, he is the firm foundation.
Friend tonight, if you are not, If you do not trust in Christ tonight, what greater foundation could you find in this earth?
There is none, there is none. Oh, that you might be able to respond in this, not like King Agrippa did, almost persuaded, but after listening to the gospel of this same Jesus, you might say, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
[41:57] From there’s no other foundation. There’s no other salvation found outside of this.
You know, the last hymn of that verse, of that hymn that Philip Bliss wrote, goes like this.
Almost persuaded, harvest is past. Almost persuaded, doom comes at last.
Almost cannot avail. Almost is but to fail. Sad, sad, that bitter wail. Almost, but lost.
Friend, tonight you could be saved from your sins, forgiven, made right with God, because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross when he shed his blood, cried out, it is finished, was buried, and rose again the third day. After hearing this message, what would you do with Jesus? Our hope is that you would not leave this place with these two words, almost persuaded, but that you would turn from, your sins, and you would trust in Christ, you would say, Christ is the Savior for me.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230721.m4aKory[0:00] I’d like to read this evening, if you have a Bible with you, in the book of Acts, and chapter 17. Acts chapter 17.
And here we’re going to read again of this preacher Paul that we have been reading and following along through this book of Acts, as well as Peter, but here we’re going to encounter Paul, and he’s here, and he’s in a very religious place, a very, the very center of philosophy and idolatry, in a place called Athens. And we’re going to read in that verse number, we’ll read verse number 22, but the question that was asked to him in verse 19, it says this, they took him and brought him to Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak. For them it was a message they had never heard of this one named Jesus Christ. And so they did the natural human thing to do. They asked, tell us more. We’d like to hear more about this doctrine that you are spreading, that you are preaching.
And so with that in mind, we come to verse number 22, and it says this, Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.
Maybe you can identify with that this evening, and say, I’m very religious.
And it says in verse 23, For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.
[1:27] Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing him I proclaim to you in other words, The unknown God the one who you you cry out to there is a God that you can know, That’s what he was telling and he says this in verse 24 God, Who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth?
Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives life to all, breath, and all things.
And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell in all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope, they might grasp for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of our poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone. Something shaped by art or man’s devising.
[2:42] Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day, on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.
He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.
What a tremendous message preached by this evangelist. We’ve been noting the last few nights that Asi would preach to religious people In Acts chapter 13, he would use the Old Testament, to help apply it, to help them relate to it.
[3:18] In Acts 14, when he was preaching to those with very little knowledge of literacy, very little knowledge of religion or anything like that, he would take the message down to their level.
And here now, in the center of all philosophy and religious thought of his day, he tells them of a God that they can know, a God that they can know.
It is said of this place, Athens, an old Greek philosopher would say, that in Athens at that time, it was easier to find a god than to find a man.
That’s how many there were. There were so many gods in that city, you’d have an easier time locating that god or whoever it was you’re looking for, more than another human being.
And so in that city, the hundreds if not thousands of different gods that were worshipped, that had their temples set up for them.
Now it’s interesting that every known language in the world has a word for God, it has a, word for God. It’s said that some languages don’t have tenses, or some languages don’t even have the word have or the in the language. There’s no word for them in many languages.
But every known language has some word that is used.
[4:27] God, or the idea of God. It may not be referring to the true God, the God of the Bible, but it shows that in that sense, in every language, in every nation, in this world, that within the human existence, in the human soul, there is a knowledge, there is a longing for something bigger, something greater. God. And when I say.
[4:52] That name tonight, God, it might mean something different to different people here tonight. You could say the God I worship and you could maybe tell me the name, you could describe his character. But you know when we come to the God of the Bible, and that’s why often in the Old Testament and quoting in the New Testament, they say the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Why? Because they didn’t want people to be confused with which God they were referring to. You, know if I were to say tonight, speak of the President, you would immediately.
[5:19] Someone would come in your mind if I’m saying it right here. But if I go to Costa Rica, and I say the president, well a very different person, a very different character, a very different type of individual is going to come to the mind of the people there. Why? Because the president is different. It’s not the same. You wouldn’t associate with the same thing. But you know around this world I think in general, not to pat Americans on the back or toot the horn, but if you say the president in general, I think people, most people would associate it with the, president of the United States. Why? Because I think as we would consider the the scene of this world, you would identify one who maybe has more authority and more power than most around this world, and be the president of this country.
And in the same sense tonight, friend, when we talk about God, and whatever name or whatever being, whatever image you associate that with, our desire tonight is that your eyes would focus in, and as we’re going to see, on the God that you can know, the very one that created you, that created your soul.
The God we preached to them, the God of heaven, God Jehovah, the God of the Bible.
[6:23] And as we would see this, that Paul coming into this city and preaching to them, you.
[6:29] Know, the very first commandment that God gave, you know what it was?
You shall have no other gods before me.
The very first commandment that the God of heaven gave. And as Paul would come into the city and be overwhelmed and inundated with the number of gods that he would witness. It wouldn’t take him very long to conclude. In this very city, it’s full of people that have rebelled against God. They made God of different images, of different sizes, of different materials. And Prentonite, as we think in this meeting here, in this tent.
[6:59] You may not have erected an image of a god in your home, or even broken this specific commandment made in your life, but we can, from the word of God under this authority, conclude this. Every Every single one of us here have fallen short of God’s state.
We’re guilty before God.
And as Paul sees this, the condition of the people there, they had a God for everything.
A God for everything. And he said, you know, I was passing by.
Maybe he noted some of the more famous altars of different gods in that city.
But one seemed to have caught his attention more than others. As he passed by, and we’ve seen that altar wrecked, then maybe would have asked someone, who’s that altar to?
He’d say, I don’t know. It’s to the unknown God. Can you really know God?
Maybe friend, tonight in this meeting you would have that same attitude, that same question in your heart.
Can I really know God or a God in any sort of personal way?
And maybe in your life you have been like those people of Athens and for your life you have followed and bowed down to an unknown God.
[8:01] Something or someone you know nothing about and just hoping.
[8:06] Hoping in some way that that this God would respond to this unknown God would in some way, Communicate to you or speak to you in front tonight the message of the gospel is this, There is a God you can know and this God the Almighty God the God of heaven It says, he’s not very far from each one of us.
And tonight, friend, he is extending to you his grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness that none of us deserve.
And he offers to us his son.
And as Paul that day would have looked upon those people, there was a few things in his heart that he wanted to communicate to them about God, not the unknown God, but the God that they could know.
He was just hoping that, I don’t know what it was in Greek or whatever language they had that altar written, but he wanted to just take those two letters.
Don’t bow down to the unknown God.
Bow down to the known God, the God of heaven, the God who loves your soul and gave his son to die for you.
And he wanted them to know this. He said, the God, in the verse that we have read, God who made the world and everything in it.
Isaiah could say, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary.
After all the work that he has done, all the creation that He has done, giving life into your very soul, into your very being, that says this, God is not weary.
[9:28] And in French tonight, the God that we proclaim, the God that you can know, is the God who created you and everything in this world. That’s what Paul wanted the people to know that day.
It says, every man, in Hebrews, every man, every house is built by a man.
We see that, a building, it’s built by a man. But he that built all things is God.
You know, just a few days ago, well, yesterday, I’d rather it was, took my sons down for the first time, down in New York City.
And as you walk down through that, right through Times Square and in those busy streets, and you look up at all the buildings, it’s impressive.
It’s awe-inspiring. And you’d say, what an accomplishment by man to construct such great buildings.
It’s impressive, it’s renowned around the world. Everyone would know the skyline of New York City.
And the scriptures would so clearly say to us, every house is built by a man.
Those buildings built by a man. But the one we proclaim tonight is the one who built them.
He created this whole earth, he created you.
He holds our breath in His very hands, as Scripture says.
[10:28] And Paul wanted them to know that, to understand it. The God who can be known is the God who is the creator, the God who created you.
Do you know that God today? Could you say, I know the one who made me, the one who formed me in His own likeness. Do you know Him?
Not just know of him, not just know of him.
Him something above him. Do you know him in a personal way? Could you call him, father to him? Do you have that relationship with God? He doesn’t stop at telling them the God they can know is the God creator, but he is the sustainer too. It says that he is the one who who gives life to all. He has made from one blood, every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. We’ve seen this more than once in the book of Acts. The God of heaven, the God that you can know is is the one who’s also set boundaries in our lives.
He knows the very moment you’re gonna go on to eternity. And friend tonight, maybe tomorrow, maybe this even this evening, is where your life could end being found in that verse, the boundary of your life. And God in His mercy and His grace has extended you one last time to hear the gospel.
[11:32] And what would you do with that? What would you do with God’s grace this evening, God’s salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the sustainer of all things.
He set boundaries, I love the verse that says, He’s put eternity in our hearts, right?
That deep within each of us, even an atheist, and I have a very close person in my family, who would be an atheist.
And one thing I have noted from this individual, that despite them convincing themselves that they believe that God does not exist, they have a tremendous fear of death.
Tremendous fear, more than anyone I know in my life. Why?
Because deep down in their own soul, they know one day they’re gonna have to meet God.
God has set eternity in each one of our hearts.
And some of us, maybe we’ve tried to cover it up, we’ve tried to bury it down, because we don’t wanna think about what we’ll say, or what kind of account we’ll be able to give to God if we meet Him face-to-face after our life. God, who is the sustainer of all things.
He set boundaries, He set timelines. And it says, though, as though we worship Him with man’s hands, as if He needed something from us. You ever thought about that?
That all our trying, all our giving, all our working, all our religion.
We come to God with our hands full and our own mind that says this, as if he needed anything from us.
[12:47] When we bring our petty sacrifices, our petty offerings, when God sent his son to make the greatest offering, and sacrifice this world has ever known.
Jesus Christ died, and God who is the sustainer. He needs nothing from us, but we need everything from him.
We need the forgiveness of sins. And it says here that God who has a desire, in verse 27, he kept going.
He said, he’s appointed all these things, why? So that they should seek the Lord.
And in seeking for him, they might find him.
You know what tonight, friend? Convinced from the authority of the Word of God if you were to seek God tonight if you were to seek Jesus Christ You would find it. He said himself him that cometh to me. I’ll never cast away and that is his desire tonight, He says he’s put these things there He’s put eternity in our hearts so that we should seek the Lord in that that that groping that that that longing after reaching out For him we could find him and this is the declaration because he’s not far from every single one of us I don’t know if you feel lonely tonight. I don’t know if you feel abandoned I don’t know if you think God is just some far-off, evil being, mean-fisted God who has just sent difficulty into your life. The God that you can know, it says here in Scripture, He’s not very far from every single one of us. He is so close in, fact that He had your name in mind when He sent His Son into this world to die for your sins and for mine. For God so loved the world that He gave His only, begotten Son. Then God’s desire is this, that you would search for Him, you would seek the Lord while he may be found.
[14:14] And Paul kept going, he just said, God, it’s not just a God with a desire that you would seek him, he’s a God with a message.
Now, I don’t know what the message of the unknown God was, but I’m sure it wasn’t a very noble message.
Maybe his message also was unknown.
We don’t really know what that God wants, the unknown God, but the God who is known, the God who you can know.
This is his message in verse number 30.
That therefore these times of ignorance, that the bowing down to idols, They’re trying to offer God something with their own hands.
That these times of ignorance, God has overlooked, or in other words, has been long suffering.
Has not in his right, in his justice, just judged us all in a moment.
But he’s overlooked these things.
He’s long suffered. Not willing that any should perish.
[14:56] And what is his message? Many people will tell you, God’s message is this.
He wants you to be healthy and wealthy.
You know what the word of God says?
This is his message. Now commands all men everywhere to repent.
That’s God’s message.
That you would turn from the unknown God in your life, the idols in your life, the sin in your life that are taking you down to hell. He commands all men everywhere to repent, to repent.
Maybe tonight you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, I’m religious, I’m not all that bad.
God commands all men everywhere to repent.
That’s the message of God today, that you would turn from your sins, that you would repent and believe the gospel.
He is not slack concerning his promises, but is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Friend, tonight, that is the God that can be known tonight. The God who commands you to come to him on his terms and his way, to turn from your sins and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because he says here, he doesn’t stop there and say, it’s a God with a message that you can know.
It’s a God who is the judge, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, Jesus Christ.
It says, God has given all judgment into his hands. And friend tonight, if you don’t trust in Christ in this life, if you don’t receive him as your savior, there’s coming a day when you’ll see him and he won’t be a savior then, he’ll be the judge.
And you will say to all those religious, all those who try, depart from me.
I never agree.
[16:24] Oh friend, what an invitation tonight. That the God of heaven, not the unknown God, but the God that can be known, he offers one to you, a savior, that can be known and experienced and held on to tonight as a firm foundation.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, because he’s the God of salvation.
He gives assurance, he gives salvation, he gives forgiveness.
You know, we didn’t read there the last few verses of this chapter, but it gives us three reactions to this message.
Having heard all this tonight, friend, in a very summarized, brief way.
[17:01] The God who is your creator. The God who desires that you reach out for him, that you seek him while he may be found.
The God who commands you to repent. The God who says, I sent my son to die for you.
What could you ever offer me? God offers us all things through Jesus Christ.
And the reaction that day, some 2000 years ago, it’s amazing when you read the book of Acts and you notice this, that man’s heart has not changed one iota in 2000 years.
Look at verse number 32, three reactions to this message.
And you find here tonight, the message of a known God that can be had, that you can become part of God’s family.
You will have one of these three reactions. It says in verse 32.
[17:45] And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, some laughed.
Maybe as a respectful person, you wouldn’t laugh audibly tonight at hearing this message, but maybe in your heart, there’s some mockery brewing up.
You say, a God that can be known?
[17:59] No, foolishness, foolishness. Maybe tonight, friend, you’ll go to your car, you’ll leave here with that mockery still in your heart, laughing, as it were, to God’s offer of salvation.
Or maybe you’d be like those in the end of verse 32, it says, this some mocked, while others said, we will hear you again on this matter.
There’s some that wait, there’s some that linger. You know, they got past the mockery, there’s something in the message that piqued their interest.
Maybe a conviction in their heart that this God that can be known, I’d like to know more about him.
What does it say? They waited.
Come back another time and we’ll listen to this. Maybe a friend you had that same reaction, maybe a year ago at the tent when the last tent meeting ended.
You say, I desire to be saved. I desire to know more about this message.
And you lingered and you waited and you found yourself here one year later.
Hearing about the same God that can be known and his son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the cross. And he’d wait and he’d linger.
You know, maybe it’s easy to condemn people who would mock the message.
But for tonight, there’s people in hell. People who mock the message, yes, but there’s also people who lingered and waited and put it off.
Maybe even younger ones here tonight, you would think I have my whole life in front of me. And you’d say, I’m going to wait and I’ll linger. It’s the same condemnation if you were to enter into eternity.
But our desire tonight would be this, as verse 33 says, verse 34 rather, however, some men Join him.
[19:23] They didn’t moth, they understood the importance of understanding of coming into that relationship with the God of heaven and his son Jesus Christ and they.
[19:32] Didn’t wait and linger. They believed the message. And friend, our desire tonight would be that you would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you would be safe.
And you leave here rejoicing. It was in 2018, in March of 2018, where Chase Canada, Chase Bank pulled out all their credit card services in Canada. I had a Marriott chase credit card that I enjoyed using had no foreign transaction fees so it’s very helpful living in another country having that card. I remember when the news came in 2018 that they were closing all business services all Canadian, credit cards which would no longer exist you couldn’t use them anymore I was disappointed but they said you have to maintain your payments you have to keep making your payments and so life carried on as long and then it was a year later in in April of 2019 where they announced this to the bewilderment of many that I It made more business sense for them as a bank to cancel all the debt on all the Canadian credit cards than maintain business services of collections and all that.
So everybody that had a debt with Chase Bank in Canada received a notice in the mail.
Your credit card balance is zero.
That’s the first time you ever got punished for having good credit.
We’re having the card paid off and it wasn’t good news for me, but for many.
Tremendous news. And they interviewed a man in a small town, I don’t know why they’re in Northern Ontario, Coal Hill, Ontario, a man by the name of Alistair Turner.
[20:55] And they interviewed him there on the CBC and they asked him, how did it feel?
He said, the day I received that notice, $6,154 of credit card debt, completely forgiven.
He said it sounded too good.
[21:08] I could not believe it. But then he said, I had to open up that letter again.
I’ve kept it. Because every time when I think it’s too good to be true, I go right back to that statement where it says this.
The balance is zero. He says, every time I look at that statement, a smile comes across my face.
I can’t help but feel joyous that my debt was forgiven. And friend tonight, I don’t know what kind of debt, you think you have with God.
But it is a debt much greater than $6,154. But tonight, friend, from the Word of God.
[21:39] You could turn to different verses as we have done, and you could find the declaration where it says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and you could trust it.
If you ever had doubts again in the future, which is not abnormal, you could come back to that statement that says, not from the authority of the president of Chase Bank, who is a man, I am sure, with much authority, but you could come to the authority of the God of heaven, the God who can be known tonight by you, in a very personal way, and you can see this.
He that has the Son has life. If you’d like to be forgiven this evening, friend, we would commend to you the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.
And the God of heaven, the God who created your soul, his desire tonight is that you would search for him.
And if you’d search for him in genuine, with all your heart, you’d find him. You’d find Christ.
And you’d go home tonight, not falling down, worshiping an unknown God, but you can know God, and you can know Christ as your Savior.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
Peter[22:42] Some of us have had the joy of knowing this knowable God for quite a few decades, And we have failed Him, but I can tell you that this God, who is no one, knowing, and to live the rest of your life without knowing the knowable God, like I can’t even wrap my head around it, why anyone would choose to try to negotiate the eight turns of life without God when He is available to you.
And you were hearing about the response, some mop. There are probably no moppers here tonight.
At least you’re not doing it from the outside. Can’t see any mocking faces externally.
You may be laughing your head off inside about us, but there may be some who are lingering, as you’ve been hearing, lingering.
And as Corey was speaking, I was thinking, those who linger don’t really understand what is at stake.
If you understood there was urgency, If you understood there is gravity, there’s seriousness to this, you wouldn’t linger.
You wouldn’t wait until Sunday night or tomorrow. You would say, if God is noble, I need to know God tonight, period.
[24:11] And you can know God tonight. It’s not a 12-step program.
You could know God as your God, as a God of salvation.
You could know him tonight before you leave this town. Think about that.
You say, well, I didn’t plan to do such a, have a great transaction like that.
I never anticipated that on a Friday night. Change your mind right now.
Say, if God is noble, I want to know him tonight. Change your mind.
If you weren’t thinking of doing business for eternity, say tonight, I want to have this settled once and for all.
Oh, maybe there is just one person here and you’re frustrated over the fact that you aren’t saved.
Yeah, you’ve heard the message quite a few times.
And you say, I want to be saved.
And you say, I tried to get saved. I don’t even understand that.
We use that word, get saved, that phrase. Get saved? Change it up a little bit.
You tried to get rescued?
That’s what saved means. No, we, he saved me.
[25:16] He rescues us and you say I would love to be rescued this Friday night and you say but it’s not happening for me. The Bible says you have no strength to save yourself. So what does that mean? It means you need someone to save you and that’s why we have a meeting like this. Thank God, the God of salvation that you’ve, been hearing about, he could save you tonight. Just last month we held our breath as rescue efforts were made to save five people aboard a submersible.
They went down 2.4 miles down into the Atlantic Ocean to visit the remains of the Titanic. Millions of dollars were spent, expertise were around the world trying to rescue those five men in that submersible. I was claustrophobic for of them and everything, that little tiny thing down there, 2.4 miles down, but the reality was, there was no way of escape.
There was no door for them to escape, no way to rescue them.
They all perished, a father, a son, a businessman, explorer, the owner of the submersible company, all perished.
There was no way of escape.
[26:44] You know, tonight, this Friday night, we are concerned. Right in this meeting, there are those who are perishing in their sins. You’re not beyond hope yet.
Thank God you could be rescued tonight.
What left to yourself, you are perishing, and you will perish, but you do need to be rescued.
And we can point you to a noble God who one of his titles is, he is a God of salvation, the God of salvation.
We can open our Bible, we can point you to the one, the only door to safety.
Look up John chapter 10, verse nine. There is a door. I remember when you’re looking it up, I was only a little kid, I don’t know.
I know how sometimes there are neighborhood fights, just so you know, the seven and eight year olds.
[27:32] They get in a little scrap and it’s over in 30 minutes, but it seems pretty intense at the time when you’re fighting.
And there was a little fight broke out in our street and I whipped it up the street, running as fast as I could.
And I, my heart was pounding because.
I thought they were going to catch up with me and just right at the right time the door opened my mother said come in Peter, And what do you think I did stood outside?
No Man, I was so glad to see that open door; bolted in. There’s an open door tonight. Look at John chapter 10 verse 9, Jesus says I am the door.
[28:15] By me if If any man or any woman or any boy or any girl, any person enter in, he shall be saved.
In other words, be rescued and be safe and should go in and out and find pastor.
It just speaks of once you’re inside, then you’re protected and you can go in and out and enjoy life from here on in because you’re accepted inside.
The door, the door. Jesus said, not a church is a door. Did you think we were saying, come to our church, we’re the door? No.
You could leave your church and come to ours and die in your sins and wake up in the darkness of a lost eternity.
Our church is not the door to heaven.
There is only one door. His name is Jesus. And he said, I am the door.
Are you looking for a door tonight?
You want to bolt in? It’s a cold world out there, and you’re worried about your sin.
You say, I would love to have a degree of safety. He said, I’m the door.
By me, it sounds like he’s a pretty welcoming savior if you ask me.
I’ve been reading the Bible for a long time, and I don’t think he would turn you away.
In fact, I know he wouldn’t turn you away. If you came, say the door is open, come in.
[29:40] Why stay outside? That’s what I was thinking about today.
Like, I don’t understand. Like this is the second last night of these gospel meetings and you could be safe inside.
We’ve told you about Jesus. We’ve told you about the cross. We’ve told you about his precious blood.
And we told you that there’s no need for anyone to perish and go to hell.
You can be safe inside for the life of me.
How can anyone understand why people would stay outside When Jesus says, I am the door, by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved.
In your current state, we have good news for you.
Is for you, there’s a door you can enter tonight. And the moment you enter, the moment you enter, that’s the moment you’ll be saved, not just for a week, be saved for the rest of this life and for all eternity.
You say, but I don’t think I could, I’m not a very religious person.
I don’t think I could hold on to it. Did you ever tell the story of Noah and the ark?
[30:49] If you went to catechism or something, you probably have heard about the ark and the flood.
Do you remember how the Lord told Noah to build some handles on the outside of the ark?
And how Noah had to, and his family had to, on the outside, when the storm and the flood came, they were on the outside of the ark and they had to hold on for dear life, bobbing up and down in the flood. Remember that?
And don’t let go or you’ll perish. No, you say, I know that story.
They came through the door and they were inside. They don’t hold on to the handles.
You say, I’m not religious.
I don’t think, if I trust the Christ tonight, I’m not sure that I could hold on to him, rest of my life. The beauty of God’s salvation. He saves you and he keeps you.
Once you’re inside, you’re inside forever. I wish I could make your mouth just, I wish you were drooling for God’s salvation. Second, whet your appetite. W-H-E-T. I, spelled it one time wrong. Just in high school and somebody corrected me. I, I almost thought it was W-E-T, your appetite.
W-H-E-T, sharpen your appetite.
[31:53] Oh, if only your appetite could be sharpened for salvation tonight and to come inside.
I want you to look up one more verse, Romans 5, verse 6. Because this is what you need to acknowledge.
This is what you need to know. This is why you need to be saved.
Romans 5, verse 6. when we were yet without strength.
See, nobody has any ability to save themselves. Not even a religious person has any ability to save themselves.
When we were yet without strength, in three times, Christ died for the ungodly.
He’s the savior tonight. That’s why he died.
[32:39] He knew that you had no strength to save yourself, to rescue yourself.
Christ died for the ungodly.
You have no strength tonight? I want you to think for a few minutes of this little illustration from a few years ago.
But if you know that you need to be rescued and that you’re perishing and lost, and you haven’t been able to save yourself and you’ll never be able to save yourself, you’re feeling anxious and you just like to be inside this Friday night.
Anybody want to be inside?
Accepted by God in the family. Well, it’s a few years ago now, but the eyes.
[33:19] Millions around the world were glued to their screens and they followed every new twist.
Remember, some of you are old enough to remember there’s an awful disaster in Chile.
It was August, it was summer, and there was a mining accident and there were 33 trapped miners, 2,300 feet down under the ground, the ground, almost a half a mile below the surface of the earth, darkness surrounded above, below by rock.
The miners were trapped for 69 days in that San Jose mine. You know, first day must have been a long day, down in the darkness, day two, day three, Day four, nothing from above, nothing.
Day 10, day 15, they’re still down there, alive, trapped.
33 of them, not a sound from above. Day 16, day 17, total silence, helplessness.
[34:33] That’s more than two weeks, two weeks. Zero signals from above.
And then finally, that 17th day, they got a signal down to those 33 men that there was eventually going to be a door, there’s gonna be a way out, but they said it may be months before we’ll reach you.
Imagine, months underground.
And so a Chilean rescue plan was in the works and they were looking at months, and what an incredible message of hope.
They said, we got our fingers crossed. We’re not asking you to cross your fingers, about a rescue plan. We can point you directly to Christ tonight and he can save you.
But those men, they must have had their fingers crossed.
I don’t know, can we last two months? Can we last four months down here?
And they made a hole big enough to put down little bits of food and water to them down through all the layers of rock.
And earlier than anticipated, it was day 69, The final stages of the rescue operation, were implemented from above. Just put that in thought and pause.
[35:48] Yesterday I was introduced, what’s his name, Dougie? Doug? Doug, yeah.
He came into the house where I’m staying in Dirk and Rebecca’s place.
And so he was saying, I was 30 years old. He’s 78 now. I was 30 years old when I took a little thin
black book off the shelf and he said I started reading Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and when I got to Genesis 3, I realized man, desperate shape we need we need help. You know what he read far worse than a mining disaster in Chile.
[36:24] The Bible of theologians call it the Fall. A disaster took place in Genesis 3.
He was absolutely right, Dougie, was. The greatest catastrophe of all times occurred when the human race turned their back on God.
Romans 5, verse 12 says, as by one man’s sin entered the world and death by sin.
So death is passed upon all men, all have sinned.
Later on in Romans five, it’s by one man’s act of disobedience.
Oh, start it there. Dougie’s hot.
Wow, we need help. Friend, that’s why Christ needed to come down from heaven.
[37:07] Because there’s no way such a disaster of sin came into the human family.
A disaster has occurred. You’ve experienced its effects.
Sin, sin is deadly. We try to brush it away.
You try to get on with living in the dark, a bit of fun here, some pleasure there, a few successes, but really you’re trapped.
Like those miners on its spiritual darkness, you’re alone and you’re wondering if you’ll ever, ever, is there ever a way to get out of this awful mess?
I told you about the door. The Bible says, Jesus said, I am the door.
There is a way. Tonight we point you to Jesus. And you know what?
Dougie said, on another day, I pulled that little book out, it was a Bible, obviously, And he said, I’m gonna read all the red letters.
[37:57] And the red-lettered words were the words that Jesus spoke. And Dougie gets saved. He trusted Christ.
He was rescued, I guess is a better word. He was rescued from his sins.
He was saved. Have you ever thought of John 10 and nine as a red-lettered words?
Flashing before you tonight, Jesus says, I am the door, by me if anyone enters in, she shall be saved.
I’ll be saved.
Would you like to be saved tonight? Would you like to come inside or are you gonna stay outside?
Bible says all sin. Seven days, 18 days went by for the miners and finally there is that response.
But think of the response from heaven.
God saw it all trapped in our sins.
[38:45] Up above, he saw our need. No matter what you think of God tonight, he looked down and he said, Those people are desperately need to be rescued.
They’ll perish forever. God loves you this evening. That’s what John chapter three, verse 16 says.
And the incredible rescue mission from above.
Jesus came down, down, down, down, down to planet earth. And he went to the cross.
When we had no strength of our own, Christ died for the ungodly.
What a rescuer Christ is.
There are people here tonight and they have been rescued. and they would commend the Lord Jesus to you.
1 Timothy 1 verse 15 says, this is a true saying, it’s worthy to be embraced by everyone.
Christ Jesus came into the world. You’re still thinking of the Chilean miners down there waiting for a response from up above.
Yeah, a rescue plan was put in place, but all they brought in engineers from all around the world and they frantically worked.
How can we save them down below? Tonight we’re pointing you to one who came from heaven, and He condoned to meet your deepest need.
He can save you tonight.
Last night, we, for those who were here, we told you about the triumph of the cross.
He didn’t promise something that He couldn’t deliver.
[40:09] He said, it is finished. I’m glad Jesus didn’t cry on the cross.
It is 75% done, and the helpless sinners must do the 25 remaining 25%.
He didn’t say that. He said, it’s finished. You see, our rescue all depends on Jesus Christ.
He came down and the Lord Jesus says, I am the door by me. If anyone enters in, he shall be saved.
No work is, you can do no work.
You can’t save yourself.
Those trapped miners down there, they couldn’t save themselves.
They were absolutely without strength.
They were totally dependent on an outside above intervention.
So just to finish off that story, the Chilean mine disaster, they finally broke through.
They sent down a shaft, down the shaft, and I took a picture of it here tonight for you.
[41:05] They sent one of these, a cylindrical, yeah, this. They sent that down, right to the feet of the miners in the darkness.
You see it at the back? Has a door in it, an open door, specially designed, just a shoulder-width capsule.
They sent it all the way down this 2,300 feet. They’ve been down there all of August, all of September.
And into the second week of October, finally, it broke through.
Can you imagine those miners looking at that, thinking, here it is, the door is open.
It’s a small wire oblong cylinder capsule.
Oh, they’d say, it’s beautiful, beautiful.
But then they had to go in it. Oh, well, I’m claustrophobic, I’m claustrophobic.
And they say it’ll spin on the way up.
I’m afraid I’ll get dizzy.
And what if the cable snaps on the way up? Then what? Think of all, maybe you have questions tonight.
What if, what if I trust Jesus? What if I believe God? What?
[42:16] Look at, all they had to do was come, they could come shaking.
They could come shaking to that door, nervous, hoping the engineers did it right above and just go in.
One by one they had to enter. They each had a choice.
[42:32] They could enter or they could stay and perish. One by one they enter.
Oh, you can’t see whether he’s inside. And all from above, all they had to do was to the door.
Why stay outside? One by one, they chose to enter.
And all, that’s what faith is. Just the moment.
God does it.
But just faith is putting you in contact, putting yourself in a position where he’ll save you.
Then you’ll look to him. The moment they enter the door, up, up, up, up, up, they came to the sunlight.
And I don’t know how I can explain it, but I wish you could understand this, that the door was opened at the cross and you may come trembling.
You say, I don’t think I have enough faith.
I don’t know whether I believe enough. It’s not how much you believe or how much faith you have.
All he says, look at the door is open. Come, shaking, faint hearted, with a white face, pale white face if you need to.
Come just as you are helpless, and you rely on me and I’ll save you.
You know, no one gets saved in masses. Everyone has an individual choice to make, and God will never override your choice.
Tonight as we close the meeting.
[43:59] You will not just look at the open door and say, I’m passing on it.
I’m passing on Christ. This noble God, I think I’ll just pass by the open door.
What a tragic life you’re going to live. I enjoy being a Christian.
I’m enjoying my life with Christ.
I’m enjoying knowing God. But more than that, if you pass by the open door, oh, the engineers could have failed there, right?
The cable could have snapped, but that was the only way out for those miners.
Do you have another option to save for salvation from your sins?
There’s no other option. There’s no other God. You’ve been hearing about other gods.
There’s only one God who can save you tonight. And thank God he’s not a frail engineer.
Thank God he’s a God of the universe who sent his son and the son opened the door at the cross.
I am the door, by me if anyone enters in, you say, he will not enter in tonight.
I can tell you this, the moment, the very moment, you say, I’m just gonna trust the work that Christ did.
He’ll lift you up out of your sin and bring you in safe forever.
Does it not sound appealing? Oh, we appeal to you this evening.
Trust Christ, come through that door, and you will be safe.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230720.m4aPeter[0:00] Now, if I don’t write things down, sometimes I forget to announce them, but I do have some, exciting news to share with you, but I’m not going to do it right off the bat.
Just as I’m closing, when I’m sitting down at five after eight, if I haven’t shared the exciting news, somebody just speak up and say, Peter, the exciting news. But I’m not going to start off with the exciting news, but hopefully what I’m going to speak about you’ll find exciting too.
Matthew’s Gospel chapter 4, and we’re just going to read in two places in the New Testament, and we’re looking at two three-word expressions. So the first three-word expression in our English Bibles is found in Matthew chapter 4, and Jesus is here on earth, and he is taken out into the of the wilderness, and you may have heard in catechism or in Sunday school about the experience of Jesus in the wilderness when he was tempted of the devil.
That’s verse one. Verse two, when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered.
He was hungry. And when the tempter came to him, he said, so that’s Satan.
[1:16] “‘If thou be the son of God, “‘command that these stones be made bread.'”, And here’s what Jesus, how he responded.
But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by read alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Now, I don’t know whether my intonations, whether you got the three words in that little section that I read, but in case you didn’t, it is written.
I want you to remember that, it is written. That’s what Jesus said.
When the assault of Satan came towards him, he turned to the word of God, and he said to Satan, it is written.
There’s authority behind the scriptures. And the second one we’re gonna read is in the Gospel of John chapter 19.
And the Lord Jesus is on the cross, and he has suffered much.
At this point, he has been crowned with thorns, and they’re piercing his brow.
His face is plastered with spit.
They didn’t just spit in Jesus’ face once. If you read the original language, they spat in his face repeatedly, over and over and over again, not just one piece of spittle.
When I was in grade seven, I don’t know whether I was bullied or not.
I don’t think I was, but it was a horrible experience. Somebody, a guy did spit at me.
[2:43] And I remember going into the boys’ washroom and just trying to get the dirt, of that one piece of spittle on my face.
[2:50] Jesus’ face was wet with spit. And then they grabbed his beard and they pulled it out of the skin.
And his back is whipped so badly that was just a mass of raw, quivering, bleeding flesh.
The Bible says that it was like a plowed field. and he’s been nailed to the cross.
And we’re not gonna go over all those details, but Jesus is on the cross at this point. Verse 28 of John 19.
After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Verse 30, when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar.
[3:45] He said, it is finished. And he bowed his head, and he gave up the ghost, or he delivered up his spirit, or he expired.
That’s what it means. That’s just an old English way of saying he expired.
And so the three word phrase there is, it is finished. And I just want to start the meeting off before you hear from Corey.
I just want you to focus on those two expressions. It is written and it is finished.
I don’t know whether you think the Bible is fable or fact, but if you, regardless of your opinion, it doesn’t alter the reality of the word of God.
I’ve been reading it for quite a long time. I became a Christian when I was in my teens.
[4:37] And my old aunt from Boston said, Peter, did you know you could read your Bible through every year if you follow a little system?
And I didn’t, so she gave me the little system.
How are you gonna read your whole Bible through every year? And so since I was a teenager, I’ve been reading my Bible through, I don’t think I’ve missed a year, every year.
And I want to commend the Bible to you.
God has spoken, Jesus said to Satan when he was tempted, it is written, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. So, Jesus took
[5:12] Satan right to the Word of God. And tonight, we have no authority ourselves.
It doesn’t come from the church.
It doesn’t come from us personally. We’re just frail, broken individuals, just like everybody else.
We appreciate Christ, though. He died for us and He’s our Savior, and our sins have been forgiven, but still we’re just weak, frail, broken vessels at best.
Our authority comes from the Word of God, the Bible. If there was no Bible, there would be no gospel tent here tonight.
God has spoken his word. And we could spend a whole evening just telling you how unique the Bible is.
And we could give you facts, and we could give you figures, and we can prove internally from the Bible, we can prove from external proofs. The Bible is an absolutely unique, one-of-a-kind book in the world.
[6:11] But I’m not going to go there tonight other than to tell you that it is the most popular book ever.
If anyone’s ever told you that some night you’re just going to find it in a museum, don’t believe it.
Because as I said here early last week, there are more Bibles, and this isn’t just religious propaganda.
I had this from non-Christian sources, people who don’t love the Bible.
[6:37] There are more Bibles in more languages in more parts of the world in 2023 than at any other time in the history of the human family.
And I asked an atheist, if you say the Bible is so popular, an atheist, And he wrote this in a secular magazine.
And so I emailed him and I said, so like, if the Bible is so popular, why don’t I, you know, when you get to see the New York Times, the books to read this summer, the 10 top bestselling books?
I said, of all the years I’ve been looking at those lists, I have never yet seen the Bible on any of those top 10.
He wrote, he kindly emailed me back and he said, it is routinely removed from the competitions, because it would win hands down every year without question.
Isn’t that amazing? So if you don’t remember anything else I say, I hope you’ll remember this, that the words from God in the Bible, it is written, those are living, powerful words.
And if you don’t have a Bible, get a Bible.
[7:55] Your life hasn’t, you really haven’t started to live until you discover the rich truth, in the word of God that will change your life.
There are people here tonight and their lives have been changed.
The Bible has survived many attacks. You see, God has spoken.
So this is his word, his word.
[8:17] I come from Prince Edward Island in Canada and people say, oh, P.E.I., Ann of Green Gables.
I said, yeah, Ann of Green Gables, Lucy Maude Montgomery was the author, and she wrote a, whole bunch of fiction books.
I told that one night down the road here near Philadelphia, and there’s a guy who came up to me afterwards and said, I never heard anything else you said.
I always thought that was a true story about Ann of Green Gables.
I said, no, it was a figment of Lucy Maude Montgomery’s imagination.
The Bible isn’t the figment of anyone’s imagination. The Bible is the word of God.
And if you have never read it, start tonight. We’ll give you a Bible from the back and you can read it.
And if you want to know where you start, you can read in separate places.
If you want to know where we began, read in Genesis.
If you want to know about the future, read in Revelation. If you want to know some words of wisdom, read the Proverbs.
If you like poetry, read the Psalms.
But if you want to find out, is there anybody that can bring me peace within?
Read the gospels.
And if you want to read specifically about Jesus Christ, read the gospel of John and find out how we know that Jesus is God in human flesh when he was here.
[9:37] Gospel of John. God is spoken, it’s his word. And I don’t know whether you’ve ever thought of your Bible as this way, but it’s this way, but it’s like a manual.
But my wife sort of looks, is a, she’s in charge of all the manuals of all the equipment that comes into our home.
And so I, we have a lawnmower right on, we have a little property and I can’t, I can’t fix anything.
[10:06] And so I sheepishly happy win sometimes, I say, joy, the crazy lawnmower broke down again.
And she goes and she’ll, now she does it on YouTube, but she used to go to the manual.
She’d get the manual out and she’d say, what’s it doing? And I’d say, well, this is what it’s doing.
And she’ll get the manual out and then she’ll find out what wrenches she needs.
And then she’ll come out and fix it for me.
And then I’m a happy writer cutting the grass again. Do you ever think of the Bible as God’s manual?
The troubleshooting manual section?
What in the world is wrong with me?
Why did I ever have a thought like that?
[10:43] Whatever possessed me to honk the horn so loudly? I’m a kind, nice person.
Lose it in the car. You go to the Bible and you’ll find out why. The troubleshooting section. It’s, God’s manual for the human race. Find out what the problem is and you find out who the solution is.
All in the Bible, it’s God’s manual. It is written and it’s God’s message for you.
[11:10] People say, well, how do I know you’re truthful? Oh, you have my word for it. You say, put that in writing, please?” You know, God is as good as his word. In fact, the Bible says God is the word.
Jesus Christ said, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. You know, God kindly put his word in writing too. So you do have it in writing. You ever question it? It’s there in writing.
You know, you can accept what’s in school books and college books, written by scientists, mathematicians, historians, but you can’t trust what’s in the Bible? Really? Some of you would, probably like to have your sins forgiven, and you say, I can’t seem to crack the nut. What am I missing? Well, it’s all here. It’s just that you’ve failed to believe the Bible. You believe, everything else that you’ve learned in the science books and the mathematic books. People, you know, But we’re strange creatures, people, human beings.
People will believe a news report that a 750-pound mosquito with a wingspan of 13 feet was found in a swamp just south of Boston.
And you’ll be telling all your friends that 750-pound mosquito, 13-foot wingspan, you believe what you saw online?
[12:31] It comes to the Bible, you have questions. How can I believe it? Tell me how can I believe I would like to have my sins forgiven? Believe everything else. But when it comes to God’s word, you wonder why you’re not a Christian? Because you can’t believe God. You think he’s, a liar, not trustworthy. God’s message is for you. And if you’re ever going to be in heaven, there will come a point where you will just accept God’s word. Rest on it. But Then we read the other one, it is finished, it is finished.
And I don’t know whether you’ve ever appreciated that or not when someone, their last words, my father-in-law, he died when he was 58.
And I was in to see him just before he died. He died in the, and I reached the other side, his smile will be the first to welcome me.
I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hands.
And Mr. Stewart squeezed my hands and he said, Oh, he’s beautiful.
Those are his last words. He’s beautiful.
I don’t know what your last words will be, but last words are very significant.
These are among the last words.
[13:42] That Jesus spoke before his death. It is finished. What did he mean by that? It is finished.
Bitter words of defeat? Was he just sort of throwing things up the hands of despair and saying, all over, finished, didn’t work out. Oh, nothing else I can do.
[14:02] It’s all over. Is that what Jesus meant among those last words?
Oh, there’s significance in the last words. Were they bitter words of defeat?
Or let me ask you, were they sweet words of victory?
It is finished. I didn’t get to watch Mel Gibson’s movie I came out there 15 years or so ago, called The Passion.
I started to watch it, but I was really, really tired, and I fell asleep in the first segment.
And so I have no idea how he depicted Jesus’ death on the cross.
I don’t know whether when he got to that section, whether he depicted Jesus’ head slumping down on his, finched, but that’s not what the Bible says he did.
[14:48] When Jesus said, it is finished, You read in another gospel, it says, he cried with a loud cry. So here he is, 33 years old on the cross.
What did he mean?
Was he dying without realizing his dreams? Was he, who was he?
Was he a starry-eyed idealist?
Was he religious extremist? Who was this one who said, finish? Was he an imposter?
Was he a mystic? Did it finally catch up with him? Was he saying, it’s all over, I give up?
Look at him on the cross. He didn’t look like he was mighty conqueror, did he?
He was the one that went around.
John chapter seven, verse 37 said, if anyone thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
But now listen to him. He’s crying from the cross himself, I thirst.
Enemies would mock his claims for sure.
Ha ha, the one who promised a drink of the living water, now he is saying, I thirst.
[15:49] John 8 and verse 36, he said to the people, “‘If the Son shall make you free, “‘you shall be free indeed.
“‘Look, we got him, captured him, arrested him, “‘handcuffed him, now nailed him.
“‘He’s sure not free. “‘He promised freedom to others, “‘but he himself is bound to the cross.’ “‘The one who said in John 10, verse 10, “‘I am come that they might have life.'” Whoa, look at the life.
He’s promised an abundant life. Look at him. He promised one thing to us, but he himself experienced the opposite. So we wouldn’t have to experience it.
That’s what actually was going on. John 11, verse 25, he said, I am the resurrection and the life.
Oh, look at him, almost about to die. And saying, I am the resurrection and the life.
Empty, bold, audacious claims.
[16:47]
Another, I love the verse where he said, John 12:46, “‘I am come a light into the world, “‘that whoever believes in me shall not abide in darkness.'” And there was darkness at the cross.
How do you explain that? The light of the world, darkness.
[17:05] Again, friend, I tell you, if they didn’t understand it that day, could you understand it tonight?
He was enduring all that. He was experiencing the darkness. He was experiencing the thirst.
He was experiencing the pain. So you wouldn’t have to experience that.
That was a part of him coming to the world so he could suffer and bleed and die for sins that he never committed. We were the offenders. We were the guilty ones.
Jesus was innocent, but out of love for you and for me, he was willing to go through that.
Now, listen, it is finished.
What did he mean to have you decided whether it’s victory or defeat?
Well, let me assure you without pressing the point, he didn’t mumble the words.
If you’re hearing impaired tonight, I’m gonna shout it out.
It may be tacky, but the Bible says he cried with a loud voice.
So if you’re hard of hearing or sensitive ears, go like this, because from the cross, Jesus cried, IT IS FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED!
Hear the echo?
FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED!
Bouncing off the walls in Jerusalem, down through the ages, right into Wyckoff tonight.
FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED! FINISHED!
[18:28] That’s not for entertainment. He finished paying the debt for our collective sins.
And he finished suffering for sin.
The problem of sin, and he satisfied God.
And at the end of all that suffering, he said, I won’t say it as loud this time, finished.
He wasn’t conceding defeat. It was victory, victory, words of victory.
What does finish mean? Does it mean partly done?
[19:00] Some of you would like to be saved and you’re wondering, well, what do I have to do to have my sins forgiven?
I’d like to have eternal life. What do I have to do? What do I have to do?
You know, all the religious belief systems in the world are all based on that.
Do, do, do, and do some more. The Christian, what the Bible teaches is, done, done, done, done, period, finished.
You can’t add anything to what Jesus Christ did. He finished it all at the cross.
And here you are wrestling, wondering what you have to do to be saved.
Could you look to the cross this evening and believe what Jesus said on the cross?
It is finished, and just rest on Christ.
He did it all for me. You’re 2000 years
[19:41] late trying to do something else because it was all done at the cross. Imagine if you went over to the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the year I was born, the Mona Lisa, its valuation was 800 million, that famous painting. And the year I was born, it was vandalized, acid was thrown at it, And so, it’s an old painting.
And so, after that, they put it behind a bullet-proof glass.
And so, you go to the dollar store and you buy your little paintbrush and the paint-by-numbers, set of the four, five, six basic colors, and you make a trip over to Paris.
And you ask the curator of the magazine, you say, I’m from the United States, from New Jersey, and I have my little paintbrush.
Could you open that up?
There’s a few things I would like to add my little touch-ups to, to the Mona Lisa.
[20:46] How far do you think you’d get with a curator? It was done, it was completed several hundred years ago, and to touch it would be to dishonor it, would be to face the work that was done.
You can’t add anything to Christ, what he accomplished at the cross.
When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price.
Sins, every type of sin, regardless of your lifestyle, Jesus paid every sin. And he said, it is finished. And that exciting news that I wanted to share with you, Jesus said, and the, exciting news, by the way, was the work is all done. If you wouldn’t think trying to do something.
[21:30] I had exciting news to share with you tonight, that Jesus finished the work and you can be saved Tonight, if you could believe God’s word, it is written that Christ paid my sin debt in full.
Finish! Sorry, I saw somebody go like this. I know that’s loud, but I hope you appreciate.
[21:54] That what Christ did was finished 2000 years ago. And our message tonight is Jesus Christ, is who you need. He was a victorious one. He didn’t go down to feed. The Bible says very clearly that this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. He’s sitting down, the right hand of God tonight. He finished the work. When you’re working in a hot summer day, out in the yard, sweaty, and you have that backlog of weeds and everything else to do, and it’s the hottest summer day and you’re out there and the Sun is being on you and you’re and you’re, Craving another drink of water and then you finally pull the last weed up and what do you do?
You go in the house grab a bottle of water and you just sit down and what do you say?
Penny, that’s what the Bible says. Jesus did he cried it is finished He died, he was buried, and he was raised again.
And the Bible said, after that one sacrifice for sin forever, he sat down.
It’s finished. You just need to believe. You just need to trust him as your Savior.
Kory[23:13] Now, it’s wonderful tonight to be able to preach about a finished work, that maybe you’ve.
[23:19] Come in this evening feeling empty-handed, nothing you could offer God, the tremendous good news tonight is there is nothing you could offer God and so it’s.
[23:30] Wonderful that we can share this message of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, and we’re going to continue thinking about Christ’s death on the cross for us, in the book of Acts in chapter 16 book of Acts in chapter 16 and here we’re going to read of once again of this man Paul and he has with him in this chapter, man named Silas and they’ve healed a woman, a young girl who was demon possessed, who was doing fortune-telling and was bringing a lot of money to her owners, and so when these preachers came
along and by the power of Jesus healed her, the ones who were in charge, the ones, who were making money, took offense to that. And so here we’re going to read, about them and what they did to these two preachers, Paul and Silas. And it says, in verse number 20 of Acts 16, it says, and they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. And they, They teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.
Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the.
[24:52] Jailer to keep them securely.
Having received such a charge, he put them into the innermost prison, the most secure location in the prison, and fastened their feet in the stalks in the chains.
But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword, and was about to kill himself.
But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.
Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas.
And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[25:55] There’s someone here tonight and you have that same question upon your heart. What must I do to be saved? Note the answer of the preachers that day in this really this very short sermon that they preached. So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus, Christ and you will be saved. You and your household. Then, they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who are in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”, What a monumental night, not only in the life of this man, this jailer, but in the lives of his whole family.
The start of that.
When he went to work, when he began his business, as those prisoners were entrusted to him.
Little did he understand and realize. Now that very night, maybe early in the morning, the next day, he would be rejoicing with true joy that he had never experienced before.
Why? Because he had been saved.
[27:11] And friends tonight, no matter what is upon your heart, no matter what it is you are looking for, I can assure you that the only true joy you could experience tonight, and you wouldn’t even have to do what this man did. You wouldn’t even have to invite the preachers over for a meal afterwards, no. There would be great joy in your, home tonight if you could understand this, come to this realization, enter into this truth.
I’m saved. What a tremendous joy, what a tremendous blessing to know. It’s a great thing to be saved.
And this man, as we will consider him this evening, he asked a very important question.
[27:49] And you know, there are many important questions in life. And you could come here tonight, with an important question upon your heart, and you could ask from the depths of your being, and you’re searching, you’re longing, you could say, what must I do to be rich?
And you know, depending on who you would ask, the answer may vary.
You know, someone maybe advise you to get into the stock market, and others maybe say, well, real estate is a sure investment.
And you’d hear different opinions.
And you’d go home and maybe you’d analyze those different advices, those different opinions that were given to you. And maybe you just choose the one that just felt right for you.
What must I do to be rich?
Others may be thinking about the future and life and wanting to settle down and you can from the depths of your heart, what must I do to find a spouse?
You know, again, the advice
[28:42] would vary. You know, someone give a recommendation or some good online websites, you could choose, you know, whatever it is, christianmingle.com, whatever it is, and others would say, no, you just got to you got to make your move and hope for the best. And you know, the advice would change. And you’d go home and you wouldn’t be quite convinced of what the direct path with the best way to answer that question would be.
But you know what tonight friend, if you were to ask this question, what must I do to be safe? The most important question you could ask tonight. There isn’t a variation of answers to be given to you. There isn’t a list from which, you would choose the best that appeal to you or sounded best to you. If you in your soul in your heart tonight have this question, what must I do to be saved? The answer has not changed. From the answer that was given in the depths of a, small prison room out of a prison cell halfway around the world 2000 years ago, the answer was this, and it rings true this evening, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. It’s a promise from God himself. Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. And this man, as you would consider him tonight.
[29:52] Maybe you could identify with some of the circumstances in his life or the situations in his life. We see here, he had a great responsibility that was given to him. Two very famous prisoners, notable man, maybe for the wrong, had been made infamous in the community, of the people that were against, them, the people that opposed their message. And so when that day came, and that afternoon, when he was given those two prisoners, and they said to him, make sure, make sure they’re guarded, make sure they’re kept in a place where we can question them further. It says he took, he took that advice to heart. He, put them in the most inner prison, the most secure place he could find for them. That great responsibility. He didn’t, disregarded. He didn’t depreciate it. He took it to heart and said, this is important. I’m going to lock them in a secure place.
Each one of us in our lives would have different responsibilities that arise of greater importance maybe than others.
And even in our own lives, I remember several years ago when I was working in downtown Toronto that I was in operations for the company I was working in.
[31:00] And we’d be given contracts from the different sales reps that we had to manage those contracts and do reports and make sure they were fulfilled, that the sales people could then in turn return to the client.
One day, one of the sales reps coming to me and putting a contract on my desk and me looking at the value of it. Now, for some, maybe this doesn’t sound like a lot, but for me, it was a lot. $1 million, the value of that contract.
You know what I did?
[31:24] I put it on top of the pile of all the contracts I was in charge of.
Why? Because it was the most important one. If I messed up that one, I’d be looking for a new job. I knew that.
And there’s many things in life that are given to us or entrusted to us that have tremendous importance.
And I’m not here tonight to devalue those things, when we think about our lives, what is the most important thing that you are responsible for this evening? What is it? It’s your eternal soul. Your eternal soul, when after those million, dollar contracts, whenever all those responsibilities have come and gone in this world, your soul will exist for all eternity. And the Bible would clearly tell us this and would, ask the question, what would a profit, profit you, profit a man, profit a person, what value is it if you gain the whole world, how much is that? I don’t know. But the whole world, if you gained all that, and lost your own soul, you know, God is.
[32:17] Saying this word when he says that he says, everything in this world is of lesser value than your eternal soul. That’s the, most important thing you’ve been entrusted with tonight. You know, if you look at the value of the net worth of the richest men in this world, there’s actually a real time list you can see on Forbes, that on a daily update of how much their value, their net worth has changed in a day.
And just yesterday I was looking to see who had dropped the most and poor Jeff Bezos, had lost $1.7 billion in a day of his net worth.
Just I guess the value of the stocks of Amazon up and down $1.7 billion in a day.
And there was good old Warren Buffett just a few numbers down and his value had gone up $153 million in a day.
A good day for him. a good lifetime for all of us, right?
[33:08] For him, $153 million. And you look at that list and you look at the fluctuations, in that list, sometimes great gain, other days great loss.
But you know, for every one of us who will, I think it’d be safe to say, we’ll never make that top 10 list. The thing we have in common with each one of them, might not be the increase or decrease in net worth each day, but each one of us, including them, has an eternal soul.
And has a value of whatever you’ve accumulated on this earth would rise and fall with the passing of the wind, your soul will exist forever.
And that is the responsibility given to you this evening. God has given you an eternal soul, when he breathed in breath into our lungs, into our lives, and he created us in his image.
And this man, he didn’t disregard it.
He took great care, he took great, put great importance on that great responsibility.
And our desire tonight would be likewise, you would put importance, you would take great care and put great concern, where will my soul be for all eternity?
If I’m saved, if my sins are forgiven, the Bible so clearly says, at the end of it, when our lives come to an end, when this physical body is buried and put on the ground somewhere on this earth, it says our soul will be in a place of joy, fellowship.
[34:21] With God for all eternity. But for each one that disregards their own soul, maybe went in and put in more value of all the things that could be accumulated in this world. And if your soul soul were to go into eternity without the forgiveness of God, without the forgiveness of sins, the Bible so clearly states, there’s a place of torment called hell. And that is where your eternal soul would spend all eternity. And so tonight, we would hope that as you listen to the gospel message, you would understand the importance of the situation, the value of what God, has given you, an eternal soul. And as he has put these men in the in the jail cell, it says, they begin to do something very Strange I’m sure it says they begin to sing hymns.
[35:03] Imagine that in a prison these two men Paul and Silas and it says the other prisoners heard him heard them singing I don’t know what they say. No, I don’t have the confidence like Peter made me to start singing here while I’m preaching But I’d like to think about maybe they were singing, Amazing grace. I know it didn’t exist I but maybe in their own language in their own tune that the same idea singing of the amazing grace of God I don’t know, but they sang. And this man, it says, an earthquake came. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake. So that the foundations of this man’s very home, his life, everything he had put his efforts into, were shaken. The foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately, all the doors were open.
[35:49] Everyone’s chains were loose. And as this man awoke and saw all those jail cells open, the very thing that he had put all his work, and his effort into, and had been shaken down to its very core by the God of heaven, this man lost all hope.
He was hopeless. Now here in the United States, I don’t think you get very many earthquakes.
[36:11] Costa Rica, where I’m from, maybe you would get woken up every few months by a good earthquake that would shake the house or shake the bed, and you would know it, and it would wake you up and you’d understand what is taking place.
And maybe God in your life is not going to use or is not using an earthquake to shake the very foundations of where you stand.
But God brings circumstances into our lives to shake us up, to stir us up, to understand life is short, life is fragile.
The things I’ve been trusting in, they’re not so firm as I once thought, they’ve been shaken. I don’t have the certainty I thought I would find in those things.
And he shakes this to our core.
I remember actually when Peter and another preacher were in the assembly we used to be in, in Canada, in Hamilton. And there’s a young man there by the name of Scott.
And he was a man who had grown up in a Christian home, had attended so many gospel meetings, someone you’d always pray for before a gospel meeting.
And for whatever reason, he just, he couldn’t come to trust in Christ.
He couldn’t put aside whatever it was.
I remember just maybe months it was before he got saved, that he was driving on the highway home from work, a busy highway, unsaved, with an eternal soul. And he was driving, he blacked out.
[37:29] And just by the pure grace of God, his car swerved across three lanes of highway, of oncoming traffic, and he crashed into the ditch, just on the side of the highway.
You know, I think God used a car accident or a near-death experience like that to shake the very foundation of what he was trying to run from, you know?
Tremendous grace that a young man was saved not too long after that, just by the grace of God.
And maybe you could look back in your life today and you could see things in your life and the foundations of your life that have been shaken to its very core like that prison was that day for that man. And you say, God is speaking to me. God is speaking. And friends, I know that you would, respond to the voice, the voice of God tonight, the workings of God in your life. You would respond to it. Tonight might be your last opportunity to hear the, gospel, the last chance you ever have to trust in Christ. I don’t know. And this man, he was shaken to his very core and he, had lost all hope. It said he drew a sword and he was about to, take his own life because if the prisoners had escaped and then certain death for him, he would be executed for allowing the prisoners to escape. And so he thought better than being executed, I’ll take matters into my own hand. And he had that sword in his hand without any hope. And against all hope, he heard a voice out of the darkness. Don’t harm yourself.
[38:51] We’re all here. In other words, he could hear as he would lift that sword up to take his own life. Don’t do it. There’s still hope. There’s still hope. A friend tonight, maybe in the very darkness of your life, where the circumstance of your life have crowded in around you, and you think there is no hope.
There is a voice that calls from heaven tonight. And it says there is hope. There is hope. There’s hope in a person. Stop harming yourself with religion. Stop harming yourself with sin. Stop harming yourself emotionally, relationally, in whatever way you found yourself in the despair and darkness of no hope in your life. And the voice cries out and says there’s hope, there’s salvation in Jesus Christ.
This man heard that voice.
And what was his reaction? It says he called for a light. You know, in the middle of that darkness.
[39:41] He needed just a little light.
And he called for that light and it says he runs in and he fell down trembling before those two preachers.
And he cried out with that very important question. Sirs, please tell what must I do to be saved?
And these men, they didn’t tell him about a pilgrimage he had to begin the next day, about some temple or some sacred ground he would need to travel to first.
They didn’t set an order, several different steps that he needed to complete.
What was the message of hope? What was that light in the midst of that darkness, that came out of that jail cell 2000 years ago?
What must I do to be safe? In front of you in the same sense tonight could relate with that trembling, fearful moments before hopeless Philippian jailer.
You know the same question tonight. Maybe having family members that are saved.
[40:33] Friends that are saved.
Maybe children, maybe a spouse, whatever it is, and you’d say, they’re saved, but I’m not.
They have that certainty, they have that surety of salvation.
And you’d say, what must I do? As we’ve heard tonight, it’s all been done.
Christ said it is finished. And the voice that came from that jail cell that night, what must I do to be saved? He heard an unchanging answer.
2,000 years later, that we would like to share with each one tonight desiring to be saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It’s a certainty.
It’s a promise.
It’s stamped by the seal of approval by the God of heaven. Why?
Because on the cross, Jesus Christ, he died. He took our sins upon himself, a crown of thorns, nails in his hands and in his feet.
They pulled a beard from his face. They spit in his face.
Why? He paid the debt that we owe. He died the death that we deserve.
And God after that, after his son had died, cried out, it is finished, was buried, three days later, God announced to the whole world.
He announces to us tonight, I’m satisfied in what my son has done because he raised him from the dead.
And friends tonight, by trusting in that, just planting your foundation of your faith on him.
[41:53] On Jesus Christ, you could be saved tonight.
If you were to ask me tonight, how do I know that I’m saved?
The only reason I know I’m saved is because the Word of God says, he that believes on the Son has everlasting life.
Because the Word of God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
There’s no asterisk, there’s no fine print, there’s no amendment in the back of the Bible that would suggest otherwise.
No friend, if you desire to be saved tonight, we can only repeat the words that came from that jail cell, some 2000 years ago. What must I do to be safe? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you will be saved.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230719.m4aKory[0:00] Now, if you have a Bible with you, I’d like to read tonight in the book of Acts, in chapter 14.
And what we’ve been doing in some of these nights in the tent is we’ve been going through this book of Acts and seeing really this book of Acts is how Christianity started.
The first preachers and who they were, and Jesus has died and been buried and risen again, and now has gone up to heaven.
And so we’ve been tracing the steps of these different men who began preaching the message.
And what we’ve noted, and what is really, we’ll note again tonight, is that the message does not change, even though it was preached some 2,000 years ago.
And the reason for that is this, is because us as human beings, we haven’t changed.
[0:43] And the God of heaven, the God who is on the throne, the Almighty God, he hasn’t changed either.
And so that’s why we can read from the Bible and preach the same message that was preached some 2,000 years ago on a different side of the world.
And that’s what we’re gonna read tonight of a man.
And we were thinking about him last night as well, Paul, a well-known man, and we’re gonna read about an encounter that he had and a message that he gave.
And we think back to last night, if you weren’t here, that’s okay, but Paul was preaching to a very religious crowd in Acts chapter 13, in Antioch.
And so he was using much of the Old Testament and different scriptures that they would have known to preach the gospel.
But here tonight, we’re gonna find him coming to a different city that was really known as the Wild West, you could say in those days, there wasn’t much structure, there wasn’t much education really, there wasn’t much religious knowledge.
And it’ll be interesting to see the sort of message that he preached to the people that day.
So we’ll read in Acts chapter 14 and verse number eight.
[1:43] And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb who had never walked.
This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had the faith to be healed, and with a loud voice cried out, stand up straight on your feet.
And he leaped and walked. Now, when the people saw that what Paul had done, they raised their voices saying in the Lycanian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.
And Barnabas, they called, depending on your Bible translation, but it really means Zeus, but Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul here means because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in the front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.
[2:35] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, men, why are you doing these things?
We also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made heaven and the earth, the sea and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good.
He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
And with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain multitudes from sacrificing to them.
Now we’ve encountered here a story, an interesting story from God’s word, the Bible.
[3:26] That speaks of a man, it says, who was crippled from birth, living in that state his whole life.
And one day he came across a preacher and in that moment, his life was changed. He was healed.
And friends tonight, we are not here to preach some sort of physical healing because God is not very interested so much in the physical.
He is interested in the inward.
The God who sees the heart, the Bible says, he wants to heal you from the inside.
He wants to have you come to the realization that my sins can be forgiven.
I can be made right with God. And so as that crippled man that day, as he would have heard that invitation to stand up and walk, that is not the same invitation in that same sense that we give tonight, because we have no power to heal anyone here of their physical infirmity.
But we have the authority of the word of God to point you to one who has the power to heal you from all of your sins.
[4:25] Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the only one in whom you will find hope this evening.
The only one in whom you will find forgiveness. Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And in this city, as they’ve come to this city of Lystra, a city where so many people were known to be illiterate and of little knowledge, and they come here and they see this miracle.
They see this healing. And many healings you can read of, of Jesus Christ that he did, and the apostles in the book of Acts.
And much more to show the authority and power that they had because they did not have the Bible.
They did not have God’s word to convince the people.
And so that’s why tonight we did not try any sort of magicry or healing to try and trick you to believe that we point you to the word of God because that’s where the authority is found.
That’s where your hope can be found in the word of God.
And so they give these two preachers the name of a God. They call Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, which means messenger of the God.
The God who created oratory, the creator of speech is what they believe.
And so as they heard Paul’s speech, they said, this must be the God of all speech that he’s come down and he’s dwelling among us.
Very superstitious people.
[5:41] It is recorded in their urban legends that before, many years before, according to the urban legends, that gods had come down to earth, And the people rejected them and it led to a great flood.
And so they were very superstitious to treat these men as if they were God, seeing what they had done.
And they give them these names, they give them Hermes and Zeus as their name.
[6:03] You know, they were so far off, concentrating on Paul and Barnabas as men who were God.
When these men were there to preach a message of the true God of heaven who came down as a man.
[6:15] As the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And he walked in this earth.
The Bible says, God was made flesh, took on flesh, was a real man, and he came into this world, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And as they’re bringing these accolades to the preachers, as the priest, it says, of Zeus comes out with these oxen and garlands to offer sacrifices to these mere men, they wanted them to know something very important that we’ve read in verse number 15.
He said, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you.
[6:53] Oftentimes, maybe in religion in general, the one who is seen the most, maybe that the pastor or the priest or the preacher, maybe try at times to give off an impression that they are somehow on a higher level than everyone else.
These men made very clear for their audience to know That was not the case.
He said, we all have the same nature as you. We are just like you.
In other words, we’re sinners just like you.
And friends and I, from my own heart and sincerity, I can say the same to you.
I am no, at no higher level or me, no greater accomplishment have I had in my life.
I’m a sinner, just like everyone here.
And that’s what the preacher wanted these men, these group of people to know that day.
We have the same nature as you.
And what was the message that they had?
A message that as they looked around them and maybe as they had passed through that city and seen all the different things that people were believing in, the temple of Zeus, maybe some with different idols outside their house, different temples, so many different gods.
And this was their message.
We’ve read about it in verse number 15.
[8:03] We preach to you this, that you should turn from these useless things, these vain things to the living God.
That’s the message tonight, friend. I don’t know what you’re trusting in.
I don’t know where you’ve put your faith, but according to what these preachers said and according to the word of God, it’s this.
If your faith is not found in God and his son, they’re vain things, they’re useless things, they’re worthless things.
That’s what the God of heaven says in his own word. To turn from these useless things, to serve the living God.
There’s the same word is used in a verse in 1 Peter. It says, you’re not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.
Your useless conduct, the things that aren’t really doing anything to get you any closer to God.
And he says, my desire for you, seeing each one, He would say this, that you turn from these things.
[9:01] To living God. You turn to him, he’s the author of salvation. The only way salvation is found is in God of heaven and his son, Jesus Christ. You know this, wasn’t common just to them in Lystra. In the book of Romans, this same man, Paul, could write of those who said they were not thankful to God but they were futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. They, changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible men, they made an idol and they worshiped it. And Paul, as he addresses these people, he would call them this. They’re useless, things. You may say that’s a little strong, but he would be, convinced of it. He would say they’re worthless. They have no value. And that you would turn from those things. And he may say, in my life, I don’t have those things. Maybe less common, today we could say is the physical idolatry. Maybe you haven’t made up a corner of your house into an idol and worship And he would say this, how does this really apply to me?
When we think of idolatry in each one of our own lives, the things that we place on a higher value on those things than on God, the things that we worship in our life, the things that maybe are keeping us back from turning and looking to the living God, those external things, you could say the number one focus in my life is money.
I wanna get as much as I can, as quick as I can, and enjoy it for as long as I can.
[10:29] The message tonight from that preacher to you, from the Word of God to you, is turn from those useless things to the living God.
Materialism today in our society has become such an item that it is the most important thing in many people’s life, just like maybe the God of Zeus was so important to them some 2,000 years ago.
And we’ve carved down idols in our life.
The Word of God says, turn.
[10:53] Turn from those things to the living God. whatever it is and however that is materialized in your career, in your relationships, even some coming to the point of worshiping creation as we just read, more than the creator.
My sole focus on this world is just to make this earth last longer and all those things and we make it an idol. It’s the sole focus of our life.
The word of God says turn from those useless things, Worthless things to the living God.
[11:22] Some even may be going as far as worshiping the pleasures of this life.
And there’s some even that may have made sex an idol in their life.
The most important thing that can be obtained in life.
And the Word of God says this to you tonight, if that is your idol, turn from these useless things to the living God.
Turn from them, repent from them. Look to the living God. Or maybe you’ve put an idol in your life and you’ve fixed it and you’ve fashioned it and it’s the idol of religion tonight.
And for you, there is nothing more important in your life than to be a part of whatever religion you have found in your life, that you have made an idol of.
That all your efforts and all your concerns and all your believing and trusting is put in that.
A man-made religion. The Word of God says this, turn from those useless things.
Turn from them to the living God.
He’s the only one that can save you. Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Turn from these useless, worthless, aimless things. Trust in the living God.
[12:24] But yet we continue. And maybe some have, you’ve made the idol of philosophy in your life.
And if you could quote every philosopher there is, and I find philosophy very interesting as well, to see how people thought throughout the different centuries.
There’s no harm in looking into it, but some have made it idols in their life.
And they would put those famed philosophers on the same level as God, or even make them their own God.
And maybe that’s your idol tonight. The word of God says this, turn from those useless things to the living God.
There’s only true peace and hope found in him. Others
make their bodies their idol. You know, I enjoy exercising, I enjoy going for runs, staying healthy.
But sometimes we can get to the point where that is the most important thing in our life.
And that takes precedent over everything else. The Bible says, turn from these useless things to the living God.
And sometimes maybe, if you could say, I don’t really relate with all those things.
When we get right down to the idol we have made in our own lives, it’s ourself, our pride, our ego.
So I’m gonna ask you all, this is what I think God is. This is what I think God is like.
You made for yourself a God of your own imagination. If you’ve made yourself tonight your own idol, if you worship yourself, turn from these useless things to the living God.
[13:43] There’s only certainty, there’s only peace found in the living God and his son, Jesus Christ.
These things that we’ve mentioned, these idols, they’re useless in their power.
They might bring you some sort of satisfaction, some sort of joy and enjoyment for a time, but it’s always fleeting. It’s always passing.
They’re useless not only in their power, but what they promise.
Many of these things, they start out seeming so bright and so promising.
And we were just thinking in the Spanish meeting of the man left dead on the side of the road and the good Samaritan before he came, it says the priest came by and the Levite came by.
The religion and the works of this world that seemed so promising, But when we need them most to give us peace, they leave us dead on the side of the road. No true joy.
No true peace. Turn from these useless things to the living God.
They’re useless in their comparison. When you compare all these things, whatever idol you want to compare with the living God, the true God, the God Almighty.
[14:46] Isaiah 46 speaks of the comparison of the living God with the idols of that time, thousands of years ago.
This is how he described the idols of that time. He said, They lavish gold out of the bag, and they weigh silver on the scales.
They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
They bear it on their shoulders, they carry it. They set it on its place, it stands.
From place to place it shall not move. move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor, save him out of his trouble. If you have cried out to the idol of your life to give you peace, and it has not answered. Why is, that? Because it’s useless in comparison to the living God. He, said, they picked them up, they put them on their shoulders. It requires you to move it. When the living God, his son, Jesus, Christ wants to pick you right up and carry you. Because on the cross of Calvary, he carried all your sins on his own shoulders.
He bore our sins and our iniquities, the Bible says, on himself on the cross.
They’re useless in their comparison. That well-known story, many of the children love to learn that story as a child.
They’re in Sunday school of Elijah and those prophets of Baal.
And they’ve been trying to convince the people that Baal is the true God and that Jehovah God, he’s not a real God.
And so Elijah has the great idea one day and says, we’re going to see, We’re going to compare, let the people decide who the true living God is.
[16:14] And so they build those altars and they say, call down to your God, fire from heaven.
And whichever altar ignites, that’s the true and living God.
And so the story in Scripture goes of those prophets of Baal, and they cry out, and they’re leaping about, and they’re dancing, and they get to the extreme, they start cutting themselves, trying to appease the God of Baal.
And this is what Elijah concluded. He said, cry aloud for he is a God.
Maybe he’s meditating, or he’s busy, or he’s on a journey, or perhaps he’s sleeping, and he must be awakened. Useless things.
When Elijah cried out to the living God, the God who has put eternity in each one of our hearts, the God who cares about every one of us, who knows the number of hairs on each one of our heads, even to the last who has not very many at all.
To each bald one here tonight, God knows. He knows the number of hairs on our head, and he says this, he reaches out, and he’s ready to say, His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. No matter your standing, no matter your condition tonight, how many sins you may have amassed in your life, no matter the guilt that you have and the secret sins that you have hidden away, no matter how many idols you have bowed down to in your life, the promise is this, that even this evening you can turn from these useless things to the Living God. He’s ready, He’s willing, and He’s able to save. The psalmist could say, and my soul longeth yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh crieth out for the living God.” I never wondered why.
[17:41] Why this preacher would go to these group of people, and it would give them a very direct and a very short message. The reason he could preach with authority.
The same reason we can share this evening without any hesitation.
That you could find peace tonight in the living God. Because there’s only one person, one person, not a religion, one person who has satisfied God.
And it’s not you, and it’s not me. And it never will be you, and it never will be me, despite our best efforts. 2,000 years ago, God sent his son into this world.
[18:14] His name was Jesus Christ. He lived in this world for 33 years, and he did something, he was different than us in this one aspect.
He was the only human being who never sinned. There was no sin in him.
Even to his belt, it says, no guile, no deceit found in his belt.
Perfect, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin.
Despite that, being holy.
Undefiled, without sin.
He would go to a cross and there be nailed to take the place of the sinner’s death.
He would die the penalty, the criminal’s penalty, the penalty of a guilty man.
Why? Not for his own sake. The Bible says so clearly to us, Christ died for our sins.
What a tremendous truth tonight. Were all these idols where religion would tell you, do this, do this, give that. The God of heaven comes down to him, he says this, it’s already done.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he could cry out, it is finished.
What more security could you ever need than the very mouth of the Son of God, the living God saying this, it is finished.
[19:21] Each one of us tonight, we’re believing in something. We’re bowing down to something in our life.
In front of Jesus Christ is not Lord and Savior of your life.
If you’ve never come to a moment where you’ve understood why he died there, it wasn’t just for the sins of the world, it was for my sin.
Christ died for sinners.
If I’m a sinner, that means it’s not advanced, high-level stuff.
The Bible says, he that believes in Him, in Jesus Christ, has everlasting.
[19:46] That’s a promise you can take home tonight and you can take home to eternity when you die.
He that has the Son, he that believes in the Son, has everlasting life.
And tonight, whatever system of beliefs or whatever idol in your life you have been bowing to up until this point, when you compare it with the living God, with His Son, Jesus Christ, everything that He’s done for you, The exhortation tonight is the same that it was 2000 years ago.
Turn from
[20:13] these vain things. The only thing these things are doing is taking each one to hell.
When the God of heaven says this, he reaches out with his hand, come to me, all you who are labored and heavy laden, I will give you rest.
That’s the invitation of Jesus Christ today. Turn from these useless things to the living God, and you’ll be saved, even tonight.
May God bless his word to your heart. I am glad that the message of the gospel.
Peter[20:41] Doesn’t point people to a church or to ourself.
You’ve been hearing to the living God, that’s our focus. I understand why people are skeptical.
There’s so much that goes on under the name of religion. There’s been so many church scandals and schemes.
I understand why people are very cynical about it all, but I don’t think you’ve heard over the last two weeks, those of you who’ve come most nights, I don’t think you’ve heard us preaching, about our church being the perfect church.
I don’t think you’ve heard us asking, leave your church, come to ours.
No, every night, the message is basically the same.
It’s come to Christ.
Look to the living God. Churches can let you down. Religion will definitely let you down, but Christ, the living God, will never let you down.
He will pick you up as you’ve been hearing and he will transform your life.
He will give you peace.
Probably you know somebody in your life that has a certain calmness, a serenity in their life, that you don’t have, and you’re missing. but God is brother.
[21:57] Someone who has something inside that you don’t have. Well, I suspect they have Christ and you don’t.
Now we’re gonna read in 1 Corinthians 15 in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15.
And I want to leave you with five words tonight, five important words.
The apostle Paul is writing to Christians and I’ll just not read all of the context here.
So in verse three, he writes for, I delivered unto you, so he’s writing these Christians, first of all, or of first importance, or this cardinal number one truth, this core doctrine, that which I also received, here it is, how that, the five words, Christ die for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12, and so on.
I don’t know whether those five words mean anything to you tonight or not.
Christ died for our sins.
A few years ago, we were on a little family trip. We were on our way to Ocean City in New Jersey here.
[23:17] And we weren’t sure of the direction, and we got confused with Atlantic City and Ocean City.
And so it was late one night, and we were getting into, it wasn’t Ocean City, it ended up being Atlantic City.
And I remember reading about Atlantic City just earlier, there were several sex workers that were found dead, face down in a swamp, outside of Atlantic City.
And so we drove into Atlantic City and all the casinos were lit up and all the nightlife, It was just a buzzing and a humming, nightlight, going through those big glass doors, Atlantic City, lit up.
And then I remember just driving around be on the side of one of those casinos.
And I saw people stretched out on the sidewalk and leaning against the bricks of the building.
And I thought, wow, on this side, the bright lights, the glamor.
On this side of the building though, the effects of sin and the brokenness of sin.
My heart was touched and we just drove around one of the streets and I remember looking up, into the night sky and seeing on the top of a church building, Christ died for our sins.
[24:40] Lit up in that dark night.
And I wonder to those.
Or five women that ended up in the swamp, face down, dead. I wonder those nights that they worked the streets in their broken lives that they lived, did they ever once look up and see those five words, Christ died for our sins?
So I thought I would do a story about Atlantic City and those five words, and I would put it on our website.
And so I Googled Atlantic City, Christ died for sins, And I came across a blogger who had been to Atlantic City.
She’s from Manhattan. And she went to Atlantic City for the weekend, for a weekend of partying.
And she’s a writer and a blogger. And I was reading what she had written about her visit to, and here was the title of her blog that day.
Christ, how can I gamble now? That’s the title.
And then she said, here is the view from our first room at Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City before we switched to a new room facing the ocean.
Clearly, the ocean is not the only reason I wanted a new room.
In case you can’t see it too well, and she posted a picture, click on the sign on that church.
It says, Christ died for our sins.
[26:07] And she literally, she told, I was writing her, emailing her.
She literally went over and closed the blinds in the room, and she went down to the lobby, and she asked for a different room.
And she said it wasn’t just because of the ocean. She didn’t want to spend a weekend partying and sin, and every time she looked out of her Tropicana Hotel window, see Christ died for our sins.
And she said.
[26:38] For Our Sins is on that sign, and I don’t think it’s placement was accidental.
Right smack in your grills so you don’t fornicate and gamble your life away in Atlantic City, buzz kill.
Thanks a lot, Christ.
That’s what she had in her blog.
So I wrote her.
And I said, I’m trying to do a story about those five words that you saw out your hotel window.
Christ died for our sins.
She said, how in the world did you come across my blog? I said, I was just Googling and I said, would you happen to have a better picture of that church spire?
Because I wanted to show up better on the story and writing for her website.
She said, no, I don’t have a better picture of that.
I’m calling her a bird. I told her what I liked about the sign that no matter what the sin is, God’s love is non-discriminating.
He loves us all regardless of the color of shade of our sin.
Christ died for our sins, and through Christ, we can be completely forgiven of all our sins.
I told her that. Then she said.
[27:45] There’s actually another photo, she said. I believe of the very same sign, that I found accidentally not searching for it.
She said, if you give me a day or so, I think I can track down another picture of those five words.
And sure enough, within the day, She said, I saw this over Dunkin’ Donuts, much bigger letters. And she sent me the picture.
Christ died for our sins. And I said, thank you very much.
I’m putting it in the story. And she was amazed that I would come across that.
And I’d be interested in those five words.
And I said, Barb, don’t think that it is a coincidence. You write millions of words, about what you do for a living every year.
How is it that I came across one of your writings? I said, it tells me that there’s a God in heaven who has his eye on you, and he loves you, and he’s tracking you, and he wants to draw you to himself.
You didn’t see that sign up in the church or over Dunkin’ Donuts by accident.
God is trying in his kindness and love to get your attention.
Christ died for our sins.
[29:04] Those words mean anything to you tonight? There are people in this room, And have I asked out loud?
Did Christ ever do anything for you that you have thanked him for?
I see some heads already shaking, yes.
You know why? They understand that Christ died, not just for all our sins, but it’s very personal.
That’s what a Christian is, very personal. Christ died for my sins and we’re thankful.
And that’s why we don’t lift up a church or a way of life or some set of rules.
We lift up Christ to you tonight. Consider him, he died on the cross for our sins.
The most amazing words, the five most amazing words in the English language.
I don’t know what you think they would be. Like I’ve often got thought of that.
You know, if you got a text message, five words, what would be the coolest, most exciting text message containing five words that you could possibly get?
You have won a car, yeah!
Man, it would be such an exciting time.
Or this house is yours today.
Whoa, no mortgage to pay. Or Bill Gates paid your bills.
[30:29] Whoa, wouldn’t that be great? Let me tell you something far better, than Bill Gates paying your financial bills and debts is someone who went to a cross and paid your spiritual debt of sin.
And that’s what the verse says. Christ died for our sin.
Could you just drink that in?
You know how you chug down a water? It’s out there in the, should have taken mine up, and you just take the cap off it and you say, this is for me, you take it in.
So you know, that’s what a Christian has done with Christ. They’ve just taken him in person.
You died for me, you died for my sins. I will take you.
Oh, the refreshment that he brings. Jesus said, if you keep drinking at this, just an earthly well of water, if you just keep dipping in and taking like that, you’ll always be thirsty.
If that’s the only water you’ve ever experienced.
But he said, if you drink of the water that I shall give you, you’ll never thirst again.
And there’s people here, you can talk to them over the refreshments afterwards, and they’ll say, I’ve had a drink of the living water, and I’m not searching for anything else.
I’m not thirsting for anything else. Christ satisfies sin.
You get that message? If you forget what I say tonight.
[31:58] You take this with you, Christ satisfies.
Christ died for our sins.
So, I’m gonna get you to follow along in this little scenario now.
This is a little departure, a little variation from our pulpit norm.
I hope it’s not a breach of protocol. But I just want you to, I have a hypothetical scenario.
[32:24] I want you to just buy into for a few minutes. Say you’re sitting at your office desk, and you have never heard tell of Christ in your life.
I’ve had the privilege of speaking to people in a tent like this, much, much larger, in the city of Toronto, and people had never heard tell of Christ or Jesus in their life.
And when we told them that he died at the door, they say, good man died?
When?
When? Like did I miss it on the news? But you know about Christ.
You know about Christ.
But the way this little scenario works.
[33:07] Don’t know anything. You’re sitting at your desk at work, and you just, you know you have emptiness inside.
You know you’re not satisfied.
You’re thinking about how empty your life is and that you have no peace.
And you’re wondering where you came from and why am I really here?
And where will I be after this life?
And you’re having all these thoughts. You know, I don’t normally mention our little website Heaven for sure, But over the years, I’ve collected quite a few stories, written quite a few posts.
Kurt Cobain, his spiritual thirst, people who have climbed the ladder of success and what they had to say, how they summed it up.
Brad Pitt, frequently visited story on our site.
And he calls it a certain congenital sadness. No matter what success he’s had in life, still comes up dry and barren. Tom Brady, he said, I’m not satisfied with all my Super bull rings.
And the interviewers said, well.
You’ve lived the American dream. You’ve got all the rings.
If you don’t have happiness and peace, what is the answer?
[34:24] And you can watch this video. I think it’s still online. And he looks off to the corner of the room, Tom Brady does, and he just says, I wish I knew. I wish I knew, he says it twice.
Doesn’t he? He’s never found it. So this is not a far-fetched scenario, of someone sitting at a desk and thinking, What is life all about? I’m empty.
Michael Jordan, the story about him.
And when he retired from basketball, this is a direct quote.
How can I find peace outside of basketball?
[34:58] Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga, story about her. John Lennon, Michael Jackson.
Some of you are old enough to remember Michael Jackson when he was alive.
But some of you may still listen to his music and watch his amazing dancing.
And you know his brokenness in his life. You may not be very impressed with Michael Jackson.
But before he died, he was in London, England, and he was speaking at Oxford University, giving an address.
He was talking about the evils of greed and materialism. And this is his quote.
“‘This violation has bred a new generation.’ He called it Generation O. Generation O, let us call it.
The O stands for a generation that has everything on the outside, wealth, success, fancy clothing, fancy cars, but an aching emptiness on the inside, the cavity in our chest, that bareness at our core, that void in our center.
[36:07] And then he stopped, and for 20 long seconds, he wept on the podium as he thought, of the emptiness of his life.
And in that same speech, his speech was interrupted three more times by crying from the pulpit.
Life, people who have achieved success.
And so this scenario is, you’re thinking about how empty your life is and wondering, about all these things, you’re thinking about the skeletons in your closet, some, of them, that’s an English, for some of you who aren’t familiar with the English language, that’s an English idiom. Skeletons in your closet are things that you have done in the past that are secrets and they’re in the closet and you don’t want to think about them, you’ve turned the corner on them and the English idiom is called skeletons in your closet. And I suspect most people here tonight.
[37:04] In your closet, and you’re sitting there at your desk thinking about the skeletons in your closet, or what about my sins, are there consequences for sin, how do I get rid of my sin, and you’re looking out your window in your office and that big sign, that billboard out there, there’s one word that comes up on it, nine o’clock, and you look out the window and you say, Christ, what is that?
What is it, or is it a who, is it a person?
Christ. And you have a Christian friend, Christian colleague.
[37:39] And you say, come, look out the window.
It says, Christ. Do you know what that means, Christ? Oh, and your Christian friend, their eye.
[37:49] Their face lights up, and he’s a person.
Oh, you say, tell me about him. Who was he? And then your Christian friend begins to tell you about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of the living God, and you’re listening there, how he came down from heaven, God is love, he came down from heaven, he was born of a virgin, and then you might tell you there were all kinds of prophecies, not just like the old prophecies you read about in the trash papers or in the news, people say somebody’s gonna be shot in 2023, October.
Oh, it’s pretty safe prophecy. Someone’s gonna be shot.
No, these are real specific things, like 750 years, the prophet Isaiah said, A virgin will conceive and will bring forth a child.
And you’ll call his name, Jesus, and you’re sitting there saying, really?
750 years before? Yeah, he wrote, a child is born, a son is given.
You’re amazed, Christ, I’ve never heard about him.
And he became, God became man. He was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, labored in the Capernaum, and you’re listening intently. Your friend says, he changed homes, he changed lives.
[39:10] He reached out to those who were disillusioned by life. He reached out to those who were marginalized in life.
They would tell you about the goodness, the gentleness, the compassion.
He reached out to those who were beggars, to prostitutes, people who had issues and somebody who died and all of those things.
And you’re just saying, wow, Christ, This is amazing.
I’ve never heard of this man before. Tell me more. Well, he did many more miracles, signs.
He proved the word, idle words.
He proved that he was God and flesh.
By all these miracles, you know, one day he was out on a, one night he was on a boat and the wind was howling and the waves were beating on the boat. You never heard that story either.
And he just stood up and he said, peace be still.
And the waves went flat.
You’re quite amazed. The illnesses he cured, the food that he provided, the words, the truth that he spoke, the light that he shone in the darkened light.
Well, that was at night and you looked out your window.
Now all you can think about is Christ. Did you do any thinking about Christ?
Spent place in your life, you thinking about Christ?
[40:24] Mean anything to you? 10 o’clock, you look out your window, another word is on the big electronic billboard, digital billboard, Christ died.
And you have that awful sick feeling inside. He died. What a shock to learn that this good man died.
How old was he? Like 33, 33 and a half. And you say, how did he die?
He died upon a cross, really.
Oh, he was shamefully treated. He was beaten and he was bruised.
He was humiliated. He was bullied. And he died ultimately on a cross.
And you are flooded with so many questions.
[41:06] Christ died. And you think, well, I know that everybody dies.
The death rate is really 100%, everyone dies, but not everyone dies such a horrible death.
Not everybody dies in the cross. And you’re thinking like, was it an accident?
You don’t know anything about this story. It’s all new to you.
Was it an accident? Was it a case of mistaken identity? Was he a martyr?
Was it just bad luck?
Fate? You’re thinking he died, but I have to find out more. I need to know more about this death.
Tell me more. And you look out the window.
You say, I wonder, are they gonna do something every hour?
Sure enough, at 11 o’clock, you look out the window and there’s another word, Christ died for.
Your Christian friend says, you know that word for is a very specific word.
It actually means on behalf of, on behalf of.
[42:08] Oh, there was Christ died for, you mean there was a reason. I have to find out the reason.
It wasn’t a pointless death. It wasn’t a senseless death.
It wasn’t a, you mean it was a purposeful death?
You know, when you see car accidents and things, say, oh, it’s too bad that ever happened.
You know, I’m thankful for the death of Jesus Christ because it was a purposeful death.
It was a purposeful death. You’re sitting there at the desk and you say, well, like, I don’t know, like we die because of accidents. We die because of disease.
We die because of old age. but he died for something, he died for something.
Whatever could it have been for, he died for something. Would it be his own crimes, his own sins did he die?
Did he have a secret side of his life? It’s 12 noon. Now you’re not very high on the echelons of the hierarchy of the corporation. You’re still a frontline worker.
And when 12 noon comes, you don’t have any flexibility.
You’ve got to go and have your lunch. And so you look out the window one more time and it says Christ died for, and your jaw drops. Our?
[43:25] How am I a part of that?
Christ died for our? You mean this message has something to do with me? How am I a part of this message? How am I involved? Did you ever discover how you’re, involved in Christ’s death? Why it’s relevant? You can’t really settle on your mustard and ham sandwich. It’s just you’ve got too much on your mind.
You know what you were thinking about when you went to work, how empty life is, with all the success you’ve achieved, and yet there’s a gnawing inside a void.
And now you’ve seen Christ die for Al, and so it wasn’t enough.
You just get out the old napkin and you wipe the mustard off your face and make sure there’s nothing stuck between your teeth, and back to your desk you go, and the only thing you can think of, is there gonna be an answer to the story?
Christ died for our what? And you look out the window, and you know what’s on that sign?
Christ died for our sins, our sins, my sins.
[44:45] Why, why would he ever die for my sins? You mean this holy one, the son of the living God, who came to earth, who was absolutely sinless, and he only did what was good?
He died on the cross.
Christ died for our sins. Why would he ever do it for me? Ever wonder that?
A Christian is someone who wonders why He would never die for their sins.
I think if you were to go along with the rest of this story, you would probably say at your desk, that’s exactly what has been bothering me all along.
I never thought I would find a remedy for my sin. I’m the guilty one.
I’m the one who offended God.
I’m the one who deserves to be punished. I deserve hell. So still on the, and you look out the window again, There it is, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse three.
Christ died for our sins.
And right at your desk that day, as a story with.
I can just see you, oh, some people say I can’t, our daughter, when her grampy died.
[46:04] She finds it difficult to shed tears.
So she looked around and her older sibling, she was crying and very fusive with her tears, expressing her emotions and everybody else in the row was, and our daughter Stephanie, she licked her finger wet, and then she’s the only little girl and she rubbed her eyes like this.
So she could be seen to be crying because she really missed her grandpa too.
But you’re sitting at your desk and you don’t have to wet your eyes with your tongue finger.
The tears begin to flow and say, why would he love me so? Why would he die for a sinner like me?
I was the one who deserved to be punished, but God loved me and Christ.
Oh, I’m gonna put it up one more time and then I’m gonna pray.
[46:51] You know, if you could take these words from God’s words, God doesn’t lie.
If you could just rest on this, these five words, and just say, God doesn’t lie.
And it says ours, Christ died for our, and if you could find yourself included in that our, and appreciate that he died for you, just trust God.
Take him at his word. You would be saved tonight. You would have your sins forgiven.
You would have that wonderful joy in your heart, the peace that’s calm as a river.
You would experience the forgiveness of sins, and you’d become a possessor of eternal life, and you would be absolutely sure that when you breathe your last and your pulse is gone, you’ll be with Christ in heaven forever.
That’s what’s available to you tonight.
We point you to the living God and the Lord.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230718.m4a[0:00] I think we’ve basically said it most nights, but this is not a church membership drive, and it isn’t a fundraising effort.
There’s a lot more at stake than religion and a lot more at stake than church or money.
Sometimes we get into our message and we elevate our voice.
We don’t have a PA system, a voice projection service here.
So if you find us at times a little loud, just remember that we’re not shouting at you.
[0:32] We are shouting for you. And we’re trying to make sure our voice is projected so all can turn to the back seat.
But really what our agenda is, quite straightforward, the burning desire of our heart over these two weeks. The burden of our soul is for you to know Christ personally as your Savior. You may never associate with this group of believers that are hosting or sponsoring these services.
Our chief concern is that you would have your sins forgiven, be a possessor of eternal life, and know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and experience the joy.
Like we speak about it as being sure of heaven. Well, for some of you, you might think heaven is a long ways off.
I have greater things to worry about just now.
But you know, it’s not just about heaven. It’s about enjoying life with Christ in 2023.
[1:38] And there are some Christians here this evening, If you were to ask them afterwards over the refreshment, so what is this life with Christ like?
Like tell me, how is it different than religion?
I’m sure they would be happy to tell you there’s quite a distinct difference.
I would like to, before I read, just here’s a thought on my mind is, you’ve heard the term born again, born again?
Yeah, like a lot, most people have heard that word. I want you to ask yourself before we read from the word of God, have I been born again.
[2:13] I can tell you, yes, I have been born again. But I want you to answer that question in your own mind, whether this stays on or not.
Don’t be upset if it blows off onto the floor. My tape is getting weak here.
But you know, Christians that I’ve met across the continent have a precious, precise, personal season in their life, when they were born again.
Again. Born again. And the new birth, this born again, does not happen during a baptism, whether as an infant or as an adult. You don’t get the new birth at baptism. Baptism has nothing to do with the new birth. Even though the term was used by the Lord Jesus, it’s often misused and abused in 2023.
Sometimes we hear the term born-again Christians in the news.
You know, God doesn’t have a bunch of different sets of Christians.
Those who are nominal Christians, bunch of different sets of Christians.
Those who are nominal Christians.
[3:35] We’re not talking about conservative or Democrat or Republican.
We’re not talking about the kind of people who carry placards and protest.
We’re not talking about people who carry big Jesus signs in one hand and smash windows with their fist in another hand.
We’re not talking about that.
They do a tremendous disservice, a tremendous disservice to the gospel, and to the promotion of Jesus Christ.
People who claim to be Christians or born again Christians and carry Jesus signs and lawlessness on the other hand.
So we’re not talking about that. That’s making a mockery out of Christianity.
We are talking about what the Lord Jesus meant when he used the term born again.
So we’re gonna read in the gospel of John, John chapter three, John chapter three.
We’re going, last night we talked about a wealthy man whose tranquility was disrupted.
He had all kinds of money, and all of a sudden he realized, but I have all this, but I don’t have eternal life.
Tonight we’re gonna read about a religious man whose tranquility was disrupted. He was shook up.
One night, he couldn’t sleep.
[5:02] Verse 1, and I’m going to read from the New King James, because we’re going to read 15 verses.
It’s quite a bit to read. We don’t normally read that many verses. Verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. No one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’, Nicodemus, this very religious man, said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?
[5:56] Jesus answered, most assuredly or truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Not, you should be born again, you must be born again. This is an imperative with, Jesus. If you’re ever going to be right with God, if you’re ever going to be in the kingdom of God, if you’re ever going to be in heaven, Jesus said you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it wisheth, and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from, where it goes.
So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
Most assuredly I say to you, We speak what we know, and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
[7:20] No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is, a son of man so he’s referring to himself.
[7:31] As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so now he’s telling old Nicodemus, this is how you’re born again.
As Moses, and he’s talking back in the earlier part of the Bible, a story that old Nicodemus would be very familiar with, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must a son of man, or even so must Messiah be lifted up that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
So this man in Nicodemus, very religious, very careful about many things.
The food he ate, the clothes that he wore, the scriptures that he memorized.
They were having supper with someone tonight and they were going to try to memorize, I think he said the whole New Testament.
I don’t know how far he got with that. And then he started trying to memorize Proverbs.
But this man knew many scriptures. He was conscientious.
Even if he was giving one teaspoon of spice, he would measure out one tenth of the spice in the teaspoon and say, that is for God.
[8:46] Just spice, spices. He lived a very particular life, religious life. He was an influential member of the ruling religious class and the Jewish people in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, the council. They say in history that he was the third richest man.
[9:12] In Jerusalem, one of the three. And so really, Nicodemus was really the best, that education, money, and religion could produce.
If anyone had everything going for him, it was Nicodemus. I don’t know whether anyone would dare say tonight that they live up to Nicodemus’s standard of living.
[9:47] But behind his robes, his religion, and his reputation, he had a certain unease, unrest, an uncertainty. He had believed this way for all his life, and now he’s got gray hair, white hair, and he’s an old man, and all of a sudden the very foundation of his life is shaking.
Everything he believed is up in the air.
Could I be sincere, but sincerely wrong? He had a lot of questions swirling around in his head.
I don’t know whether you have any questions tonight, but here’s what was going on in Nicodemus’ day.
If you read your Bible there in the New Testament, there was a prophet called John the Baptist, And he seemed to show up really out of nowhere.
And thousands were flocking to hear John the Baptist and he would say, repent, repent.
[10:50] And hundreds, thousands were gathering on the banks of the Jordan River and elsewhere to hear this prophet John the Baptist speak.
And all Nicodemus, he would think, what in the world is going on here?
He didn’t go to rabbinical school, he didn’t graduate from some theological seminary, and what is the power that he has that he can draw these thousands of people?
He’s not dressed in our religious robes.
One day on the banks of the Jordan River, John Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Wow! He was pointing to the Lord Jesus himself, another man in his early 30s.
[11:43] You see Nicodemus thinking, is there anybody thinking tonight? Do I really have the right thing, going a long life. This, you’re starting to wonder. Sometimes it’s an accident. Sometimes it’s a lump in the neck. It could be a pain in the heart that turns people’s worlds upside down.
Down. And all of a sudden they start to think, do I have the right thing? Am I depending? Is my foundation a solid one? And so here’s Nicodemus thinking, oh, and then he listens to young Jesus, preach, 30 years old, and Nicodemus’ complacency and tranquility is disrupted. He said, this man, and he’s, I don’t know him either.
Where did he come from?
He didn’t go to rabbinical school either.
And yet every day he’s doing signs and miracles. I can’t ignore them.
If they were just idle words, empty words, that’s one thing.
But when he has the power to give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, how could I ignore what he has to say?
[13:04] He’s listening day after day, but the amazing wonders that Jesus has performed, I can’t dismiss this.
He’s doing powerful things. He must be, he must be, he must be a teacher from God.
Oh, the old man is starting to think, I need to find out about this.
Everyone is going after him. I would like to know more about him.
What’s your attitude this evening?
Would you like to know more about the Lord Jesus?
[13:39] Jesus said, you have to be born again. Are you interested in knowing what Jesus meant by the word, the term born again?
Verse two says, this man came to Jesus by night.
Rabbi, we know you’re a teacher come from God. No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
So Nicodemus became a seeker, a teacher, but now a seeker.
When he comes to Jesus, you say, well, why did he come to Jesus at nighttime?
Was he sort of embarrassed that anybody would see him coming at nighttime?
Was it fear of friends? I’m not so sure that it was any of that.
I think that maybe Nicodemus looked in the mirror and said, look, I’ve got wrinkles on my forehead, I’ve got white hair, I’m not getting any younger.
And if this man is, what he is saying is true, then I need to find out.
I don’t know when I will be stepping over the precipice from time into eternity.
I can’t wait until tomorrow morning.
The awfully nice of somebody was here tonight and saying, who says, I would like to have this settled tonight.
If I don’t have the right thing.
[15:02] It’s life is too precarious to live another 24 hours with the wrong thing.
And I think that’s where Nicodemus is at, getting older, I have to find out whose belief system is right.
I can’t dismiss this young man. I’m not right.
If I’m not right, then I have to get it settled immediately.
He comes to Jesus by night. Thank God he came to Jesus. She went to the right source.
Born? Again?
[15:37] Have you been born again?
Have you been born again? You think you’re on the way to heaven? Can you accept Jesus’ word?
You must be born again. If ever there was someone okay for the kingdom of God, Nicodemus probably said, it is me. I’ve always considered myself like a shoe-in for heaven.
I was sure if anybody was going to heaven, it was me. My respectable life, my religion, in my sincerity, but religion was a trap back then.
[16:13] And religion is a trap in 2023. And the Lord Jesus exposed that trap.
What’s Satan’s most dangerous and most successful trap? Let me ask you that question.
Think of all the different things, a trap, Satan’s most dangerous and most successful trap.
Well, we can talk about it afterwards, but it’s not drugs, it’s not immorality, it’s, not crime, it’s not pleasure.
I would think his most successful trap is religion.
Religion. Good works help. Good works help a little bit. Sincerity counts.
Good intentions are pleasing to God, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Good works do not help you find favor with God. Sincerity does not help someone find favor with God.
Good intentions don’t bring someone to God. Religion doesn’t bring anyone to God, it is a trap.
John 14, verse six, Jesus said, “‘I am the way, the truth, the life.
“‘No one comes to the Father but by me.'” Verse four, here’s the truth revealed.
How can a person be born when he’s old? Can he go back inside his mother and be born again?
[17:39] Nicodemus isn’t arguing, why do I have to be born again? It’s sort of a sincere question. How? How?
I’m not born again, I would love to, I’m not arguing with you, Jesus.
I would like to know how I can be born again.
You can almost see the wheels spinning in his mind and hear the shock in his voice.
Late stage in his life.
You might say, well, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
I think I’ll just coast here.
Yes.
No! Nicodemus said, how? If you have to be born again, then how can this happen?
I don’t want to just smooth it over.
[18:23] It’s hard to look at all of you fine people here tonight and tell you that you must be born again.
You don’t have to be a member. The Christians that sponsor this are Midland Park Gospel Hall, but you don’t have to be a member of the Midland Park Gospel Hall. There’s people in the world who are born again who have never heard tell of a gospel hall, but you must be born again.
You must be born again, and that’s what Jesus is talking about here. And so Jesus answers this question. He talks about being born of the Spirit. This is not something that you do for yourself.
This is a Spirit of God. We read those verses. It’s born from above. It’s a Spirit of God working, in you and bringing you new life. A physical birth, Nicodemus, brought you into this world, But it’s a spiritual birth, Nicodemus, that will bring you into the kingdom of God, into the family of God. Verse 6 says, flesh is just that, flesh, it can’t evolve into something higher. Fleshly life can never generate spiritual life. Wrong from our first birth. That’s what, really what Jesus is teaching here. Our first birth equipped us to live on planet Earth.
But Jesus is saying the new birth.
Do you expect to be with God after you die?
[19:49] The Bible says there are only two destinations after death. It’s heaven with God, with Christ, or it’s hell, it’s eternal punishment and suffering.
But don’t blame God for a place called hell and people going there.
The whole message of the gospel, that was prepared for the devil and his angels.
The whole message of the gospel says, look, I don’t want, God doesn’t want anyone to go to that place of suffering.
I’ve made provision in the cross.
That’s why I said to Jesus, no one has to go there. If they go there, it will be their own personal choice not to accept Christ, not to be in heaven.
So verse seven says, marvel not that I say to you, You must be born again.
And verse eight says, you may not understand the wind, how it blows, where it comes from, but you recognize the force.
And maybe God, you’re recognizing that God is working in your life.
You’re not here by coincidence.
Oh, you see, not really by coincidence, but I just, I’m honoring a commitment to come because of a friend or whatever.
Well, we’re glad you’re a person of your worth.
You kept your word, you’re here. Thank God for that.
[21:05] But behind the scenes, did you ever think that God is at work, the reason you have a friend, the reason you have someone in your life who invited you here? God is reaching into your life.
He wants to bring you to himself. God is at work. And that’s what verse eight’s talking about, the spirit of God. You don’t know where it’s how it’s blowing and all the logistics, but you recognize there’s something going on inside. You recognize its force.
Verse nine, how can these things be?
He’s not belligerent, he’s just bewildered. Comes down to faith.
And that’s where the Lord Jesus takes Nicodemus and Jesus so tenderly tells him a story that he would have known so well, a story back from the days of Moses.
We’re not gonna get into the details of that story.
Numbers chapter 21.
But there was a bunch of people and they were bitten by poisonous snakes.
And they were wanting to know how they could be cured.
And so Moses made a brass, made a pole and put a snake of brass on the pole.
And God said, whoever looks to that brass snake on the pole.
[22:24] Will be healed. And so Jesus said, you’re wondering how this will happen, Nicodemus, how you can be born again?
He said, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Jesus was gonna be lifted up on a cross that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The moment a sinner looks away from themselves and looks to Christ the Savior, That’s the moment they are born again, born into God’s family.
Life is in a look at the crucified one, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can’t just see old Nicodemus, he’s listening intently to the answer about how he can be born again.
And the Bible doesn’t tell us all the rest of the story that particular night, but we know from the Bible, that when Jesus was crucified, Nicodemus was among those who came and took his body down from the cross, willing to be identified with Jesus.
He showed his love, his affection, the fact that he embraced Jesus.
He was there at the cross and took the corpse out of the cross and helped to bury Jesus.
Thank God Jesus was raised from the dead the third day in the resurrection.
But Nicodemus had the shock of his life.
[23:54] It must have been a rude awakening to find out all these years of believing this.
And this young man in his 30s tells me, except I am born again, I cannot be in the kingdom of God.
[24:13] Wouldn’t even see the kingdom of God. Friend, we just echo the words of Jesus tonight.
Except you are born again, You’ll never be in the kingdom. I was just thinking tonight, and often when I hear that, those verses of being born again, the purpose of the gospel message, as we are sometimes guilty of thinking what we need in life is to better our life, to better our situation, better our circumstances, but the.
[24:52] Message as we’ve been hearing of is not that you need a better life, but that you need a new life. That God wants to give life to that which is dead. And that’s what salvation is, being born again. The Bible says, passing from death unto life.
From darkness to light. And so, I love those verses that we’ve already been considering tonight. And we’re going to consider a few more verses in the book of Acts in chapter 13, this evening. Acts chapter 13. And you might have been here a have been here a few nights, and if not, we welcome you if this is your first night.
But what we’ve been looking at in this book of Acts is the different sermons, the different messages that were preached by some of the first preachers.
And you may say up to this point, we’ve heard from the simple men, just like you’ve heard this whole series.
I think Peter is offended when I can group in with me, and you’ve heard from the simple men.
You’re looking for maybe a little higher level of education.
And the preachers that we have heard from, Peter and Philip, they were simple men.
A man who was just a fisherman, Peter. No real acclaim, no real accolades in this world.
And tonight we’re gonna read the gospel preached by a man who was on a different level, according to this world’s measurements.
Him, he himself could say, if anyone, the apostle Paul, if anyone could boast of things accomplished in the flesh, Who more than I?
[26:17] Who more than I circumcised the eighth day, the exact day you’re supposed to, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, where the very first king of Israel came from, King Saul, of that tribe, an important tribe. And he would say, Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Sometimes when you go in the grocery store and maybe you look at the lettuce in the bag, you always look at the back. Why? Because there’s always something in the back.
And whenever you find it, you found the best of all the… Well, he was the Hebrew of all all the Hebrews, he was the best there was.
The best that could be offered in a religious and a spiritual sense.
So tonight, if maybe you’ve been a little disappointed up until this point, you’re gonna hear the gospel preached, from a very religious man.
And he could say himself, this preacher, this religious man, all those things, all that religion, I counted all but nothing.
[27:13] For the excellency of the knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord.
There’s nothing greater that could be had in this life, no greater accolade, no greater religious accomplishment, religious diploma.
It’s all counts for nothing. The greatest thing Paul himself would say, the excellency of knowing Jesus Christ.
And so we’re gonna read what he has to say this evening, the Apostle Paul.
In Acts chapter 13 and verse number 14, and we won’t read all the verses, we’ll just skip through a few, but it says Acts 13 and 14, And when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
“‘And after the reading of the law and the prophets, “‘the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “‘Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation “‘for the people, say on.’.
[28:05] “‘Then Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said, “‘Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.’, It begins to recount the history of the people of Israel, and we won’t go through it all.
We’ll go down to verse number 21, and he says, Afterwards they asked for a king.
So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will who will do all my will, from this man’s seed according to the promise God raised up for Israel a Savior Jesus, after John first preached before us coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel and he recounts the story of the Lord Jesus and he speaks of them crucifying him in verse 30 says this but God raised him from the dead.
He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses to the people.
[29:16] Verse 36, For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption.
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. And by him everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. A religious man in his past preaching to a very religious people in the small Roman colony there in Antioch. They had many temples there. The greatest temple it is said in that area. A temple made out to the Emperor. So much religion, much politics in this area and a very well respected religious man of his past came and he preach to them this message. And I hate to disappoint you tonight. If you were hoping the religious man, the intellectual man had a different message than the poor fishermen. But his.
[30:25] Message is exactly the same. It’s not through religion. It’s not through works. It’s not through a system. It’s not through certain steps, he would say this, be it known to you that through this man, Jesus Christ, is found the forgiveness of sins. Sounds very similar to the other gospel message we have heard and we have seen preached in the book of Acts. Why? Because the gospel message doesn’t change. Doesn’t matter who’s preaching it, doesn’t matter who’s listening to it, the message is that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin.
[31:06] That little expression throughout Scripture, when Abraham’s servant would come and find Rebekah searching for a husband for Isaac, a well-known story in the Old Testament, and the question was asked to Rebekah, will you go with this man?
And she didn’t know much about him. She didn’t really know anything of where he was taking her.
But she decided in purpose in her heart, I will follow this man.
And friend tonight in the very same sense this evening, we present to you Jesus Christ.
And the question is this, will you go?
Will you believe? Will you follow this man?
Our hope, our desire, it’s God’s desire that you would. That you would respond in obedience the same way a woman did many thousands of years ago.
[31:56] Job, the testimony of that man, maybe the first, the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, and it speaks of his abundance of his sheep, of his camels, of his 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, a very great household, and it says this, so that this man, Job, was the greatest of all the men of these.
This man, Job, in that whole region, This man was the greatest.
And friend, we could talk about every single man that has ever come and lived in this world.
From Genesis chapter one until the very last person is born into this earth.
And there is no greater one we could ever speak of.
That this man, Jesus Christ, he’s the greatest. He’s the only savior.
The same yesterday, today, and forever. And Paul in his heart and in his mind maybe thinking back to different things he had heard about this man, Jesus.
[32:57] Paul, a man who persecuted the followers of Jesus before he himself was born again.
And all the different expressions, all the different proclamations that were spoke of Jesus that some people came to hear his teaching and they would say, never a man spoke like this man.
He’s unique.
There’s something special about him. We’ve never heard words like this before.
Like the words that come from this man, the well-known gospel verse that this man receives sinners, and he eats with them, he invites sinners to himself.
A man who hung on the cross beside the Lord Jesus Christ, a guilty criminal, he understood one thing.
He said, we’re receiving exactly what we deserve.
The penalty, the price that we are paying right now, the pain we are enduring, it’s because we deserve it.
But he’d say, this man, Jesus Christ, this man, He’s done nothing wrong.
He saw the Lord Jesus Christ in his most vulnerable and in the hardest moments of his existence on this earth.
And he would still conclude this, this man has done nothing wrong.
He’s innocent.
[34:04] What would you do tonight with this man? Would you come to him?
Would you trust in him?
Because for so many years, there were sacrifices that were made.
There was many priests that have come and passed, And maybe you could think of different priests or pastors that you have admired, and what’s the same thing about them?
Someone always came after them to fulfill the duty.
The work was never done.
And the book of Hebrews, it’s Jesus Christ. Do you know him tonight?
But do you know of him? Do you know about him? We’ve all heard the name of Jesus, but do you know him in a very personal way?
You know, I could tell you about my wife And some of you might know her a little bit, know her by name or know to see a picture of her.
[34:52] But none of you would know her like I do. Why? Because of a very personal relationship.
And in that very same sense, you can know much about Jesus Christ.
But do you know him in a very personal sense as your own savior?
Have you been born again? Have you put aside all the things, all the formality and the petty things of this life that bring no peace?
[35:17] And have you found the Lord Jesus Christ? because in this little sermon that Paul preached that day.
[35:24] We find three very simple things that he seemed himself appreciate about this man, Jesus Christ.
The first one we read of in verses 22 and 23, when he would speak of the promise that was made, that God would promise David that from this man’s seed, according to the promise, God would raise up for himself a savior.
What’s the greatest promise that’s ever been made to you?
Now usually the promises we remember are the ones that are broken.
I found an article recently that spoke of the last 10 presidents of the United States and the promises they broke.
No surprise there probably for most.
[36:03] And it went through the list of the last 10 and they would go into detail about each one and the only one that really let off the hook was Gerald Ford because he said, well he was never elected anyway so he didn’t have to make any promises.
But he still didn’t keep his word of things he said once he was the president.
And the one that jumped out at me was back in 1988, George H.W. Bush, who famously in his own words would say this, read my lips, no new taxes.
And within the span of a very short amount of months after he was elected, all the taxes of many people were raised.
Read my lips, a broken promise.
And maybe tonight you are disenfranchised with the idea of receiving a promise and holding to it because maybe the promises that have been made to you and they’ve been broken and they have hurt.
[36:56] Promises made by a spouse, till death do us part, and a broken promise.
Promises made by parents to children.
And you feel it tonight, you say, what promise could I ever hold on to?
An employer who promised you years of good employment, a retirement, a pension, cut short, why?
Because the promises made in this earth by men.
[37:21] You can’t hold to them. You’d like to. you. Well, there’s always something behind. There’s always a doubt that might arise from that. And tonight, we’ve heard of a promise that does not come from someone on this earth.
It comes from the God of heaven. And you could go home tonight with this promise that was made. The promise that was made when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. You shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great. He shall be called the Son of, the Highest. And the Lord God will give unto him the throne of and he shall reign, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”, And what a promise made to David.
And many years after David died, that promise was fulfilled, that root came out of that branch, the branch came forth, or the root of Jesse, and the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and he fulfilled the promise.
Friend, tonight I can make you whatever promise you would desire tonight, and you can never hold to it with a certainty tonight, I wouldn’t blame you.
Many broken promises in this earth, but the God of heaven makes a promise tonight.
He says this, whoever believes in my son has everlasting life.
That’s the promise of God tonight to each one. Religion makes promises.
[38:46] Works make promises. Other people make promises. God himself makes a promise tonight.
And he says this and Paul would later declare that forgiveness of sins is found in Jesus Christ.
It’s a promise from God tonight. It’s a promise from the throne of heaven. And Paul continued preaching not just about the promise that was made through Jesus Christ, but he spoke of his perfect life. We didn’t read all the verses, but he said, he said they found no cause for death in him. They asked Pilate that he should be put to death, and it says they fulfilled all that was written about him, concerning, him. And you could think tonight of all the promises that Jesus Christ fulfilled in his perfect life in this in this earth all the promises he fulfilled at the cross that he would be numbered with the transgressors 700 years before Jesus ever came into this world he would be numbered with the transgressors and that.
[39:47] Day at Calvary when the people would walk by they would count the thieves one and two and they’re right in the middle the one who was numbered with the transgressors the Lord Jesus Christ the psalmist would write that they would they would part my garments and they would cast lots, they would gamble for them.
And that day at the cross as they took the robes off the Lord Jesus Christ and he hung there. It says they would cast lots, they would gamble for his clothing.
[40:17] The psalmist also would speak of the one who would suffer and it says not one of his bones would be broken and as it would come and break the legs of those other two men on the cross that day.
[40:29] They did not break the legs lord jesus christ why because he was fulfilling that prophecy he was fulfilling that promise that was made in scripture the book of zacharias speaks of they will look upon him whom they have pierced.” And even the religious there that day, no doubt, they probably were not thinking of that scripture as they pierced his hands and his feet. As a soldier thrust a spear into his side and out came blood and water. And Paul’s focus is this, and he makes sure to cover all three of these events that Jesus Christ died. And he says he was buried, he was put in a the tomb, where it says, God hath raised him up.
What a tremendous truth tonight, friend. Throughout this book of Acts, they never left that part out, that yes, Jesus died.
And he died for our sins. He died for your sins.
But it wasn’t left there in the tomb. God hath raised him up on high.
What a tremendous truth tonight.
And Paul ends his sermon with this great verse, this great truth that we have read, that let it be known to you, brethren, that through this religion, no.
[41:49] That through this baptism that we preach no it doesn’t say that friend tonight i would like you just in the quietness of your own heart tonight in the seat which you are sitting just let these words resonate in your heart that through this man jesus christ through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins if you ever want to have your sins forgiven if you want to be forgiven this evening. You can be. Why? Because it’s found in this man, Jesus Christ.
And all the trying, he would conclude with this. He would say, all the trying, everyone who believes is justified from most things. No. He who believes is justified from all the sins in your past. But what about tomorrow? It doesn’t say that. He who believes in him is justified from all things, friend, all things.
Every single sin you’ve ever committed, every impure thought, every sin that you thought that no one else in this world knew about, every single one of them that God knows about, says he who believes in him is justified from all things.
Why? Because every single one of your sins was placed on the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.
[43:11] And he says this, he would say, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
In other words, from all the things from which you could not be justified by religion, forgiveness of those things is found in this man, Jesus Christ.
Friend, if you’re trusting in religion tonight, if you are trusting in some ceremony, if you are trusting in yourself in good works.
[43:41] It says so clearly right here. You cannot be justified before God by those things.
Justified simply means this, to be declared right.
To be declared accepted before God.
There’s only one way according to the word of God, that you can be justified tonight.
That you can be born again, have new life, be set from, to be changed from a course that’s leading you down to a lost eternity in hell and be on a course that’s set for heaven.
Only one way, one way.
Therefore, let it be known to you, brother, that through this man is preached to you, even to you tonight, the forgiveness of sins.
Our hope is that you would trust in Him, believe in Him, and you could go home knowing there’s a promise from God, from God, justified from all things.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230717.m4a[0:00] If you have a Bible with you, I’d like to read in the book of Acts this evening in chapter 10.
We’ve been going through this book, and we’ve jumped a few chapters here and there, but, a well-known story here in Acts chapter 10.
And really, if you consider what has happened in the word of God in the Bible until this point. It’s really a monumental event that we’re going to read about. That for years in the Old Testament would tell us that the Jewish people, Israel, were God’s chosen people, who he chose to work in and work through. But here we’re going to find a man outside of the tribe of Israel, a man who’s not a Jew, and he is going to hear a message from God for him. And so tonight, friend, we’re going to to read of a man who heard the gospel preached in his own home.
And we break in here at verse number 34.
[0:58] It says here in Peter, Then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, is no respecter of persons.
[1:10] But in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all.
That word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him and we are witnesses of all of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him, God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.” Now take note of this verse, verse number 43.
To him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name, whoever believes in him.
[2:39] Will receive remission, forgiveness of sins. What a tremendous message. It’s very interesting as we we have gone through this book of Acts to note that the preacher’s message, the disciples, the apostles’ message has not changed.
But it is this Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He says here again, who you hanged upon a tree, but him God raised up, why?
That we would be able to preach as they did so many years ago, that through his name, through faith in his name, whoever believes in him would receive the forgiveness of sins.
You’re looking to be forgiven tonight.
I can’t give it to you.
Maybe if you’ve offended me, there’s some form of small forgiveness you could search out for me.
But each one of us tonight in our sins, we need to consider this.
Yes, maybe having offended our neighbors, our parents, our spouses, our children.
Nothing wrong in searching out forgiveness from them. But each day in our life, because of our sins, we’ve offended God.
[3:51] And it shows us right here in a very sincere and simple way.
The way in which one can be forgiven.
Not a 10-step process, not a ceremony, not a fulfilling of different creeds or commandments.
It says so clearly here in verse 43, that through his name, whoever believes in him.
[4:17] Will receive the remission of sins, the forgiveness of sin.
This message, this sermon that Peter preached to this man, Cornelius, and those who are in his home.
[4:30] He begins with a very important message from God in verse number 34. He said this, that God is not, he shows no partiality. He is no respecter of persons. In our lives and in the society we live in, oftentimes we show partiality. Sometimes in a good sense. In Costa Rica, where you go there, I don’t think it’s the case here, but any building you would go in, bank, grocery store, whatever it it is. If a senior citizen comes and is in line, immediately they’re taken to the front of the line. When you go to the airport there, they even extend the grace they’re showing. They have a sign there about a man with a cane, someone in a wheelchair, and a pregnant woman. I don’t know how they group those three types of people together, but if you fall into any one of those categories, even with children, there’s a special line just for you to go right to the front. And having small children, oftentimes, I take advantage of the partiality that is shown right to the front of the line, without any guilt, without any shame. And we show partiality. The book of James in the Bible speaks of how easy it is to show partiality to those who are rich. We will give the rich person the better seat. But if someone came banging out the street, we would say, well, we’re all full here tonight. It.
[5:51] Happens often. Partiality showed to one another in society in which we live. But it says here so very clearly that God, the, God of heaven, He shows no partiality. He is not a respecter of person. He says that, but every nation, no matter what nation you come from, no matter what country you come from, if you were to fear Him, He would receive you.
He would not turn you away. And the great revelation of this message that now the gospel, God is a God who reaches out to all nations.
There is nowhere you could be on this earth where God could not reach out and see.
The Word of God is now, I just noticed tonight, the Word of God is now placed in the outhouses there in the back. So if you have to leave the meeting and go to the bathroom, you know what, God could save your right there.
[6:42] But he was wounded for our transgressions. I read the verse.
Bruised for our iniquities. God is not partial.
He’s no respecter of persons. And while that is tremendous good news tonight, whosoever will may come.
At the same time, hopefully it will stop you right in your tracks and make you understand this.
That no matter what I’ve done in myself, no matter what good works I have done in my life, before God, He doesn’t respect me any more than the man who’s in prison tonight.
Why? Because we’re both sinners before God.
God is not a respecter of, He shows no partiality. Doesn’t matter your citizenship, your creed, your culture, your class, it does not matter.
God is not a respecter of persons. So tonight, where you are, Maybe you could just leave outside the tent tonight.
Whatever creed you’re a part, whatever religion you might associate yourself with, it doesn’t matter.
God is not partial. God shows no partiality.
And as Peter preaches this message to Cornelius, he really tells him that God has sent us to preach three things.
And the first thing we find in verse 36, he says this, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
Do you want peace tonight?
There’s lots of wars going on around the world tonight. And you might pray for peace.
[8:05] But do you yourself in your own heart personally before God want peace?
There’s the GPI is the Global Peace Index, which is a report that is put together by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which measures the peace in each nation around the world.
It’s developed in consultation with the international panel of peace experts from peace institutions and think tanks that have 23 criteria points in which they measure the peace of each nation.
And so tonight, if you’re looking for peace in this world, you know where you should move to?
The country that has been number one on the peace index for four straight years, Iceland.
[8:50] It probably gets cold there, so bring a parka. If you want peace in this earth, according to them, number one, Iceland, four years running.
I remember in the news last year, and this is how it came to mind, Costa Rica took great pride in landing at number 38 on the global peace index, the second highest in all of Latin America, Costa Rica.
Number 38.
And of the, I think it’s 190 countries that they rank, Not a bad place to fall, not a bad place to live.
Number 38 in the world for peace.
New Zealand, another recommendation has been number two for three of the last four years.
If you’re looking for peace in this earth, you can move to New Zealand.
The USA, unfortunately doesn’t fall too high in the rankings all the way down at 129 this past year.
And so you would say, well, maybe that’s why I don’t feel at peace.
Maybe I need to move from the United States and search out a place in Iceland. You know what?
You could fly all the way to Iceland and find yourself a nice little chalet right on the water out there in Iceland.
You still won’t have peace with God.
You still won’t have peace with God. No matter where we go, no matter where we search out peace on this earth.
[10:08] There’s only one way we can have peace with God. And Peter was preaching the message.
It has been our desire to preach the message in this tent.
Preaching peace through what? Through religion? No.
Preaching peace through baptism? No.
Preaching peace through giving to the church? No. He said this, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
Message hasn’t changed.
That is what we preach here tonight. Peace through Jesus Christ.
It’s a message of eternal peace.
When the prince of peace came into this earth and he defeated our greatest enemy.
[10:43] The enemy of our souls, the devil. He led, as scripture says, he led captivity captive.
He freed, he made a way free for the slaves of sin to find freedom. True peace tonight is found And not a place, not a religion, it’s in a person.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
The gospel is the uniting of peace with mercy and truth and righteousness.
I love the psalmist, I could say, “‘Surely His salvation is near them that fear Him.'”, Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
What a tremendous verse.
Salvation is this righteousness, one being made right before God and finding peace at the exact same time.
What a tremendous message. Preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
It reaches to the farthest ends of this earth.
And when you compare the peace that the gospel brings with the peace that is found in this world.
[11:49] Jesus Christ himself could announce it, could explain it like this.
He would say, my peace I leave with you.
He would say that to his disciples. My peace I leave with, not as the world give it, not the sort of cheap peace that you might find in this world.
[12:07] Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The peace I give unto you is not the peace that the world gives.
And maybe you’ve been able in the goodness of God, in the graciousness of God, been able to carve out a little piece of paradise here on earth where you feel completely at peace.
Completely at peace.
There’s areas of this world, and I’m sure in the United States and Canada, where people in the whole town maybe don’t even lock their doors.
Why? Because they feel at peace. They’ve been able to obtain something of the peace in this earth.
But if you were to die tonight and face God, do you have peace thinking about that?
Maybe easier to find peace in this earth than living in a blessed country, a blessed continent like North America.
But do you have peace with God?
[13:00] If that little piece of paradise of peace that you’ve enjoyed maybe your whole life in some part of New Jersey or wherever you’re from, if that were just to be taken right from under your feet and you were to come face to face with God this evening, do you still feel that peace?
There’s peace available through Jesus Christ. Preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
You could think, comparing the peace that Jesus gives, that Jesus Christ offers and the world offers.
You could think of its duration. How long is it good for? You know, there’s many peace hacks that have been made around the world, you know, you see wars going on and even current wars, you just hope they come to a peace agreement. And maybe Maybe they will and maybe soon, but for how long?
For how long?
Until the next.
[13:49] Country decides to break a pact or another country decides to invade another whatever it might be, it’s temporary. The peace offered by this world is temporary. The peace that has come maybe from your pension or your investments and you would say, I got peace knowing, I don’t have to worry where the next paycheck’s coming from, but for how long? In the blink of an eye, all could be gone.
All could be taken, all could be, all could crash. It’s temporary.
The peace that is offered in this world, but the peace that Jesus Christ offers, the peace that is available through him, through faith in his name is this.
It’s not temporary, it’s eternal.
That this very day you can know my sins are forgiven. Today, tomorrow, and forever.
That’s the peace that Jesus Christ offers. It’s eternal.
You can say it’s scope, well, you know how many people in this world live in the sort of peace that is enjoyed in North America?
Not very many.
[14:52] Peace on this earth, while a blessing to find it, it’s a rare thing.
Many countries around this earth don’t enjoy the sort of peace that we in the first world enjoy.
Its scope is not that broad, the peace that this world offers, but as we’ve already seen, the God who is not partial, the God whose hand is not shortened, that it can save to the farthest realms of this earth.
The scope of the peace of God is this, for God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish, but how they’re lasting.
[15:34] What’s the cost of peace? You know, many billions, if not trillions of dollars have went in to try to secure peace in this world.
In different wars, different, different agreements that have been made, different investments in peace.
[15:50] Maybe it’s a money well spent, and maybe it is. It’s nice to live in peace, but it’s a tangible number.
It’s a number, you know, it’s a big number, no doubt, but it’s a number we can measure. You know what it cost God to offer you peace tonight? It didn’t offer him all the riches that this world has. It didn’t cost him everything in every bank in this world. It cost him his only son. If, you want to measure the value of the life, if you have a child of their life, You can never put it into a dollar, a dollar amount.
The psalmist could say the redemption of a soul is a costly thing.
And so friends, when you think of the cost, what it costs God for your peace.
I hope tonight that you will consider the one we are preaching.
Preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
Why? Because he paid the price.
He paid the penalty for our sins on the cross when he hung there on Calvary.
Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
That was the cause.
And Peter continues preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that he is Lord of all.
He is the anointed one.
He did that which was good, healing those that were wounded by the devil.
[17:12] And it says he died and the Lord raised him up.
And so Peter here, he tells the story. He tells he tells the the journey of the Lord Jesus Christ in this earth.
He came into the world.
He was sent. He was Lord of all. He healed and he died.
And he was buried and he rose again. And he says the message that we preach is not just preaching peace through Jesus Christ. What do you say in verse number 42?
And he commanded us to preach to the people.
And to testify that that it is he, Jesus Christ, who was ordained by God to be judge, the judge of the living and the dead.
Friend, tonight, the same one who is offering you peace by the blood of his cross, if you were to reject him, if you were to just take a step back and say, another time, and you were to go out into eternity, you would be confronted with one who will no longer offer you peace, but he will stand before you as your judge.
[18:19] You may say, what about my religion? What about the things I’ve done?
What about what I’ve given?
Jesus Christ himself would speak of a day when there’s many that would come to him.
And he would say, there’s not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And you may even call in word tonight, Jesus Christ, Lord. But he says this, those people come to him in that day.
And they’ll say to me, and many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?
Have we not cast out demons?
Many great deeds we have done in your name. The focus on themselves.
And friend, if you were to have your encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, if your life were to end and you were to begin to tell everything that you have done, I was part of this religion.
I went to church. I was faithful.
The answer that will be received is the same one he speaks about in that day.
I will declare to them, depart from me.
Depart from me, workers of iniquity. Depart from me, you sinner.
And so, friend, it comes right down to this tonight, that when you stand before the judge, what could you ever offer?
[19:37] What great deed could you ever convince him with that he has not already done?
He paid the price in full, yet we in our minds think that we can add to that.
We add our 10%, we add our 25% when Christ has done 100%.
[19:53] And he offers it, peace tonight. And we find out how, as he said in this last part of verse 43 that he spoke about.
That he preached peace through Jesus Christ, but he also preached judgment.
And friends, now there is judgment to come. Those that are on the road that lead, those who are not prepared for heaven, Those who have not trusted in Christ, the Bible says, there’s a way that leads to condemnation in many of their people that go in there, that are on that road, that follow that route.
A way that seems right onto a man, but the end thereof, is the way of death.
[20:33] Where do you find yourself tonight?
When the judgment day comes, will you have your debt forgiven? Will it already have been paid for, cancelled, paid in full, erased every single one of your inequities?
[20:49] Or you stand before God condemned, guilty, trusting in self, trusting in works, trusting in origin.
He is judge of the living and the dead.
The last thing that Peter wanted to preach to the people wasn’t just peace, wasn’t just the judgment that comes, but he says this in verse number 43, to him, all the prophets, all the prophets witnessed, all the Old Testament was pointing forward to him, witnessed to him, that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive the forgiveness, It’s the remission of sins.
The release from bondage is the idea of remission.
The friend tonight, the chains of sin, while they might not be visible, you know about them in your own life, and in the secret of your room, wherever the secret sins of your heart take place, you know, I’m a slave, I’m captive.
I can’t do anything to free myself. It says, through his name, faith, whoever believes in him, will receive the remission of sins.
And there’s a cost of freedom. There’s a cost to remission.
Forgiveness in the Bible, it says this in Hebrews. And without shedding of blood, there is no remission.
There’s no forgiveness, friend, tonight for you, for me, without the shedding of blood.
[22:17] And so for that, we understand why it was that Jesus shed his blood.
He shed His blood because that was the cost of your freedom.
That was the cost of my freedom. That was the cost to be able to offer you peace and forgiveness from your sins.
And what will you do with that pardon?
What will you do with that offer of salvation? when the meeting is over maybe you’ll stand up have a nice refreshment and you’ll say this good message I enjoyed it but as the pardon was offered out not by the preachers not by a church but by Jesus Christ himself what would you do with that part.
[23:12] There’s a very famous preacher, the name of D.L. Moody, who recounted a time when he was, called to a maximum security prison there in the state of Illinois, and the governor of that state, had spoken with him, and he was friends with the chaplain, with the pastor of that prison, and he said, I want to release five men, give a pardon to five men based on good behavior in six months, but don’t tell any of the prisoners. And as you’re spending time with the prisoners, and you’ll have to pick out the five that have displayed the best behavior.
And the governor said, I’ll sign their names, I will sign the pardon of their freedom.
And so that day arrived six months later when the roll was called.
1,100 prisoners filed out of that prison.
As they did day after day, not thinking anything special of that day.
And as the governor walked in, they noted that it was rare for him to make a visit to the prison.
And he stood up and he announced and he said this, I hold in my hand, parties for five prisoners. And there was a deathly silence across that prison.
Imagine that feeling.
Fine. Out of those 1100.
[24:33] Then the commissioner held out the first name and he gave it to the chaplain and he read it out.
The first name that he read out he said this, Reuben Johnson, will you come and receive your pardon?
Nobody moved.
[24:53] He looked at the name again to make sure he had it right and he yelled out again in a loud voice, Reuben Johnson, come forward and receive your pardon.
[25:05] The men all looked around, looking at one another, and eventually it was the cellmate of Reuben Johnson, who noticed him also, Reuben Johnson, looking around all the prisoners, and he nudged him.
He said, that’s you, that’s you.
And as that man trembling walked up and took that pardon from the hand of the governor.
He went back in line.
In front of all those hardened men, he began to weep as a child.
He’d been in prison 19 years.
And as he looked at his name on that paper, he could not enter into it, he could not comprehend, how is it possible that I have been pardoned, that I had been forgiven for what I have done.
And as those other four names were read out, and as the disappointed prisoners, shuffled back to their cell, Reuben, just by habit, he turned around and put the part in his pocket and started walking back to his cell.
As he was leaving that main room, that main congregation room, the chaplain stopped him.
He said this, he said, and you don’t have to go back to your cell.
You’re a free man. You can go home.
[26:25] And friend, tonight in the very same sense this evening, Jesus Christ has a pardon with your name on it. He paid it in full.
And he extends it out to you tonight.
[26:38] Would you receive it? It says, whosoever believes in him will receive the forgiveness of sins.
And what are you trusting tonight? You can close the cell door of the slavery of sin tonight, and you can go home a free man, a free woman, a free child, knowing this, I’m forgiven before God.
Because Jesus Christ paid my debt.
And that preacher some 2000 years ago, preaching in the house of man named Cornelius, he would tell whoever believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins, and some 2,000 years later, the 10 here in New Jersey, the message has not changed.
Whoever believes in him will receive the forgiveness of sins.
May the Lord bless His word to your heart. Wonderful to have peace.
[27:34] Do you have peace?
Are you at rest?
You know, there are Christians that go through very difficult times.
Christians are not immune from problems, and things can happen.
Do you know what a Christian has that someone who’s not a Christian, they don’t have?
A Christian, even in the storms of life, have peace.
[28:09] They may have tears, their pillows may get wet, but they are right with God.
There is no peace in the heart until there’s peace with God.
And as you’ve been listening to Corey this evening, the words from the Bible, you, these meetings are good news in that peace is available to you.
We had a beautiful cake for supper tonight and the woman who provided it asked the decorator at the store to write good news on the top of the ice cream cake.
And I think she was hoping that the decorator would say, So what’s the good news?
Well, she didn’t get asked. But you know, what you’ve just been listening to, is there anyone that would dare put up their hand and say, that is not good news?
That is not good news? The fact that Christ offers you peace and the forgiveness of sins?
What does your religion offer?
[29:25] Say, well, down the road, it should all work out. No, that’s not what you’ve been hearing.
Tonight, you can have peace with God and you can have your sins forgiven tonight.
You can become a possessor tonight of eternal life. And that is good news.
You know, good news is against the backdrop of something that’s bad or potentially bad.
I was trying to think of an example driving to the tent this evening of what might not be great news.
People probably wouldn’t come to a tent like this if a cure had been found for cankers.
[30:08] People say, well, it’d be nice to know what the cure is, but you know, cankers go away in a day or two and we can all live with cankers.
So good news about a cure for yankers may not bring a lot of people to a presentation. Change the K to a C?
Good news for cancer? A cure?
No tent in New Jersey would be big enough to hold the people who would flock to a tent, to hear about a proven cure for all types of cancer.
Good news against a backdrop of very bleak, bad news.
[30:59] Do you know this? I was thinking, cancer as bad as cancer is, all a cancer can do to any one of us is take us to the grave, to the cemetery.
It’s all cancer can do, Take us to the cemetery, to the graveyard.
Do you know what sin can do?
Sin will take you to hell. Cancer will take you to the grave.
But if your sins aren’t forgiven, the awful disease of sin will take you to hell, not just to a cemetery.
And that’s why we proclaim the good news that there is a cure for your sins.
You could leave this evening. every one of your sins forgiven.
Is no one interested in having their sins forgiven tonight? We’re going to read a story in Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 10.
You know, there’s a very serious side to the gospel message.
I’m looking at the audience tonight, we’ve had bigger audiences, we’ve had all the seats filled.
[32:14] But in an audience, I want you to listen to this, in an audience this size, It’s highly probable that at least one person that’s in this tent tonight will never be in heaven.
Do I need to say that again?
It is highly likely that someone in this tent will be in hell forever.
And if that was you, Don’t you think it’s very serious? It’s highly unlikely that everyone in this tent will receive Christ in this life and trust Him as their Savior.
It is highly unlikely.
And that’s the very serious side to this message.
Here’s a man we’re going to read about. He literally came running to Jesus.
[33:17] There are many heartbreaking stories in the Bible, but this one stands out in particular.
It’s recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, a man who came running to Jesus in search of eternal life, but he’s lost forever tonight.
Just because someone comes to a gospel meeting doesn’t mean they’ll be in heaven for eternity.
This man came right to Jesus, not just sauntering along. He actually was running, kicking the dust up behind his feet.
[33:54] But when he weighed it all up, he turned around. With tears in his eyes, he walked away from Jesus.
In a meeting like this, it’s highly likely that someone will walk away from Jesus.
[34:14] Will it be you? Mark chapter 10, verse 17. When he was gone forth, when Jesus was gone forth into the way, There came one running and kneeled.
So he came running, he kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God.
You know, I’ll just put some modern day pronouns. You know the commandments.
Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness or do not tell lies, defraud not, honor your father and your mother.
Jesus didn’t do all the 10 commandments, he just went over a few of them.
And I think that young man breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought, oh, he didn’t touch all the 10 commandments.
What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I’m not gonna volunteer any extra information.
[35:26] And so he says, verse 20, he answered and said unto him, master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him. You get the picture?
[35:44] Jesus, standing on the road, and a young man anxiously wanting eternal life, eye to eye.
And the Bible says Jesus, looking on him, loved him.
You know, there will be people, loves forever, that Jesus loved.
But people didn’t love him. They love something else in their life more than Jesus.
That’s how the story goes.
Then Jesus beholding him, loved him and said unto him, one thing you are lacking.
Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor and thou shall you shall have treasure in heaven.
Come take up the cross and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved.
[36:48] And if you want to do some research after this gospel tent service and look up the original word for grieved in the Greek language, that young man didn’t go away whistling Dixie, turn his back on Jesus laughing.
He went away with tears running down his face. It is the same word used for the sorrows that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane’s Guard.
When Jesus cried so intensely, taking in the cross, this man thought, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t for eternal life.
And he went away free. There are people who come to a tent service like this and they say, my, it would be nice to know for sure you’re going to be in heaven.
It’d be wonderful to have what Corey talked about, wonderful to have peace.
It would be wonderful to know in this life that your sins are all forgiven.
And then people think about, but what would my family say? I’ve lived this religion all my life.
[38:01] Oh, I just think I’ll carry on.
This man went away grieved. He had great possessions. His problem was his money.
And Jesus looked around about and said unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Do you know that one thing will keep you out of heaven?
Just one thing, it’s all it takes, one thing.
And I want you to ask yourself what your one thing is. What are you wrestling with this evening?
My one thing is, what is it?
You’re thinking about salvation, you’re thinking about Christ, you’re thinking about the forgiveness of sins, you’re thinking about having eternal life, You would like to be sure you’re going to be in heaven when you die, but there’s one thing that keeps popping into your mind.
Do you know that one thing that keeps popping into your mind could be the very thing that keeps you out of heaven.
[39:17] We’re dealing with things that are very, very, very important tonight.
It’s time for you to address them. There was one thing missing in this man’s life. He had many things in life. What an impressive thing. He was a rich man. He was wealthy. He had accomplishments.
He had assets. If you look and study it closely, he was probably under 40. Some have wondered if he was a religious lay reader, a Pharisee on retainer who filled in for the regulars, like a substitute teacher would do, and these people were paid well, they lived a very careful, scrupulous life before the community, they weren’t party animals or anything like that, they lived honorable lives because they might have to substitute for the rabbis, for the teachers.
And the Bible says, for wealth, an abundance of possessions. I don’t know what it was.
Here he’s going over his inventory of all his assets, and he says, I’ve got this, I’ve got that, I’ve got this, and what are my stocks doing today?
Huh? Well, good.
[40:26] And he looks at all these things, and then he thinks, but I don’t have eternal life.
I may have a golden chariot.
I may have a beautiful home. I may have lots of money in the bank, but I don’t have eternal life.
I don’t know what assets you have, what accomplishments you have, but if you don’t have eternal life, you’re poverty stricken.
As rich as you might think you are, you’re living in poverty every day if you don’t have eternal life.
Oh, God is offering you eternal life tonight. It’s a free gift.
[41:10] Would you like eternal life? Do you know eternal life isn’t passed out after someone dies?
My father used to have that notion.
He thinks he got it from his grandma.
That someday, Judgment Day, we’ll go out to meet God and there’ll be this big set of scales, and God will take all your bad things and put them on this side and you’ll put all your good things in your prayers and everything over here.
And then God will step back and look and see which way the scale is going to…
Oh! Come on in! Eternal life.
But nothing could be further from the truth. It will not be like that.
If you don’t have eternal life before you breathe your last and your pulse is gone, you’ll never get eternal life after you die.
[42:01] You must have eternal life in this life, or you’ll never have it for eternity. This man, I don’t know whether it was a dream.
It may have been a close call.
Maybe he was going around the corner in his chariot and the wheel went over there, almost into the ditch and he almost tipped. I don’t know, the Bible doesn’t tell us.
One thing jolted him to his senses.
I don’t have eternal life.
Oh, what happens if I die tonight?
I don’t have, but do you have eternal life?
[42:41] Something woke this man up. How do I know he was awakened? Something was missing in his life?
I know this. When a rich man bolts out his door and starts running, the neighbors all put up their blankets and say, oh, what? He’s in a panic. He’s running.
Rich men don’t run. Calm, cool, eclectic, even when their hearts are churned up inside, rich men try to pretend everything’s under control. Oh, but this man didn’t care.
They didn’t care whether the neighbors were laughing at him.
All he thought is I don’t have eternal life.
And he’s running, running down the road, kicking up the dust under his feet.
[43:37] Did you ever run for eternal life? Or maybe not physically, but did you ever come to a tent service like this and say, Oh, I have to get eternal life.
This is urgent.
For this man, it was urgent. Eternal life is worth running for.
One thing was missing in his life.
Eternal life was missing. There was one thing wrong in his thinking.
So it was one thing wrong in his thinking, he doesn’t earn it.
He had a lot of right thoughts.
He was right about his urgency.
Eternal life is worth running for. He was right knowing that Jesus is the one to run to.
You don’t run to a church.
Eternal life isn’t found in a religion.
Eternal life, as you’ve been hearing about in forgiveness of sin, is found in Jesus Christ alone.
And that’s exactly, he was right about that. He came to Jesus for the answer.
And his need for eternal life was correct, but he had one fatal thought.
What is it I have to do? I’ve done everything else in life to get where I got.
[44:43] And a lot of people stumble over that. I wonder if you’re stumbling over it.
Is that your one thing?
You say, but there must be something I have to do. It can’t be just as simple as that, that Jesus paid my sin debt in full 2,000 years ago and all I need to do is trust him as my savior, and thank him for shedding his blood for my sins.
If there must be something I contribute, absolutely nothing you contribute.
[45:16] You can’t gain eternal life, you are given eternal life. So there’s one thing missing in his life, there was one thing wrong in his thinking, there was also one thing hidden in his heart.
One thing. Remember when Jesus said, well, what about the commandments?
Honor your father and your mother.
Yes, I was a good son.
Honor my mom and dad, yes.
Any others on that list?
Yeah, don’t bear false witness. Don’t tell lies to the neighbors.
Leo, check mark there.
[45:56] Don’t commit adultery.
No, I’m fine there too. I mean, oh, I’m going to.
But Jesus didn’t go over the 10, and that man wasn’t honest enough to say, Jesus, you know, there’s another commandment that I am, I’ve never kept.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He didn’t tell, see, the Lord Jesus didn’t go there.
He wanted to see if the man was going to be honest. And Jesus didn’t say it. And the man didn’t volunteer the information. He didn’t say, you know, that thing about not having any other gods before God himself. I would have to say in my life that money was a god, and I’m guilty of breaking that commandment. No. What Jesus doesn’t know, I’m not going to tell him. I’m not going to offer any additional information. Do you know if you’re ever going to be in in heaven, you will have to be 100% honest with God, about who you are.
[47:03] This man wasn’t honest. You see, people don’t like, sometimes when we speak from the Bible like this, and they don’t like reading the Bible because you know what the Bible does?
It cuts through. The Bible, Hebrews 4 says, it’s a living word and it’s sharper than a two-edged sword, and all the camouflage, all the facade, all the screening we may have.
When you open the Bible, it cuts through all the layers, just like peeling an onion.
How many layers does an onion have? How many layers do I have?
How many layers do you have?
If you’re ever going to have eternal life, if you’re ever going to have the forgiveness of sins, you’re gonna have to be 100% honest with God.
[47:54] He was nothing he could do, what he was lacking, he was lacking honesty, he was lacking eternal life.
You know, he treasured possessions more. As I’m in my 60s and I’ve traveled around a little bit and I’ve preached to quite a few people.
And I can go from the East Coast to the very West Coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
And I can think of people, their faces come before me, just while I was sitting there listening to chorale.
I was just thinking of people who sat in gospel services.
One university student dropped out of university. He was so bothered about his soul and his relationship with God.
He dropped out of universities until he got right with God. And I remember being in the living room and I walked in and he had Bibles open on the floor and he just could not believe.
His problem was on the leap.
And to this day, he’s rarely ever come back to a gospel meeting, reached that corner in his life.
Toronto, Canada. I remember just after 9-11, Jeannie came. She was a awkwardly mobile business person, and she came and sat intently in the gospel meetings, took notes, shed tears, went out for coffee with us.
Coffee with us?” It condoned her boyfriend out in California.
[49:22] And I remember that she came to one more meeting, laughing and talking and said goodbye.
Her boyfriend, her one thing was, would she lose her boyfriend?
I think of a young man in the West Coast. He’d come up right to the front at the end of the meeting and he said, that sounds amazing.
Do you have all your sins forgiven?
We went out for breakfast the next morning And then he said, but I love poker too much. That was Sean.
A young lady just down the road here, it was her family.
I want Jesus, but what impact will it have on my family?
I just saw her last month. That was a way back in the early 2000s.
And that young lady wrestled with that because her family had a different belief system.
I’m glad Kristen made the right decision.
She chose Christ. I wonder what your issue is tonight. This man, when he realized it’s my money or Jesus.
[50:38] He realized my money is more important. Money is a God of my life.
I don’t want the God of the universe.
And he turned around and he walked away. I think he was probably sobbing, walking away from Jesus, the one who could give eternal life.
He’s walked away as we close the meeting this evening.
But here’s one thing, you’ve heard wonderful news that you’re gonna peace this evening.
You’re gonna have the forgiveness of sins.
But as you listen, So one thing that keeps coming into your mind, yes, but…
[51:20] That is the one thing, if we could roll back the curtains of eternity 2,000 years later, and talk to that man in his 40s that came to Jesus on the road that day and say, Sir, do you have any regrets about the choice you made on the road that day?
Say, one thing haunts me, that I looked into the very eyes of one who loved me, and I loved something else so much, that I turned around and I walked away from him.
Something, that one thing, whatever that one thing is this evening, if you lose your soul over it, it will haunt you forever.
Offer. Our prayer is that you will just put to the side any obstacle and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, and He offers you eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and peace is all available to you. Don’t turn away from Christ is our plea and is our prayer.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230716.m4a[0:00] Now, we’re going to read in the New Testament in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 23.
Luke’s Gospel, chapter 23.
I have a little thought that has been running through my mind and I’ve perhaps mentioned it one other night, but just knowing about Christ takes no one to heaven.
Just knowing about Him takes nobody to heaven.
But just receiving Christ, just receiving, embracing Christ takes anyone to heaven, no matter who you are this evening.
This may be your first gospel service.
Takes anyone, just receiving Christ. You know how to receive a gift.
You just claim it for yourself. This is for me. It’s mine. Thank you very much.
That is a transaction that happens between you and your God.
[1:07] The moment you receive God’s son as your savior, that is the moment when you will be forgiven of your sins.
You will become a possessor of eternal life.
So what I want you to think about for the first part of the meeting, people say, well, what is your agenda?
You know, this is sort of our agenda.
We have one question.
Will you, as you sit here, will you embrace Christ tonight?
[1:42] Oh, I don’t know about that. Why? Why don’t you know about it?
What do you think, is Christ gonna harm you? Is Christ gonna cramp your lifestyle?
Is Christ gonna make you miserable?
We’re glad you’re here, we’re gonna talk about Christ tonight.
But the question is very personal, it’s not just a lecture, where you go home and mull it over in your mind.
In this very tent this evening, the question is being posed, Will you personally embrace Christ tonight?
If not, why?
Why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t you want Christ tonight? So we’re gonna read in Luke’s gospel, chapter 23, and I wanna speak about an historic location that’s mentioned in the Bible.
It’s very important to many of us. It’s a special place that we will never forget unless we get dementia or Alzheimer’s overtakes us.
But Luke chapter 23 and verse 33, When they were come to the place which is called
Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors.
[3:08] Or the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
We’re just reading that one verse.
When they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him.
I’m very aware that some in the tent service tonight may not be reading from the King James Version.
You may be reading from the Revised, you may be reading from Darby, you may be reading from ESV, CSB, NASB, NIV.
[3:40] I believe it is only the King James Version that retains the word Calvary.
All the other translations will say skull, place of the skull, or words to that effect.
Don’t be overly concerned about that because that’s exactly what Calvary means.
The original Greek word was skull or cranium.
The skull is often used as a symbol of death. Calvary is the Latin word.
Just to put your minds at ease, Calvary is the Latin word for skull.
The Aramaic word for the same place is Golgotha.
[4:30] But tonight I’m just going to call it Calvary. And it’s the only reference, that’s the only time you read about Calvary as that word, the Latin word.
[4:43] And I want you to think about what happened. Why would we speak about that one place?
Now, I was over, we were over to Israel in 2015, my wife and I, and very remarkable, I was impressed with the antiquity. When we find something in North America that’s 800 years old, we think we have found a treasure.
But when you go to the Middle East and you see things that are 3,000 years old, and you walk in a tunnel underneath Jerusalem that you read about in the Old Testament that it was built 3,000 years ago, you wonder how the engineers ever designed it underneath the city of Jerusalem.
They didn’t have any of the, and yet they built, started from this end and that end with no seismic testing equipment.
And they built, they built like 3,000 years ago under the old city of Jerusalem.
And you see just where it didn’t quite join up. There’s just a little bit of a twist.
So there are a lot of memorable things to see in Jerusalem.
Quite frankly, I wasn’t very impressed with what the tour guide said, this is Calvary.
[6:03] They said, if you look closely at the rock, it looks like a skull.
Well, I looked and I couldn’t, my wife thought she could see perhaps something of a skull in the rock, but I couldn’t.
I am glad that I’m not dependent on a tour guide and I’m not dependent on my visual, And I see with my eyes, I can open the Word of God and see what happened at Calvary.
And that’s what I want to talk about at the first of this meeting.
I want you to think about why Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull, why it is so special.
Why would we open a Sunday night service talking about a geographical location on planet Earth called Calvary. Well, it’s a place, what you need to know, it is a place of love, highest expression.
[7:02] You know, when I was asking Joy to marry me, it was pretty primitive.
We just sat out under the old, I don’t know, elm tree in her parents’ driveway, before she went into the house. And I posed the question and I pulled out the dime and there was a, I don’t know, like I just hadn’t read any books about how to do it properly.
And I hadn’t seen any YouTube videos of the way other people did it.
I mean, they get a farmer in Iowa to inscribe a big heart, cut all the corn down into the shape of a heart.
And then they take the one that they love up in a little Cessna plane, and they get the pilot to fly around the field.
And he says, dear, look out the window.
Oh, will you marry me? Oh, yes, dear, I will.
And it’s what an expression. They’ve gone to a lot of work to say, I love you.
Let me tell you, there’s no place on earth, there’s no place in the universe where, love was expressed more highly and profoundly than at the cross.
If you ever doubted whether God loved you, look at the cross.
This is how much I loved you.
[8:27] Hands spread upon a cross, blood flowing from his head, his hands, his feet.
People talk about ultimate sacrifices being made.
[8:39] God is love, friend, and he gave his son a sacrifice for our sins.
I don’t know what you think of the God of the Bible.
[8:52] You may think he’s a mean-spirited, capricious God, but the God of the Bible is a God.
Well, 1 John says God is love.
God is love. Not just God off love, but He is love. John says it at least twice. He said, we know love and we are able to love because He first loved us. It’s amazing. God, who is love, created us with the capacity to love and to be loved. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world.
Just think of the character of the love of God, that he gave his only, one and only son, or his unique son, or his begotten son, that whoever, like I have met some pretty miserable whosoevers in the world, they’ve been in trouble with the law.
I had a young guy in our old Toyota Camry and we’re driving down the road, I was driving and we’re in Canada, where we have the RCFP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and I was just driving down the highway and all of a sudden, Todd switched off his seat and he crumbled up like this underneath the dash.
I said, what’s going on? He said it’s the police!
[10:21] He just plowed his fist into a police officer the weekend before.
Little wonder he was afraid when he saw the police car. Oh, but here’s what the Bible says.
Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What kind of love is this? Consider Calvary, the shame, the pain.
God knew it all was going to happen. He didn’t say, oh, look what they’re doing to my son.
God knew in advance that his son would be treated like that.
And yet, because he loved you tonight, he went to the cross and willingly died for the sinner.
[11:13] Here’s what 1 John 3, verse 16 says, hereby perceive we the love of God Here is how we know, this is how we see the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.
Calvary, what’s so special about Calvary?
It’s the highest expression of love of any kind. God’s love was displayed in its fullness at the cross.
Romans 5, verse eight says, “‘God commended,’ or God demonstrated, “‘his love toward us.’ in that while we were yet sinners, still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4, verse 10 says, herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation or the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So my first point is Calvary, what’s so special about Calvary?
It’s the place of love’s highest expression.
[12:19] Does it mean anything to you?
Did you ever find it in your heart to say thank you for such love?
Thank you for giving your son? How many years have you lived?
And you’ve never said thank you to God? You thank somebody for your birthday present, Christmas gifts, but you yet have never personally thanked God for the gift of his son.
The next thing I want you to think about Calvary is it’s a place of humanity’s truest colors.
When they were come to the place which is called Calvary, what happened?
There they crucified him.
Calvary was a place where we showed our true colors. What was really in our hearts?
If there was ever any question about whether or not We harbored hostility against God or towards God.
Calvary settles that question once for all.
[13:29] We try to put our best foot forward all the time, in front of our family, in front of our friends, our coworkers, but have you ever seen the dark side of yourself?
Did you ever notice that inside There’s a, you have a dark propensity towards evil, and you have to hold yourself back.
And you wouldn’t want to have some of those things that rage in your mind.
You would not want to have those things exposed.
You would be running out to the parking lot and you’d never want to see these people again.
If only a couple of things that went through your mind today.
[14:15] Was a big writing across this tent wall. Have you ever faced that reality inside?
Do you know that just below our nice exterior.
[14:30] There is what the Bible calls sin, just lurking below the veneer of our niceness.
There’s an ugly part of every human being on the earth. From the preacher to the pastor, to the priest, to the pope, no matter who we are, apart from Jesus Christ, there is an ugly side to every human heart.
You know, a study conducted by The Wear Magazine, that’s a tourism magazine, it’s not a Christian magazine, an international city guide published the results of a study.
The top items stolen from hotel rooms was the subject of the article.
The top items stolen from hotel rooms, towels, soap, shampoo, bathrobes.
Sometimes you can take soap and shampoo. That’s all they expected to take that.
That’s for marketing. So you’ll come back to our brand again.
But bathrobes and.
Here’s what they’ve stolen in New York City, just down the street from you, bathrobes.
That’s the favorite thing to steal of a hotel room in New York, Manhattan, Las Vegas, bed linens.
Paris, and other parts of Europe where there’s still smoking, they steal ashtrays from hotel rooms.
[15:57] These are human beings. They’re not locked up in a maximum security prison.
[16:04] Why do people do stuff like that? A Miami-based hotel manager said, when people check into a hotel, they do things they would never do at home.
People who don’t drink get drunk.
The faithful husband cheats. The most honest people steal, Richard Millard’s spokesperson suspects.
People feel they are invisible in a hotel and so they are not accountable.
If they’re invisible, they’re not accountable.
Where is that coming from? In every one of our hearts. And if you’ve ever wondered, where did it manifest itself fully? At Calvary. At Calvary. Beneath the veneer of civility, respectability, there’s a deep-seated hatred in the human heart towards God.
[17:01] Have you ever faced that reality? I don’t know whether there’s anybody here 81 or more. 81?
I’d better not look at faces because you’ll think I’m serious, but then you would be offended, but there must be someone here 81.
But if you are 81 or more, this happened in your lifetime. And it was in 1942, an elegant mansion, manicured, beautiful lawns in a suburb of Berlin.
15 men in business suits, swinging their leather attache cases, walked into this beautiful boardroom, the Wannsee Mansion.
They had a 90 minute meeting and out of the imagination of their hearts, they come up with the final solution.
And here’s what was recorded in the minutes. Comb all of Europe and round up 11 million Jews, and exterminate them.
Those were the minutes recorded on January the 20th, 1942.
[18:09] They look like honorable, respectable engineers and business people dressed up in business suits carrying attaché cases, but where did that come from?
The human heart, my heart, your heart, we’re all the same. We all have the same capacity.
The vilest crime of the ages was when Creatures attacked the creator at the cross.
[18:34] That’s what we did. Who did that?
We did that. Human beings did that. Extraterrestrial beings, Martians, they didn’t land here and crawl down there the steps of their little spaceship and go and capture Jesus.
[18:51] Was it the animal kingdom that crucified Jesus, that spit in his face?
[18:59] It wasn’t the result of a natural disaster that took place at Calvary.
We left a big footprint, human beings left a big footprint at the cross, at Calvary.
We did it. So it’s a place of humanity’s truest colors. Love’s highest expression, humanity’s truest colors. That’s who we really are inside. Have you ever faced that reality?
The Bible says if you’re ever going to be in heaven, you will have to repent of your sins.
Have you ever faced the fact that I am a sinner?
It’s a place, Calvary is a place of the heaviest, history’s heaviest load.
I don’t know whether we have engineers, I’m sure we do in an audience this size.
We have a few engineers probably here this evening.
And the ones that specialize in load-bearing capacities for structures and for buildings and bridges, or some of you work with engineers.
I looked up the tallest structure, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, tallest structure.
It sits on top of 110,000 tons of concrete and a steel foundation buried 160 feet deep.
The load of that tremendous building.
But you know that no engineer could ever calculate the load that was placed on Jesus at Calvary.
[20:26] Here’s what happened beyond the spit, beyond the blood, beyond the nails, beyond the crown of thorns.
Our human eyes couldn’t see this, nor can our minds comprehend it.
But here’s what God did at the cross.
God reached backward to the very beginning of time, to the very first sin, and he stretched forward in time to the very last sin and your sin, my sins, and he compressed them into some incalculable load.
And in a way that my mind cannot understand, he placed them on Jesus, the innocent one, his beloved son. Then, all the wrath that my sins and your sins deserve, he funneled his righteous wrath down, the judgment funneled it all, upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
[21:31] What a load Jesus took on himself at the cross. The Bible says, the Lord laid on him, on him, the iniquity of us all.
First Peter 2.24 says, who his own self bear our sins sins in his own body on the tree. Does that mean anything to you? Are you going to keep trust out of your life for another night, another 24-hour period? Or, can you say, if he did that for me, the least, like I was a guilty offender, he died for me, I will embrace him tonight. Will you do that tonight? Finally, as I I sit down.
Calvary is a place of the sinner’s broadest acceptance. The sinner’s broadest acceptance.
No one is excluded.
[22:30] There’s no one in New Jersey, no one in the New England states, no one in this part of your country, no one anywhere in the world, no one is excluded from God’s love and what we’re offering to you this evening. No one, all can be accepted, no matter who the person is, no matter what they’ve done, regardless of their lifestyle. Every single one, it’s Calvary at the cross is a place of the sinner’s broadest acceptance.
God wants all to come and embrace his son. And he wants to wash away your sins and give you eternal life instead of your sins.
As you listen to Corey this evening, our prayer is that you will no longer keep Christ out of your life.
That you will accept him personally. Give him thanks.
Thank him. Thank him for that load that he took. Did he have your sins on him when he was there?
He had mine.
Did he have yours?
When he reached backward, when he reached forward and took them all and God placed them on him, Was it for everybody else except you?
[23:53] If you could discover it was for me, yes, all for me. Oh, love of God, so great, so free!
Wonders love, I’ll shout and sing.
He at Calvary died for me, my Lord, the King.
I’m gonna keep reading tonight, and just the two books over from where Peter has been reading, We’re going to read it in the book of Acts and chapter 8.
[24:22] Thanks again everyone for coming tonight somehow. This is round two and a different language, so, Thank you for those who have stayed as well from the Spanish gospel meeting, and despite the change of language, maybe, the message has not changed. And so we’re going to keep thinking about where even the place that we have been hearing already of tonight, Calvary we’re gonna read here of a preacher who preached to a man this same message and, And we’re gonna start in at verse number 26, and the verses before which we won’t have time to read, we read about an evangelist by the name of Philip.
[25:01] And at least for the third time here, he’s gonna preach to somebody and his message has not changed.
He doesn’t change the message based on the audience. And his message, as you would read more than once in this same chapter before, it says he preached Jesus to them.
And so we’re gonna read here of another encounter that he had where he preached Jesus onto them.
It says in verse 26 of Acts chapter eight, now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is desert.
So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning.
And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
Then the spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake this chariot.
So Philip ran to him.
[26:08] Heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading?
Maybe you’ve read the Bible sometimes and you read a verse and you would say, I don’t understand what it’s saying.
There’s some difficult books at times in the Bible. And maybe that would be your reaction tonight.
I do, and someone asked me, do you understand what you’re reading?
And he said, how can I, unless someone guides me, unless someone points me in the right direction. And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
The place in the scripture which he read was this, written some 700, 800 years before, in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah. This is what he was reading.
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man?
[27:21] And you might read the words that we have read in Isaiah and say, maybe the prophet was speaking, about himself and that’s what he asked this man. And what was his reply?
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him.
There’s many famous Bible verses, well-known Bible verses, sometimes we put up in our houses, you know, the common one, you go and you see if you visit someone, maybe if they’re a Christian, they always ask for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. You know, any good husband, maybe that’s trying to gain points with his wife, he buys for his wife in the kitchen.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing, right? And we have the verses and we put them up. Not Not too many people I know have put up in the front door and come in the house in their living room.
There is none just, no, not one. Maybe you know someone, very uncommon, I would think.
We like verses that make us feel good, that bring joy, that encourage us, that give us that boost to start the day.
[28:27] And here we’ve read of a man who was reading famous scripture from the book of Isaiah.
You know, tonight, if we could put up a verse, There’s several verses here.
But if we could put up even a shorter part of Scripture, even just four words, we would say this, we preach Christ crucified.
Now there’s the story of an old church who had those four words placed out in the front, right on top of the building. So you knew when you arrived at that church, this was the message.
We preach Christ crucified.
But you know what, over time, and as man’s wisdom began to enter that church, there were some vines that were not tended to at the front of that church, and the weeds started to grow.
And so if you pass by that church, all you could see were the first three words, and it said, we preach Christ.
And you go in that church and the message had changed a little bit.
Now they preached Christ the pacifist. Now if we wanna be peaceful people, we need to be like Christ, Christ the pacifist.
Or they preach Christ the good teacher.
We have to focus on good things in life and following the correct way in life.
We preach Christ. And over time as man’s intelligence and man’s wisdom entered in and changed the teaching, more moss began to grow over that church.
And eventually all it said on front of that church was this, we preach.
[29:56] Nothing special about that. And inside that church, they would preach prosperity.
They would preach economics. They would preach in how to invest your money.
Nothing special about that. Friend, tonight the message of the gospel is this, four simple words.
We preach Christ crucified. And that’s what that evangelist preached that day to that man.
From Isaiah chapter 53, he would simply direct this man. He would say, how could I understand unless someone guides me, unless someone points me? And there in the middle of a desert in Gaza, it says this place was a desert place. In the middle of a desert, the man was leaving Jerusalem. He was heading in the wrong direction. He was heading away from the place called Calvary that we’ve been hearing of. And as he was traveling in that desert and as that evangelist came up beside him, no doubt he, as he preached Jesus to him, he would remind him, you look back to where you just came from. Because outside that city of Jerusalem where you just were, where you just worshiped, there was a place called Calvary. And there the son of God, the lamb of God, he died for your sin. A man in the desert, no doubt thirsty, no doubt wearied from the journey.
In the middle of that desert in Gaza, he was about to find the only one who could offer him living water, never to thirst again. Why? Because it says the evangelist, he preached Jesus to.
[31:16] Him. We preach Christ, crucify. And two just very simple things we encounter in the passage that we have read tonight. First of all, we read a man who was seeking, a seeking man, a, a searching man, a man who was not satisfied in the current state that he was in.
There was something in his heart, in his longing that he knew he lacked.
And I wonder tonight…
There’s no one here you could identify with this man.
[31:45] Despite maybe the facade, the charade, that the mask you have put on to maybe family or friends, your parents, your spouses, your children, that all is well, things are good with God.
That deep within your soul, within your being, there would be a longing for something else.
As if you’re in the desert yourself, and you’re thirsty, and you’re searching, and you need someone to come up alongside you like this evangelist did that day.
And he, in other words, he gave him the compass on which way he should be headed.
And really this man was heading in the wrong direction. He was heading away from the place that would remind him of the only one who could save him.
And maybe that’s you tonight, friend. And tonight, this is your purpose tonight, to attend this meeting in this tent and to never come again.
A friend that you would see.
[32:42] There’s only one who can save you. There’s only one who can give you everlasting life.
There’s only one who can quench the longing and the searching soul.
It’s the Lamb of God. The one who we’ve heard so much of this evening that died at Calvary.
And really here, this man was part of a kingdom of an Ethiopian, really Northern Africa, that the Romans had never been able to conquer.
And so they had made a treaty with him. And so they had free passage into Jerusalem and they would go there to worship and go there to no doubt debate and to learn and to educate themselves of the different teachings of the different intellects of the time.
And I wonder as this man in his chariot would leave Jerusalem after having been there worship, it doesn’t tell us what he was worshiping or where, but that he went to worship.
And as he’s leaving and as he’s heading back to the queen and to the kingdom that he’s come from, far away from Jerusalem, I wonder what his report would be.
[33:49] I wonder what he was maybe even writing down on parchment, what he would tell the queen of his time in Jerusalem.
Maybe many impressive structures, much architecture he could tell her of.
Maybe different temples that he had visited, erected, and on the outskirts of the city, maybe, even other gods, other temples that he had seen as he went about his journey, as he returned from Jerusalem.
And this man was from a far place. He traveled a far place to go to the center where Christ had spent his time.
And what I see from this man as he’s traveling away, even though he was from far away, very far from the center of where God had sent his son, God had a tremendous care for his soul.
He sent an evangelist all the way out into the desert. Why?
[34:46] Why? Because God is not willing that any should perish. And friends, I don’t know where you’ve come from, what it’s cost you, the journey you’ve taken to even just be in this tent this evening, maybe far from home.
And the message of the gospel is this, God cares about you tremendously.
He’s not willing that any should perish.
And God in his mercy has brought the gospel message to your very ears, to your very heart.
Like he did for this man. He was in the desert. He was thirsty.
He was in a far off land, just hoping to get home. And maybe when he got home, he would say, I’ll feel better. I’ll feel more fulfilled. I’ll feel a sense of comfort that I lack here.
[35:31] You know, if this man had continued on his journey and he had gone home and he hadn’t heard about Christ, that emptiness still would have been there.
He would have went about his life maybe till the day that he died, never finding true fulfillment.
But he searched it out. It says he was an important man and he controlled great wealth, controlled the treasury of the queen.
It says he was a eunuch. He had made a great personal sacrifice to serve the queen.
The eunuchs castrating themselves to serve. What a tremendous price he paid as a eunuch.
You say, you should hear what I’ve done for God, what I’ve done for my religion, what I’ve done in my life. I’ve made tremendous sacrifice. This man made tremendous sacrifices.
And yet, as he was returning from more service and more worship, he was still searching.
[36:28] He was a seeking man. He was looking. It said he was searching the Scriptures.
You know what? If you have questions, it’s good to come and listen to the gospel preached, but this is the place to search, and that’s why we preach the Scriptures.
That’s why we preach Christ crucified.
That’s where the answers are found. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Friend, that’s where the answers are found today. And this man, he was seeking, and Jesus Christ himself would say, search the scriptures.
Don’t search men’s philosophies, men’s teaching, men’s ideas, that pastor’s opinion, that priest’s thoughts. It’s Christ himself.
Search the scriptures, for in them, you think you have eternal life, and they are them which testify of me.
And as this man is reading, I don’t know why he was reading Isaiah 53.
[37:21] But as he’s reading, it says he wants to know what they mean.
He says, tell me to the preacher. He comes and he says, explain to me, how will I understand them?
Unless one were to guide me.
You know, friend, tonight we try and preach a very clear and plain gospel.
And the questions that you have. To all the difficulties, all the struggles, all the pain and the sorrows and the burdens of life.
They can be summed up in this.
Christ carried them all. He bore our iniquities. He bore our sorrows. He suffered our afflictions.
In the very same passage where this man read, this seeking man, this searching sinner.
He found one who was the sufficiency.
[38:13] You can read throughout the whole Bible, and the only place you’re going to find peace in, is the sufficient saint, the one who we read about here in Isaiah 53, and there was a few verses they leave us with, but he speaks of the suffering of the Savior.
He’s reading about it here in Isaiah 53. He was led as a king to the throne. It, doesn’t say that. He was led as a celebrity to the place of prominence and No, it says this, he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, the suffering man.
He came into this world.
[38:57] Not to be served, not to be patted in the back, not to be put in the high place.
He did not come to be served, but he himself would say, I came to serve and give my life for ransom for men, the suffering men.
And as this Ethiopian eunuch, as this man of importance was reading this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb before the shears is silent. He would have thought about who is this silent man?
Who is it one that would suffer, that would be slaughtered in silence?
Maybe even he had witnessed in Jerusalem some of the animal sacrifices.
And no doubt he would say, I didn’t hear a silent animal.
No doubt those animals cried out as they were slaughtered.
Those wails of pain.
And he would read, what could this man, what could Isaiah really mean when he said, He was led as a lamb, as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shears is done.
You know, Peter was a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and we’ve read much of Peter in the book of Acts.
And he would make a testament to what he beheld that day at the cross.
He was present there.
And he would say this of Jesus, the silent one, the silent sufferer, who committed no sin, nor was any guile found in his mouth.
[40:23] Deceit, who when he was reviled, Jesus Christ, when he was reviled, reviled not in return.
When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.
What Peter observed that day at the cross was not one who hung there and threatened and reviled and cursed, he took it silently.
[40:52] Very few recorded words of Jesus Christ on the cross.
And as he would continue reading through Isaiah 53, he would come to this verse that we have read in verse 33 of Acts 8. He said, In his humiliation his justice was taken away, and who will declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
[41:20] He was a man who suffered, he was a man who was silent, but as this eunuch, this man from Ethiopia would arrive at these verses, he would conclude this, there was a man who died.
His life was taken from this earth.
No doubt he would have wondered why. Why did Isaiah, why did he write these things?
Who is he talking about? Is he talking of himself? It says that.
I asked the evangelist, is Isaiah speaking about himself here or another man?
And as Philip came alongside him, I like to think he kept reading through Isaiah 53 with the man.
And these are the verses that follow, these very verses in Isaiah 53.
He was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken.
And they made his grave with the wicked, But with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
[42:28] When you make a soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong his days.
He shall see the travail, the labor of his soul, that be satisfied.
Tonight at the cross of Calvary when the silent suffer the Son of God the Lamb of God died for your sins on the cross it says this from the very book of Isaiah God saw it and was satisfied are you satisfied with God is satisfied he saw the travel he saw the labor of his soul and he says my righteous servant shall, justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.” And as this man would read through Isaiah 53 with the evangelists, all Philip could do, he said, beginning at this scripture, I don’t know what other scriptures he read, well beginning at this scripture, he preached Jesus.
[43:28] Maybe he would recount the words of John the Baptist just back and that he would have, that had been spreading around as the gospel message would be preached, one of the first encounters publicly with the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was the message? Behold, the Lamb of God led to the slaughter.
Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
[43:54] Back in 1857, in Crystal Palace in England, there was a famous preacher by the name of Charles Spurgeon who went to the location where he was planning to preach the following night and he would always go and is said to check the acoustics of the area, to test what kind of sound.
No microphone system back then in the 1800s.
And so he would go and he would test the acoustics of the place.
And here he would go to this large stadium theater, this large building that would house at least 23,000 people the next day, come to hear him preach.
And as he was looking around the pulpit and checking out the place, he didn’t notice the man up in the very back balcony corner sweeping the jam.
And Charles Spurgeon got up and as he tested the acoustics, he decided just to proclaim the one verse he was planning to preach the following night.
And he said this, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
And that preacher went home.
And that janitor went home.
And it was on his deathbed that that janitor would recount to his family the night of his conversion.
When he said, I heard a man one day.
[45:14] From very far away in the building that I was cleaning, And he proclaimed something about the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin in the world.
And I went home and I could not sleep till I found out who that Lamb of God was.
And when I found out the Lamb of God was Jesus Christ, God’s son, and that he died for me that very night I was saved.
[45:35] When Charles Spurgeon preached that in that building the next day to a crowd of 23,634 people.
He could preach to each one of them, no doubt. Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
But there was one man at least, who by himself the day before, hearing that message, he came to understand, behold the Lamb of God, who took away my sin on the cross.
And this man, as he heard Christ preached, and we don’t have time to get into it, He came to trust and believe and put his faith in the Lamb of Isaiah 53, which was the Lamb of John chapter 1, which was the Lamb of Luke 23 at Calvary, the Lamb of God.
The Silent One led to the slaughter, not for his own sins, but for my sins and for yours.
As that man would get back to the queen with his report.
You know, back in the Old Testament, you read of a queen from Africa who went to see a king.
[46:48] King Solomon, the greatest king that ever reigned on this earth, it is said.
And she would go and she would witness everything about him and she would come to understand his words and his wisdom and his wealth.
And she said, I heard all these things from afar.
But she said, however, I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes.
And the report of a queen, many years before Acts, the book of Acts was this.
I came and saw for myself and the half has not been told me.
And no doubt when that Ethiopian man, he came back and he reported to a queen many years later.
Maybe he told her. When I was in Jerusalem, there was talks, there was whisperings, there was debates of this man called Jesus.
[47:42] But when I received it for myself, I realized the half wasn’t told me.
I haven’t even come to comprehend the half of it.
And friend tonight, if you would trust this lamb of God, who has led to the slaughter for your sin.
You might not understand much about Christ tonight, and that’s okay, but you’d understand this.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Well, tonight, friend, that you would behold the Lamb of God, the only one in whom the forgiveness of sins is found.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230714.m4a[0:00] We’re going to read in the New Testament this evening. We’re going to read in Romans chapter, three. And while you are looking up Romans chapter three, I would encourage you to read the entire chapter of Romans chapter three. We’re not going to read it all tonight. We’re just going to read couple of verses and then focus on just one verse. And you may not be very impressed with the verse that I’m going to focus on tonight, but if you read the entire chapter, there is awesome, amazing news in Romans chapter 3. But you have to go through the first few verses, and it’s a bitter pill for many to swallow, the.
[0:50] First few verses of Romans chapter 3. Not everybody likes Romans chapter 3. And in this one verse that we’re going to focus on, I want you to look for the most difficult word to say in the English language. It’s not because of the number of letters in the word or how many syllables are in the word, the English word. It’s the character of the word. It’s the nature of the word that makes it so difficult to say. Romans chapter 3, verse 9, what then? Are we better than they? So the apostle Paul is writing to a group of people and they thought, well, we have an advantage because we have the right religion. We’re better than the rest of the people. And Paul is making a solid, bulletproof case that no one is better than another group of people. Everyone is on the same level with God.
[2:00] What then, are we better than they? No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
Verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There’s no wiggle room there, is it?
There are no exclusions. It doesn’t say except for the people go to the Wyckoff tent meetings.
No, it says, there is none righteous, no, not one. Verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
Verse 19, now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law.
So that’s the Jewish law, the 10 commandments that they would be familiar with.
Then it says that every mouth may be stopped.
[3:06] It’s awfully, have you been to a, I don’t know whether these conversations go on at Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts down here, but back in Canada, we have, you perhaps have never heard tell of Tim Hortons.
It’s a coffee shop that dots the country from east to west. And I don’t meet there with a bunch of people, but my brother does.
And they all go there and they meet at a certain time a day and they all chat and they discuss politics, and they discuss this and they discuss that and they have a round table discussion.
They must all be retired.
They’ll spend their entire morning.
They all have something to say.
[3:53] And you know, whether it’s laws being passed in Washington or in your state, we all have our opinions and we all have our mouths going. But this verse says that every mouth may be stopped. I have nothing that I can say. You used to have an old pump organ.
Now this is really, pump organs were well before my time, but I did buy an antique pump organ. So it wasn’t electric. You had to go like this and blow the air into it.
And then you pulled out all the stops and you could get the sound and you get the sound, all these stops on the organ and you pump, pump away to get the sound.
And then you, they were called stops, these little white things that you pulled out.
And if you press them all in, solid, press them all in, you could pump away and there wouldn’t be a squeak come out of the organ because it was stopped.
They were called stops.
And that’s what this verse says, that every mouth may be stopped.
People say, yes, but I don’t know that God is really being, mouth isn’t stopped, is it?
Whether there’s a little argument going on with God.
[5:16] But the Bible says that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
[5:31] Or brought under the judgment of God, accountable to God, brought under the judgment of God.
But I want to focus on the word, Do you know what that most difficult word is in the English language to say?
Guilty. Now, perhaps some of you are learning the English language and you’re trying to conquer the jawbreakers, the big, long words, multi-syllable, and you’ll say, I’ll never be able to wrap my tongue around that word.
Well, the harder than any of those words is the word guilty, guilty.
So I want to talk a few minutes about the word guilty.
The most difficult word to say in the English language. I’m not going to get you to practice it tonight.
You can do so in your head, but it’s good to get the phonetics down, but it’s even better to get the meaning of the word down.
And you don’t have to say you’re guilty to Peter or to Kory.
[6:35] But God wants to hear from your heart, guilty. I am guilty.
Not guilty comma, not guilty colon, not guilty semi-colon, not guilty question mark.
Me guilty? No, guilty, period.
[6:59] Have you ever said, God, I am guilty, period? I find the word really difficult, and I’ve been speaking English for a long time, and, I find guilty really hard to say, even on trivial matters.
Who walked across the kitchen floor with their muddy boots on?
Find it hard to say, guilty.
So hard.
You forget to turn the stove off? Guilty. I remember as a kid I was up, my bedroom was up in the attic, and I found it excruciatingly painful to say the word, guilty. The ceiling was slanted over my bed and I was on my back laying on my bed and I had my two feet pressed on the gyprock wall, the slanted gyprock wall, And I don’t know what happened, but one of my feet I must have applied too much pressure and one of my feet went right through the gyprock wall and, I Heard my father coming at the attic stairs.
[8:08] And he said did you do that?
Whoa, oh I Did my best to look as be as shocked as I possibly could the sudden appearance dead of that hole in the wall me do that? Foolishly! I tried to let on that I didn’t do it. I didn’t want to say I was a culprit. I I didn’t want to say what word!
[8:36] Guilty, so it’s hard, hard to say, guilty. It wouldn’t surprise me that someone’s here tonight, and you’d love to have all the blessings of a Christian.
You would love to be saved. You would love to be sure you’re going to heaven.
You would love to have eternal life.
You would like to have this ongoing relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Some of you have heard about the rapture and you’d love to be ready when the Lord comes.
You’re worried that you’ll be left behind. You’d love to be ready.
You want to be inside when the door shuts.
[9:23] You would really like to have this big matter settled once for all, it’s been hanging over your head, this spiritual matter.
You have a nagging worry inside. Nagging. Yes but I’m not right with God. You’d like to get this settled. You would like to have what other Christians have. You, know they have something that you don’t have, don’t you? You know that they have peace. You know they have found the meaning in life. And you want to get rid of that nagging feeling inside and just be able to say everything is right now with God and then get on with your life and live a life of fulfillment for God’s purposes.
You would like all the blessings of a Christian. So let me ask you, why aren’t you saved?
Why have you never trusted Christ?
Why are your sins not forgiven this evening? I might be speaking to someone, right now, who has never honestly said to God.
[10:35] Guilty. Just before we came here tonight, we visited Eleanor Zudema, 96, in the home.
And she was telling me, telling us about where she grew up and the church that they went to and, how they went to confession. And they had to confess their sins to another person.
You don’t have to confess your sins to another person. There is no mediator between God and man.
There’s no person on earth today that has a goal between you and God.
The Bible says very clearly, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
So no pastor, no priest is a mediator between God and man, only Jesus Christ is the mediator.
And so she was telling us how she used to, the religion, she had to confess her sins.
And she did that as a girl.
[11:51] But you know, you can tell somebody else you’re guilty, but that will never save you.
You need to tell God you’re guilty.
Have you a moment in your life, a moment?
[12:10] For all the Christians that I’ve met, it’s a memorable moment.
It’s not something that they can’t recall.
They can recall when they might not remember the date on that calendar or anything, but unless you’re stricken with dementia or Alzheimer’s, anyone that I’ve met can remember when Jesus became precious to them. May not remember the month, they may forget the year, but, they know there was a turning point in their life when Christ became precious to them. I’m not talking about parroting the word guilty. You could teach it, you could buy it, invest in a parakeet or a parrot and they’d say, you could teach them how to say guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. We’re not talking about parroting words. I used to go to a lot of funerals, and when in my former employment, the board of governors thought that that was the right thing for me to do, go to funerals of people who died, and then they might give to health care. Their family might give to health care. So I’d go to all these funerals, and I’d listen to people pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And then forgive us our trespasses.
[13:32] And they did it out of sincerity. But you know, I’m not talking about reciting a little prayer, saying guilty from the lips on.
Anyone who knows Christ, anyone who’s going to heaven has experienced, I am the guilty one.
We’re talking about guiltiness with contrition and brokenness.
Maybe some of you have said guilty comma. Oh, yes, I would. I can say guilty tonight, just like everybody else in the tent.
That’s guilty karma.
[14:10] Oh, yeah, we’ve all sinned. But can you just forget about everybody else tonight?
And can you say, I am the guilty sinner? Yes, I can say I am the guilty sinner, but there’s others that are a lot worse than me.
That’s not guilty, period.
Can you tell God, I am the guilty sinner that deserves eternal punishment, period?
[14:45] Or is it easy for you to say guilty comma or guilty colon, semicolon?
Or maybe you’re still at the stage where you’re saying, I don’t even see my guilt.
Am I guilty? Question mark.
People say, well, they’re guilty, but to their Lord, there were extenuating circumstances.
But see, all the comments, before you’ll ever have your sins forgiven with God, before you’ll ever be saved, before you’ll ever be right with God, You will say guilty, period. or you may use different words.
[15:31] But that will be the language of your heart. I am guilty, period.
Mouth stopped. Some are offended by Romans chapter three. They feel like the Bible is shaming them and trying to put them on a guilt trip and they have no desire to agree with God’s verdict of guilt.
You know, I’ve met quite a few Christians as others have as we travel around.
In all my years of meeting Christians, I have never met a true, blue, genuine, authentic Christian who was uncomfortable in saying or singing, I was a guilty sinner, but Jesus died for me.
That’s the last line of the lyrics of a Christian song. I was a guilty sinner, but Jesus died for me.
Again I ask you, have you ever been alone with God?
You don’t come to the front and tell us you’re guilty. But have you ever had an encounter with God?
So, God, I’m a guilty sinner. Shut it.
[16:40] I need to be saved. I need to be rescued because of my sins.
Or are you struggling with telling God you’re guilty?
That could be the reason why you’re not saved.
If you’re struggling with that, you know what the Lord Jesus said, Luke chapter five?
He said, I didn’t come to call the righteous.
I came to call sinners to repentance. Do you know what the theological term for repentance means?
Repentance is a theological term. It just means agreeing with God, guilty God.
You’re right, I am wrong, period.
Jesus said, unless you repent, you will all perish.
So do you have a moment when you were, Guilty, repentant before God. The Bible says in Romans chapter two, verse four, the goodness of God leads sinners to repentance.
Has God blessed your life? Has God brought Christian friends into your life?
And you say, what a blessing they are in my life.
I’m so glad that I know them.
[17:47] How good God is to give me a good friend like that. That’s what the Bible says, the goodness of God leads people to repentance.
God is at work in your life, and he’s wanting you to repent of your sins.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 17, God now commands all people everywhere to repent.
Hard to get out of that one. Everywhere, all people, everywhere to repent.
So let me ask you again. I’m harping away at it, but it’s surprising.
People come to a gospel service like this, and you think you’re making it really clear, and you’re afraid like you’re like a broken record and you’re strumming on the same string, hitting the same string.
Surprising what people don’t get in a gospel service.
[18:44] So if you forget everything I say, this opening part of the service tonight, I hope you will understand that if you’re ever going to be in heaven, you will have to face the reality of your sin before God, and you will have to tell God, I’m guilty.
I am guilty.
So there are a lot of arguments people have with God. They say, well, God’s, I’m guilty, but God’s standards are way too high.
No one’s perfect.
We all have our sins. We make our mistakes. We have our failures.
We have our wild, our wrong moments.
I’m bad, but I’m not that bad.
You ever have that little argument going on inside? There’s a lot worse than me.
[19:43] We need to get the organizational structure of the universe.
Clearly in our heads.
The pyramid structure of the organizational chart, God is in charge of this universe.
God has a final say. And God has said in his holy word that not one sin, Not even a white lie.
We’ll enter heaven. You cannot go to heaven with even your smallest sins, every sin.
God is, it’s glaring in God’s eyes. We dismiss as hell. Well, you know, this feeling they say it’s, you could drive 65, but I’m in a rush, I’m going to drive 80.
[20:38] Breaking the law, we say, come on, give me a break, and we do that with all kinds of sins.
But every sin that we have ever committed, not only the sins of our hands or our feet, but the Bible tells us even our thought life is sin that God holds us responsible for.
And it’s not just the bad things we do, it’s the good things we fail to do.
That’s sin too with God, according to the Bible, and you cannot be in heaven.
You can never be accepted by God with any sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
People say, well, that is, God’s requirements are too rigid.
There’s a little, let me ask you, is there a little argument going on in your heart?
You’re getting a little annoyed with me. Okay, sorry about that.
Just trying to tell you what the Bible says.
Because I had to face this.
Good living Kory had to face this, that all his righteousnesses were as filthy rags before God.
We all had to face that.
[21:59] And you will have to face it if you’re ever going to be right with God.
Say, well, God’s requirements are far too rigid. So sin means missing the bar. I wrote them down.
Wickedness or evil, iniquities or lawlessness, ungodliness, offenses, they’re all different kinds of words.
Transgression just means overstepping a boundary or a rule.
And as Jesus taught, we sin in our thoughts, our words, and in actions.
But God sets the rules.
[22:33] People say, but I think he’s an arbitrary God. Like he must be really nitpicking, nitpicking, to hold me responsible for something so minor, so much greater, far worse things in the world.
[22:52] It’s God’s universe, and sin is offensive to God. And why is it you can have rules and spores?
I had a personal example, Jared Knoppin, he was in a, way back now, 2012, some of you probably weren’t born in 2012, but he was in the Olympics in London and he was right from our little province.
We’re only 160 miles long, so it is a huge event when someone from Prince Edward Island makes it to the Olympics.
And he was the head of the relay team, the 100 meter relay team.
Oh, and we were down in our basement watching the screen and we, I couldn’t, I never watched, a football game, a baseball game, a soccer game in my life.
But when Jared from PEI was running in the Olympics, we were right in there.
Yes, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
And they got a bronze medal.
Oh, and they wrapped themselves in the Canadian flag, and they were so jubilant, and their faces were just beaming, and Joey and I were just, oh yes, we’re right up out of the sofa.
So happy that Jared, and then we saw them watching the.
[24:17] Oh, I don’t watch games, so I didn’t really understand what was happening.
Their smiles come off their faces, All of a sudden, the flag fell to the ground, and then we saw the relay team just fall to the ground in despair.
I said, what is going on?
Do you know what, they were disqualified, bizarre.
Oh, you know what, Jared from PEI, his toe just touched the edge of one of the lines, preposterous that they would rule out. How nitpicky can the Olympic committee be to disqualify them just because they touched the line.
I was so livid and wild. I thought, who are they to say that he didn’t, he has to give up his bronze medal.
[25:21] But no one quibbled. Here’s what, here’s what, here’s what Jared said.
I was, it was my fault.
We ran a great race. As soon as I saw the replay, I saw I had stepped on the line.
The rule is unforgiving.
I’m very upset. I’m sorry for costing my teammates a medal. One step, it’s a tough.
I take full responsibility. It was my fault.
That’s just a gate over in London. And no one quibbled, no one said, who is the Olympic committee? I didn’t see there was no big FBI investigation into the Olympics as to why Jared lost his bronze medal.
No, we accept rules every day. But when God has a rule that says, no sin will be accepted in my sight, we don’t want to say what Jared said.
Jared said it was my fault.
My friend, as I sit down and you listen to Corrine tonight, if you want to have your sins forgiven.
[26:33] Because there is forgiveness for guilty sinners. It’s available to you this evening.
We’re gonna have some refreshments afterwards if the weather allows us, but you could have a big smile on your face and peace and joy in your heart before you even partake of the refreshments.
All it takes is for you to be honest with God.
And the moment you are honest with God, about your sin, he will reach into your life and save you.
He specializes in saving guilty sinners. There is redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, the Bible says.
The night we plead with you, don’t hold out on God.
Stop, who’s gonna win the argument? And then finally, how long are you gonna argue with God about whether you’re a sinner or not? Do you think you are really gonna win the argument?
Not a chance. So why not the night yield and say, I’m a guilty sinner, God?
There’ll be good news to flood your soul. That’s why Christ died for our sins.
[27:43] Thanks again, everybody, for coming out tonight, and I was thinking there as Peter was preaching about guilt just yesterday, Peter and I just drove an hour north to visit a maximum security prison there in New York State, and as we were sitting there at the table waiting for our visit, I watched as other prisoners came in, and their loved ones were waiting for, and they sat down at the side of the table and there was, you know, different interactions, maybe the wives of some, you know, some emotion.
And I was thinking in that waiting area, in that visiting area, they made a very clear demarcation of who was in prison, who was guilty.
They all sat on the same side of the table.
And we, as the free ones, free to leave at any time we wanted, we all sat on the other side.
You know, as we had our visit and as we got up and left, You know, I thought of all those prisoners having their shuffle back into their cells, many of them there, and they’ll never get out.
[28:45] And I was saying how nice it is. How, how, what a privilege to be free.
But you know, before God tonight, as we’ve been hearing, we’re all on the same side of the table.
We’re all on the side that is guilty.
And despite how we may feel, how we may live our lives, the freedom we think we enjoy, before God, we’re all guilty.
But you know, the tremendous thing about God’s salvation tonight is that God wants to reach across the side of the table and find the guilty one and not just set him free, not just say, here, walk out free. You know what he wants to do?
He wants to make you part of his family. He wants to like that prodigal father. He wants to give you his best robe. He, wants to bless you. He wants to give you a home in heaven. So how wonderful it is tonight for those who are saved. Those have that those have been saved from the guilt of sin.
And that’s what the gospel message is tonight. Freedom that is found in Jesus Christ.
And we’re gonna read about the Lord Jesus in the book of Acts tonight in chapter five.
[29:51] Acts chapter 5. We’ve been thinking of some different encounters and stories in this book. And here we have the disciples again, Peter and, and John, and they’ve, they’ve been having, they’ve been helping people. They’ve been healing people, preaching, and there’s been many followers of them. And so the religious people are not too happy about it. And they’ve, been put in prison. And just the next day, they’re out of prison and they’re preaching again. And that’s where we find them here them here in Acts chapter 5 in verse number 26, that the officers see them they’re preaching and they want them to give an account again of what they’ve been up to. And it says in Acts 5 in verse 26, Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not God strictly command you not to teach in this name.
That’s the name of Jesus.
And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man’s blood on us.
It’s interesting that not too long ago when Jesus Christ was crucified and they rejected, he said, let his blood be upon us and our children.
[31:06] And it says in verse number 29, but Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God.
Rather than men. I don’t know who you’re obeying tonight in your life, whose path you’re following, but maybe you’re following your own path. And in a sense you’re saying, I’m obeying myself, I’m obeying what I think more than what God says. But Peter, what advice he gives and what advice they follow in their lives. We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to his right hand to be Prince and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. And when they heard this they were furious and plotted to kill them. Not happy hearing from the mouth of the preacher, you’re guilty. You’ve murdered, you’ve killed the son of God. And they were furious. Then one of the councils stood up a Pharisee named Gamaliel and a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them, men.
[32:28] Of Israel, take heed to yourself what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago, Theodos rose up claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about 400, joined him and he was slain. And all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. But now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or For this work is of men, it will come to nothing.
But if it’s of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you be found to fight against it.
Against God.
If this message, if this man who they’re preaching about, if this whole idea of Jesus Christ dying and being buried and raising and being risen from the dead, if this is just a story fabricated and distributed by men, he says if this plan is the work of men.
[33:45] Again. It’ll come to nothing. A few years will pass and we’ll hear nothing of it. But if it is of God, get out of the way.
Because unless you think you can overthrow God or fight against God, there’s no stopping it. You know what? I was a wise man that day. Because as that message was preached in Acts chapter 5 and through the book of Acts and from 2000 years ago until now, you know what?
No one’s been able to overthrow it, why? Because it’s not of men.
It’s a message from the God of heaven. These other men that they talked about, who we know nothing about, this Theodos and Judas of Galilee, it says they had followers for a time, but as soon as they perished, so went the religion, so went the teachings.
But this message that these men have, don’t fret about it, because the proof will be shown, evidence we will see, because if it’s of God, you’ll never overthrow it.
And friends, tonight, just in the last few minutes of this message, I’d like you to think about these two questions, or these two ideas that we have brought about, That Peter would declare, we ought to obey God rather than men.
[35:01] And as this other wise man Gamaliel, he would get up and say, this message, if it’s of God, there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do to overthrow.
And so tonight, I would just like you to think about who is it that you obey?
Who are you obeying? Or who will you obey? I remember, as most of us when we were growing up, there was generally a larger sense of fear to obey your father. My mother is not a tall woman, just maybe just if she’s lucky on a good day, just over five feet. And so when we disobeyed as children, you know, there wasn’t too much intimidation, not too much motivation to obey mom.
And even though sometimes she would get extra ambitious and maybe get out the wooden spoon, like you still could in those days, and she maybe would give us a few whacks with that, it still wasn’t as intimidating to obey mom with a wooden spoon, as it was when dad came home with his bare hand. And we’ve all been there, right? That oftentimes there’s a reluctance to obey, And there’s an intimidation and the one who has the most power, the one who is the most intimidated, that’s the one more obey.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced it. And maybe in your case, your mother hit harder than your father.
And that’s the one you obey. But the idea is there, right?
That there was a reluctance to obey. And this preacher, Peter.
[36:19] As he was told and the men told him something to do that was in a direct contradiction of what God had told him to do.
He posed a simple thought to them, which is more beneficial, obey man or obey God?
[36:37] Now you can go back right to the very first book of the Bible, one of the first chapters of the Bible, and you can see where we are today in this world.
If you’ve ever wondered why there’s disease in this world, You ever wonder why there’s war?
[36:51] Have you ever wondered why there’s poverty, why there’s famine, why there’s children starving?
You know the reason why?
Because way back in Genesis, the first chapters of the Bible, Adam listened to man, he listened to his wife.
He obeyed his wife, he listened to what she said over what God said.
And the result of that, absolute ruin, the fall of man. And Adam would, in a sense, almost blame God.
He said, and God would say to him, you have hearkened onto the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, which I commanded you specifically not to do.
He obeyed man.
He obeyed his own thoughts, his own ideas, more than what God had said.
You know, we can put the blame on Adam and say, what a foolish decision.
Until now, this day, 2023, we are in the exact same boat because each day, day after day, we obey man rather than God.
And maybe tonight you can find yourself in that situation. And Saul, the king in the Old Testament, he will lament that fact as well. And he would say, I have sinned, I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words because I feared the people.
I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
And the ruin that came to that king’s life, that that king’s kingdom in a sense, his reign.
Why? Because he would say, I did not obey thy word, O God.
I obeyed the voice of the people.
[38:15] In French, if there’s any way that you could more ruin your life, it’s to this. It’s to obey men.
It’s to obey, take heed to your own ideas, maybe even of what God is, of who God is.
And Peter, he would be so convinced in his own mind. And you could say, well, I’m obeying it because my pastor told me.
I’m obeying it because the priest told me. My parents told me.
Or I obey because my wife told me.
It’s better to obey God than to obey men, because God is the absolute voice of authority.
You know what it is the devil wants each one of us to do? You know the title that Jesus Christ gave the devil? The father of lies.
And he’s been lying, he’s been spreading his lies throughout this world, whether through false gods, false religions, whatever it might be, that you might obey men, that you might obey his voice, his lies, rather than God.
[39:14] Who will you obey? Who are you obeying? You may say, well, my, this is what I think.
This is how I think you get to heaven.
You’re trusting, you’re obeying your own thoughts, your own ideas, rather than what God says.
The conviction of these men’s hearts were to obey God rather than men.
Doing one leads to life. Obeying God leads to life.
Obeying men leads to death.
Obeying God leads to heaven and blessing. Obeying men, our ideas, our philosophies leads to condemnation and hell.
One offers hope.
To trust in God, what hope? to trust in the changing, fleeting opinions and ideas of men. Hopelessness.
No hope. Thou, in trusting in this, one comes with absolute assurance and certainty.
Obeying God, you have his word, you have his promises. If you ever doubt one day, just go back and look at the promises of God. If you trust men, obey men.
Uncertainty, hopelessness, despair.
This night, friend, if you’re following that path, if you’re obeying men, If you are in the pathway of man, of mankind’s ideas, of the world’s ideas, think about the treatment that you receive.
[40:41] What men, what the world has to tell you.
You’re never enough. You’ve never done enough. You might have low self-esteem but you just need to try harder. You need to work it out. You need to just try and you know what Jesus Christ says? He said there’s another coming and his objective is to lie, is to murder, is to kill.
And so often in life as we obey men’s philosophies and men’s ideas and our own thoughts we’re left like that poor beggar, that man in that story of the Good Samaritan, half dead and half naked, on the side of the road without any hope. That’s the treatment that’s given. The world will chew you up and spit you out when it’s done with you and it’ll leave you with nothing. And what’s the result? We’ve read of the result of a group of men as Gamaliel would get up and he would talk about some who obeyed men, who followed men, this Theodos and Judas of Galilee, what was the result? It says they were, scattered. They were dispersed. It came to nothing. That was the.
[41:54] Result. And friend, tonight, if you obey men rather than God, if you trust in man’s word, don’t trust my word. Trust God’s word. Don’t trust the preacher’s word. Look for for yourself what God says in his word and that’s why we desire to proclaim God’s Word today not not the opinions of a church of a religion of the preachers no the Word of God and it says it came to nothing and as that man that was a debt was half dead on the side of the road on his journey back from from from from from Jerusalem it says there that someone would pass him by there’s a.
[42:33] Priest that came. And he came and he saw him. He saw the man in his need. He saw someone that needed help. And what did the priest do? He carried on his way. And if you’re obeying religion, when you are half dead and half naked in this life with nothing, you know where religion will leave you? Right in the condition you find yourself. No hope. No peace. That is the the result of obeying men, of obeying religion, men’s philosophies, men’s ideas.
No true hope, no true purpose, no true peace.
But old friend, if you were to be able to do what those preachers did, what those disciples did that day and they purposed in their heart, we will obey God rather than men.
You know the treatment you’ll receive.
[43:30] God is a God of love. The Bible says he’s loved us with an everlasting love. Have you ever looked for true love in this world? You’re always left wanting. A broken heart, broken spirit, hurt feelings, friend the love of God. If you were to come to him tonight, his way, through Jesus Christ. He loves us with an everlasting love.
[43:59] Just back a few chapters in Acts chapter 3, they were preaching again and they would say the purpose of God sending Jesus Christ into the world, it wasn’t to condemn the world, no.
It says he sent Jesus to bless you. If you’re looking for a blessing tonight, if you’re looking to be blessed, there’s nothing that we could offer, we could provide or promise you. Nothing of real lasting value, but Jesus Christ came so, that you could be blessed. And even though, as he said here, as Peter would read the charge of them, he would say, you, killed him, you murdered him. God raised him up and he’s on the throne. Friend, if you were to obey God tonight, you’d be obeying the one who’s on the throne of heaven. He sits there, And on his right hand is his son, because we’ve read here, he says, he exalted his son, he rose him up victorious from the dead.
That’s the way that God, that’s the path that God’s offered.
He’s exalted his chosen one. What is the result?
The world will spit you up and chew you out, will chew you up and spit you out and leave you there with nothing. This is what God offers.
Forgiveness from the guilt that we’ve been hearing of. Forgive us for the guilt of sin.
[45:19] That you could go home tonight with this on your heart and your mind knowing in the courtroom of God under my account says forgiven not just forgiven for a time for all eternity how is it possible how is it that God can forgive the debt because someone has to pay the price.
[45:37] And what is the price of sin the bible says the price of sin is death we will all die one day why because each one of us has sin inside whether we want to admit the guilt or not.
[45:47] We will die. No clear evidence. We can try and prolong it, we can try and avoid it, but it is certain, it is appointed, the Bible says, unto men, once to die. Why?
Because we’ve all sinned. And friend, tonight Jesus Christ came into this world, the one who was cruelly treated and put on a cross, and there on Calvary’s cross he bore the price that your sins and my sins deserve. And it’s because of Christ, because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you can have your account tonight, completely forgiven. Every wrong man, not even that, he says your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more. I don’t know if you’re good with a compass or map, some of us are, but it says this, as far as the east is from the west, how far is that? Infinite. As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far God will put his sins away from you, away from him. That is the promise that is the result of those who who choose to obey God and what does God say he says repent and believe the gospel believe in Jesus Christ that’s what God’s heart is that’s what his desire is tonight who are you obey if you’d say well I’m not convinced you’d say I’d still want to go about my own way obeying my own thoughts my own purposes my own desires in this life I.
[47:10] I would just like you to think of the last words that we have read tonight in verse number 39.
He said, this message, this plan, this gospel is of men. It will come to nothing.
Here we’re reading in the book of Acts that the tremendous persecution, when Christianity was a very, very small religion, a very, had a very small following.
You look at a map today of all the Christian nations in the world.
[47:38] And you read what he says here, this plan, this message is of men, will come to nothing.
But you can go to every country in this world, and every country in this world, without a doubt, I believe you would find someone who is a Christian. Someone who is a believer. Why?
Because it says this, because if it is of God, if this message that we are preaching, If this Jesus Christ that these men are announcing in the synagogue, if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you be found to fight against God. I don’t know if you’ve been in any fights in your life. I remember two fights in high school I was in. I’d like to consider I won both of them, but who knows? But maybe you’ve been in a fight and you see the opponent and you size yourself up. You say, I got a chance. I remember in gym class, they would have a game where they put the medicine ball in the middle.
They’d have two teams and they’d disperse you by weight and size.
One being the smallest guy, 15 to the highest, and you had two teams.
And you know, so one was the small guy, 15, and you know, they call numbers close together.
You know, 10 from this team, seven from this team, and you go in the middle of your wrestling, you try and bring the ball to your son.
[48:51] You know, sometimes the teacher had a cruel sense that he would call number one from the one side and 15 from the other side.
As they come out to the middle, you know, maybe the 300 pound, six foot four guy, and then there was the other, you know, maybe five foot, 150.
His heart sank, why? Because he knew he didn’t have a chance.
And friend tonight, if you walk out of this meeting thinking that you can continue to obey yourself, this is in a very real sense, this is what you’re doing.
I’m fighting against God.
It’s my way over his way. And while you might have success tonight, you may be able to go home, feeling like you gained the victory, friend, at the end of your life.
When you stand before the judge, you’ll have to give an account. And in that moment, as we’ve been hearing tonight, every mouth will be stung.
Every mouth will be stung.
Though we don’t chance then to fight against God. Maybe you’ve been fighting against God your whole life, up until this very evening.
And you know it’s a losing battle. Because you’ve never found real peace, You never found real hope, real security in whatever path and whoever it is you are obeying or trusting in.
And from this very evening, this message that is not of men, it has overcome, it has persevered, It has redeemed the souls of millions of lost sinners.
[50:21] This message has changed my life and tonight God desires this, that you would put away the fighting.
You’ll never win the fight against the Almighty God, but oh in humility and repentance tonight you’d come to God and you just come to him and confess you’re tired of fighting.
You’re tired of the lack of peace when you go to bed at night. You’re tired of the guilt, of your own sin and this is what God desires you to do if you if you desire purpose in your heart to obey God today this is what he says the God who desires all men to be saved he says repent and believe the gospel trust in this one the, only one who will save the only mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for us. He paid the ransom price to rescue you from your sin. If it’s of men, it’ll come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot, you will not, you never will, overthrow it. Friend, tonight the message of the gospel is a message that offers eternal salvation.
[51:41] If you would desire the security to be the assurance of I’m prepared for heaven, I’m not obeying passing philosophies, changing opinions, I’m not obeying my own thoughts that change with each day, with each hardship.
I know tonight you would look to God, look to His Son on the cross, who there took your sins upon Himself and could cry out these words, it is finished, and and he trusted him, and he’d be saved for all eternity.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230713.m4a[0:00] Now I’d just like to read tonight if you have a Bible in the book of Acts and chapter 4, We’ve been looking at different parts of this book so far this week and, We arrived here at chapter 4 and last night. We were seeing of a group of preachers of disciples of Jesus who performed a miracle in front of the people they gave a man who could not walk and he rose up and he walked and they, Said this man has been made whole.
[0:30] Because of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we’re not going to read the verses here at the start of chapter 4, but there were some religious people who did not take so kindly to this message. And so it says they would put these men into custody. And here they are presenting their case before the judges, if you would, defending what they have done.
And we’re going to break in at verse number 5. And this is after they’ve been put in custody. And it says in Acts It says in Acts chapter 4 and verse number 5, and it came to pass on the next day, that their rulers and elders and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem.
The who’s who of that day, the important people, religiously and in society, they were there.
And it says in verse 7, And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel.
[1:54] That by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him, this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.” Now take note of verse 12.
This is the verse we’re going to focus on this evening. It says this, this. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved.” Tonight, if you were to ask me personally, and you can maybe do it after the meeting if you feel like it, what gives you hope?
What gives you certainty for the future? Certainty for eternity?
What happens after death?
I don’t think my answer would be much different than what Peter would say of the man who was healed.
He says, by this man, he stands here before you whole.
[3:02] Friends, the only reason I have a certainty of a home in heaven is nothing to do with what I’ve done in my life or will do.
It has everything to do with what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done.
Died on Calvary, that we could be saved from our sins, that we could be prepared for heaven.
And tonight, this verse, I don’t know how much clearer it could be.
And the announcement tonight from this tent is no different than the announcement that was made to those important people that day in Jerusalem, and it is this.
[3:37] According to the Word of God, according to God Himself, there is salvation in no one else, but in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don’t know what you’re trusting in tonight. I don’t know what you’re grasping at.
Maybe your own works, maybe a distant religion, a distant God, whatever it might be.
The Bible so clearly tells us this, that in no other person, in no other system, No other credence or creed or device is salvation found except in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
We sang at one of the first nights, salvation, oh, salvation, endearing, precious sound.
Shout, shout the word salvation to Earth’s remotest bound.
You know what, this same message, this same truth that is found in the verse that we have read here in Acts chapter four, it is being announced to every nation to the remotest bounds of the earth.
[4:34] And that’s what we desire to share this evening. A message clear, a message plain.
Salvation only found in Jesus Christ.
You know, you can read about salvation throughout the whole Bible.
It’s interesting, the very first time you read of salvation in the Bible, it comes from one man, Jacob.
The first book of the Bible, just one man. And he would say this, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.
One man who cried out and waited for the salvation of God.
You come to the very end of the Bible. You know what you find there the last time you read about that word salvation? It’s not just one man crying out.
Revelation says this, after this I heard a great voice of many people in heaven say, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God.
Starts with one man crying out, the start of your Bible, the very end of the Bible.
[5:40] Innumerable multitude crying out salvation to our God. Oh that we, our desire be that everyone will be found in that multitude of people just ascribing praise and honor to God for His wonderful salvation. We found where it, always started at the top in the middle somewhere, you start right down the bottom, everything’s gonna crumble. And, Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. If your foundation, if your faith is not built on Him, according to the Bible, it says this, you have no standing. It’s all sinking sand. It’s all and it’s grasping at the air, at straws, whatever you might accomplish in this life, none of it will matter.
[6:23] Except what you’ve done with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Earlier today, Peter and I were up in New York State and we stopped by at a cemetery there up at the Monuments and we looked and saw some of the names.
We tried to search out the biggest monument in that cemetery.
And it seemed like the ones who had the biggest monument placed to them were major generals, a John Buford, a Daniel Butterfield, men that accomplished tremendous things in this country. And you know what, I don’t think many of their deeds maybe are known around the world. But, honoring, they’re honored in this country for what they’ve accomplished. When you come to the little corner of that Cemetery. There’s a name there. That was why we went.
Just probably one of the smallest stones there in the cemetery. Anna Warner. It said this author, of the hymn of the words, Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. You know what?
[7:34] Where I live in Costa Rica, you know, you go to the corner of a small village, they’re not gonna have any idea who John Buford is.
They have no idea who Daniel Butterfield is. But you know what?
I don’t know how many times he’s saying the word of that woman.
In a far off distant land, Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so. Whatever you accomplish in this life, none of it matters, except for what you’ve done with Jesus Christ.
And tonight, friend, we have read so clearly from the word of God that there is salvation in no other.
And maybe tonight you can’t identify Maybe you have searched for salvation in another.
Salvation in a different place. Many people search for salvation in different places.
Some look for it in works in religion.
[8:21] You’d work hard, you try to be a good person. Others, they try and be devout to religion, hoping at the end, the promise of good behavior and obedience will lead to something after this life.
You know, there’s a very famous man who tried for years for years to find satisfaction, find certainty in his works, in his religion, a man by the name of Martin Luther.
And this man, he was so devout, he, in his own words, he was pursuing the counsels of perfection, trying to live a life of perfection in this earth to the point where his friends feared for his life.
The extremes he went to, of fasting and all these things to try and achieve perfection.
[9:05] And he felt that his problem was that he could not satisfy God at any point.
[9:11] And one time he went to the Scala Sancta, the holy stairs in Rome, Italy.
And as he climbed each stair, he would stop on each stair and say a prayer.
I don’t know how long each prayer was, but usually the longer you pray, the holier you feel.
And so I’m sure each stair he went up, it was a lengthy prayer.
[9:32] You know, after he got to the very top of those stairs and as he, as he thought about everything that he’d done as he ascended to the top of those stairs, trusting in religion and works, this is what he thought in his own words, who knows whether it’s sufficient.
And friend, you could work your whole life and maybe you’ve worked up to this point to have some sort of surety by works and religion. I ask you this, do you know if it’s been sufficient?
Is it enough? You could always do more.
And maybe that is where you’ve looked for salvation. You’ve looked for it in another place, in religion and in works.
Maybe you’re interested in very popular nowadays. You’ve looked for it in philosophy.
Another place where people look for some sort of self-fulfillment, some sort of satisfaction.
It’s always interesting to read the dying words of those who are famous philosophers.
A life of intellect, a life of seeming intelligence and security in this world.
You know the last words of Thomas Hobbes, a very famous 17th century English philosopher?
He says, now I’m about to take my last step.
[10:47] A great leap into the dark. Despite all philosophy had brought him in this life, when it came to the point of death, he said, all is a step in the dark.
I have no idea what’s next.
Another famous philosopher, Aristotle, one of the most famous, he said this in the face of death, I was born in sin.
I have lived unhappily. I die in doubt.
And friend, if you’re trusting in philosophy and works and religion for salvation.
When the time comes for you to face death, I don’t think you’ll have much different a mindset than this man had.
I die in doubt.
Tonight the gospel message is a message so that you can die with peace.
Die knowing my home is in heaven.
Salvation is not found in another, it’s not found in ceremony.
Some trust in some ceremony they’ve undertaken.
A few weeks ago, last month, I was in Manitoba in Northern Canada, and there’s many Hutterite colonies there.
And really a religious colony based on works and lived together.
And there was a young man I met at a Bible conference I was at, and he said he searched all the teachings.
[12:02] Everything that that religion had to offer, and it all culminated in the ceremony of baptism.
And so he decided, and the time came for him to be baptized, with that expectation after that ceremony, peace.
And this young man by the name of Cody, he said in his own words, when that water came over his head, tears started to come down. And they weren’t tears of peace.
He said in his own words, I felt absolutely nothing different. I have no certainty.
And what joy when not many weeks later, that man, he found salvation in the one where only salvation can be found, in Jesus Christ.
If you’re looking for salvation in another tonight, whether it be another, you say another religious leader, whatever it is, the Bible tells us.
And if you’re honest with yourself, do you have that peace?
Do you have that surety?
The Bible here says in these preachers and by the Spirit of God, they would say this, there is salvation in no other.
[13:05] If you have peace tonight, if you’re sure, if you say, I’m ready for heaven, well, maybe you don’t need this message. But if you feel tonight, and if you’re honest before God, that emptiness of that uncertainty, of that doubt, of that lack of peace in your life, in your heart, and you would say, I need that.
I don’t know where to find it.
It’s only found in Jesus Christ. There is salvation in none other. I love how it says, there is no under name under heaven given amongst men. You can travel to the the furthest realm of this world. I have a sister that almost lives at the end of the world. If you travel up to northern Canada, already very north, to a city called Winnipeg, known to most I’m sure, but way up in northern Canada.
From Toronto you could drive up from here probably a 35-hour drive north. And when you arrive there, You’re only about halfway to where my sister lives.
From there, you get on a train and you have to travel 48 hours by train up to a city right on the border of the territory of Nunavut in Northern Manitoba, a town called Churchill, Manitoba.
Polar bear capital of the world. Now you know who lives there.
Polar bear capital of the world, Churchill, Manitoba.
A beautiful place in some aspects. 300 nights of the year, they experience the Northern Lights.
Have you ever seen that online? the northern lights, the lighting up the sky, the green, and my sister sent me pictures before. 300 nights of seeing those Northern Lights.
[14:35] You know, despite that awe-inspiring beauty, you know what’s very tragic about Northern Canada, where my sister lives, is that the suicide rate in those areas has almost tripled out of the national average.
[14:51] You can travel to the furthest realm, the furthest place that this world has to offer, and you still won’t find peace, but you know what?
Up there in Churchill, Manitoba, there still is no other one that you can find salvation in, except the Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s no other name under heaven, no matter where you are on this earth, no matter what country you’re from, no matter what country you live in, no other name under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we must be saved.
When Jesus Christ was born into this world, it was promised, you’ll call his name Jesus. Why?
You’ll save his people from their sin.
Is anyone here tonight and you’re looking to be saved? Christ himself would say, he would declare himself, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, no one gets to heaven except by me.
You tonight could maybe understand why Christians can sing with such joy, my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, no other ground is sinking sand.
Neither is there salvation in any of it.
For there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. We must be saved.
You say, well, yes, we as human beings, we as individuals, we must be saved, but the gospel is a very personal message.
[16:18] Could you tonight see that verse and think about what God is saying and you’d say, I must be saved.
I need to be saved.
Jesus Christ, when he came into this world, he lived a life absolutely free of sin, no sin in his life.
And he went to the cross and there he died. Yes, for the sins of the world.
[16:42] But, oh friend, in such a much more personal way. On the cross, Jesus Christ died for our sins, but could you tonight consider that Jesus Christ died for my sins?
There on the cross, suffering. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
If there’s anyone here tonight and you want to identify as a sinner, the news of the gospel, the good news is this.
Jesus Christ died for sinners. I remember when I was just a boy of ten years of age, I would, you know, consider born in a Christian home, not consider myself all that bad in this, comparatively to most people in this world. Pretty sheltered, if you would. But, I understood one night when I was ten years old, I’m a sinner. And if Jesus Christ died for sinners, that includes me. And by those three words that Christ cried on the cross one night when I was 10 years old. Some 26 years ago I understood this. If Christ said it is finished, what could I as a 10 year old little sinner in northern Canada ever add to that? To the work, to the perfection achieved at the cross by the Son of God and God is satisfied in that and I can rest tonight where God rests. I can rejoice tonight where God rejoices, where God is satisfied in the finished work of his Son.
[18:09] There is salvation in no other tonight. You know what, maybe you could stop and consider…
[18:16] There’s salvation for me. Salvation for me. I’ll just close with the story of a, tragedy that took place of the RMS Atlantic, a ship that traveled between Liverpool, United Kingdom and New York City back in the 1800s. And during its 19th voyage, April 1st, 1873, at midnight, the captain went to bed and he told, he left his second officer and and his fourth officer in charge said, wake me up at 3 a.m.
Because we’ll be starting to get closer, we need to make preparations as we arrive and get closer to New York City.
And at 3.15 a.m., April 1st, 1873, at full speed, that ship crashed into the rocks just off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada, killing at least 560 people of around the 950 on board.
Aboard, every single woman and child, save for one child, perished.
Every single woman, every single child.
560 perished in that terrible tragedy.
It believed to be aboard that vessel was a business owner from the province of Newfoundland in Canada.
And as the news came in, and many even more at that time were considered to have been lost in the wreckage, The partner of this business owner decided to close the store.
He wouldn’t be able to keep it running with his own resources.
[19:45] And some five or six days later, that partner received a telegram.
Hard to communicate back then, no text messages.
He received a telegram with only one word on it and he knew exactly who it was from.
Said this, saved, saved.
And his business partner, after the chaos had cleared and after he being able to survive that crash, wanted to communicate one word to his business partner and his family.
And it was this, say.
And they took that telegram, and they framed it.
And they reopened the store and they put it up above the door.
[20:21] Because every time that business owner would come in and he would leave at the end of the day and go home, you remember that tremendous day when he, was saved. When he was saved. Friend tonight there’s no greater message that could be sent from you, to your family, to your friends, or just to God himself and it’d be this.
I came in tonight and I was lost. I was trusting in salvation another where there is no standing where there is now foundation. Oh tonight that you would understand and realize that according to God’s Word according to God himself the God of heaven the God who created you there is salvation in no other name than in Jesus Christ and that this could be the telegram that the text message that is sent out from you tonight. Save, save from a lost eternity, Saved from my sins, saved, and on my way to heaven.
Well, friend, tonight that you would appreciate the clarity, sincerity, and simplicity of this.
There is salvation in no other, but in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
May God bless His word to your heart. Amen.
[21:29] I’m enjoying God’s salvation. I am so thankful that I found out that Christ died for me.
God loved me, and Christ died for me.
I have peace, I’m anchored in life. I’m not on a spiritual journey where I’m hoping that around the next corner, I’m going to find something that satisfies.
[21:54] I have Christ, and I’m satisfied, and I’m anchored for life.
There is salvation in no other, as you’ve been hearing. And while Kory was just speaking to you, I was looking at these, I’m colorblind.
I don’t know what color these are. These, blue, okay, not purple.
I was gonna say purple.
[22:18] And I was just looking at the beautiful, those are Bible verses.
I don’t know whether you’ve read your Bible lately.
If you haven’t a Bible, we’ll get you a Bible.
But the Bible has a message of salvation for you. There is good news.
And you can be absolutely 100% sure that you have confidence and peace.
I don’t know what you have tonight. As you look into the future towards the end of 2023, 2025, 2030, 2035, do you have hope?
Do you have confidence?
Are you absolutely sure? A lot of things we can’t be sure of.
We don’t know for sure whether we’ll survive a car accident.
We don’t know that. Or whether we’ll have the job that we have.
We could be discharged next year.
But you can be absolutely sure of heaven. Look at this one. This is a faithful saying and worthy, to be accepted by everyone or worthy to be embraced by everyone, that Christ Jesus came into the world for what purpose?
[23:35] To be a teacher? Yes, he was a teacher. To be a moral, ethical leader?
Absolutely, he was that. But he could never have been my savior if all he had come to do was to be a teacher.
Someone had to be punished for my sins. Someone had to take my place.
Someone had to pay my debt of sin.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And the apostle Paul said, of whom I am cheap. Did you know that Paul wasn’t always a Christian?
[24:14] The one who wrote those words, he was, that was a long preamble to where I want to get to this evening.
You’ve been hearing about their salvation and no other but Jesus.
You know, you could come to this church rest of your life.
Because it’ll get cold in the fall, but we do have church buildings.
You could leave wherever you’re attending and come to our church and attend for the rest of your life, and never be in heaven.
Our church has nothing to do with a person getting to heaven.
We couldn’t take you to heaven. There is salvation in no other than Christ that you’ve been hearing through Corrie, from the Word of God.
And so this is not about church. This is about a man, Christ Jesus.
If you have never explored or investigated the person of Jesus Christ and how we know He was God in human flesh, we encourage you to take the time, because if He indeed.
[25:28] Neither His ear heavy that He cannot hear you. So he’s not hearing impaired.
He’s got an excellent set of ears, so to speak. He can hear you.
He could hear the faintest cry of your heart tonight. We would never hear what you may cry from your heart, but God can hear.
But here’s the issue, verse two. This is why we have a gospel service like this.
It’s not again, it’s not a church membership drive. The reason why Corey is not employed in Ontario and living to climb the corporate ladder to make money, to make a name for himself, the reason why we do this is not about joining a different church.
It’s about Christ Jesus. And there is an answer for your biggest problem in life.
I don’t know what you think your biggest problem in life is.
Maybe money problem, maybe a relationship issue.
Well, we’re going to read about a person’s biggest problem. Verse two.
[26:31] But your iniquities, or your evil, or your offenses, or your sins, have separated between you and your God.
And your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”, I was never great at math or any of that, but there is a simple mathematical symbol in this verse.
So for the younger folk here tonight, I don’t know whether you can tell what, it’s not an addition sign in this verse. Let me read it again.
It’s not an addition sign, and it’s not a multiplication sign.
Your iniquities or your sins have separated between you down here and your God up there, and your sins have hit his face from you.
Well, you don’t have to be a scholar in math to recognize the mathematical symbol. It looks like this.
The division sign.
[27:48] See, your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins.
So the sin that’s between you and your God.
That’s why we have a gospel like a hot night like this in July.
You say, what is with these people anyway? Where is the, this is bizarre, coming to this and suffering through the heat to listen to two Canadians talk about all this stuff.
What is with you guys anyway?
I’d say this is a pretty big reason to be here. There’s something separating between you and your Gulf.
[28:39] And the Christians here are so concerned that you hear this message that they did this last summer.
They’re doing it again this summer. They’re not charging a big fee for you to get in here.
Their big concern is that you don’t live the rest of your life separated from God.
It’s one thing to live this way.
Can you imagine dying that way, separated by your sins.
So there’s a really serious side, like, yes, there’s good news, good news because this is such a serious problem.
Now, let me talk to you just about those three things for the last 15 minutes of this meeting.
You, I wanna talk about you, your God, and then it says your sins.
[29:40] Just those three points. So you, we’re all here as a group tonight, but will you let God single you out as if you’re the only person in the tent?
You, you.
And don’t worry about the person sitting next to you. Have you personally ever thought about your relationship with God?
You, allow God to speak to your heart because sometimes we can get our own ideas and we can be deeply entrenched in our own belief system and our own thinking.
I think probably everyone here tonight would probably agree there is an almighty God, almighty God, a master designer of the universe, the creator.
Aren’t you concerned about your relationship with him?
[30:39] Allow God to speak to your heart. So let me ask you, who are you?
Are you just another species on the planet?
Just another species on the planet? You’re just the product of some evolutionary process?
Really? Are you just a collection of 200 bones and knuckles and 600 muscles and 60,000 miles of blood vessels through which.
A lot of blood in a run of 70 years is pumped by that old heart of yours, 46 million gallons, if you live to be 70, your old heart.
That old heart is going to put through those 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.
46 million gallons of blood if you live to be 70 years old.
[31:43] But friend, really, are you just a collection of bones, and muscles and tendons and blood vessels and organs with some skin stretched over it?
Some of us are getting a bit saggy.
And upon which you, we talked about cosmetics the other night upon which you apply some cosmetics and then pull over some fancy clothes.
Is that all you are? Collection of bones and muscles with some skin stretched over it?
Who are you?
[32:25] God is a creator and God has dignified you and me and me in a way that no other created being on earth, no animal has the dignity of a human being.
They have instincts. We have a very intelligent cat, more intelligent than everybody else’s cat, we think. Dogs are very smart.
They have instincts and you can train them.
But God has blessed and dignified the human being with the capacity.
[33:05] To make informed choices, to look at the pros and the cons, weigh up the facts and balance it, and to exercise your own will. He has created you with the capacity to enter into a relationship, a meaningful, intelligent relationship with God. You’re not an animal like a four-footed animal.
[33:30] You are distinguished in all of God’s creation. You are the crown and jewel.
We were made in the image of God. That’s what the Bible teaches.
No matter who you are, where you are in the world, or what your lifestyle is in the world, everyone has the image of God imprinted on us, but we’re broken because of sin.
You must admit that there’s a problem with us. The gospel demands that the you, your sins, that the you be real.
That’s one of the reasons why some people come one night and don’t come back a second night.
Because look it, we spend so much time trying to be a nice person and learn proper etiquette, and try to speak appropriately and to try to have better habits.
We work so hard at improving self And then we come to a gospel service like this, and we open the Bible and it says, but your sins have separated between you and your God.
[34:38] And we have things in our closet, the English idiom is skeletons in the closet.
Things that we have done in the past, and we have closed the door on that part of our life, and we have turned the corner, and we’re trying to forget about it.
And then you come to a service like this, and the Bible reminds you about your sins.
Exactly what you’re trying to forget. Friend, if you are ever going to be right with God, you are going to have to be real with God.
In the Word of God, the Bible, Hebrews chapter 4 says it’s living, it’s powerful, it cuts through all the layers, it takes down, it dismantles the facade, it exposes the camouflage, the veneer, and it exposes who we really are in our human heart. And I think if you’re honest tonight, you’d say, yes, I struggle with sin. Not everybody knows that I have sinful thoughts, But, yeah, I’m not perfect, I’m not holy like God.
[35:44] Well, that’s exactly what the Bible says. Romans 3, verse 23, all have sinned.
We’re all in the same boat.
That’s why we all need the same Savior.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So, who are you?
You know, there’s a religious you.
We can be one way at church or wherever we go to practice our religion, and then we can be another you in the workplace, and then on a wild weekend, we can be another you.
God wants you to be upfront. He knows who the real you is, and he would just like you to be honest about that.
You are right. I try to be a nicer person and that’s good. Keep up, keep it up. It makes you a good neighbor and it makes you a good employee. We’re not denouncing, good works at all. As long as you understand that good works don’t get you an inch closer to God. If I could get closer to God by the things that I do, closer and closer and closer, then why did Jesus come into the world to be the Savior?
[37:07] Maybe you’re concerned about your bad habits. What you need to be more concerned about is, why do I have bad habits?
Why? And the gospel message, the Bible gets at the why. I have those thoughts. Why?
I don’t want anyone to trace my history online. Why?
I have those impulses when I’m driving the car to bang the steering wheel and get road rage.
Do you know what I’m talking about? Like where did that come from?
I’m a decent, peace-loving person, and all of a sudden, wham!
Where did that side of me come from? It’s inside. It’s inside all of us.
And God is just looking for you to be real and say, yes, God, you’re right.
That is who I am. I’m a sinner.
And I have read and I’ve discovered in your word that my sins are a barrier to a holy God, separates me.
[38:15] Do you know the Bible says every idle or careless word that people speak, we shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.
We are accountable to this God.
The Bible says there’s a day coming when God shall judge the secrets of men and women by Jesus Christ.
That’s Romans chapter two.
Do you have any secrets that you wouldn’t want us to write on the wall here if we found out?
You say I would be out to the parking lot in a flash if some of my secrets were on this vinyl.
[38:53] The Bible says there’s a day coming, if you don’t have your sins forgiven, when every secret will be exposed and you’ll deal with not the Savior, you’ll deal with the judge. In that day, he’ll be the judge. That’s what the Bible says. But in this day, he’s your Savior. You know, he would love to reach into your life right now. That’s what the whole concept of grace is. God leaning towards you. You don’t have a Christian friend out of coincidence. God is working in your life, this God. He’s leaning towards you, trying to draw you to himself. He wants to save you. He wants you to have this barrier removed. He, wants you to have a relationship with himself. That’s the heart of God. Let’s, Let’s talk about God now.
Your God, your sins have separated between you and your God.
[39:55] I was thinking of stopping it at Home Depot this afternoon. I was gonna get a measuring tape.
You know, the carpenters use it, the thing they pull out and then it rolls back up.
I’m not a carpenter, but I was going to get a measuring tape at Home Depot and bring it here.
Because you know, sometimes when we’re on stage, it sounds like we’re pretty big talking people.
And when we’re in the coffee break or at Starbucks and we’re talking to our friends, we have all these grand pronouncements.
Well, I think there is no God.
People have made a living out of saying there is no God.
[40:32] And I was going to get a measuring tape and just pull out six feet and say, this is how big we are in God’s universe, six feet.
Little six-footers on planet Earth, saying, there is no God.
Do you think he’s shaking in his boots up in heaven because someone said there is no God?
No, friend, tonight we encourage you to have a right relationship with God.
The amazing thing is that the God of the universe wants to have a relationship with a six-footer on planet Earth.
Did it ever cause you to wonder, why would he ever love me, if he really knows this sinful heart that I have? That’s the… I don’t know your background. I can tell you that the God of the Bible is not a mean-spirited God. He’s not a capricious God. He’s not a vindictive God. He’s not an arbitrary God that is unpredictable.
[41:46] He’s a holy God, and He’s a God that must judge sin.
But He’s a God of love and a God of grace, and He wants to bless you tonight.
He wants to remove this barrier, and that’s why His Son went to the cross.
[42:10] He looked at all of us. You know, I could say my prayers. I could go to church every weekend. I could be baptized. I could go through all the rituals of being a Christian, but none of that would remove this barrier of sins. The Bible says about our sins, by grace you are saved, by grace you are saved through faith. It is not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God Ephesians 2 8 and 9 and then it says it is not of works, Lest any one should boast there’ll be no one up in heaven saying singing. I’m Frank Sinatra song. I did it my, Way that’s a poor rendition, but there’ll be no one up in heaven saying I did it my way Anyone who will be in heaven will be able to say, I’m here because Christ died for my sins.
And because there is salvation in no other, there’s no other name under heaven given amongst people whereby we must be saved.
I’m up here because God’s sins have separated between them and me.
[43:35] That’s an awful way to live life because you could have peace.
You could have the joy of sins forgiven.
You could have a robust relationship, vertical relationship with God.
Not really. We’re not here to really, I could be back in prison.
It’s PEI, like I’ll give you a tourism brochure afterwards if you need one, a verbal one.
It’s a great place in the summertime.
But I could stay, if this was about religion, I would be home in PEI and the warm ocean waters, soaking up the sun and the hot sand beaches between the sand dunes.
[44:14] But this is not about religion. This is about you having your sins forgiven, this barrier removed, and you’re probably familiar a little bit with the cross, in order for you to have your sins forgiven.
How could those dots ever be connected? Exactly. Just wouldn’t you love it, wouldn’t you like to go to sleep tonight connected with God? Yes, the eternal God.
[44:50] I’m accepted by God. I have found me had a relationship with God. There’s only one way.
Way. It’s the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who paid sin’s penalty in full, and he left nothing for you to do. It says, I read it, Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9, it, is a gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast. It’s pretty explicit, isn’t crystal clear, then tonight, he paid the full price.
It’s a free gift to us, but it’s a tremendous expense to God, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Our prayer is, you know, we were praying out behind the tent here this evening, we’re not doing anything weird behind the tent.
A few of us and we get there and, you know, I never heard one of the Christians praying that they would become members of our church.
[46:02] I’ve been here, I was here last year and I never heard that prayer prayed.
Do you know what I’m hearing them pray every night?
Oh God, save their precious souls, that they might have the joy of their sins forgiven, that they might finally have peace with God, that they may become a possessor of eternal life, that they may respond to your grace.
That’s our prayer. And that’s our prayer for you tonight as we conclude this service.
Our prayer is that you won’t go to sleep tonight with that barrier separating between you and your God.
Christ died for our sins. And the moment you place your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, the barrier is gone, and you’re accepted by God.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230712.m4a[0:01] There are a lot of things in the run of any day that can be depressing and discouraging, but when we open the Bible, there is a tremendous message of encouragement, of hope, of assurity, of confidence about this life and after this life into eternity.
See, a Christian is one who is settled in this life, someone who knows what life is all about, and the life revolves around Christ.
And when we look into the future, our life is bright into the future because our sins are forgiven, and we are absolutely 100% sure we will be in heaven.
I don’t know whether you’re sure or not, a lot of people go through life hoping they’re going to make it.
But the Bible says, it has nothing to do with church, the Bible says you can know for sure that you have eternal life.
You probably know that a gospel message like this is about life and eternity.
[1:27] There are people who say that once you are disintegrated and your ashes are contained, in a little urn, that that’s the end, or your body is put into a cemetery, that that’s the end.
But it wouldn’t surprise me that everyone in this tent questions that, and well, you might question it, because it isn’t the end.
[1:53] There is this life and then beyond this life, where you’re going to be. So these gospel services are.
[2:02] Not about joining a church, it’s about your life now and where you will be forever.
And once you know Christ as your Savior and where you’ll be forever, then you’re ready to get on with life. You are not ready to live this life until you’re ready to die. And a Christian is one who is ready. None of us want to die. We’re not in that state of mind, but a Christian is one, if the time comes for us to die, we can die knowing Christ is our Savior and that all is well in the afterlife. I don’t know whether you know that or not, but that’s what you could know tonight in this Gospel 10. And you You probably know that the word gospel means good news, and it is incredibly good news.
You can have, I was just listing the things today. You can have your sins completely forgiven, things that your parents will never forgive you for probably.
You can have your sins completely forgiven by God. a happy, a real relationship with God, a real one, not an imaginary God, a real God, a robust relationship.
[3:26] You can have purpose and peace in life. You can have an anchor in life because life isn’t all smooth sailing.
You don’t live very long. I just got a notice there on my phone just before we sang the first hymn.
[3:44] My nephew ended his life just a year ago, Christmas time, and he had left the wife.
And I saw a picture of his wife and his widow and his two kids at a golf tournament, raising money for mental health in memory of Adam. And I look at that, his wife, and I think, wow, Oh, young to pass through that horrible experience.
You don’t have to be an old person to pass through horrible experiences, but a Christian has an anchor through the storms of life, a hope for the future.
Let me ask you, what is your anchor?
What do you have for the future?
You know, you can be absolutely sure that you’re going to be in heaven.
You can be a possessor of eternal life.
I was, I don’t know where I was, I wandered into a piano store and I can’t play a piano, I just play for my own self enjoyment, but I went into it.
We don’t have piano stores like that back in my part of Canada, but they had $360,000 pianos in there and I looked at it and sort of my face got all wet, I was drooling and thinking about a piano and I couldn’t afford it.
360 grand for a big Bösendorfer piano.
[5:13] But you know what? I couldn’t afford a piano like that, but I am a possessor of eternal life.
A piano will eventually wear up, but what a Christian has lasts forever.
Oh, I hope tonight you will listen carefully to both messages, and you will do business with God in this meeting.
You don’t have to talk to the preachers.
You can just have a little combo between yourself and God.
You don’t have to be moving your lips. You can talk to God from your heart.
Say, oh God, this is what I need.
This is what I want before I go another week or month or year of my life.
I want to have what Christ offers. I would like to have eternal life.
You probably also know that there are two destinies after you die.
[6:16] Two H words, heaven, and perhaps you know hell as a curse word or a slang word.
That’s what the Bible says, two places, heaven and hell. There is a place of eternal joy, a place of conscious eternal suffering is the opposite. It’s called hell.
And I was at Starbucks today, this afternoon, and I like going to Starbucks because there’s so much noise around me. I can work better than I can solitude and client. And so, I was at Starbucks, and I could hear this song, and I don’t usually tune into the lyrics, but I could hear, Highway to Hell, Highway to Hell, Highway to Hell, over and over again.
And it was ACDC’s famous hit, Highway to Hell.
[7:21] Now they started out in 1973. And in October of 2023, if they’re still around, they’re gonna be in California.
And you know what they’re gonna be singing in California?
Highway to Hell, one of their big hits, nominated for a Grammy. Here are the lyrics.
Living easy, loving free, season ticket on a one-way ride, asking nothing, leave me be, taking everything in my stride.
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme, ain’t nothing that I’d rather do. Going down, party time. My friends are going to be there too. I’m on the highway to hell, on the highway to hell, Highway to hell. I’m on the highway to hell. No stop sign.
I brought a stop sign. You know what a gospel meeting is about?
God wants you to stop in life.
[8:26] God doesn’t want you to go to hell. I’m gonna read a couple of verses in a minute.
I’m gonna prove to you that God does not want you, to end up in hell. I will prove it. I will give you four or five proofs.
How I know from the Bible, God doesn’t want you to end up in hell.
And so gospel meetings like stop, where you’re just cruising along life, summer of 2023, and all of a sudden you’re here. You’re not here by coincidence.
God wants you to stop. And so the lyrics go, I’m on the highway to hell.
No stop signs, speed limit.
Nobody’s gonna slow me down.
Hey, Satan paying my dues, playing in a rockin’ band. Hey, mama, look at me.
I’m on the way to the promised land. I’m on the highway to hell, highway to hell.
I’m on the highway to hell, highway to hell.
Don’t stop me. I’m going down all the way.
I’m on the highway to hell.
And it’s a hit song for 50 years.
And I was sitting there at Starbucks And I thought, will I speak to anyone tonight in the tent who’s on the highway to hell and And you’re careless like those people are?
[9:51] I want you to, if you, maybe you’ll never come back, we hope you will, but if you never come back, I hope you will remember that God doesn’t want anyone, including you, to ever be in hell.
[10:10] A lot of people harbor some dark thoughts about God and wonder why it is a God of love, why there is a hell.
And I’m going to present to you what God has done and is doing to keep you, to stop you, to keep you from going to that awful place.
So we’re gonna read in 1 Timothy chapter two.
1 Timothy chapter two.
And Paul, the apostle is writing to Christians and telling them who he would like them to pray for, and for so many different people.
And verse two says for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty.
Verse three says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, follow along carefully, God our Savior, who will or who desires, to have all men or all people to be saved.
He desires, that’s the heartbeat of God.
I hope that boy gets saved. I hope that man is saved.
That’s what God is interested in tonight. God doesn’t want anybody to ever mistrust.
[11:38] And end up in hell. What road are you on this evening?
Everyone on the road to heaven had a time in their life when they get off the highway to hell.
I remember when I got off the highway to hell.
I was in my attic bedroom on my knees, nobody talking to me, nobody saying, say this little sinner’s prayer, no little ditty like that.
Just with my Bible open, and I was reading that Christ died, and he was buried and he was raised again from the dead.
And if I believe that, did that for me, I’d be saved and right on my knees by my bed.
I trust the Christ as my savior. I came off the highway to hell and started for heaven.
You have it there? God, our Savior, who desires to have all people to be saved.
That’s the desire of God. One more verse, 2 Peter 3.
[12:43] 2 Peter 3, verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, get this, not willing that any should perish.
Doesn’t even want one person, Not even the worst person in New Jersey.
He doesn’t even want one person to perish and go to hell, but that A-L-L should come to repentance.
See why we can get up here with a smile on our face and with absolute confidence, we’re looking into your faces like, we are so glad you’re here.
We can tell you about a God in heaven who desires for you to be saved and to be with him forever, and he doesn’t want anyone to perish, and he’s patient, and he keeps working in your life.
As I said, you’re not here by coincidence.
God is at work in your life. How kind, how loving, what a benevolent God we have.
You know, God could have given you just one opportunity.
[14:12] It could have been just the opportunity of turning on your radio in the car and hearing a message from the Bible, and you may have only heard it for five minutes, and you exercise your own will and change to a music station.
[14:29] Was he obligated to give you multiple opportunities to bring Christian friends into your life?
God wants you to be saved, and he’s patiently waiting to save you.
And he has made it getting to hell like an obstacle course.
Not easy to get to hell. That’s what I want to present to you this evening.
I put a little title on my message. I put that it’s hard to get to hell, And I’m going to give you four or five reasons So I was in a rodeo once, a bicycle rodeo, probably in elementary school.
Oh, I thought I was pretty cool In a rodeo and all these obstacles and nobody in the neighborhood, I thought could drive a bike and negotiate the turns as well as Peter could and I was in my little bike my wheels were going so fast and I was up here and down here and over there and through this like a maze and I, Didn’t upset the bike or anything like that. I have no idea whether I got a ribbon or not, but um, You know, Getting to hell God doesn’t want you ever to be there and he’s put a whole bunch of obstacles.
[15:51] Along your in your life’s path to stop you So you’ll stop turn around and come to Jesus. I, Got a few bees. I don’t normally do alliteration all starting with Bs or Cs or something, but I do tonight and so I’ll be asking you afterwards Can you give me the five B’s?
Five B’s, why I know God doesn’t want you to ever be in hell.
The first one is the book he provided to inform you.
People often perish because they don’t have good information.
All the information that you need to be in heaven.
God has given you a book, it is called the Bible.
[16:46] He has put his word in writing. Good information is critical for informed decision making.
So that’s the first one, the book, what a book.
Then he has provided, it’s, do you know that, this isn’t preacher exaggeration or pulpit hyperbole.
There are more Bibles, in more languages.
[17:15] In more forms, in more countries of the world than at any other time in history.
Don’t let a teacher or a professor ever tell you that the Bible is some outdated book that will only be found in libraries, your Library of Congress or whatever it is called.
There are more Bibles. I had an atheist or agnostic tell me that.
He writes in the Time Magazine and other journals and he has no desire to promote Christianity or the Bible, but he presents the facts and he said, the Bible is the most popular book of all times.
You know why? The devil has tried to stamp out the Bible.
He’s burned people at stakes centuries ago for carrying Bibles, for publishing Bibles, but the Bible is multiplying.
The devil can’t have a success in God. God is ultimately in control.
The book that he provided, I don’t know whether you’ve appreciated this, 66 books in one, 40 contributing editors, writers, over 1,500 years on three different continents, Africa, Asia, Europe, in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.
[18:40] Some of you have gone to college and you have done a group project.
People usually groan when there’s a group project.
You do this and you do that and somebody else does this, and then you have to bring it together and make it all seem like a seamless piece of work.
The people who contributed to the Bible never got together in a room and said, okay, you take it from this angle, you take it from that angle, and we’ll meet again next year and we’ll package it together, and people will think it’s an amazing book.
No!
1,500 years, three different continents, three languages, and yet from Genesis, the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, there’s a common thread woven throughout all of the Bible.
It’s a presentation of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and how he is the only one who can meet your need.
Book. God gave you a book. He doesn’t want you to perish in your sins. The book he provided to inform you.
The next one is the blood.
[19:47] That was shed to save you. You know, God didn’t just love the world. He loved the world and gave his son and his son shed his blood on a cross. If that’s not love, it’s not a hallmark card.
It’s a rugged cross. Doesn’t that tell you God must really love me?
Not red roses on Valentine’s Day, but red blood flowed from God’s beloved Son at the cross.
How could you ever say that God is a monster God, a mean, capricious God, wanting to send us to hell? No, the Bible proves over again, not just the book.
[20:37] But the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate price.
God says, I don’t want that boy to ever end up perishing in his sins in hell.
I love him so much, I’m willing for my son to shed his blood for their sins.
Romans 8 says, He spared not his own son, but he delivered him up for us all.
The apostle Peter said, We’ve been redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
Of Christ. So the book?
[21:18] The precious blood of Christ to be our savior, to rescue us. I hope if you ever hear someone saying what a mean God in hell, I hope you stop them in their tracks, even if you don’t become a Christian.
I hope you will say, sir, ma’am, I know better. I heard a message once that proved from the Bible, that God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.
And you can go over the bees, tell them whether you believe it or not, say the book he gave, the Bible, the blood he shed at the cross of Calvary, then the barriers he removed, the barriers he removed to encourage you.
A lot of people are in darkness.
God said, I’m gonna give them light, light. There’s a light of creation.
I was, the big telescope up there is so many millions of miles away right now, taking pictures that have never been seen before of outer space.
How could you ever look at those pictures? Look at them tonight when you get home, if you get home, and see the latest pictures coming from that powerful piece of equipment up in space.
How would you ever look at that? The light of creation and not believers of God.
The disparities. You know, there’s a lot of things in life you’ll never be able to access because you don’t have the money.
[22:47] You don’t have the cerebral capacity probably. I don’t for sure.
And so other people will climb higher.
They will access opportunities that you might not be able to.
There are disparities, but when it comes to going to heaven, God has removed all the barriers.
[23:09] The disparity? No. Romans 3 verse 23 says we’re all an equal footing with God. No one has an advantage. Romans 3 23 says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rich and poor, young and old, every nation of the world. No one has an advantage or a disadvantage.
You’re all in the same footing, sinners. So he has removed the barriers, like even discrimination. The barrier of discrimination, socio-economic factors, they don’t play a part.
[23:47] Cory and I are hoping to visit somebody in a maximum security prison in the neighboring state of New York tomorrow morning. Yeah, all the barriers have been removed. Regardless of who you are, regardless of your lifestyle, regardless of what you have done, we can look you in the eyes and say, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. So he has removed the barriers. He’s even removed the barrier, the distance.
You know what the Bible says, Romans 10 verse 8 says, the word of God is near you, even in your mouth, in your heart. That is a word of faith which we preach. You can’t even say distance is a barrier. No, God has removed all those barriers because he wants you to stop. He doesn’t want you to go to hell. And then just think, the last one is The barricades.
Now, the barriers.
[24:50] That he removed, but I want you to think of the barricades that he erects, the speed bumps to slow down on that highway. God in his kindness is getting trying to get you to stop, stop. He gave you a conscience within. People who never went to church, never knew anything from the Bible, Oh, other parts of the world, they know right from wrong.
They know that when someone steals their computer, they know it’s instantly wrong.
That’s wrong.
Where did that little sense of what’s right and wrong come from?
God put it in you and in me.
The conscience within you to create awareness of your need. The Holy Spirit who’s at work in your life.
So you’re here tonight. We’re glad you are and it’s like a speed bump stop stop, Spirit of God is working in your life. He wants to draw you to Jesus Christ, Speed bumps. Well, what would be a speed bump?
You ever have a close call the summer at the shore Riptide, An accident?
[26:14] Bump on your skin, you think, oh my, I’m so young. I bet I need to go to the doctor, speed bump.
God is trying to get you to slow down.
Sometimes it’s a dream.
[26:30] You wake up and say, whoa, I thought I was a goner. I thought I was actually, I thought he actually shot me.
But what if I died? Where would I be?
See, all of those things are like speed bumps. God wants you to think about your soul.
He doesn’t want you to go to hell.
The book he provided to inform you, the blood he shed for you, the barriers he removed to encourage you, the barricades, the speed bumps he erects to stop and block you.
But finally, the benefits, the benefits he offers she. How could you turn Christ down tonight?
The benefits, all your sins forgiven, peace, removal of guilt, brought into the family of God.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful? He’s offering all those benefits.
[27:34] Our prayer is, as you listen to Corey this evening, you will stop, stop, and say, this is what I need.
I need Christ. God is speaking to me.
He wants to save me, and you could be saved tonight through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[28:01] I was just thinking, Peter was speaking of that first bee, the book, and in Costa Rica, where we live, there’s a small Indigenous population, about 15 to 20,000 people.
[28:17] In the country of Costa Rica that speak an Indigenous language by the name of, And it was in 2007, not until 2007, that the New Testament, the last half of the Bible, was translated into that dialect.
And actually, I think Dave has a copy I gifted him at his house, so I think any time of day, day or night, you could go and visit his home and he’d be happy to show you that New Testament translation of that indigenous language.
And we were lucky enough, we had printed some verses, this exact verse, John 3:16, in that language and we went out to the coast and we’re just streaming in we able to we were able to find and come across the man the son of American missionaries from Alabama who spent his life has lived in Costa Rica was born amongst these people it speaks the dialect and it was mainly him and a few others that undertook the the labor of translating the Bible the New Testament into this dialect many of the larger Bible translation organizations weren’t, willing to help because of the small number of people, they have limited resource, limited time, so there has to be a certain number of people that speak this language for these bigger groups to organizations to fund or to undertake translate the Bible.
15 to 20,000 people in Costa Rica.
2007, they received the word of God in their language. There’s no other religious book.
[29:44] In fact, very little printed literature in their dialect.
[29:49] But yet they have the word of God. Why is that? Listen to Peter tonight, and I was convinced this is the reason they have the Bible and not much else.
Because God is not willing that any should perish, and that all should come to repentance.
And we as an English population or Spanish, where hundreds of millions of people speak our language, and oftentimes we complain there’s too many translations in our language.
Well, they have just one.
And I’m sure they’re thankful to God that he’s not willing that any of the B’ri B’ri people should perish.
So what a tremendous privilege tonight to open the word of God and read from it, the book, and read what it has to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s what we’re going to do tonight in the book of Acts in chapter three.
After the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, you’ll come to the Acts, which is the Acts, the deeds of the apostles and the disciples of Jesus, after he had died and was buried and rose again and went to heaven.
[30:49] And in the first part of chapter three, you have there a few men, Peter and John, and a paralyzed man comes to them and asks, He’s begging by the temple.
And Peter and John, they would say to him that silver and gold we do not have.
We have no monetary thing that we could give you.
But what we do have in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his name and through his power, rise up and walk.
And that man was healed that day.
He received something much greater than silver and gold. He was healed of a debilitating disease.
And friends, and I, we could offer you hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars tonight. And you know what?
[31:31] There’s something much greater. We could preach to you, offer to you tonight, not of our authority, not of our bank rule, no, but from the God of heaven. He offers you tonight the salvation of your soul. Paid in full is the debt you have with God. And that’s what we’re going to read about. And as these people around, they saw that the healing that took place, they began to praise the preacher. And they began to praise Peter and John. And we’ll read in verse number 11. It says this, Acts 3 and verse 11. And as the lame man which was healed, he held on to Peter and John. All the people ran together onto them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering, greatly amazed. Imagine that scene. A man paralyzed his whole life. And now he’s walking. They’re greatly amazed and wondering. And verse 12 says, And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we’ve made this man to walk? Why are you focusing on the preacher, on the messenger.
Anything that’s accomplished that we have accomplished this man walking. It’s nothing to do with us and, Friend tonight if you’re going to be saved tonight, it’s got nothing to do with the preacher, No value. No, no holiness.
[32:58] No power of the preacher. It’s all found in the message It’s all found in the focus of the message Lord Jesus Christ and that’s what Peter said to them that day in verse 13 says this the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just One, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised up from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.
And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yea, the faith which is by Him hath given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
And now, brethren, I don’t want you to be ignorant, as did also the rulers, but those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
And this is the message tonight.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come, from the presence.
[34:27] On the Lord. I promise tonight, if anyone has need of refreshing, not a making better, not to to be a better person, make yourself better, desire purpose in your heart to become a better person. Tonight God wants to make you a new person. He wants to give you a new heart, new purpose.
Anyone that is saved, anyone that is in Christ Jesus, He is a new creation. That is what the Bible says. And these men here as they come and they gather around, they saw the miracle that was And Peter would say, he would see the people and he would say, why are you focused on us?
Why are you marveling and wondering at us?
You know, many people can be spellbound or can be captivated by preachers.
I don’t know who your favorite preacher is. I remember my grandfather, he loved Billy Graham, famous, well-known evangelist. And he would read all his books.
He would listen to his sermons on the radio, his radio program.
And he just loved listening to Billy Graham.
[35:26] And one of my favorite preachers over the years, I’ve enjoyed reading and haven’t ever really heard him preach in person or anything like that, but Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones from the United Kingdom.
And when he died and passed away, his tomb is over there buried in Wales.
And there on his tombstone, they have really, what was the focus of his preaching?
What was he known for?
You know, sadly, there’s many preachers that are known for preaching on what you should give, and how much and when.
You know, there’s people, unfortunately, I know, and they’re known for preaching on what you should wear.
They’re very focused on the external.
We know what this preacher was known for, they put it right in his tombstone.
[36:05] There’s a verse from 1 Corinthians 2, it says, for I have determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What a testimony for a preacher.
That was his desire, no doubt, every message he preached was this, my desire, this is my purpose, to make known to you Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And Peter in that same day, and he don’t look at the, I don’t want to be known as the man who healed the lame man, no.
It’s not by my power, it’s not by any holiness of me.
He looked at Jesus Christ. And that’s where he turned their gaze. He said, take it off the preacher. It’s not a preacher or priest or a prophet that can save you. It’s the Son of God.
And that was Peter’s desire that day. And he charged them that day with where they found themselves. He said, take your eyes off the preacher and look at yourself for a minute. No.
[36:56] It’s easy to focus on the faults of others. But Peter very, very intuitively, he turned their gaze right back at themselves.
And he’s preaching there, it says in Solomon’s porch, it was a place of intellectual discourse there in Jerusalem.
And it was the same place that Jesus preached. Jesus himself had passed through there a few times at least.
In John chapter 10, you read there, he was preaching and walking in Solomon’s porch.
So maybe some of the people there that day could remember when Jesus Christ, the focus of this message, he was there standing in the very same spot.
Imagine that, imagine if you had come to the tent some years ago and you heard Jesus Christ himself preaching, you wouldn’t have forgotten.
And that was the scene that day for those people. And they came to Jesus at Solomon’s porch back in John 10, and they would say, how long do you keep us in doubt?
If you are Jesus, if you are the Christ, if you were the promised of God, just tell us plainly.
And Jesus, his answer would be, I told you, and you do not believe.
[37:55] Because you’re not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And they know me and they follow me. And I give on to them eternal life.
Some maybe that were back in Acts chapter 3 listening to the preaching of Peter and John. I’ve heard Jesus preach about the sheep that would follow him about what Jesus offered eternal life. And maybe they have returned right back to Solomon’s porch, still looking for that eternal life, still without it. Hoping maybe, maybe for some glimpse of, of where of where they could find him.
And you know, Peter, he preaches about the God of our fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
And he says this, and he has glorified his son, Jesus.
Glorified his son.
Christ was glorified in this very miracle. The credit, the glory was given to him when he said, it’s not our power, it’s in the name of Jesus Christ he’s been risen up.
The Bible says that God has given all things into his hands, into Jesus’ hand.
He’s given him a name which is above every name.
God has glorified his son. God in other words too, glories in his son.
Because the son glorified the father. He brought glory to God.
[39:14] But then he says he gives them the charge of their reaction to him.
What have we read in verse number 13?
It says, God glorified Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied.
The one God delights in, the one who walked in this very porch some years ago, God has glorified him. And what was your reaction? You denied him, you rejected him.
I don’t know how often you’ve heard the gospel, that’s how often you’ve read the Bible, if ever at all.
How many times you’ve heard the name of Jesus, but what has your reaction been?
Even tonight, if you’re first time hearing about Jesus, you’ve had a reaction towards it.
You’ve had a reaction towards God and what the Bible says of who he is and who Jesus Christ is.
Their reaction, the charge placed upon them, condemnation. You’ve denied Him. You’ve delivered Him up to be crucified.
[40:16] You’ve desired something else, aside from Him. It says in verse 14, you denied the Holy One, the Just One, and you desired a murderer to be given to you.
We were just thinking about this an hour ago in the Spanish meeting, that day when Pilate would bring before the people what seems so abundantly clear, the easy choice, Barabbas, a murderer, insurrectionist, a robber.
Jesus Christ, who his own judge on this earth would say, I find no fault in him.
And he was presented to the people that day. And Pilate would say, which one do you want?
Which of these two should I release unto you? And he’d say, what an easy choice.
Who would ever choose the murderer?
Who would ever choose the robber? And it says in unison that day, the whole crowd decided together as a group, they said this, released to us Barabbas.
We don’t want this man. We don’t want Jesus Christ. And that was the condemnation, the charge that Peter gave to the people that day. It says, you denied him, you delivered him up, and you desired something else, someone else.
[41:31] And friends tonight, maybe in your life, you’ve heard of Jesus Christ, but you’ve desired something more than him.
Relationships in this world, many good ones, many cruel ones, many pleasurable ones.
And you’ve denied Jesus Christ for relationships.
Some people have denied Jesus Christ and chosen religion.
They’ve said, yes, Jesus Christ, he sounds important, but it’s all about what I need to do.
It’s about my baptism. It’s about my church attendance. It’s about how I act as a person.
Not this man, but Barabbas. Maybe it’s your addiction.
And you say, I know I need Jesus Christ, but I chose the addiction last night, and I’m gonna choose it tonight again.
And that was the condemnation that Peter brought upon them. You’ve denied the Holy One. You’ve rejected Him.
You have desired something else. And he goes even stronger. He says, you’ve killed the Prince of Peace.
[42:33] The reason the Lord Jesus Christ dies, that the Bible says was for our sins, for your sin.
And to reject him, you’d be found under that same charge. You’ve killed the Holy One.
You’ve killed the Prince of Light. You’ve rejected the one who gave his life for you, and you’ve looked for something better.
And that’s what he said.
And so he leads up to the gospel invitation, the gospel call tonight in verse number 19.
And he says this, considering all this, considering what you’ve done, considering what I’ve done, the charge against you is this, guilty, rejecting God’s chosen one, the one God is so satisfied in, you’ve denied him, you desired something else. And so what is it? He says, repent, therefore.
[43:25] And be converted. Repent and be saved. That is what the gospel message is.
Repent really means to change one’s mind in a Christian and a gospel aspect, to change one’s mind for the better, to abhor one’s past sins and turn to God and acknowledge. I don’t know what brings you true joy in this life. It’s, It’s different for all of us.
I often think about when I go and my sons, when they’re in Costa Rica and they pick up their soccer ball and I have other things I probably should be doing and they just, they beg me to go with them.
Walking to the soccer field there, joy.
Brings joy to spend time with my sons. Another thing, I don’t know if you’ve ever had the, being close here, I would assume most have, seeing the sunrise on the ocean.
There’s something about it that if you’re just there and walking on the sand, when that sun rises, There’s a joy that comes in just seeing the awesomeness of that.
God’s creation. Remember, ever wondered why the waves stop where they do?
There’s a tremendous verse in the book of Job that says, God says to the waves, until here, no further.
The waves stop where they do because God is over all.
But you ever wondered tonight.
[44:42] About what brings joy in heaven? I’m sure God is joyful looking over his creation.
But if you ever wonder when or why is there true joy in heaven, the Bible says this.
[44:56] There will be joy in heaven over one sinner that repents.
[45:02] There would be a joyous scene, there would be rejoicing in heaven tonight, if one would obey the call of verse number 19 and repent and be converted.
Repent and be saved from your sins.
The nation of Israel was exhorted to repent in the Old Testament.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn yourself from idols and turn your faces from all your abominations.
Every one of us have idols in our lives. Maybe not in the exact same form like they did in those days, a wooden idol, an animal, an image, whatever it is, but we all have idols in our lives that we place more importance on than the Lord Jesus Christ, than our own souls.
The exhortation is the same tonight as it was to the children of Israel, repent and turn from idolatry.
Repent and turn from your sins. John the Baptist, the first message that he would preach, recorded in Matthew chapter 3, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It’s not a new message that they were preaching that day on Solomon’s porch.
It says the disciples, they went out and preached that men should repent.
[46:11] Jesus Christ himself, you know what he said his message was?
I came not to call the righteous.
Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make all the religious people feel better about themselves.
He didn’t come into this world to start a money drive amongst all the Pharisees and religious peoples, he did the exact opposite. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
[46:34] That’s why Jesus died. And if there’s anyone here tonight, and you before God, and in your own heart, you know that I am a sinner. This is what God desires.
He desires you to be saved.
Repent and be converted, he says, and be saved, be chained.
We’ve already heard that tremendous verse tonight.
The Lord is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent.” You say, who’s supposed to repent then?
It’s got to be the criminals, right, and the corrupt.
It’s got to be the prostitutes and the prisoners. They’re the ones that should repent.
How great their sin. Now, Jesus Christ addressed that one day.
There were those who were religious there, and they were talking about Galileans that had their blood mingled with sacrifice, and they were just really in the depths of abominations and idolatry, offering their children as sacrifices.
And Jesus said this, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?
Were they worse than them?
You say, well, maybe they were. But this is what Jesus Christ said, I tell you, no, but unless you likewise repent.
[47:47] You all perish. It’s easy to focus on the worst, on the poorest and the depraved of society when Jesus Christ says this, unless you repent, you yourself repent, you’ll perish just like them.
Because you know why? The result of sin is the same for every single one of us.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[48:16] He speaks of what will happen for those who would come in faith, repent of their sins and be saved and be converted. What does he say?
That your sins may be blotted out.
[48:29] Sins might be washed away.
One time I remember preaching to children in a small town in Costa Rica, and we had a whiteboard there.
And so I asked the group of children, could someone come up that has enough courage?
And could you write down maybe one sin that you’re guilty of?
And so, you know, took a little coaxing, and one of the children finally had the courage to come up, and it seemed like one once came up and was honest. Like he wrote down lying.
Then sort of opened the floodgates of confession, if you would, that day.
The children came up and just simple sins, you could say that children are guilty of.
The one said cheating at school.
Another said bullying. Another said being mean to my brother, disobeying parents.
It wasn’t very quick until that whole whiteboard was completely full.
Just young children. Didn’t take them long to fill a whiteboard of all the sins that they committed?
What if you, friend, tonight would have to come up and not before us, but before God, you’d have to write down every sin you’ve ever committed.
[49:36] How much space would you need? How many whiteboards would you have to go out and buy?
No, I couldn’t tell you how many whiteboards it would take to write down every sin I’ve committed in my life.
[49:48] But the Bible so clearly says here that we have read, repent and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out.
Now, friend tonight, if you were to repent, if you were to turn from your sins, if you were to trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s not that God will just forget your sins.
No, it says he’ll blot them out. He’ll come and he’ll take the, he’ll take the erase and he’ll write, erase every single one of them.
Your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. He’ll blot them all out. How can he do it?
God is just. Sin must be punished. The one in whom God is glorified, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2,000 years ago, He came into this world and He lived a life of no sin.
Absolutely perfect. The only one who never had any sin. And there on the cross of Calvary, when He had nails in His hands and in His feet, yes, He bore the punishment that men would put upon Him. The ones who denied Him, the ones who delivered him up, the ones who desired a murder in his place, they punished him there. But the Bible says in three hours there was darkness over this whole earth, and in those three dark hours God poured the wrath that your sins deserve, every single one of your sins on the whiteboard that they deserve, he put on
[51:10] In front tonight, it says that the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins, our iniquities, our sicknesses, our infirmities on Himself.
And the price of our peace with God was paid by Him.
And if you were to repent tonight and be converted, be saved, every single one of your sins will be blotted in.
Jesus Christ paid the price in full.
Oh, that you would see Him tonight, you would hear of this one who gives eternal life, and you would not desire something else.
Something fleeting, something that brings no true peace. But friend, tonight you would see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross, and you would desire to have the salvation that He offers.
It’s paid in full. The work is finished. When Jesus Christ died, they put him in a tomb where no one had ever been buried before.
And three days later, he rose again.
And like this book of Acts started, there was people that saw, saw the risen Savior.
In French tonight, there is a living Savior that offers to you salvation.
The charge against us is this, we’re guilty before God. But the call of this preacher, the call of the gospel is this, repent, and be converted and all your sins will be forgiven.
We trust that you would, our desire would be that you would do that even this evening.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.
https://media.jjministry.org/2023Tent20230711.m4a[0:00] I’d like to read tonight, if you have a Bible, in the book of Acts, in chapter two.
And we’ve been doing a bit of a journey through this book of Acts in the last few nights, and we’ll continue on looking at different events that took place in this book.
And last night we were considering one of the first messages, maybe like this, gospel messages that were preached by a man named Peter, a disciple of Jesus.
And he got up and he began to declare.
And we came to that crucial point in his message when he would say this, in all simplicity, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And tonight I would just like to continue reading on what he began to, or continued preaching after he made that declaration.
And so we’re gonna read it at verse number 22 of Acts chapter two.
And so we have the same scene here.
Peter is standing up with the other disciples and him announcing this gospel message.
And this is what he had to say.
Acts chapter two and verse number 22.
[1:00] Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved, attested by God to you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know.
Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
You have taken by wicked, lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
Verse number 40, it says, and with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this untoward, or this perverse, generation.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them.
[2:11] You see the result of that first message that was preached, one of the first messages that were preached, and it says all those that gladly received the word, those that heard what the preacher had to say and not because he said it, not because there was any eloquence or any good analogies in his word, but they took God at his word.
And God’s word is this, that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, the name of Jesus Christ, shall be saved. And Peter continued to preach his message, and he began to speak to them of even more of Jesus of Nazareth, as we have read about. And he started off by telling them about uniqueness of the man, of the man he was preaching. And, tonight, as we spoke about another night, we are not here to preach a religion. We’re not here to preach about a church.
We’re here to preach about a man. The same one, the same Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, a real man who really lived in this world in a real place, far from here, yes, but in a real place.
He came into this world and it says here that that he was attested, he was approved, proven, authorized, backed, supported by God. You know the Bible is full, this book is full of, of many accomplishments, many wonders and signs that says that Jesus did.
[3:41] You know, the longest running biography, it is said, of someone who is who has lived and they’ve recorded the words of his life is the well-known leader of a country far from here.
But Sir Winston Churchill and his son began to write his biography many years ago.
And his son died almost 50 years ago. And another man has continued on writing the story of this man’s life.
Many great accomplishments, many great achievements.
This leader, and has said that now his book, his biography, is now up to 8 volumes with 16 companion volumes, and it makes up some 10 million words.
They say it’s the longest book in the world today.
You know, the largest library in the world today is not far from here.
From here, they say the Library of Congress, 1.5 million square feet, 838 miles of bookshelves, 167 items in that library.
Maybe some here have went, I would love to go.
[4:45] And I’m sure as you walk through there, it’s astonishing to see all the recorded data of different stories of different people, different books written by different people.
And here we see in this book, the Bible, It says Jesus of Nazareth, He did many signs, many wonders, many miracles, and He was authorized, He was supported, He was backed, approved, attested by God.
You know what the Bible says about what Jesus has done?
There’s another verse in the Bible, I love this verse, it says this.
[5:16] Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.
[5:26] And if you were to write down the Bibles as everything that he did, the world itself could not contain, the books of the things of the wonders that Jesus did. I don’t know how many books that is.
But you know what the most important thing that could be recorded in heaven tonight is your name.
And it’ll go right beside the name of the last person that, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was rescued.
[5:53] And here this Peter is preaching and he’s he’s speaking and he’s telling them of the uniqueness of this man, a man attested, approved by God, the miracles, the wonders, the signs.
You can think of his life. You can think of his birth.
Born of a virgin. What a miracle. What a show of power. What a show of authority. The uniqueness of his birth.
Record as well as the uniqueness of his baptism.
[6:20] When one day when he was a man and he was baptized in a river and they said that the heavens were open, the skies were open, and a voice was heard from heaven.
I was baptized maybe 15 years ago and I know this, there was no voice from heaven the day I was baptized.
But the day Jesus was baptized, there was a voice. Why? Because there was something unique about this man.
And it said, this is my beloved son, this is my son in whom is all my delights.
Do you want to know what delights the heart of God? We’ve read right here, Jesus of Nazareth.
He’s the light of God’s heart.
There’s something unique about him, about his life, about what he did, about what he accomplished in this world.
Nicodemus, a religious man, he acknowledged it.
He would come to Jesus in secret one night and he would say, Rabbi, we know, maybe he understood it in a portion. He would say, we know you’re a teacher sent from God and that no one could do these things unless he had God with him.
Unless he was supported, approved by God.
You know, the multitudes, they would see the miracles of Jesus and they would proclaim and say, when Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than this man?
They saw something unique about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The wonder of his life.
[7:40] This may be the most unique thing about the Lord Jesus Christ when he came into this world, we think of every person that’s existed that has walked in this earth from the very first man until the very last one that has been born today some part of the world unique about the Lord Jesus Christ is this the only one who never sin no sin no evilness in his heart no wickedness no nothing that flowed out of his heart, nothing, not a single sin, in whom there was no sin.
I love that verse that speaks of the holiness of Jesus because I think of my own sinful heart and maybe you can relate thinking of your own sinful heart you would say what is the easiest part of the body to sin with? Is it the mouth?
How quick something comes out? How easy to put someone down? How quick to tell a lie to cover or something we did.
You know what it says of the Lord Jesus Christ who did no sin?
Neither was there any guile found in his mouth. Right to the easiest part of the human body to sin.
Even there it says no sin in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was unique. He was proven. It says here in verse 22.
Hear these words. That was his encouragement to the audience that day.
[9:01] And that would be our same heart this evening, encouragement would be hear these words not not my words but what the Word of God says Jesus of Nazareth a unique man many people in this world many many people that have existed that have religious followers that have had a uniqueness about them none ever as unique as the Lord Jesus Christ no sin, born of a virgin, the Holy Spouse, Son of God. Peter continued preaching about the Lord Jesus. He said, the wonders that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. You know, the people that day maybe even had a greater benefit than us. They saw many of the things with their own eyes. They would, have been there, some of them that day, when when they saw the Lord Jesus heal a a man who had a terrible disease called leprosy.
They would see a man who had been begging, who was blind. And one day they saw him with his sight.
You know, they saw with their own eyes, and yet they still did not believe.
You know what the Lord Jesus Christ said?
He said to a doubting disciple, Thomas, one time, he said, you believe because you’ve seen.
But how much more blessed.
[10:21] Having not seen, yet believing. And friends and I, with your physical eye, you may not be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ, this one Jesus of Nazareth, but with faith, you would look to the cross of Calvary, and you would see one who is unique.
And we’re going to see other reasons why he is unique, but the man himself, the people would hear his words and they would say this, never a man has spoken like this man.
There’s something different about him. He has an authority about him.
He doesn’t teach like all the other religious leaders, just giving us lists of things to do, as Jesus himself would say, that we’re placing burdens upon the people’s shoulders without any power to lift them.
Just play, that was the Pharisee, that was the legalist’s job.
Just put on as many burdens as you can, and not even an ounce of power to lift the burdens.
And Jesus would come along, He’d say, you follow me. My burden is light. My yoke is easy.
And this man, he is so unique. I wonder if you know him tonight.
Not just know about him, but do you know him in a special way?
Have you come to appreciate the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Because Peter continues preaching in verse 22. told us about the uniqueness of the plan that God had.
[11:44] He said they’re Him, Jesus Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge, of God. I love this verse. It tells us two things. It tells us, first of all, that salvation was God’s plan. Determined before this world ever existed in the wisdom and the sovereignty of God, God knew and He planned. He made preparation. He made provision before the world was ever created, before the foundations of the earth.
That’s the message we have. Not a good news of salvation that some man has created.
Many wise men have got together and created tremendous plans, have offered tremendous promises.
But here we read of one who came, why? Because it was determined by God. It was God’s plan.
And despite that, as scripture would say, Unto God are all his works known from the beginning of the world.
Speaking of Christ, it says, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you.
[12:57] It tells us here of the plan of God in salvation. Him being delivered, being sent into this world by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
But then he changes it. He says, you, you men, have taken them with wicked hands, and nailed them to a tree.
So anyone here tonight that’s maybe trying to hide behind, it’s not my responsibility, God is sovereign, and it’s nothing to do with me, it says right here, you have taken them with lawless, wicked hands, and you’ve crucified the Son of God. And you would say tonight, well, I’ve never done anything like that to that degree with my hands. You know what Jesus Christ said?
When he would speak of one who would sin with their hand. You know what his advice was?
[13:46] If you sin with your hand, cut it off. Cut it off. Because it says it’s better to walk through this life with one hand and have both hands and go into a lost eternity.
And if you were to do that tonight, you would say, I can’t stop sinning with my hand and you cut it off. What about the other hand? You say, I’ll take care of that. I’ll take off both hands and then and then I’ll be fine before God.
Is that the only way you sin?
You ever sin with your feet? With your mind, with your heart, with your mouth?
The point the Lord Jesus Christ was making that day is that no matter how much you try and prepare yourself to get away from sin, we as sinners will never be able to heal ourselves.
And as he condemned those men that day and said, it is your responsibility before God, you are guilty before God. That’s what he said to those men.
And they didn’t like to hear it.
And friend, tonight in the same way, tonight’s speaker included, according to the word of God, I can say this. We’re all guilty before God.
Wicked hands, lawless hands. And that was the condemnation that Peter, that preacher, he would emphasize to them.
Yes, it was a plan of God, but you played a part. Your sins played a part. You betrayed him.
[15:10] You gave him over to death. Guilty before God, every one of us.
But what was the outcome? The uniqueness of the victory of Jesus Christ.
Many people have died.
Many people have been crucified. Many people even still may have been crucified or died and say they were dying for someone else or someone else’s sins, what makes Jesus Christ unique?
What does verse 24 say?
Whom God raised up.
Whom God raised up. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ tonight is this, friend, is that you could go and look for his tomb, I think over in the Middle East, you can go and you can find the temple that has the tooth of Buddha, and you can go there and see that.
You know what? If you try and find where Jesus Christ was buried, or any sort of remains, you’ll never find it. Why? Because it says God raised him up.
It’s unique. This man is unique.
Because he died, he was buried, and he rose again. It’s vital to this message, the gospel message.
I remember a good friend of mine told me the story of when he was preaching when he was younger.
He said there was a couple of older brothers that were part of the church where he was preaching at it.
And one night he finished preaching, he was feeling good about the message, and he went to the back and the brother came right up to him He said, you didn’t finish the message.
[16:38] He didn’t tell us about the resurrection.
The next night he got up, and as his message was coming to an end, he said this.
He said, they put him in a tomb.
And he looked over at the two men sitting near the front, and he said this.
And they could have put a bulldozer in front of it.
He was still coming out of the tomb, and the two men just as loud as they could, amen. Whom God raised up.
[17:04] Friend, it’s so unique. It’s unique to Jesus Christ. He has risen from the dead.
He said, I am he that liveth and has died, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
What does it mean? What does it say? What is the result of that?
Verse 24, having loosed the pains of death.
Do you fear the pains of death? The results of sin is death.
He loosed those pains. He can set you free from the pain of death, of spiritual death tonight, because he rose again.
He paid it in full. He doesn’t stop there, having loosed the pains of death.
Why? Because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
The book of Hebrews says, Jesus Christ took on the flesh of man.
He didn’t take on the form of an angel. It says he came to suffer.
He was a partaker of flesh and blood. Why?
That through death, he might destroy him that had power over death.
That is the death.
Jesus Christ conquered death. Loosed the pains of death. Death could not hold.
He rose again. And friends, what more could you look for in this life?
[18:14] Who is more unique than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who bore our sins on the tree of cruel death?
No one ever suffered like Him. His appearance, the Bible says, His visage marred, more than any man’s. Why did he do it?
[18:37] Jesus Christ, Christ died for our sins. The book of Isaiah says, he will swallow up death and victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all the faces, and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off the earth, for the Lord has spoken it.
[18:56] Jesus Christ is alive tonight. And you can find salvation, you can find peace and hope, in one who’s living. And that’s what makes him so unique.
It’s not being a Christian, it’s not finding old books written by some old man who has passed away many years ago and we stumble through it and we try and apply it to our lives and Jesus Christ is alive tonight.
He’s in heaven and he’s offering salvation, to whosoever. What does he mean to you? We see the wonderful reaction of those who heard the word of those last verses that we read.
Many other words he testified and exhorted them. He said this, be saved from this perverse generation.
[19:46] And the advice would not be any different tonight, the message would not change.
The gospel message is this tonight, be saved from the sinful and perverse generation.
Because each one that ends their life on this earth without Christ.
Lost for all eternity. Be saved from this perverse, sinful generation.
Then it says those who gladly received his word were baptized. You know, some people might think, you need to be baptized to be saved. Well, no, you don’t. This verse clearly shows us that.
After they gladly received with joy the gospel message, they were baptized.
[20:29] And maybe there’s some here tonight and you have gladly received the Word in times past, but yet you’ve lingered. What God would desire for those that are saved is this, if you’ve gladly received the Word. It’s so evident from the Word of God, He desires you to be baptized. It’s a public declaration. It’s an announcement.
Nothing to do with joining a church. It never is in Scripture.
It’s everything to be identified with Christ. Christ, gladly receive the word, we’re baptized.
Wherever you find yourself tonight, may be saved, may be far from the Lord in need of restoration.
The first step of obedience is always this after being saved, to be baptized.
And for those that are still outside that uniqueness of enjoying who Christ is for the first time, be saved from this perverse generation.
He’s so unique.
You never find anyone more wonderful. He’s a wonderful counselor.
He’s a Prince of Peace, and tonight he offers you salvation by the blood of his cross.
What will you do with Jesus Christ? Our hope would be that you would gladly receive the word, and trust in him for your soul’s salvation. May the Lord bless his word to your heart.
But I can look back over 50 years and a few months.
[21:54] Having known Jesus Christ as my Savior.
And I really feel badly for those who are living in 2023, who have never discovered the uniqueness of this lovely man, Jesus Christ, that you’ve been hearing about.
None can be compared to him.
He is the one who died, and was buried, and was raised the third day, according to the scriptures.
I have no regrets. I have a lot of regrets about myself, and my own failures, but I am so thankful that I know this very one.
I have a personal relationship with him, the one that Corey’s been talking to you about.
I have known him for over 50 years. Yes, I’m a bit of a fossil, but I’m so thankful for the joy that God’s salvation brings.
Now if you’re sitting in the audience this evening and you’re saying, hmm, I don’t know anything about that.
I know a lot about, I’ve heard a lot about Jesus, but, um, I’m not just so sure where I’m at in life.
[23:15] Well, our role here for the next two weeks is sort of, we’re giving you the good news, we’re giving you the answers from the word of God, who you need, not what you need, but who you need.
But we’re a little bit like troubleshooters. And so the last part of this service, we’re gonna do some troubleshooting just to help you figure out what is wrong?
Why don’t I have the joy that Corey has?
Why don’t I have the peace? Why don’t I have the personal connection?
I know all about Jesus, but what is wrong? So I’m gonna lift a verse out of a Bible story in the Old Testament that states a timeless principle about God in contrast to ourselves, how we look at things.
I’m looking at all of, well, I didn’t look at everybody.
I’m looking at everyone just now, scanning the audience very quickly with my impaired vision and everyone looks pretty good.
Okay, so relax. You look good on the outside.
[24:31] So the Bible story, perhaps you heard it in Sunday school or catechism, there was an old prophet Samuel, his name was, and he was told, God told him to go and anoint the next king of Israel. And a man by the name of Jesse had a number of sons. That’s how the story it begins and one son was going to be selected to be the next king of Israel.
[24:59] So Papa, uh, Jesse brought in all his boys one by one. They stood before the prophet Samuel, starting with the oldest boy.
And the Lord told the prophet to be careful not to be wowed or to be swayed by what they look like externally, if they had big shoulders or if they were at a certain height, don’t let that be a factor in determining the next king of Israel.
Not external appearance.
And so that’s where we’re picking up the story. in 1 Samuel 16, in the Old Testament, and verse 7.
1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, The LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.
Now here’s the part that I want to sort of bring bring the meeting to a close on to help you figure out why things are the way they are in your life.
[26:19] For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For a man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh or looks on the heart.
Do you get that? It’s really easy to understand. The Lord sees not as humans see.
[26:42] Humans just look at the outward appearance, just like I scan the audience, and you know, like you’re all mighty nice-looking people.
And you look so respectable from the outside. That’s how humans look.
But the Lord looks on the heart. Sometimes people don’t enjoy a gospel service like this.
They say, I don’t know whether I will come back because I worked so hard at presenting myself to be a very nice person.
And then you open the Bible and I’m starting to have a second thoughts about how nice I really am.
Maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was.
[27:29] The Lord is looking at your heart and the gospel isn’t superficial, the gospel goes deep, the gospel goes right to your heart and the condition of your heart. So seven of them were escorted in, but despite their age and their stature and their attributes, none of the seven boys qualifying. So the prophet Samuel said, is there another son? And Papa said, yes, but he’s out looking after the sheep. He’s the youngest. So they brought in young David, And sure enough, to the surprise of Papa and to the chagrin of his older brothers, David is the one, the most unlikely person, David is the one that God had selected because God was looking at the heart.
Have you ever thought about God looking at your heart?
[28:45] The Lord Jesus talked about this too, it’s not just in the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus stressed numerous times the danger of just judging by appearance.
He looked at people coming out of church, the synagogue, they were religious people, and he said, you look like righteous people. That’s what he told them.
But inwardly, your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
You can imagine them swallowing heart and me. What a message.
This wonderful Jesus that you’ve been hearing about, he looked at the most fine looking people dressed in their Sunday finest, their Sabbath finest.
And he said, Matthew 23, verse 28, you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
In other words, he was saying, cosmetically you look good, but structurally you’re in bad shape.
I don’t know if you ever dine at McDonald’s, it’s a five-star dining experience.
And people go there often at their lunchtime and grab a Big Mac or a quarter pounder with cheese.
And I was here one day and people were just in a rush, you know, and gobbled down the Big Mac.
[30:14] There was a lady sitting right across from me and she finished her Big Mac quicker than I finished mine.
And then she reached her handbag and she took out a little mirror, I guess.
And then she got something else and then she was going like this.
I don’t know how they do it. And then she got something else out and she went…
[30:41] But that. Do you know what that is? Cosmetics. She was looking good on the outside.
And a lot of people like to go to church to look good on the outside.
Oh, I saw you at church.
You look good on the outside. But the Lord Jesus is not concerned about the outside.
He’s concerned about the inside, the condition of your heart.
And so this is the answer. This is the question I want to pose to you tonight.
And if you don’t get anything out of what I say, I want you to figure out whether your problem is cosmetic, or structural. Is it just on the outside your problem is?
Like my family, we’re known for long noses.
So I look in the mirror and I would think, I would like to have a smaller note.
Cosmetically, it would look better.
And a lot of people are concerned about how they look to other people.
They don’t think about what they look like to God.
God looks on the heart.
[32:00] Cosmetic has to do with the externals. You can look like a good, righteous person, Jesus said, But inside you have a structural problem.
In your heart, a structural problem.
And this will be a very worthwhile 25, 20 minutes here at the end of this service, if you could figure out whether your problem is cosmetic or structural, deep inside.
We were having our house painted, and I just wanted Craig, I tried to slap on some paint.
I wasn’t in for any
[32:45] job. And so I see Craig coming down off the ladder. He says, Peter, you have some rotten boards up by the eaves there.
And my impulse was, Craig, I don’t want to go there. Like, just get the paint over the rotten boards. Well, he said, now is the time to attend to it and it won’t be healthy for your house. If you leave those, just paint over the rotten boards. And sure enough, he went to Home Depot or wherever, got the boards and he replaced the rotten boards. See, I just wanted a surface job to look good on the outside. But Craig thought I had a structural problem with the house and I needed to attend to that before further damage happened to it. Have you ever thought about your own spiritual needs? Do, Do you think it’s just external, if you clean up a few bad habits you do?
Some of those curse words that escape your lips in a moment of rage?
If you could just reduce the cuss words to a minimum, and not spend so much of your hard earned cash on online gambling, if you could make some nice changes like that, is that all that is needed?
[34:09] The Bible says no. The gospel goes deep, right into the depths of our heart.
So is your problem structural or cosmetic?
[34:28] There is a danger of surface treatment. People, I’m sure the lady that did this and went back to the office, she felt more confident for her colleagues at work.
She felt good on the outside.
The blemishes were hidden and ketchup was gone. And, you know, you can highlight your beauty marks with cosmetics.
It’s a big it’s a huge industry. I looked it up.
But 2022, the latest stats for 2022, $262 billion a year around the world spent on cosmetics.
And then I said, what would that be over a five-year period, $1.3 trillion.
[35:18] Just all on the externals. Is there anybody interested tonight and going deeper than the external?
Is there anyone willing to face the depths of their heart and confess to God, I may look good on the outside, but in my heart, I’ve lived with myself.
I don’t know how long you’ve lived with yourself, but I’ve been living with myself for 66 years.
I suppose 59 or 60 of them or at least I was conscious of myself.
Have you ever told the Lord what you really are? Not what people think you are, but who you really are?
Don’t settle for just an outside job, a cosmetic thing.
It’s a big thing, feels good.
[36:17] But it’s reckless, dangerous. In fact, spiritually, it is disastrous.
If you have a structural issue tonight, it will be disaster eternally for you, if you never address the structural issue in your life. If you only go with the cosmetics.
Jesus spoke sternly and urgently to the respectable people of his day.
He said, you get the most beautiful cup and saucer and you make it look so beautiful on the outside.
Jesus was so vivid in his illustrations.
He said, you polish it and you have the saucer and the cup looking mighty fine.
And then you look within, nothing but filth inside. And that’s how Jesus saw people every day.
He was here for 33 years, and every day you could see people’s hearts.
He saw their exterior, and he saw what they were inside. Don’t settle for a quick fix.
Don’t just wipe off the external side of yourself.
Let God work deep in your heart.
[37:42] You could change. I know, I don’t know. I were so glad you’re in.
You know, you could have a change of mind just sitting in the chair. There won’t be any flashing strobe lights or anything like that go off. It’s no big, big event. Just in the quietness of your, heart, you could change your mind and say, Oh God, I do have a structural problem within, and I want to finally have it addressed. I don’t want to go on living like this. Here’s what Jesus Jesus said, in Mark chapter seven, Jesus said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him.
So it’s what comes from within. Verse 21 of Mark seven, Jesus said, for from within, out of the heart of man, come, look at the list.
He was so specific.
If I get up and said these words and claim them to be my own, You guys would have every right to stomp out in a rage because you could say, who do you think you are?
But I’m just sharing with you the words of Jesus.
[38:53] Because my heart is no different than yours. And Jesus said very specifically, from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
[39:19] And then he sums it all up. He said, all these evil things come from within.
[39:29] You see, that’s why we have gospel services like this. It’s not for you to become a member of this church.
For you to address a structural issue in your life.
From inside, inside. That’s what the gospel gets at, the inside. We hate it when the inside gets exposed. You know, you can keep it all calm and you’re calm, cool, eclectic, and then just something goes wrong in the day and we explode. And this lovely, fine, upright, respectable, gentleman all of a sudden all his stuff is coming out of his mouth and rushing through his mind it’s like the lid came out it was in there all the time it’s, just that exploded the lid came off the jar and what was inside came out that’s.
[40:27] Why we need to have a structural issue of our sin address we have a chestnut, tree in our backyard. And every year I get mad at the chestnuts. Every autumn, it’s my, responsibility to rake and rake and rake until my shoulders ache. Many paper bags filled, with chestnuts, like literally many bags. And I lift them up and then I take them to the side of the road and I go through the same thing. And every year I get so annoyed at the chestnuts on the ground.
That’s not the problem, Peter. It’s not the chestnuts on the ground.
It’s the tree, the chestnut tree itself.
You get fed up with yourself for this sin and that sin and that bad habit and that weakness.
The problem is within. That’s just the fruit. We have a fruitful chestnut tree.
The root problem is that it’s a chestnut tree. That’s what it does.
People do bad things because that’s who we are. We’re sinners.
People sometimes say, well, I’m in God’s apple orchard.
But chestnuts keep dropping.
[41:46] That’s a problem. I don’t know whether you claim to be in God’s, I’m using metaphorical language.
If you claim to be in God’s apple orchard, and yet the chestnuts are always dropping, it’s only chestnuts that come up, something wrong there.
Sounds like a structural issue that needs to be attended to.
So this evening, our prayer is that you will be honest with God, transparent with God.
And it’s called repentance in the Bible. It’s a theological term.
And it’s agreeing with God.
God, I’ve been trying to dress myself up and present myself as a better person, but I know who I am, and you know the full depravity of my heart.
[42:43] I am exactly who you say I am. I am a sinner. I am in desperate need of God’s salvation.
So God doesn’t see us the way other human beings see us.
Is that clear in your mind? God is looking at the inside. That’s what counts with God.
I went to A&W one day, I was craving a teen burger, and it’s one of my many weaknesses.
And I was, oh, my mouth was watering, and root beer and everything else, and I get out to the car where there’s a long-awaited teen burger from A&W, and it looked so good, hot.
And I sunk my teeth into it.
[43:38] Something was drastically wrong. I opened it up. The ketchup, the mustard, the pickles, the onions were on it.
There was no patty inside.
[43:49] Seriously, I took a picture of it. And I show it to other A&Ws when I go.
I say, is there a patty inside? I’m not mad at them, it’s just a human error.
But do you know what?
Maybe there’s no patty inside you.
It’s all, it’s all a front and it’s all looks good.
But something vital is missing inside. Oh, tonight, you know who’s missing inside? It’s Jesus Christ.
We were reading last night, Paul said, Christ lives in me.
When he became a Christian, Christ came to live inside.
Out slushed the sin, in comes Christ. Christ is a new life. Let me ask you, do you have a structural problem?
Have you ever told God, I am exactly who you say I am? I am a sinner.
I have absolutely nothing to offer you, nothing to atone for my sin.
I have absolutely no merit of my own to qualify for your great salvation.
I should never receive eternal life.
I’m totally helpless. I’m void inside. The patties, well, I don’t know whether God would understand it if he used that language, is missing in my life.
The most vital thing is missing. Did you ever tell God that?
[45:16] Romans 5, verse six says, “‘While we were still helpless, “‘while we were still without strength, “‘at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Now a few years back, it’s 2000, it’s quite a few years ago, 2007, some of you weren’t born, Henry, you were born 2007.
It was just another day, Minneapolis, St. Paul’s and the big bridge standing Minneapolis, the rivers, Minneapolis, St. Paul’s, 140,000 cars went over that eight lane bridge every day, just another day.
People coming home from work, it was rush hour, supper time.
And the road crews, they were out there putting a fresh layer of asphalt, to make it smooth as you’re going over the bridge. They were just applying a thin layer, over the top of the Minneapolis Bridge.
The I-35 West.
Loaded with cars, supper hour, in four seconds.
[46:38] That bridge crumbled and fell into the river. 13 died, 145 were injured.
[46:46] Do you know that two years before that, engineers had inspected that bridge and they gave it a four out of nine, nine being good, four failing.
That structural issues underneath the bridge that needed to be addressed, it failed two years before.
And eight years earlier, there was a structural warning about that bridge.
And to think that on the very day it collapsed and took people out into eternity, people were out there putting a nice, smooth, fresh, clean layer of asphalt over the top of it, to make it look good and feel good.
And it resulted in a disaster. My friend, we’re not pointing you to a church tonight.
A church may make you feel good, but it cannot address the innermost need of your heart.
You’ve been hearing about the unique man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He’s called Savior for a reason.
[47:50] He came down the sinless one, God in human flesh. He came down to die for our sins.
What a savior.
Why would he ever love a sinner like me?
He came down to die and suffer for sins that he never committed.
[48:17] And tonight, as we close this little service, we want to point you to him.
If you have faced this reality, yes, I have a structural problem.
My problem is within.
My family think I’m a nicer person than I really know I am inside.
I’ve got a problem inside. My friend, God knows the problem.
You say, could I be open and transparent with God?
Could I tell God about what I have inside?
He’s the only one you should tell.
I couldn’t do anything for you if you told me about your problems inside, your sin.
You don’t confess your sin to me.
You didn’t do anything against me. You need to tell about your inside to God.
He’s the one who’s been offended by sin. But here’s what I want to encourage you.
You say, well, I’m scared to just be a true blue sinner. I’m scared just to let my guard down and just tell God exactly who I am in case he, what, in case he what? You think he’s gonna hurt you or harm you? Do you think he’s gonna make your life miserable? Did you hear these Christians singing at the beginning, he died because he, he loved me so, he loved me so. Do you think they’re miserable losers for trusting Christ as their savior.
[49:47] I suspect they have something that you don’t have. They have peace.
[49:53] They have Christ. The structural issue in their life has been addressed.
Christ died for their sins.
And tonight I can assure you on the authority of the word of God, if you would be honest with God tonight about your structural issue within.
God would say, I knew that all along. That’s why I sent my son to the world to be your savior.
And he would save you.
Last night, Corrie spoke on the verse, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And you don’t have to call out loud. You don’t need to make a scene.
The person sitting beside you doesn’t even have to know that you called on the name of the Lord.
He could hear the faintest crying from the depths of the darkest heart.
Oh, God, save a sinner like me, and I can guarantee you, If you call to the Lord tonight, He’ll save you.
Gospel testimony of Enris Nate.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_13Gospel20220918.m4a[0:02] Again, good afternoon to everybody. It’s great to be here.
[Greeting in Albanian]
And so just a welcome note to the Albanian friends as well.
Oh, sorry. So we’ll turn to the scriptures please.
And to the book of Job. As I think to share my testimony, I’d like to read just two portions of the scriptures please, book of Job chapter 9, verse 32, For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Neither is there any daysman, any mediator between us, but my lay his hand upon us both.
In the New Testament please, 1st Timothy.
The New Testament, 1st Timothy.
[1:10] Chapter 2, for there is one God, verse 5. Sorry, chapter 2, verse 5, 1st Timothy.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and the man, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
We know that God will bless the public reading of his scriptures.
I’d like to share my testimony with all of you, but especially it is a burden in my heart, for those who are here and still don’t know the Lord Jesus, still don’t believe in Him, still don’t have Him as a personal Savior and Lord.
And as I read the scriptures, I’m going now to explain a bit of my life, where I’m coming from, and how I met Christ, and how he became my Lord and Savior.
[2:15] As you have heard yesterday, I come from Albania. You can gather that my accent is not as perfect, although there is a bit of Northern Irish accent in that. I was raised in Albania. I was born and raised there some years ago. And when in Albania was communism. Now, the young people, the young generation will not know what is that but after the second world war a big curtain an iron curtain mr. Churchill called it came upon Europe and that was a huge division the Western world and Eastern world in the Eastern world communism ruled for almost 50 years and in Albania as well after the second world war the communists took power and they started to ban everything.
They ban what is the the the freedom of possession. People were not allowed to possess anything.
They banned the right to democracy, to vote.
Our elections were worse than the Russian elections. I remember people going to vote and there was only one name, one choice.
[3:40] People banned, the communists banned not only the right to property, not only the right, the freedom to vote, but they banned religion.
People were not allowed to believe, despite whatever, but they didn’t have that freedom. Their aim was that they wanted us to think with their own mind, and not with our own mind and that was for so so many years, and that is the the background when i was grown up, at nursery you you sing the songs about party and about the leader and you you grow up and everything is organized the party have to think for you and you have a place the schools are organized as a platoon as an army and i was I said I was grown up in those circumstances where the name of God was never mentioned.
At school they taught us that the blessed Lord, he wasn’t even a historical figure, was invented at 3rd and 4th century AD. And that there is no God out there.
The space, the skies were empty.
And this is the place that I was born and grew up.
[5:08] They said that Gagarin went to space on the sixties and he said, oh, I went there and I didn’t see God.
But they never said that when Armstrong went up there, he said, I prayed and I felt this presence strong as upon the earth.
Because they said you cannot see, doesn’t exist.
And I was, as I said, I was all the part for the system of brainwashing.
[5:37] And the first time after the democracy arrived, that was 1990, and in 1991 a big group of Christians came to Albania. And the first thing that they were saying was, God loves Albania. And I was only 16. Now I know that you are good at math. I’m 47 years old now.
And I was 16 that time, just a teenager, and I’m saying, hire someone who doesn’t exist, can love us. And as I remember going, there was just gospel meetings just for one week.
And the first day was myself with two friends of ours, of mine, with myself, and the second day, just two of us, and the third day, on Wednesday night, it was just me.
And these people were telling us something that I never heard before.
They said that God exists.
They said that if there is an engineer and he can make cars, and if there is a painting, should be a painter.
And if there is a creation, should be a creator.
I never thought of it.
And that was my first step to think that yes, the skies, the heavens are not empty, but actually they declare the glory of God.
[7:00] And that was my first step in my spiritual journey. There is another step. Believe that you have a soul.
You see, materialism, Marxism teaches that you are just a matter. Everything is surrounded by matter and everything is matter. That you are not a spiritual being.
You don’t have a soul.
[7:26] It’s like, it’s like a glove. You’ve put your hand on a glove and the glove’s starting to move.
Who’s moving the glove?
Is the glove moving by itself? Absolutely not. It’s the hand moving the glove.
And we are a spiritual being. It’s not my mouth speaking to you, it’s just my soul trying to communicate to you, using obviously, the vocal cords and so on.
And as I started to think, to consider, yes, might be a God out there and we might have a soul.
We might have something that is deeper than just matter.
There’s another step that I had to take. This soul is eternal.
You might come from a Christian family and as I said yesterday, that privilege is immense.
You don’t understand the privilege that you have to be raised in a Christian family.
And Lord, this truth, this biblical truth, I’ve been taught to you from the childhood.
[8:42] And the soul that I started to consider of myself. These Christians were saying that this soul is, is eternal. Eternity? Everything dies with with a man. There’s nothing behind that.
But if we start to consider, actually, we are eternal.
Physic teaches us that nothing gets destroyed, second law of thermodynamics, everything gets changed from a form to another form, so why should we apply that to our soul?
And not only that, but the death, when we consider it, when I used to consider it those years, is a strange thing.
Why we are afraid of it? If it’s just as a birthday, it’s just an event of life.
Should be something mysterious around it.
Later on, I discovered from a scripture what was that.
And as I am, as a teenager, going to these gospel meetings every night, I started to understand that, yes, there is a God.
I started to understand that I have a soul. I started to understand that this soul is eternal.
After death, we’re still going to live.
There is another step.
[10:11] But I’m a sinner.
[10:14] You might say, yes, we all know that. No, you don’t know that.
Because if you don’t believe that there is a God, there is no right or wrong.
There is no good or evil.
And actually that thing to be a sinner was quite hard for me to grasp it first, and then to apply it to me.
The Bible says, we all have sinned.
[10:47] I wasn’t a bad guy actually. My marks at school were good.
Now, maybe I might have done something, but not too bad.
And then until it dawned upon me that my thoughts were not good.
My words were not good.
My deeds were not good. And the conscience within me was speaking to me.
And conscience is something strange. Why do you feel good if you do good things?
And why do you feel bad if you do bad things?
And the funny thing is, even when the other people don’t see us, we still feel good or bad according to our deeds.
Because our conscience speaks to us, speaks to you of who you are.
You see, there are two big screens on the science here.
And I know that people like Facebook. What about a hardbook where everybody can see on the screen your thoughts?
Would you have an account?
Would you update it regularly?
[12:08] Although you might not have Facebook, but you have an account in a way in front of God where he sees everything that you think, that you say, that you do.
And Bible calls that sin. I realized that I was a sinner. I didn’t want people to know my my thoughts, people to know what I have done to others.
But God knew who I was.
And as I realized that there is a holy God there, and I was a sinner, I realized that I was going, to be accountable to this God. And that started in a way, to feel uneasy. Now I’d like to to read a quote by Jordan Peterson what he says about human heart.
[13:12] He says you know so much about yourself you’re bad enough as other people know you, But you only know the full range of your secret transgressions, insufficiencies, and inegodacies.
No one is more familiar than you with all the ways your mind and body do.
No one has more reason to hold you in contempt, to see you as pathetic.
Withholding something that might do you good you can punish yourself for all your feelings a dog a harmless innocent and so unselfconscious dog is clearly more deserving. That was me.
[14:05] And I realized that not only I was a sinner, but what was going to happen to me five minutes, after my death. What is going to happen to you? We are talking about the eternity.
What is going to happen? Not five, five seconds. And we are not sure if we’ll have tonight.
You might finish the conference, you might go home, you might put your head on your pillow, and you may have a bad dream as being on the other side in front of the Holy God and you will try to waken up yourself but you will not.
And that was, that was me.
I was so afraid being in front of the Holy God and the consequences of being sinner in front of Him.
Because I knew what is expecting to my soul, hell, damnation, eternal separation from God, Torment, suffering that I deserved.
[15:27] And actually, Dostoyevsky says that the worst thing of hell is because God will not be there.
And that makes everything so terrible.
And that makes the torment worse. That means the flames being worse.
And that was my problem in front of the Holy God.
[15:59] Actually, it wasn’t only mine, my viewers. What’s going to happen to you if you lose so great salvation?
It was Job’s problem. And the scholar says that, they say that Job’s book is one of the ancient book in the scripture, in the Bible.
And if it’s so, that means, it’s been written maybe 4,000 years ago.
And if it’s so, that means it’s one of the ancient book of the human literature.
And if it’s so, that means the cry of him, why there is no one there between God, the Holy One, and me, the sinner.
There is no mediator Jehovah will say, I wish you say to be someone. And that was my cry.
Until I heard about Lord Jesus.
[16:52] These people said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And they told us, they preached us how He left the glory and He came upon this earth, to live a perfect life so different from our lives.
And He is the Son of God. He came not to live but He came to die.
And after He spent some time having His own disciples around Him, they took Him, arrested Him and put Him on the cross.
And they were preaching, they were telling to us, He died for our sins, He died on our behalf, in our place.
You see, God loves Albania.
And I started to realize that when you ask the children, I don’t know if they do it here, you know, how much you love your daddy or how much you love your mommy, they’ll open their arms.
[18:07] And if we ask ourselves, how much God loved us?
[18:15] Christ opened His arms at the cross for you and for me. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that if you would believe in Him, you would not go in that place of perdition, but you’ll have eternal everlasting life today with Him and then tomorrow after you live, and you’ll go on the other side and that was the good news there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man that cry of Job’s heart that cry of my heart I find the answer, at the person of Christ. He came from heaven to die for me. And here am I. I was an atheist on Monday and going every night to those meetings. On Friday night, I remember when everybody Everybody who has gone to Laird to bathe, I said, I can’t cope anymore with this.
I feel an empty space in my heart.
[19:42] And I felt the burden of my sin in front of God and I said, I have to settle this.
So when everybody is going to pray, I kneel for the very first time, and I said, Lord, I know that you are here, that you hear my prayer.
[20:08] Have mercy on me. Forgive my sin.
I want you to be my Savior, my Lord. I am so sore of what I have done.
Please change my life.”, It was a very simple prayer. At that time, I didn’t know many things.
You see, New Testament, Old Testament, or whatever you can speak of, of truths on the Scripture.
I still don’t know many things, but I knew something, that I was lost.
And Christ came to save me. I was blind, but now I could see.
And I remember on Saturday morning, everything looked so different.
People looked different. Even the trees looked different.
Because He has started in me His good work.
He gave me His eternal life. He gave me what my heart needed to be connected with the Creator.
And I found purpose, why I am here now. Do you know why you’re here?
[21:31] By random? What’s the purpose of your life? Is there a difference between you, with all, the respect, and the animals? They eat, they have their own children, they try to survive.
But life should be more than that and has to be more than that. Because if we are made according to His image. If you are made according to His image, you have to have a living relationship, with a living God. There is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. And that was my story. That was just short in a very short what happened in one week can happen to you maybe not in one week, can happen to you in this weekend today as the day of salvation the night can be your night.
[22:45] If you go to Him, if you repent from your sin, and if you ask Him, if you trust Him, those who’ve accepted him he gave them by his authority by his power.
[23:07] The right to be called children of God. This is my story. I don’t know what is your story.
But God is so good to us and He doesn’t want anyone, He doesn’t want you to, to perish. But He wants that you may come to Him through the Lord Jesus.
[23:37] 200 years ago, in this land, 1825, 1830, there were two men, one of them was George Wilson.
You may know him or maybe not, but they did that time, as I said 200 years ago, a huge robbery.
Actually, they killed somebody on that and they were supposed to be hanged.
Actually, the other friend of George got hanged.
There were people who put some pressure on the President of the United States of that time that he may issue the pardon to George Wilson.
And actually the president issued the pardon and George Wilson got pardoned.
[24:40] But as they went to communicate the pardon grant from a president, for some reason that in history we don’t have it, he refused it.
And people didn’t know what to do. To hang him, he got forgiven.
Not to hang him, he didn’t receive it. And the Supreme Court had to gather again and had to decide.
And they took a decision by saying something like, The pardon gets his power at the moment that is accepted.
[25:27] I am from Albania and I was raised in an environment with no God, but I’ll be in heaven. It will be a terrible thing being from the United States, or the gospel is being preached from every corner, or ending in a terrible place.
A pardon receives its power at the moment that it is accepted.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.
Panel discussion.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_12Panel20220918.m4a[0:01] We’re going to read together from 2nd Timothy by way of reference and I think every meeting should be a Word of God meeting, so it would be odd if we didn’t read something from the Bible.
So I want to read 2nd Timothy and remind you that this is Paul’s last letter and it may be that within days or weeks of writing this letter that Paul had been martyred, he’d laid down his life for the Lord.
[0:33] So the Apostolic Age was really coming to a close and with the end of the Apostolic Age there was a great emphasis going to be made on the Word of God.
[0:46] So let’s just read first of all in 2 Timothy 1.13 where he says to Timothy to whom he was committing this great trust, hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 2, verse 15, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
Chapter 3, verse 14, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them, and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. And then in chapter 4 at the beginning, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Preach!
[2:08] The Word. And the Lord always blesses to us, of course, the reading of His Word.
Now we’re trying to make this as conversational as possible again this afternoon. I’m really sorry there’s only three of us in the conversation. I would love really to be able to include more, but we might have a long meeting, you might miss your tea, and Henry might be late for the gospel meeting. So that wouldn’t do.
So I have some notes here. I see yesterday Joseph had high-tech notes. I’ve just got a bit of paper, which kind of says that I’m a lot older than he is.
So I’m not sure whether we followed his pattern yesterday. We did to some degree. I’m not sure we’re going to follow exactly what I’ve got written down on this bit of paper, but we are going to start where we’re going to start. And the start that I want to make is to talk to you for a moment about ordinances, or sometimes translated in the authorised version, the King James version of the Bible, as traditions. So this is what 2 Thessalonians 2.15, this is just to get us going and to establish certain things in our mind. This is 2 Thessalonians 2.15, hold, he says, the traditions. We have a tradition, we had a tradition in the UK, particularly England where we had a gospel meeting at 6 30.
[3:35] But I have to tell you that’s not exactly what Paul is saying when he says, hold the traditions. When he says hold, he’s using a word take hold of, possess, the, handing down, which I suppose what a tradition is, but of course in apostolic literature, it’s the idea of apostolic instructions. So what he’s saying is, hold apostolic instructions, hold the ordinances, hold the traditions. This is 1 Corinthians 11 2. And in 1 Corinthians 11 2, we’re to keep the ordinances. It’s a different word, the idea is we’re to retain them, we’re not to let them slip. So what he’s emphasizing in each of those is this, the absolute importance of apostolic teaching for us to keep, to hold, and not to let slip. And in actual fact, we’re to withdraw ourselves, he says in 2 Thessalonians 3, 6, we’re to withdraw ourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, and not after the traditions, the ordinances which he received of us.
[4:46] And so in those passages where he speaks about ordinances, and I’ve just picked those out, they are the three in the New Testament, but I’ve just picked them out as a useful start point, the absolute imperative of the Word of God, the imperative of keeping the Word of God and holding to it.
And especially for us in the day in which we live, we’re thinking in terms of apostolic doctrine from which flows the fellowship that we enjoy.
And that fellowship was actually that which the apostles enjoyed.
We enter into that apostolic fellowship.
Importance of the whole Word of God. Now, we think of this in all sorts of areas and we say, well, take the gospel.
So, I really believe in the need, the necessity for accurate gospel preaching.
[5:48] For accurate gospel doctrine. So, if you read in church history and you read all that’s gone on, what you’re reading about is the fact that there were great divisions over what the Bible meant, when it spoke about justification by faith, what it meant in all those areas of gospel truth that we love. And we say, quite rightly, that it’s important that we have that, as it were, nailed down. That’s not a biblical expression, there are no Greek words for that. But to have the doctrine of the gospel firmly in our mind. But if we just say, we must have the doctrine of the gospel firmly in our minds, and it doesn’t matter too much about other stuff, then in actual fact, we’re not doing ourselves any favours. Now, I’m talking a lot, I don’t really mean to.
It kind of comes natural, so I don’t know if either of you want to add to anything of that or some more.
No, no, I just thought it was a good point that traditions in itself is not a bad word.
I thought you pointed that out in the three references there, 1 Corinthians 11, 2, Thessalonians, the two references. There are, of course, the bad traditions of the Pharisees, and maybe you’re gonna get to that later, but the word itself, traditions, is not an evil word.
[7:10] I don’t know. No, thank you. Anything on that? Yeah, no, I like the way how you introduced it, and I would add, you know, Jude speak of the faith that was passed, and Paul in 2 Timothy speaks of good things, or good deposit, chapter one, so that is the apostolical tradition, and what today we called scripture.
[7:34] Now, maybe I’d like to go to a next step and then maybe see if we agree.
Maybe we may agree to disagree on this, but as we read the scripture, you already mentioned the gospel, and as we read the scripture, or as I read the scripture, I see that there are fundamentals.
Here you have Galatians 1, where it says, cursed anathema be those who change the gospel.
And that is fundamental.
And there are doctrinal things within the apostolic culture, or better called within the scripture, that are fundamental.
Deity of Christ, we just read it.
Or inspiration of the scripture and all that.
But I see that there are maybe secondary issues But when we put them on the scale.
[8:35] We consider them secondary issues.
And then it’ll be like other issues where we maybe we don’t agree.
As you know, we have that in Romans chapter 14 and 15.
Paul already is giving some indications how we to deal with this thing.
So I consider they are fundamental.
There are secondary issues. What are the secondary issues? Uh, huh.
[9:08] Guns at the ready.
Right, okay.
Lord’s Supper, okay. You have that, hold on. I never said a word.
You have in Acts. They were breaking the bread and eating from house to house.
You have in 1 Corinthians, breaking of bread plus eating. You have in small Hesels in Jude, as far as I can remember, that they were agape, feasts of law.
And if we want to go further in the Old Testament, there was that remembrance were linked with the meal.
Okay, so the first Christians, they didn’t have a loaf of bread, They had it actually, but that was part of a meal.
[10:09] Do we do that today? Well, I’m not sure what you’re suggesting.
Are you suggesting in that, that the Lord’s Supper was part of a meal?
[10:17] From Acts, I see that, yeah. Okay, I wouldn’t see that. Now, for all that, it wasn’t until the Apostle Paul came along that the foundation of local church truth was laid.
So you get in Acts 2, that they continue steadfast to the apostles’ doctrine, of fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers and so on.
I take that to be the breaking of the bread, that is when they met together, as we know later in Troas on the first day of the week, in order to break bread.
I take it that breaking bread from house to house is nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper, I take that to be a common meal.
Like in Luke 24, where the Lord was made known unto them in the breaking of bread, which, was just simply a common meal.
And I do feel that there must be a distinction drawn between the general breaking of bread from house to house, and the Lord’s Supper.
This is a little bit, this is a bit secondary to the main discussion.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you wouldn’t excommunicate me for that?
I wouldn’t what? Excommunicate me for that? No, no, it’s just I’m not gonna speak to you again.
I’m afraid. No, no. You see, so that’s a secondary issue. That is correct.
But what I would say is this, that I don’t think it would be right if we decided that we would simply, if there’s a few of us having a meal together, break bread in terms of the Lord’s Supper.
Because that’s clearly an assembly function.
[11:45] Where the believers at Troas met together on the first day of the week to break bread.
So I would just draw that distinction. But it’s an interesting group.
I just threw it to see that there are things when we agree to disagree, but that wouldn’t stop to have fellowship together. None, that’s right.
I think, like there used to be a breakdown, people would use that in, what is it now?
In essential things, unity, and non-essential things, liberty, and all things charity.
Now the trouble with that, as you well know, is that what’s essential and what’s not, right?
So it doesn’t really help anybody.
But I think that what I would agree with what Enri is saying in the sense that there are things that a person cannot believe or cannot hold to and still be Christian, if you know what I mean.
Like you cannot not believe in the deity of Christ and be a Christian.
There’s an essential nature to that. I would say that I don’t really see two groups, like things that every Christian believes and then things that we all can disagree on.
I think there is a third group there that it would be very difficult to not hold these doctrines and be in the same local assembly.
Like, say, the role of men and women.
[12:54] A person may be Christian and not hold to the view that we see taught in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy, but it would be very difficult to be in the same.
– Because ultimately, a local assembly is a doctrinal fellowship, which is a fellowship that is based on doctrine. Now, I’m listening to all of this, but there is a point that I want to make, which is the whole of doctrine, the whole of Bible teaching, coheres. So it’s not different strands that are hanging down, and the one is not interrelated to the other.
So Bible doctrine is like a tapestry, or a garment, which is a single thing, and as soon as you start pulling threads, you never know exactly how the state of that garment is going to be.
So, this leads us on to another thing, which is not in my notes, but here we go.
One of the things in our present day is my truth, your truth.
Which, by the way, is a total nonsense.
[13:55] My truth, your truth. So people say, oh, well, that’s my truth.
My truth might be actually far removed from the facts of the thing, but it’s my truth.
That’s what I want it to be. And you say, well, no, no, but my truth is this.
And do you know something? Where you’ve got your truth and I’ve got my truth and he’s got his truth.
None of us is wrong. So this is a sort of a post-modern, post-Christian, atheistic world view that there is no such thing as truth. We each have our own truth and each of us is not wrong. This, by the way, for all of you that are students and at universities, this has parallels in modern music and modern art. So if you see Yellow Islands by Jackson Pollock.
[14:50] Which might be somewhere around here on display, if I remember correctly.
But if you do, here’s a painting, the last I knew it was worth 52 million quid.
And the guy poured paint on a canvas and tipped up the canvas and put some yellow splodges on it, called it Yellow Islands, and it would cost you at the last reckoning three or four years ago that I saw it, 52 million.
If you went to see it, if we went to see it, I’d say to you, what does that represent?
Tomorrow.
It represents tomorrow. What does it represent to you? Never seen it.
No, no, that’s not the point. I suppose you did see it. They’re blue dots still.
So I might say squash daffodils and you might say car crash.
So we say to the curator of the museum, what does this mean?
And he would say, well, it means what you want it to mean, that’s your truth, this is my truth, that’s your truth, there is no absolute, it’s just my truth, your truth, so we all go away happy, well I wouldn’t, but you know, you all go away happy, if you listen to John Cage for 4 minutes 33 seconds, right, the orchestra comes in and the conductor and they’re all set ready to go, except they don’t go anywhere because there’s nothing in the piece of music.
It’s not piece of music at all. The orchestra’s there in silence.
[16:13] So you come out at the end of that concert, not that I’ve ever listened to it or whatever you do, I don’t know what you do to that, but you come out at the end of the concert.
[16:24] And you say, what does that mean to you? And someone would say, oh, it means peace.
Another person would say, no, it just means death.
And another person would say this, see, so there’s no absolutes.
Absolutes, you’re all right, nobody’s wrong, in our my truth, your truth society.
[16:40] Everybody’s right. Nobody’s wrong. So you can’t judge me. So people talk about you need to be non-judgmental. That’s an atheistic mindset, to be non-judgmental. We do judge ourselves and we know there are standards by the Word of God. Now the great… sorry about for that big diversion, which is not really, it’s now coming back in, which is this, that it’s ever so possible when we come to the Bible to say, well that’s my truth. That’s the way I see it. And if you don’t see it, say, well that’s okay, or this is my truth, or this is your truth. And we end up thinking what that is, is that one opinion is as good as another. Actually, that isn’t true.
So it comes back to really hermeneutics and how we break down the Bible. Like that has one meaning.
Yes, exactly right. So it comes back to the Bible study we were talking about a bit yesterday.
Exactly right. So the Bible, so a passage might have many applications, but ultimately that passage will have one meaning, as coming from God by his Holy Spirit, that passage will have one meaning. So what I’m really saying on this is, it won’t do for us just to say, my opinion is as good as yours. So we come with care to scripture. So I want to speak just for a moment. Sorry, if this is not quite as much discussion, I just want to say this guy, I really think this is important. If it is that we’re coming to the study of Scripture, we really need to get to grips with the detail of what is being said.
[18:08] It won’t really do to come to scripture and see it as a Monet artwork, just impressionistic.
We really need to come to scripture and say, it says this, I’m able to tell you it says this.
[18:22] Because of this, this, this. We compare this scripture with that scripture we recognize.
So yes, all those important doctrines are there, but what we’re discovering is that the other details are fitting in with that framework of the important doctrine. So the whole thing So I want to encourage all of you to be detailed in your study of the Word of God.
Start at the beginning of a book and go through to the end, because in our day and generation, and every generation has to get its convictions on what the Bible teaches, let us make sure we get our understanding of the Word of God from God Himself in His Word, by the Spirit of God, and to do so with care.
Because I’m hearing people say, in effect, my truth, your truth, not in this meeting, but I hear it and I think it’s a serious issue.
So that’s my first paragraph plus a bit more on my notes.
And I’d really like to say, has anyone else got anything to say?
But we’re not going to do that, because it’s down to – is there anything else you want to come back on?
No, not at the moment.
Okay. Now, what we’re beginning to go into now is to realize this, that just as there is teaching in Scripture about the gospel and we say we must be accurate in our understanding of that.
[19:51] The Bible speaks to us about our personal lives, we’ve been thinking about that, so when it comes to our personal behavior, our living, we need to accurately to understand scripture in relation to that. But then there’s a whole range of truth regarding the local assembly.
[20:09] And as it is that we read about the local assembly, so it is that we really will want to understand what the Bible has to say in relation to it, because this is also really, really important. So we’re living in a day when a whole lot of Christians don’t think twice about where they go to church. They like the pastor, we’ll go there. We like the singing, we’ll go there. They’ve got a great band, we’ll go there. There won’t be anyone coming to Midland Park for that put. Not at the moment, hopefully never. You weren’t there last night, must be. I was. Fantastic.
Anyway, so people are just pick and mix on the churches that they go to, but when you start reading the Bible and you start understanding that the Bible has teaching regarding the local church and the functions of the local church and the functions of people within the local church, then what you begin to see is this, that it is important to understand that and to apply it and live it out as it is in our own personal Christian lives, as it is in our understanding of the gospel. So we don’t have a hierarchy of things, we.
[21:25] Say that the whole of God’s word is important and therefore those same things, those same principles of understanding, we apply to our understanding of the local church. So we take notice a thing like this. This is God’s house, not the building. But the local church is in character house of God. So what that means is that we’re not here just for us. We’re, secondary in the whole event. Actually, the local church is for God.
No, the local church is not for the world.
[22:12] The local church is firstly for God.
[22:16] At the local church is of course comprised of his people, saved and baptized.
But the local church for all it benefits us, for all it helps us in the way that it does, the local church is firstly for God.
So it’s house of God. Sure.
So we’re all together on this. Yes. Amen. Amen. This is good. Yeah.
[22:36] Yeah, I think it’s just an important point like, you know, you Many of us have heard ministry like Shammah defending the lentils or earnestly contending for the faith or Naboth refusing to sell the field.
And it’s just important to state that if that’s going to be applied, it is applied to things found in the Word of God.
We don’t contend for our preferences as if it’s the Word of God, if you understand what I’m saying.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so and even that would bear and in the local assembly, Certain things that might differ in the UK versus here and even across North America Yes, so we’ll come to that in just a little bit if I if I can just stop you jumping in otherwise You’re gonna throw me, In respect to this I’ll tell you this way. Okay to the right better point to the right than to the left now, If you were to come to my house in Eastbourne on the south coast of England, by the way if you’re ever in England, you’re very welcome to come to our house. But if you come to our house, for all that you’d be very welcome, you will abide by our rules.
[23:48] There are certain things that we do in our house and there are certain things that we do not do in our house. And I bear in mind that one day I’ll be responsible to the Lord for what we allow, what we don’t allow in our house. So if you, If you come to my house with your muddy shoes on, as a stupid example, but if you come to my house with muddy shoes on because you’ve been walking over what we call the South Downs, just outside my town, the highest chalk cliffs along the south coast of England, don’t say it’s nowhere near as high as the Grand Canyon, it’s not, okay?
But it is beautiful. So you’ve been up there walking, you come to my house and you sit on a chair and you put your feet up on my mantelpiece above my open coal fire, I but probably my wife, will say to you, do you mind? Because that doesn’t happen in our house. Suppose someone was to come in our house and light up a cigarette or a vape, we’d say sorry that doesn’t happen in our house and and I am entitled to say that to, Because it’s my house. I pay the bills. I cut the grass. It’s my house, so my rules apply.
To you.
[25:01] So it’s not just simply that I live there. Now I might say to you, oh come and stay with us.
So you might actually come and have two weeks with us. That’s a stretch by the way, but you might come and have two weeks with us, so you will be, it will be your habitation while you’re there.
You are in residence for the time that you’re there, but it’s not your house.
Now the local church is God’s habitation, he is there, but it’s also his house.
So the idea is that, is that his rules apply. In other words, God is the ultimate authority in relation to the local assembly. So when we’re thinking about assembly truth, I just feel That is the first thing that we need to take account of.
So this is what Timothy is saying, Paul is saying to Timothy in chapter 1 verse, in chapter 3, that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in house of God, that which characteristically is house of God, church of the living God.
So that’s history. You want anything to add to that? Nope, I fully agree.
Right, you’re going to add something to this in just a moment.
[26:15] So, you come to the Bible, and that’s how it is, and you recognize therefore that what’s important is not what you want, and it’s not your own personal predilection, but the thing that you earnestly desire is that which glorifies God. And how do you know what glorifies God? You know what glorifies God because Actually, it’s revealed in his word. Mm-hmm.
Now, what then is established is a principle. And the principle that is established is that the local church is God’s.
[26:49] Yeah, very good. So you read the Bible and you see there are certain things that are to pertain in the local church.
So there is a distinction between the sexes.
So passages like 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Timothy 2, these are distinguishing between the sects.
You do discover things like they remembered the Lord at the Lord’s Supper, as we’ve been speaking about before.
That that happened, it’s the Lord’s desire that that happened.
[27:17] The local church must be a place where it is possible for spiritual gift to be exercised.
And there must be liberty for all spiritual gifts to be exercised within and around and for the building up of the local church, in whatever way.
So we have that as a principle.
There’s no need for me to enlarge on that, I’m sure, but we have that as a principle, except I would just say this to you, get your convictions about that.
Don’t just piggyback other people. Get your convictions. But here now, is where I’m gonna stop talking.
The other thing, let’s start.
The working out of those principles, is going to vary from place to place and time to time.
So I’ve got news for you. None of us is, say, dressed, in the same way as they came to meetings 150 years ago.
William Kelly came to meetings 150 years ago, yes, 150 years ago, and he didn’t look like you in attire.
[28:22] And the women didn’t look like you women are dressed.
And it may be that if you turned up at their meetings, they would be aghast at the way you dress.
And if someone came in, if people came in dressed like that to our meetings, from then we’d be aghast.
So there’s a… so? So the Bible has to speak about dress. It speaks about modesty of dress for women.
It’s saying that dress is not to reveal, it is to cover. But the outworking of that is going to be different from generation to generation, as with speech, as with deportment.
So spiritual principles are capable of application in all generations and culture.
So tell us how Albania is different from here. Okay, so not from here.
[29:16] You see, I moved from Albina to Northern Ireland, and I told them that the sisters don’t wear hats in our meeting.
But I added that they wear veils. And actually, you can see here, the gospel came from the Italians, and as I can see, some sisters from South America, they wear veils, because the veil is more appropriate for our culture.
And actually it was for Italian culture and then that was replicated into Albania.
Yeah.
It’s all the same principle of the head covering, but application of it, heart, bary or veil as is applied.
[30:00] Yeah, so that’s an example of that. I did preach in Northern Ireland once that I thought a veil was actually better than a hat. I’ve sat in meetings and I’ve had hats in front of me where I thought there might be a bird nesting in them. And it seems to me that doesn’t quite have the spirit of head covering teaching, that they didn’t quite appreciate it, to be quite honest with you. But this is a serious matter. I don’t mean to make it light. The point being that the head covering, the head is covered in Albania in that way. And so.
[30:42] That might be a difference and a distinction. I travel to Sri Lanka and in Sri Lanka, you know I’m traveling from the rich West and I’m traveling to a totally impoverished country. I’m out with believers where they have nothing, I mean they have nothing. We were preaching the gospel three years ago probably now, at a man’s house who had fairly recently been saved. It was a brick house that had been built by a charity. The night before we got there wild elephants had, got to the house, they’d smelt grain, they tried to get the grain, they tried to push the house over to get the grain, suddenly realized these elephants that there was a grain store down the road and they went and demolished this brother’s grain store. So, we’re preaching the gospel and I had to tell you, you know, he was… I didn’t think for a moment about what he was wearing. I, actually do at home, but I didn’t think about what he was wearing because actually all he was wearing was all he had.
[31:45] I looked at the man and I thought, this is amazing, he was as happy as today and tomorrow and eternity that the gospel was being preached under his awning of his house and all these Muslim and Buddhist and Catholic neighbours were all there hearing the gospel.
So in Sri Lanka, the outworking of those principles that we seek to work out here will be done in a slightly different way because of their culture, because of their economic situation, because of the point, for instance, there’s differences simply because it’s absolutely boiling hot all the year round.
We’re preaching in 37 degrees with almost 100% humidity, not humility.
That too. Should be 100% humility, 100% humidity we’re preaching in there.
So they’re looking to work out the self-same principles, but they will do so in their culture and they will do so in the way that honors God where they are.
So the working out of biblical principle will differ according to where you are and timing.
But the thing about biblical principle is that it is capable of being outworked in every place.
[33:00] At every time, in every generation, in every circumstance.
So there’s no point saying, no point preaching, no point laying down some kind of law that it must be done in that way, if in fact it can’t be done in that way anywhere where biblical principle is being espoused.
I think that’s a really, really important point, that what we teach must be capable of abdication everywhere that there are believers who are meeting together.
Do you want to add anything else to that? No. Okay, I must have been speaking too much.
Again, I do apologise.
Now, there’s a spirit in which biblical principles have to be applied, a proper spirit.
I think that’s a big thing, isn’t it, amongst us?
To have a proper spirit.
So it seems to me that on this area of things, that there’s two things that must be avoided.
The first is what I think has often been called looseness.
[33:58] So, under that you can’t pick and choose what biblical principles to uphold.
This comes back to the point we had at the beginning. You can’t pick and choose.
It’s not a pick and mix, shelf or store. This is Bible teaching is to be upheld.
We can’t ignore certain parts of it.
So that’s where we’re seeking to apply biblical principle, but we fall short of what should be because it might not fit in with our personal preference.
Well, I won’t do. Might not fit in with what they do up the road, and they’re a very successful church, you know, up the road.
So we say, well, they don’t do that, so why should we? And you know, in an assembly setting, it comes back to this, that this is God’s house and so because it’s God’s house, we need to make sure that we’re not kind of loose in the way that we apply things.
[35:04] The other thing, I think this is diminishing, but the other side of it is that biblical principle can be applied in a very iron-fisted, legalistic way. And what that does is diminish the principle that you’re seeking to uphold. So here’s an example. There was a great brother, he’s with the Lord now, called Mr. Fred Clulow, and he was in the Cloughfern Assembly in Belfast, And he had a great Belfast sense of humour.
And he used to tell me that just after the war, he was in one of the meetings in Belfast, he was in fellowship there.
And two things happened. Number one, the elders insisted that the sisters wore their hats on the way to the meeting.
[36:05] And I think that’s probably not just in Belfast, but that’s happened.
So the Bible teaches really that the sisters should have their heads covered and the men should not have their heads covered in the gatherings of the assembly.
[36:24] But they were insisting beyond that. And what they were doing was insisting that women should have their heads covered on the way to the meeting.
You just can’t substantiate that from Scripture.
And it seems to me that if you do try and substantiate that from Scripture, you are actually diminishing the principle that you’re trying to uphold.
By the same token, the elders used to say to the men in the meeting, they had to wear hats.
No baseball caps, I doubt, back then, but hats, trilbies, bowler hats maybe, caps.
And do you know why they had to do that?
So that when they got to the open air, they could take them off.
So everybody would see that the males didn’t have their heads covered in meetings.
So that might be not a very clever example, but it’s something that I want us to understand.
That if it is that you go beyond and apply what you deem to be a principle in an iron-fisted way and beyond what the Bible teaches, so if looseness comes short of it, legalism goes beyond what the Bible teaches. And that being the case, it diminishes the very thing that, you were trying to uphold. I’m sure there’s other examples of that.
[37:42] Well, I’ll tell you one. I think you both got wedding rings on. I don’t. That’s because…
I don’t know why really. Well, if I was getting married now, I would do. But I’m married 45 years and people did wear wedding rings. Not everybody did. But now, now people have said, that men shouldn’t wear wedding rings. Because James says about a man coming with a gold ring on. It’s absolutely nothing to do with wedding rings.
Can I add something?
[38:17] Yeah, please. And if you’d come in Albania without a wedding ring, you’ll be considered a very dodgy man if you’re married, because you’re not trying to tell others that you’re married.
Yes, exactly. So coming back to if I was getting married again, no, if I was getting married now. I didn’t really, don’t tell my wife. That was a Freudian slip. Scratch that. If I was getting married now, I would certainly have a wedding ring. For that reason. To show women and in our society men, that I actually am a married man. Thank you. And I’m married my wife. So you can’t then say you shouldn’t wear a wedding ring because James says if a man comes to your assembly wearing a gold ring, it’s obviously talking about showiness in James.
And the exhibition of riches. So you can take that scripture and you can apply it in that really legalistic way and you’ve undermined what James is saying.
[39:23] A big one that maybe gets used and then undermined is the one on order. Perhaps you’ve heard that quite a bit that everything needs to be done in order. Like I know cultures where that is applied to mean that the men and women should sit on opposite sides of an auditorium because it will be distracting and if they’re together. And I’m not saying that shouldn’t happen in certain cultures, if that’s what they do, but you can understand why bringing that over to a culture where, or enforcing that on another, you could see how that’s going beyond whether it’s order or, that principle, 1 Corinthians. Yeah, so legality is not obedience to what is written, but it’s an insistence on going beyond what is written. So what that means is this, that we have a duty to obey God in all that he’s taught but to do so in a balanced manner. So we make sure we don’t fall short.
[40:24] So if the Bible… just come back to this matter of head coverings because it’s a, bit of a hot potato in certain parts and in certain circumstances. If we come back, to what the Bible says about head coverings, which by the way apply to the men as much as to the women, that the men are not to have head coverings, the women are to have head coverings in meetings. If we come back to that, it’s, possible to say, well, hmm, yeah, okay, but I feel very uncomfortable wearing a head covering at a gospel meeting.
[40:59] But there’s a principle underlying all of this, which is that whenever it is that we gather together in the presence of God, that’s the principle, that when we gather together, in the presence of God, that men should have their heads uncovered and women should really have their heads covered.
You can apply that in all kinds of other situations. So we might say, well, okay, 1 Corinthians 11 is about the local assembly, which I take, it to be, but at the same time there is clearly a principle that is undergirding that, which, is the distinction between the sexes and in the presence of God, that to be observed and, the men’s… Yes, please.
Can I ask you a question? Should, in your opinion, women have their heads covered at a wedding? Yes, I do think so.
Okay. And at funerals. Okay.
For that reason, it seems to me there’s an underlying principle, which is that you are gathered together in the presence of God, and that being the case, knowing what we do know from 1 Corinthians 11, there should be an observation of that principle.
Now it seems to me that not to do that falls short.
Of the observance of the principle. There’s a deathly silence come over there.
Yeah, we’re all waiting when your ticket out of here is.
I’m not sure I’m getting it.
[42:23] So I’m just stating it as I see it. There is an undergirding principle on 1 Corinthians 11. I believe that to be the case.
I would say that just, I would not take the view that women should have their heads covered at funerals, weddings. The gospel meeting is an interesting one that I won’t go down just now, but funerals and weddings. And I think that the principle in 1 Corinthians 11 is bound by, as it is in all the churches. So I think it is referring not just in that context to assembly meetings, but exclusively to meetings of a local church. So I wouldn’t take it beyond, a meeting that is not a meeting of the local assembly. Okay, so I hear what you’re saying. I don’t agree. We would differ, yeah. Yeah, we would.
And so I take that in 1 Corinthians 11 as in all the churches. Yes, he is saying that, but my point is there is something underlying and undergirding that whole thing, which is there’s an order of headship which is creatorial. That is to be observed amongst the Lord’s people and it’s particularly to be observed amongst the Lord’s people where it is that they gather together in the presence of God. So at a wedding, I don’t know how it is, but, the preamble to the wedding vows in England would be, we’re gathered here to gather in the presence of God to unite this man and this woman in holy matrimony.
But to me, if you’re in the presence of God, this counts.
[43:49] Because maybe we’re directing here, but you’re rooting here.
So, and what about in the Bible study in my home?
No, I’m not telling you what I believe, but what I see from 1 Corinthians 11, but let’s say.
No, we want to know what you believe.
You have in Acts, when Aquila and Priscilla.
[44:13] They took up polos, and they were expounding scripture to him.
So what was the whom Bible study?
When that sister had the head covered, or better, when that brother had the head covered?
Well, the point to me with Priscilla and Aquila is that they’re in a domestic situation.
So they’re not meeting together in the presence of God, as we would say in meetings, or as I would say, in funerals and in weddings.
So they’re just in the domestic circumstances. So we know that they taught them, the way of God more perfectly.
So Priscilla was doing teaching as well as Aquila. In fact, Priscilla might have been, more than, she might have been.
You know, it happens, and you know, good. Perfect, now.
I feel like he’s getting me in a trap here. Nope. I love you, brother.
[45:04] Now, let’s go back to the wedding. Okay.
So a wedding ceremony, a beautiful thing, you know, I’ve been married and in a wedding ceremony and all that, but if we want to go deep, deep, it’s not scripture.
You know what I mean? Okay, so whenever in the scripture, we see a man and a woman coming and then preaching on the wedding and they exchange vows, you know, in the new Testament, in that sense.
Okay. You know what I mean? No, not really. Okay. So there is a couple.
Say that again. Okay. Okay. So.
[45:48] You have a couple, right? And they get married and to the gospel hall, right? She’s from wherever, he’s from wherever, come together, all the assembly come together, visitors and whatever.
So if we want to be, you know, picky in a way, that’s not scriptural, because we don’t have a a wedding ceremony as such, as we do today.
[46:14] In the New Testament, or in Google Fox, or elsewhere.
At that wedding, or that marriage, or another marriage who is being celebrated at the borough council office, is as valid, I believe, as that that has been celebrated in the gospel hall.
You know what I mean? Yes, that is the case, because ultimately, the marriage that you contracted, is according to the law of the land.
Absolutely. And according to the law of the land in a lot of places, I don’t know, we’re everywhere, but I have to say, I had to say to my wife, I don’t know of any lawful impediment why I shouldn’t marry you, and she had to say the same to me.
And I take you to be my wife, and she says the same to me, except I’m her husband.
So those vows have to be, so what you’re saying is that you’re as much married if you exchange those vows in the office of the registrar that’s deaths and marriages as you are if you get married in the gospel. I think you’re saying you shouldn’t get married in the gospel. No I’m not saying that I’m saying that we have the liberty to do that yes but that marriage is as valid in the gospel hall is as valid as being done at the registry office, you know what I mean?
Yes. soon.
[47:28] And that means we have the liberty. So brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so who got married in registry office are as married as myself who got married in the Gospel Hall.
And that is a liberty that we see from the Scripture.
And the woman who’s getting married might have to have a, might in best part of her wardrobe, have a veil on, but it’s part of the ceremony where she might have to take that off, to exchange a kiss, if you do that in the UK as well. I don’t know, I don’t want to, make things awkward for you.
Best bit of the wedding, right? And she might also have to say a few words, which of course, you know, silence of women, but I digress.
Yes, so we recognize that both a wedding and a funeral are slightly different from normal church meetings.
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Yes, but my point is this, that the undergirding principle is the same, which we gather together in the presence of God and is to be observed. I believe in that. Now, we could flog that forever and ever, so we’re going to draw a line under that. So those are interesting, things. Here’s another one, all right? We all like examples. I can see you’re all Cracking your ears up on some of this stuff, so this is good.
What about letters of commendation?
[48:53] So to me, a letter of commendation is a very good practice.
[49:00] But if anybody says we cannot receive anybody without a letter of commendation, they’re going beyond what the scripture teaches about letters of commendation.
So if you go somewhere to another assembly, it is good for you to take a letter of commendation.
Of course it is, apart from the fact that it’s the assembly you’re going from, saying you have our commendation, you know it’s carrying greetings and all that from one assembly to the other and that’s good. I suppose actually you had to go there with no notice, you suddenly were in another place, you had a family emergency so you had to travel and you turn up, you want to remember the Lord and the Lord’s Day morning and you don’t have a letter of commendation or you’re telling them you’re coming but you don’t have a letter of commendation, it would be well out of order for the receiving assembly, if they were to not, I say the receiving assembly, if in fact they didn’t receive you simply because you weren’t carrying a bit of paper.
[50:04] Because the principle is not that you’re received only with a letter of commendation, the principle is that you are received on the basis of who you are, the life you’re living and all those sorts of things, a letter of commendation just makes that easier. So what I’m saying is this, it is good practice, but if there is an iron insistence that you cannot be received without a letter, you’re going beyond what Scripture says. Now, not many people are nodding on that, but I want you to think about that. I am not trying to diminish the value of a letter of commendation. I really am not, but it can be diminished by insisting on something that Scripture doesn’t actually teach as a principle. So it’s good practice. Do you Do you want to say anything on that?
Or is it too much of a? No, can I add something?
Yes, please. Right, 2,000 years ago, the letters were the only way of communication. Yes.
Today, we have more ways of communication. Exactly.
And between the two assemblies, between the apostle and an assembly, a local church, Corinthians or anywhere, the only way was a letter.
[51:12] Today, we have emails, we have phone calls, we have, I don’t know, And that letter was there to make sure that the brother or the sister or the person was going to be accepted in this new place where he was going, that he was a real Christian and he was not there as an imposter.
So.
[51:37] The same principle applies. So the way of communications have changed today, have improved, so why not use them?
Yeah, it can be an email of commendation, sorry. No, and I think, I’ll have to think about what you said, but on the other side, having a letter shouldn’t be a free ride, if you will, to any assembly.
After all, if somebody has a letter and it says such and such gospel hall, well, what does that place believe? Especially if you don’t know the brethren who are signing the letter or the place, you’ve never heard of it.
It’d be a very dangerous thing to just receive with a letter, right?
So just on the other side of it. Yeah, absolutely. So care has to be taken all the ways around, in that particular area of things.
[52:20] Good. Now, examples could be multiplied. It’s probably not a good idea to do it, but examples could be multiplied.
But I wonder if we could just grasp really what we’re trying to say, which is this, that we need to understand with the Lord’s help what the Bible is actually teaching, and do our level best with the Spirit’s help to be obedient to it, not to fall short of it, not to go beyond it.
So what that means is then that not with looseness, not with legality, but we ought to do that with love for Christ.
So this comes back to putting Christ in central place in all of our thinking.
And love for Christ, to me, will answer a whole lot of questions in these sorts of areas that we’re talking about. So I love my wife, just to take a lesser example, but I love my wife. We’ve been married 45 years. You know, there’s all sorts of things I could say about that, like murderers get less and all that, but I’m not. But we’ve been married for 45 years, so I love my wife. I’m commanded to love, I love, have always loved, God willing, will.
Because I love my wife, there are certain things I will not do.
And because I love my wife, there are certain things I will do.
[53:46] And those things that I won’t do, it’s not because there’s a law against them.
And the things that I will do is not because there’s a law that I must do.
So it’s not prohibition or that which is mandatory.
But I love my wife.
Now, bring that kind of idea into the assembly. To me a whole lot of questions disappear because if I love the Lord, if we together love the Lord and put Him in His first place, that will lead to loyalty to Him.
[54:23] And where it is that there is loyalty to Christ, there’s a desire to please Him.
So change the picture and think of athletics.
So this is the Olympics now.
In the Olympics, you don’t go in order to win the bronze and you don’t go in order to win the silver, but you do whatever it takes to win the gold. To me in Christian life and living, the big thing is not just to be in the race and not to be happy with bronze or silver in pleasing the Lord, but to go for gold. That might mean you’re misunderstood and it might mean that people might think you’re a bit odd, bizarre, but brothers and sisters, at the, judgment seat, that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about love to Christ, loyalty to Christ, fidelity to Christ, and that involves the working out to gold, standard, as the Lord enables us, of the teaching of his word.
Amen. In the kind of manner that we’ve been thinking of. Now, either of you want to add anything?
We’re pretty well locked.
[55:40] Well, I’ve got one more point, which is this, let us make sure that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
[55:49] So, are we living in a changing world? We are. Are things likely to change in our outworking of principle as time goes by?
Yes, but be careful because I have seen assemblies where I live that were good going, strong, biblical assemblies, and they decided they’d introduce this, which didn’t seem much, introduce that, which didn’t seem much, and in due course of time, over 20-30 years, what’s happened is this, that what didn’t seem much suddenly became an awful lot. You know, how it is, if you get to a fork in the road, it might be just a very small angle, but you follow it down and it gets wider and wider and wider apart, it’s like that, in biblical things and the great possibility is that we can say well that doesn’t matter so much, that doesn’t matter. I’ve seen these assemblies and they’ve become very far removed from any biblical model of a local church and it, all began with very small things. So I’m not saying we’d have to have a thin end of the wedge mentality, that can be very destructive and negative but we really need to be careful that as times change, as we work out biblical principles in different ways, that we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. You, understand the expression? Balance. Balance. Balance. Balance is the thing.
[57:14] It seems to me that like, it seems to me, just if I can understand the balanced spiritual believer, that person would probably be called both a liberal and a, legalist, because they’re in neither camp, right?
From a liberal or a loose, as you termed it, they’d be viewed as very legalistic and rigid.
But then from people who are going beyond, they’d be viewed as loose.
[57:41] So it’d be a very uncomfortable position to be a balanced believer.
Yeah, you’ll get it from both sides.
But the ultimate thing, and we’ll finish on this, the ultimate thing is this.
Is it well-pleasing to the Lord? Yeah.
Is the only question to answer. Is it well pleasing to the Lord? And in that, let us all seek to go for the gold standard. Well, anyway, may the Lord bless the time, that we spent to, you know, sometimes things like this stimulate our thinking about what the Bible teaches, and that’s what I hoped might be the outcome. I hope that’s the outcome, And may the Lord bless us all together.
Stamp eternity on me.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_11JBaker20220918.m4a[0:00] Close out my little sketch on godliness. I admit that that’s what it’s been, an amateur sketch, but it has been a burden on my own heart personally, and hopefully it will be a blessing to especially those of you who are younger.
1st Corinthians 15, and we’ll just read at verse 19. The Apostle Paul says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
And drop down to verse 58, this was read at the hymn sing yesterday, Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in, the Lord. And then over to 1st Timothy again, chapter 4. 1st Timothy, chapter 4.
[0:54] But refuse profane and old wives’ fables and exercise, discipline thyself rather unto godliness, for bodily exercise profiteth little.
But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and, of that which is to come.”, Yesterday, really, by and large, we were looking at the imperative in this section for godliness.
The Apostle Paul is telling his son in the faith, Timothy, Timothy, go in for this. Discipline yourself.
Put your all into this. This is vitally important.
It’s a command that the Apostle Paul is giving to Timothy.
Discipline yourself for godliness.
And in the next 20 or so minutes, I want to look at the, not the imperative, but the incentive.
Why?
[1:47] If godliness, as I hope you would have agreed with me, is a great need, a crying need in our country for godliness, and yet if it’s a very difficult thing as we try to look at, like, if we take some of those things on board, it’s going to mean practically making real changes in our everyday schedule to make time for disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, and loads of other things that we didn’t mention.
If it’s going to be that much work, if it’s going to be, as our brother said, going to the spiritual gym, is it really worth it?
And Paul is going to answer that in these verses. He’s going to give the incentive.
And we use that today. I have a relative who was told—he’s not very old, but he was told from a young age that if he did not shore up his diet, he was going to pass away rather suddenly when he reached 50.
And he was told that, you know, he really should improve his diet and stop eating this and stop eating that, and, you know, it’s not very good for his diabetes and not very good for his heart, and he didn’t really care until that nurse told him just straight out, you’re going to die at 50, man.
[3:02] And then the incentive made him make radical changes in his life.
And I think we all live in that way, whether it’s business or school or family, we live, by incentives. Richard Dawkins, Professor Dawkins, who usually is quoted for the ridiculous things he says, he has said something that’s rather witty. He said on this topic of incentives, he said, I’ve noticed that the rabbit runs faster than the fox because the rabbit is running for his life.
The fox is running for his lunch.
You see, incentives, they play a role. And what the Apostle Paul is telling Timothy is, Timothy, godliness, vitally important. As the baton of testimony is being passed, no more apostolic succession. It is going out to Timothy and Titus. They’re going to appoint elders.
And as the baton is being passed, here’s the great principle that’s going to govern how the church should function in a spiritual way, godliness, godliness. But it’s going to, take a lot of work. But here’s the incentive. Paul says this, 1 Timothy 4 and verse 7.
[4:16] 4, verse 8, because bodily exercise, perhaps referring to some of the things being talked about in the background here in 1 Timothy, some of those fastings and don’t eat these foods and keep these holy days. He said bodily training, bodily discipline profits. It has some benefit for a little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Then he’s going to explain that.
What do you mean, Paul, all things? He says it has a promise. It has a promise for the life that now is and of that which is to come. Two incentives for godliness. Number one, it, will radically and greatly benefit the life that now is. It will change this life. But the Apostle is moving to also what we’ve just concluded with there with our brother Ian, of that which is to come. But let me just begin with this part, the life that now is. We talked about this yesterday in the panel. You You see, godliness frees a man, although it is discipline, godliness frees a man to live as man was intended to live.
How were you intended to live?
Were you intended to live for your job?
[5:38] Were you intended to live for your family? The Bible says we were made by Him, through Him, for Him. Godliness frees a person to live as they were intended to live.
And as a result, godliness will make a person’s life, in this life, the most beneficial.
Now, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I’m not saying that if you have a biology test that if you study your Bible you’re gonna ace the test.
[6:13] That’s ridiculous. In fact, that’s probably ungodliness. You should be a good steward when you’re a biology student, right? Nor am I saying that when somebody is godly—I would never want to give this impression. I hope that the challenge has been heard, by the way, during the conference, that there may be, young men, young women, families here who the Lord is calling, and if they were to take godliness seriously and see themselves in the sight of God, the Lord is calling to devote themselves to serving in a different way. But please understand godliness has far more to do in preaching and teaching. Godliness comes right down to how you go to work on Monday. Says the Apostle in Ephesians 6, he says that when a person goes to work who’s godly, they don’t do it with eye service. As a man pleaser, they serve Christ when they’re going to work from their heart. So please understand that godliness is far more than just preaching and teaching, which is a very specific group of people who God is so gifted to do that. Please understand it has to do with the wife, and has to do with the mother, and has to do with the person who’s going to work, or the student in school. And it has a promise for the life that now is, that I will be what would change my marriage, what would make my marriage the marriage it was intended to be.
Would it be more date nights? My wife says probably, but no.
Would it be more vacations, cruises?
[7:36] It would change greatly if I was more godly.
[7:43] And it would change greatly if you were more godly. And we sacrifice that, and we fill that, and substitute that, and supplement that with, all the other things to our own detriment.
We really do. This holds promise for the life that now is, whether it’s our families, our jobs, and many of these other things.
But I want to move to this second point. Not just where we’re at today.
Surely godliness would change, even as you’ve heard today, our local assemblies.
Like imagine, and it’ll be easier for you to imagine the person you maybe don’t like.
What if that person was more godly?
[8:31] But then imagine if you were more godly, in your assembly, like imagine how it would change our conversations.
Imagine how it would raise the fellowship. We call it fellowship, but really it might just be socializing, right?
We talk about where we went on vacation and what we’re… But fellowship is about Christ and about His Word and about eternity.
Imagine how it would raise if we were all just a bit more godly, right?
It would change everything, in my opinion, and I know it’s easy to exaggerate, but I really believe that.
I really think it would change so much in this life.
But says the apostle, godliness holds promise, Timothy, not only for the life that now is, but also for that which is to come.
You see, the power of perspective is a big thing. I’ve appreciated this, actually, going through the life of David, just in my own reading a couple of weeks ago. Interesting to notice the perspectives of David, right?
Like as he comes to the Valley of Elah and his brother says, oh, you’ve left those few sheep in the wilderness, and David says, they were my father’s sheep.
[9:50] And then they’re all worried about this giant, this man of war from his youth.
And David says, who is this dog?
And then they say, well, how can we take him? We’re just servants of Saul.
And David says, who is this that defies the armies of the living God?
Perspective.
His perspective is just totally changed. Humorously, somebody said like this, that David went into the, that when the people were standing in the Valley of Elah, they said, Oh, he’s so big.
We can never win.
[10:26] And David said he’s so big, I couldn’t miss.
You see, perspective, perspective, it changes things. And wouldn’t it change things if we had an eternal perspective? It was a man by the name, we wouldn’t certainly agree with everything he did, but nonetheless, he was a great man here in the United States by the name of Jonathan Edwards.
As a young man, only 18 years old, he wrote this, resolved. I love that word, resolve.
Resolve, kind of like the word henceforth.
Things are changing today. Resolve to live as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
Resolve to live as I shall wish I had done 10,000 years from now.
And he prayed this very famously known, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.
[11:25] He understood that Christian life, and you read through the New Testament, Christian life must be lived through the lens of eternity, with an eternal perspective.
And I don’t know if we live that way, especially here, those of us who are here in North America.
I was very troubled. I hope you don’t think this is too controversial. I was just very troubled when I heard an apologetic that was floating around, I’ve heard it in the broader evangelical world for years, but then it was coming a little bit close to home, and I heard somebody use this and they said, it seemed like a great one, right? It seemed like a winner. They said, you know, this This is what I tell people who are not saved.
I tell them, if I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing.
[12:17] But if you’re wrong, you’ve lost everything.
I don’t know if you’ve used that. It seems pretty powerful, like it’s a winner.
If I’m wrong, I’m right. If you’re wrong, of course I’m right.
Right? The problem is it’s not biblical. You know what the apostle said?
If only I had hope in this life, I am, of all people, the most to be pitied.
He said, if I’m wrong, I’ve lost everything.
Imagine that apologetic, imagine it. Imagine looking at William Tyndale being burnt at the stake, and saying, if I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing. Nonsense! It’s talking about living for a coming age. And brothers and sisters, we are destined for eternity.
Sometimes we preach this in the gospel, right? If you died tonight, where would you be? Are you ready to meet God? Brothers and sisters, are you ready to to meet Christ?
Are you happy to meet Christ the way you’re living? Am I?
[13:38] We preach eternity. Honestly now, I don’t—I wonder if we were to take a poll.
I know for myself, this is what awakened me when it came to salvation. It wasn’t the beauties of Christ. It wasn’t His love. It was the reality of eternity. And I think that the reality of eternity needs to wake Christians up again. Eternity! Eternity! That’s what the apostle is saying here, that this is what godliness holds value for, the life that is to come.
And so Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy, listen, you might not get all the dividends here, surely you won’t. There’s going to come a time later, 2 Timothy, he’s going to say, they’re going to have itching ears, they’re not even going to want to listen to you.
[14:21] But you’re still going to have to preach the word, because there’s one who is ready to judge, and you’re preaching ultimately for him. And this is about eternity, Timothy. And the apostle, as he faced all kinds of things, the Apostle Paul, judgments that were coming. Are you really an apostle? He said, listen, it’s a small thing if you judge. I don’t even, I’m not even the final judge myself. It’s almost like the Apostle Paul consistently was living like this thing from Jonathan Edwards. Eternity imprinted, stamped on the eyeball. That’s pretty vivid, right?
Eternity. Could you imagine? Could you imagine looking at your life? I want to tell you that the ideologies in this world, like this quote-unquote American dream, is totally against what I’m saying here tonight, today. It is totally against this view of eternity. The American dream, is not great indulgence, it’s just have a good life. Like, get married, raise a lovely family, Send them to nice colleges, retire early, relax, enjoy that retirement.
[15:35] And Paul says, no, it’s not about this life. It’s about eternity! Eternity!
It’s about the age to come. This is dress rehearsal, right? And as we heard, I would go a long way with what my brother said yesterday. Godliness, it is filling a capacity that we will enjoy. Enjoy Christ for eternity. We’re all going to heaven, those of us who are saved.
We’re all justified by faith in the Lord Jesus, but we’re not all going to enjoy it the same way.
I think it was David Gooding who put it like a Christmas party or some kind of a party, and everybody’s coming and everyone’s going to have a good time.
But he says, you know, the little toddler who comes, who just gets a bit of the cream, from the birthday cake or the Christmas cake, and that toddler just enjoys that cake until he passes out. He still enjoys the party, it’s great. Then he moves on to a little bit older, and they’re playing with the trains, and they’re playing with the toys, and they’re enjoying it way more than the toddler, but they’re still enjoying it. Then he moves on to the kids who are having snowball fights outside, and they’re enjoying the party a lot more, and they’ve even got gifts for one another. But then he moves on to the mature, the mature people who sit at the the table and they enjoy the other things too, but they’re really coming into the good and the full blessing.
[17:03] You see, we’re all going to enjoy heaven, but we’re not all going to enjoy it to the same extent.
[17:11] Please understand, like I can’t live the way I’m living and one day get to heaven and say, Paul, you and I are going to enjoy heaven the exact same.
Are we living for eternity? And that’s what godliness has the benefit for.
I think eternity is really quite an awesome thing to think about. What is eternity?
Spurgeon I think explained it in relation to time. Any explanation or analogy fails, right, when we’re talking about the eternal as we have heard. But he said, time is like a drop of water. Eternity is like an ocean. I ask, you again, I challenge you, especially young people. I appreciate you staying this late in the conference in the middle of a school semester. Listen, are, Are you living for the drop of water?
Is it all about the drop of water?
What about the ocean?
What about eternity?
Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.
[18:32] Someone has said, five minutes inside eternity. Now again, I don’t know how much shame we will have, but he put it like this, five minutes inside eternity.
We will all wish that we had sacrificed more, wept more, grieved more, prayed more, and given more.
Like just imagine, imagine. We were singing this morning hymns to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’ve just been hearing about the one who is in glory today.
Imagine, like we say this in the gospel, right? Before the night is over.
Imagine if tomorrow you and I were looking into the face of the Lord Jesus.
[19:17] Are you happy with how you’re living? Says the apostle, godliness has profit.
Godliness pays dividends in the life that is to come.
I’ve been thinking in a few ways, the eternal perspective. in the gospel, believe it or not, I’m a fairly shy person myself, and I find it a difficulty to share the gospel, and I don’t want to ruin anybody’s day, and I know that they would rather talk about politics and who I like in the election, and who won the Michigan football game, and but the moment that you start talking about spiritual things, I realize that people turn off to that.
Anyone like that here? Do you know that sharing the gospel is a spiritual discipline? We’re not all supposed to share it the same way. Not everyone is a preacher, right? Not everyone can write really nice tracts, but we’re all supposed to share it. Every believer is supposed to share the gospel. Says again, Mr. Spurgeon, a Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.
Gulp. You’re either sharing it, and you’re a Christian, or you’re not a Christian.
[20:32] But, but, ah, I just don’t know how to bring it up. Now, I don’t want to come up with just some simplistic answer, but one thing that’s helped me is thinking about eternity, that my neighbor is actually going to a place where the fire never quenches. And the worm doesn’t die.
[20:57] And a co-worker and a friend. Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.
Remove the indifference and the coldness, right? This is what Asaph was thinking when he was envious of the wicked, and then he goes into the sanctuary, right? We were talking about that for godliness. He goes into the sanctuary and then he understands their end.
And he actually has pity for them. They’re in slippery places. They’ll pass away in a moment.
Eternity changes the perspective. Eternity from the vantage of looking at trials from the vantage point of eternity. You get that with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians.
Likely, in this conference, behind the smiles and the nice to see you again, there’s some, believers here who are going through valleys.
And it’s been a great weekend. I hope it has been for you. I hope you’ve been encouraged.
I hope you’ve been blessed by being here and listening to teaching and being with each other.
But come Monday, wherever you go back to, you might just go back right into a trial.
A trial that you’ve been waiting and praying that God would take you out of, but he hasn’t.
[22:16] Yet. You know a great perspective to see trials? Eternity. Says the Apostle Paul this in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, therefore we do not lose heart. Though, our outer man is decaying, the trial of persecution, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are unseen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal.”, In other words, the apostle says this, I look at the eternal perspective on trials.
I understand that God is going to use this to weave it in my life to accomplish that great good, when all things work together for good, when I will be made conformed to His precious Son.
I view trials from that lens.
[23:20] And you can see how the hymn writers could say that they’re sweet, the trials that the Lord sends.
Count it all joy when you face many trials, trials from the lens of eternity. What about labor?
I wonder if there’s a believer here today. I wonder if there’s a Sunday school teacher, somebody involved in children’s work. I wonder if there’s an overseer, somebody who’s sharing the gospel, somebody who’s trying to get involved in the local assembly, And you find your labor just met with a wall of discouragement, disillusionment.
[23:53] And you never thought you’d get a little bit more pat on the backs. You thought you’d have a little bit more encouragement for what you’re doing. But no, you haven’t had that. And maybe you’re thinking of just of just letting it all go. None of the results are happening. More people are leaving. Nobody’s being saved. Those who are saved are not being taught. They’re going other places.
And you get discouraged. You probably will get discouraged if you’re really involved in the work of God. Get discouraged. And that’s what we read in 1st Corinthians 15. The Apostle Paul is telling those believers that, do you want to know why your labor is not in vain in the Lord? Eternity! That’s why. He says, therefore, therefore, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. In regards to what? In regards to the fact that there is a real resurrection. In regards to the fact that there is an eternal destiny and there is coming a day where, the risen Christ with wounds in his hands and feet will reward you and, remember you for every prayer, every visit, every tract, every little sermon, that never really reached anyone, but you prepared it sincerely to please God. It It will count in eternity!
[25:12] And so we live for eternity, brothers and sisters. That’s what we live for, not for here and now.
I’m reminded of a story. You’ve probably heard this one. About time for a story.
Getting kind of heavy. A story of a preacher named Henry Morrison.
I don’t know too much about him, except that he was a preacher in Africa.
[25:35] It says, I’ll just read it to you here. It says that he was a faithful missionary who the Lord over in Africa for 40 years. He recalled an emotional day when he and his wife boarded a ship on their way home to the United States. His mind was flooded with memories of the wonderful experiences they had enjoyed on the mission field, and he began wondering what it would be like to return to his Midwest hometown, and will anyone be there to remember us and speak with us.
Aboard the same ship that day, with Henry and his wife, was the former president of these United States, Teddy Roosevelt.
He was returning from a big-game hunting trip to Africa. And when the ship pulled into the New York harbor, thousands of people were gathered to meet the president, of course.
The crowds cheered. The bands played. There were signs and banners and billboards everywhere.
Home. Mr. Morrison and his wife left the ship and they saw that not one person had come to welcome them home.
[26:46] With a heavy and discouraged heart, Henry Morrison went to the hotel room that day, and he told his wife this, Honey, for forty years we have poured our lives into this ministry and service.
We have come back to America, and not a single soul has come to welcome us home.
His wife came, sat down next to him, put her hand on his hand, and said, Henry, you’re not home yet.
[27:25] Eternity. It’s going to count in eternity.
Live for eternity. Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs. Impress it.
And it brings me now to this topic that I’ve been trying to take up this weekend.
Weekend. Godliness. Godliness will count in eternity. Those who are godly will have a capacity, to enjoy the Lord in a different way than those who are not. It will count in eternity, brothers and sisters. Reminded of the story of William Kelly. Now, for those of you who are young 18, 19, 20, mid-20s, this man, William Kelly, what I’m about to tell you is when he was just a young college student. And after he was an exceptional student, brilliant, and those who have read his writings will understand that he was brilliant. But the principal warmly congratulated William Kelly, I’m just getting this from his biography, upon his scholastic brilliance.
The principal offered Kelly a post upon the college staff, hinting that if Kelly were to accept, said the principal, you would make your fortune in the world.
To which Kelly replied two words, Which world?
Christ looked to the things.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_10IJackson20220918.m4a[0:00] Now, I want to read two well-known verses and to indicate this afternoon that the one is the answer to the other.
So we’re reading in Philippians chapter 2, firstly.
The epistles of the Philippians and in chapter 2. And reading at verse number 4, look not every man on his own things, but every man also, on the things of others.
This mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.” Now the gospel by John please, and chapter 17. John’s gospel chapter 17, and reading at verse number 5.
[0:59] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now the Lord has blessed us the reading of, his Word. I want to make a general point before I come into the particulars of Philippians 2 first of all, which is this, that whatever the difficulty amongst believers, whatever the problem is in assembly life, and they do arise from time to time, the answer is always found in the person of Christ.
[1:46] And that what you find in New Testament epistles is that the greatest Christology, the greatest teaching about the person and the work of Christ is found in the most practical, of passages. This indicates to us that Christian doctrine, theology if you like, Christian doctrine.
[2:09] Is not some high-blown, far-off, distant thing that we’ll only grasp if we’re that way inclined, so much as we are discovering that the greatest, highest, most glorious truth about the person of Christ will speak to us in our circumstances, whatever they be, and in particular where there difficulties in assembly life. In Philippi there were difficulties, they weren’t as great as they were in Corinth, for instance, or in the Galatian churches, but in Philippi there were two sisters, you may remember, and I don’t know what the problem was. I’ve been in many discussions where people were saying, I wonder what the problem was? Of course, the fact is that the Bible doesn’t reveal what the problem was between Euodia and Syntyche, and I suppose that if it was important to know we’d be told, but the point of the matter is this, that there was difficulty between them who had previously worked well together. And the great possibility was that there would be people lining up in cliques or in party spirit behind the one and the other. So Paul’s writing from prison in Rome and as he’s writing to them, these believers whom he’s been amongst and who he dearly loves, he wants to encourage them not to be like that.
[3:39] It’s a poor thing when as believers we’re like that, if that’s the case.
So what he’s going to do is write to them and he’s going to say, look I want to show you the perfect example in all of this and what I want to lay before you is the person of Christ, and in particular here in chapter 2 he wants to lay before them the mind of Christ, so look what he says will you in verse number five, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, which by the way is very often where the reading starts when it’s read, But in actual fact you really need to begin earlier on, even earlier than where we began, and when you see that he speaks about this mind being in you, it is the mind that he’s referred to in verse 4.
[4:31] So the mind that he’s encouraging his people to have is not to look on our own things, not to look to our own advantage, not to look to my own furtherance.
[4:45] Nor to look to the furtherance simply of those who are in my little clique, God forbid that there should be such a thing, but in my little clique or my little party.
What he’s saying is this, that we’re not to look on my own personal, selfish, self-indulgent, whims, fancies, ambitions, advantages, but he says to these Christians, you are to look also, on the things of others. And this is exactly that that he refers to when in the next verse he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” And what he’s going to do is explain.
[5:27] How it was that this was Christ’s mind to look not on his own things but actually and also to look, on the things of others. By the way, you ought to be interested because we are the others, isn’t that something? We are the others. He’s going to tell us that he did not look to his own things, but he looked on things for our advantage, for our benefit, for our blessing.
And here we are this afternoon in the good and in the enjoyment of the fact that Christ looked not to his own things, but also to the things of others, we are the others. So the question arises as to how this actually happened, what is it that Paul is thinking about when he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
[6:25] Now, I want to ask you to really try to concentrate on this because the next bit is fairly tightly argued.
So if you miss any of the links of the things I’m about to say, you might go away wondering what the meeting was all about. So I want you to follow this through with me, and to consider the first phrase of verse 6.
[6:45] And what he’s saying in that verse at the beginning, in speaking about Christ Jesus, he says of him who being in the form of God. And there are two great matters, two great words that we need to consider in that expression. The first of them is the word being. Aren’t Bible readings wonderful places, by the way, where lots of words come up that our brethren use and none of us have a clue what the word means, in normal circumstances, but they are seemingly Bible-reading reserved words, and a brother says something, and everybody says Amen, and if you say to them at the end of the meeting, what did that word mean? They’re likely to say, not sure. Did it add clarity? Hmm. Was it in the aorist? That’s a cracker. Which aorist?
Well, well anyway, that’s another matter. But anyway, so people in a Bible reading, If we’re just a Bible reading on this passage, some brother would say, brother, the word being is really the word subsisting.
[7:57] Thank you very much, brother. That was really helpful.
[8:03] Whether or not it’s true, well, it is true, really. But this is the word I want us to think about first, being.
Who’s subsisting in the form of God.
And the idea in the Word is really important to grasp, because embedded within it is the whole idea of the eternity of being of God’s Son, who being in the form of God.
So Paul’s saying, look back the way, look back to before time began, look back to the eternal past, and remember this, that Christ has eternal antecedents. E-N-C-E at the end. Eternal antecedents. The idea in that is this, he had no beginning. He always was. It’s expressing the same thing as John expresses at the beginning of his gospel. In the beginning was the Word. The force of the tenses being this, that there never was a time when the Word began to be.
[9:09] So what Paul is marking, as he’s going to speak on the matter of humility and thinking on the things of others, is this simple yet really profound point, that our Savior knew no beginning of existence.
This is really important, I know it’s pedestrian in one way, and yet profound from another point of view, that our Saviour is eternal.
And of course, in that He’s eternal, He’s going to remind us in a moment, I don’t want to jump in before we get there, but He’s going to remind us in a moment that He is God.
[9:48] And not only does being, subsisting, also point back the way, but what it’s saying is that this actually was true of Him in time.
It was true of Him when He was here.
So let me put it to you like this, the Bible is teaching that when Christ was in the womb of his mother, he was subsisting in the form of God.
[10:13] When our Savior was walking up the main street in Nazareth, or in the carpenter’s shop, or standing in Jordan, or whether it was that he was prostrate in Gethsemane, or bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, our Savior was subsisting in the form of God, who being in the form of God, it looks to the past, it speaks of him in time. It’s true of him now. We realize this, that, Colossians, in Paul in Colossians 2, he’s going to speak of the fact that in him dwelleth, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He’s really saying that’s true now.
Not that it wasn’t true when he was here, but he’s speaking about Christ in glory, and what he’s saying is this, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So what the Apostle is speaking about here is this, that our Savior subsisted in the form of God, unchangingly, immutably, in the past, in the present, in the future, now, in the future, from eternity to eternity, in every circumstance, wherever he’s found, the, fact of the matter is this, he subsisted, who being in the form of God. That’s word number one. Then word number two that I want to call your attention to is this, who being in the form of God.
[11:40] Now, the idea in that is not just mere appearance. That won’t really fit, for a variety of reasons.
In the form of God is not, he was rather like God.
But the idea in form, and the word that’s used here, who being in the form of God, is one of essence.
It is an expression of nature.
It is an expression of that which is intrinsically true.
So now add that to what we’ve just been thinking.
What the passage is saying, what this phrase is saying, is that your Saviour and mine was eternally God.
Go back to eternity past, He’s divine. Possessed of divinity, possessed of the divine nature.
Was his, in the past, in the present, by the way. That means that being in the form of God, was true in time as much as it was in eternity.
[12:50] Can I just ask you all, on matters like this, on matters like sovereignty and responsibility, that those sorts of areas where there is an interface between time and eternity, Let’s not try to reduce that to human logic. Let us not rationalize our way through that. There are things in the Bible you will not understand by, endeavoring to comprehend them in your mind. There is a principle in the Bible, that it is that by faith we understand. Now that’s a really important thing. Do, know, every conjecture that was made about Christ was wrong. They supposed him to be the son of Joseph, wrong. They supposed him to be in the company, wrong.
She supposed him to be the gardener, wrong. They supposed that he was a spirit coming to them on the waters, wrong. Every conjecture about Christ was wrong. On this we need to be careful. You may remember John, you won’t remember John Newton, but You may remember what he wrote.
[14:00] Apart from amazing grace, he wrote, what think ye of Christ is the test. To try both your state and your scheme, you cannot be right in the rest if you fail to think rightly of him. Listen very carefully.
Our Saviour became man, but in becoming man he never ceased to be God.
[14:23] Not only did he never cease to be God, but deity remained undiminished in him.
When one who is God became man, deity remained undiminished in him. And further, the fact that there was two whole and perfect natures in one glorious person.
[14:45] Also means this, that our Savior became really and truly man and the fact that he was God did not elevate in any way his true humanity. So don’t try and explain that, I’m just telling you what the Bible teaches. So here’s one glorious person, from Bethlehem onwards two whole and perfect natures were found in him. Now what Paul’s saying here in Philippians 2 is this, who being in the form of God. Now what about it? When he says look, who being in the form of God and he’s now looking back to an eternity past, he says who being in the form of God, he says he thought it not robbery to be on, listen carefully, to be on equalities, it’s a plural word, to be on equalities with God. So then you say, well what on earth does that mean? Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equality
with God.[15:58] What do we know about that before he came into the world? What we do know, as we’ll find out in John 17, is that he was with the Father.
And if you go further back, in Isaiah 6, you discover that he was enthroned in glory.
He’s Isaiah, he saw the Lord high and lifted up. Who was he seeing? He was seeing the Lord Jesus.
Us. John 12 makes that clear. And before him there were seraphim, you will remember, who, veiled their faces as they flew before him and they cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and he spake of him. So what’s that saying?
Telling us this, that before ever our Savior came into the world, He was in a place and in a position, that was proper, that was appropriate to the outshining of all His glory.
That’s why the angels veiled their faces.[17:06] And you say, yes, we know that. Well, think about it. He was in a place that was proper or appropriate for the outshining of all his glory. I think it’s Bishop Lightfoot, in his commentary on Philippians who says something like this, that there belonged to him all the outward insignia of divine glory and majesty. And you.
[17:36] Think about that and you say, yes that would be true. Well good, we’re on the same sheet here, it was true. You see, and the fact that our Savior was there with the outshining of Godhead glory, because he’s in the form of God, he’s truly God, because our Savior was there and there was all this outshining of glory, don’t, think for one moment that that wasn’t proper. It was his, it rightly belonged to him. So when Paul says, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, you do pretty well if you just stick with the text of the King James Version, because, it’s exactly expressing the idea. Let me put it to you like this, suppose at the end of the meeting you were to walk off with your Bible in your hand into the car park and away you go. You know, no one is going to think a thing about it.
[18:41] But if at the end of the meeting you picked up my Bible by chance, or not, not that I want to, suggest any bad motives with anybody, suppose you picked up my Bible, I wouldn’t worry too much in the sense that this is not my noted Bible, there are one or two notes front and back, as you’ll see in an hour and 20 minutes or something, but suppose that was my noted Bible at home, and you picked it up at the end of the meeting and you walked off with my Bible with any number of notes in it, I would be out in that car park and I would be chasing you and I would be calling after you and I’d be throwing myself on your vehicle because what had happened was this, you had robbed me, you had taken something that didn’t belong to you. If I was carrying that Bible out at the end of the meeting, that you wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, because it’s mine, you wouldn’t think it was robbery that I was taking what was really mine.
[19:47] So what the apostle is saying here is this, that our Saviour thought it not robbery to to be on equalities with God, because the fact of the matter is this, that rightly belonged to him.
The outshining of Godhead glory, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equalities with God, and that Godhead glory that belonged to God the Father and the Holy Spirit of God, is a Godhead glory that properly belonged to the Lord Jesus, and he was in a place, that was proper to the outshining of all of that glory. Now just bear that in mind, it was His, and rightly it was exhibited, it shone forth. So now our Saviour could have had this mind, if you allow me to speak as a man, our Saviour could have had this mind where He could look around on all that He had, His own things. He could look at the place where He was sat, He could look at the praise of angels, he could look at the light, he could look at the love of heaven’s glory, he could look at all of that that was his and he could say, I’m going to stay here and really, really enjoy this. It’s all mine.
[20:57] And it was. But he didn’t say that and he didn’t think that. So the mind that was in Christ Jesus was this, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be on equality with God, but he made himself of no reputation. I’m really glad now that this isn’t a Bible reading, because somebody would say, what do you think Think about kenosis, brother.
[21:32] That’s a Greek word by the way, something like that anyway.
And so somebody would say, well you see what this means is this, that he thought it not robbery to be on equalities of God but he emptied himself.
[21:52] And then the question would arise, what did he empty himself of? And somebody would say, no it’s what he emptied himself into. Do you know what we’d end up going right round in circles as sometimes happens in meetings and you end up going dizzy and you went out and you thought you understood the passage before the Bible reading but now you’re sure you don’t. Been in Bible readings like that? I have been in Bible readings like that. So now what this is saying is this, just keep it as translated here. What he’s saying is this, he made himself of no reputation and the thought in the passage is this, that our Savior left a place that was proper to the outshining of all his glory and he came into a world that was not such a proper place for the, outshining of that glory. Now I want us to understand, our Lord did not walk up the main street in Nazareth, I was going to say with a halo, that wouldn’t quite be sufficient.
It was absolutely impossible for our Lord to be here on earth with all the outshining of Godhead glory. Because we learned long ago in the Bible that no man can look on the glory of God and live.
[23:08] Which leads us to another conundrum.
Can’t just say, never make a brother an offender for a word. Do you know when you’re on your feet and you’re either preaching or praying, sometimes you say things you think, oh dear. Even as you’ve said it, you can hear all the brethren with an intake of breath. And why on earth did he say that? Well, my wife, she says to me, I’m glad I’m a woman. And maybe there’s a whole lot of you think that, but I say to all the brothers, you need to rise to your responsibilities. You know, meetings need to be audibly sustained. In the course of audibly sustaining meetings, you’re going to drop a clangor or two. What do you think about this? When it is that our brethren say, he veiled his glory. Do you Do you think that’s right or wrong?
[24:02] Or what about when we sing hymn number, whatever it was, the old number in believers was 1 2 2 and the first verse of 1 2 3, Lamb of God our souls adore thee, thou didst lay thy glory by.
Do you think that’s true? Well you see, people have objections to all these kinds of statements, in one way or another. I say these are efforts to try to explain something that is almost impossible, to put in words, except Bible words. And the way the Bible puts it is this, that he made himself of no reputation, he exchanged a place proper for the outshining of all his glory, and praise his name.
He came into this world for all the reasons that Paul’s going to talk about in a little while, he came into this world, not a proper place for the outshining of all his glory. See the humility in that, see the majesty of that humility. This was not someone seeking his own things, this was somebody seeking the things of others, we are the others. Because in actual fact what happened was this, he not only made himself of no reputation, but when he had done that, he took upon him the form of a servant, same word, he really and truly became a servant, you know the rest of the passage because it’s the most read passage ever in morning meetings.
Why did he do that?
[25:29] He did that for the benefit of others. Can I just ask all of you, seriously and in the fear of God, what are you doing for the benefit of others?
The Lord’s people. doing.
[25:45] What price am I prepared to pay for the advantage of my beloved brothers and sisters, fellow children in the family of God, fellow saints in the assembly, fellow subjects in the kingdom? Look at what our Saviour did, He left that place, He came to this place in order of course that He might become obedient to the extent of death, even the death of the cross, and He went there for others, He went there for us. Praise God in your heart this afternoon, imagine if we were Pentecostals and all the hallelujahs that would arise, at this moment when we consider that in actual fact our Saviour exchanged that for this, and he did it for you and he did it for me. If your heart ever gets over that, you’re in trouble as a Christian. Oh the wonder of his love, see him coming from above to atone and die for thee. Praise him, praise him, cheerfully.
Oh, the humility of Christ, oh, the meekness of Christ, oh, the mind of Christ. He looked not in his own things, but he looked also on the things of others.
[27:05] I have seen assemblies riven and divided and destroyed by people looking on their own things.
If we take something away from this afternoon’s meeting of the conference, may we take away this that we need to think as Christ Jesus thought.
Never will I forget the first time I heard in London Mr. Jim Allen preaching on this passage.
He says, this is how this can be loosely rendered. Think as Christ Jesus thought.
Would that our mind was like his mind, our thinking like his thinking.
God forgive us for pride.
God forgive us for boasting. God forgive us for seeking position.
God forgive us for thinking we’re something.
These things have no place in the Christian community.
[28:04] He did not look on his own things, says the Bible, but he looked also on the things, of others. And so our Saviour lived and died and he rose again.
And he’s on the threshold of glory, which is pretty well where the Lord is in John 17.
He’s speaking as if death and resurrection had already occurred.
He’s speaking as if he’s already back in heaven, you understand this? That’s how to understand John 17. It’s as if he’s already the other side of death, one foot as it were, back home in glory. And our Saviour now on the night before he’s going to the cross, he’s speaking to the Father, he says this in verse 1, Glorify thy Son, but he says in verse 5, glorify thou me. He speaks in the third person as the subject son, the one who came to do the will of the Father and did it. Glorify thy Son. Brothers and sisters, Christ is now back in heaven’s glory and, he’s there with acquired glory. I remember preaching on this once and a brother came up to me in Great Dungeon at the end of the meeting and said surely it’s not possible for Christ to have acquired glory, additional glory.
[29:28] To which the undiplomatic answer is, read your bible, which wasn’t exactly the answer I gave. But remember this, that in 1 Peter the apostle says, in Peter’s epistle, the apostle Peter says this, that God raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Brothers and sisters, there is a man on heaven’s throne today and he has now all the added glory of the finished work of Calvary.
See him there, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. But when it comes to verse 5, it’s not third person, it’s first person. So he’s not now speaking as the subject son, but what he’s speaking as the son co-equal with the father. Now look what he’s saying, he says, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me, here’s the word I want to point to your attention, with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
If you have a Newbery Bible, that is good.
[30:41] If you don’t have a Newbery Bible, as my teachers used to say on my school reports.
[30:47] Could do better. If you’ve a Newbery Bible and you’re looking in the middle between the Testaments you’ll discover a diagram which is Mr. Newbery’s diagram of Greek prepositions which if you don’t know a word of Greek is really helpful. If you look at that you will find that there are various Greek words that are translated with the one word in our language, with. So it’s like this, we are with each other, in one word, one preposition, the idea is we’re looking at each other. I’m sorry about that, it’s the way I’m born, I can’t help how I look, you’re looking at me, and by the way you can’t help how you look either, I’m looking at you, but the point is we’re with each other in that sense, that’s the sense in John 1, the Word was with God, the Word was regarding God, the Word was face-to-face with God, is sometimes put, is the idea that the Word and God, were eternally in communion, beholding each other, so that we’re with. But then I could say to you, there’s another word and it means not that we’re face-to-face with each other but we’re in the company of each other, that’s another word and And that’s true. Here we are.
[32:12] Then there’s another word, which is the word in John 17 and 5, which we could only use if in fact somebody, one of you, more of you, all of you, were actually up here alongside me. So there’s our word.
So John 17 and 5 is this, Now, O Father, glorify Thou me alongside Thine own self.
Remember what I was saying?
He’s the divine equal and he’s praying.
He’s making requests. He says, glorify thou me with thine, along with, alongside, thine own self, with the glory which I had alongside thee.
Before the world was. Can’t you see if Philippians 2 is the downward steps of our Saviour, that here now our Saviour is speaking about not only His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation?
Where is it? Where is He now?
My dear fellow believers, your Saviour and mine is alongside the Father.
And alongside the Father, He’s in the very place where He was before He came into the world.
And can I say to you that this is again a proper place for the outshining of all His glory?
His personal glory, not now acquired glory, but his personal Godhead glory.
[33:36] As one who is divine, glorify thou me alongside thine own self.
Remember what he said to the churches in Revelation?
That he sat down on his father’s throne.
There he is. He’s alongside the Father. He says, with the glory, the glory which I had alongside thee before the world was.
Isn’t that wonderful? That our Saviour became man, came into the world, did the work the Father had given Him to do, accomplished it fully in His life at the cross, rose again, is ascended and it was such a perfect work, done in such a perfect manner that our Savior rightfully is now back alongside the Father and there is again an outshining of all that glory. So we’ve got to think like he did.
[34:38] In the interest of others, for their advantage and all that.
But before I sit down and before we leave the chapter, look at that well-known 24th verse of John 17.
This is Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which is linked to eternity, which thou has given me for thou lovest me, before the foundation of the world.” Dear brothers and sisters, one day the world is going to see His glory. He’s going to be manifested in glory and we shall be manifested in glory with Him. He refers to that in verse 22 of our chapter, the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, one day you will not be in Midland Park or wherever you come from any further, any more.
[35:33] And we who are sitting in the seats this afternoon in this meeting, we are one day going to appear with Christ in glory, how remarkable, and as we were thinking on one of the previous meetings, every eye shall see Him, but that’s not the glory of verse 24. The glory of verse 24 is His non-communicable glory, there is glory that he shares with his people and there is glory that he cannot share with his people this is his glory look at what he says that they may behold my glory it’s uniquely a wonderfully and gloriously his because of who he is ah but more than that if we ask what is that glory which his people alone shall see it is, the glory of the man of Calvary, sitting in a place that is reserved to deity.
[36:40] Our Saviour bearing mortal wounds. John sees him as a lamb as it had been freshly slain.
Our Saviour bearing mortal wounds, sitting as man most certainly in a place reserved to deity, a place in which only God can sit. He says, this is my deep desire, Father. This is what I really want, that these, they whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, alongside the Father, that they may behold my glory.” What a day that’s going to be.
I want to ask you a question and then I’m finished. Is there anything else worth living for? What is all that earth can give to one who shares in God’s own joy?
[37:41] Dead to the world in thee I live is, in thee is bliss without a loy. Tell me this, who are going to appear with Christ in glory, is there anything else worth living for? Says the apostle in the Colossian letter, not another thing. We who are going to have the great privilege of beholding Christ, his glory? Is it worth living for earthly fame or earthly possessions or, earthly advancement or earthly applause, is it?
[38:18] Oh, that our hearts might be filled with Christ, taken up adoringly, worshipingly, worshipfully, even with our glorious Lord, and to be careful for nothing but his interests, and to yield to him all that we have and all that we are, because that’s exactly what he did for us, when he did not look on his own things, but he looked also on the things of others.
I hardly need to tell you, that’s easier said than done. May the Lord bless his word to us, for his name’s sake.
Ministry after the breaking of bread.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_09ENase20220918.m4a[0:01] Shall we turn to the scripture please in John chapter 20, just a few simple thoughts.
John chapter 20, you have disciples together with the risen Lord in the midst of them.
Verse 19, Joram chapter 20 verse 19 it says, Then the same day at the evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for the fear of Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto And when he had so said, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus, to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so sent I you.
[1:09] To understand this passage, we have to keep in consideration the background of the event.
What was happening? A week ago, before that, maybe, yes, a week ago, the expectations were high.
The Lord just entered Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy, and all the people were there around, exulted, excited and the disciples were they were thinking of the kingdom has come here is our Messiah and actually they were doing the the calculations you know who will be on the right and who will be on the left and the temple was cleansed and here is our King and that was just a few days before that and what happened. Something went wrong. Their master was betrayed by one of them, was arrested, was brought to the to the court, to the Sanhedrin and was crucified.
[2:24] The people mocked him. The Romans mocked him. The high priest and all the religious leaders mocked him even the crucified together with him, mocked him and that was what they were experiencing their master the messiah dying there on the cross alone and they lost every.
[2:57] Hope there are two actually on the way to Emmaus and they thought that he was the one and they are hopeless on the road to Emmaus.
They went back where they were a few years ago. Two of them went to their home, old place, Timaeus.
And you have Peter and the others, they went back to the old profession.
We are fishermen, we followed him for three years.
What do we do best? To fish. We’re going back to fish.
[3:34] And they were together because of the fear of the Jews and the reason the Lord appears to them.
And John puts it, and his times and his days stood in their midst.
And as they were together because of the fear of the Jews, the fear about their future, The fear about themselves, the fear about maybe their children, their health and their lives.
We many times feel like them.
Fears, fears many times takes away our peace. many times, takes away our, not only takes away our best, but a big burden comes on all, of us and we are stuck.
We do.
[4:35] And here Jesus come and He stood in the midst. The first thing that He did, He wished them peace. He gave them peace.
And He said unto them, peace be unto you.
[4:54] And as the Lord was saying that beautiful word of Shalom is not just peace.
It’s not just lack of war. Peace was more, shalom is more than that.
As a sort of harmony, of well-being, as a sort of tranquility, of being fulfilled. Peace be unto you.
The risen Lord, the risen Christ came to them and He gave them His peace.
Actually, He has told them, the peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.
It’s not the same peace of the world, but I give My peace. Many times our hearts are troubled.
Many times we are not only in fear, but we don’t have that peace.
I’m not talking of peace with God, but I’m talking of peace of God in our hearts.
[5:55] You see, Paul will write to the Philippians and he’ll say, do not be anxious of anything, but in everything, prayer or supplication, have to be going up to God with thanksgiving.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard, will protect your hearts.
And we read that passage and we say, how is it possible?
[6:24] And when Paul is writing that, he is encouraging them to go into the God’s presence, to look for His presence, and to get there, to receive not the circumstances being changed, but our heart being changed.
He is speaking of a peace that passes all understanding, actually that passes every logic.
There is trouble around us, but there is peace within me because the Lord is in our midst and He is with me. Remember Jeremiah?
Jeremiah was, he was crying, he was weeping on the glory of Jerusalem, on the glory of temple.
And he said, it’s hard for me to understand.
And as he was praying, it dawned on him.
And he says it is of all Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.
[7:32] His compassions fail not, they are new, they are renewed every morning.
And as Jeremiah finishes his prayer and he’d open his eyes, do you think that he saw Jerusalem built up again and temple there?
No, absolutely.
There are still ashes, there are still ruins, but there is peace that passes all understanding, every logic in his heart.
As peace of God. And not only peace, joy. And when they saw the Lord, they were glad.
He showed unto them his hands and his side. And were a disciple glad when they saw the Lord. What did what did they see, that make them full of joy. What they saw was.
[8:30] Scars. What they saw was just something in his hands and something in his side. The risen Lord were in midst of them. He was in midst of them. And he saw his scars and in his hands, the fact of the death of the Lord is undeniable historical evidence, and he was dying there outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago and whatever we can do today we cannot change that fact, we cannot change those scars, and the scars coming again this morning, as a sign of His love for us.
[9:22] There’s nothing else, more than that, that He can show us. Actually, somebody says, there is the only thing that has been made by man in heaven, are the scars in the hand of Jesus.
Isn’t that beautiful?
And when Thomas came after next week, and he died in the presence of the Lord, what the Lord does again?
Does He come with a new evidence?
No! The same one! The same one! Scars!
Actually, when the heavens and the earth will pass away, this universe that we are within, they are the scars that will stay forever.
And therefore, our disciples were glad. What they saw, they saw nothing else, a sign of the love that he had for them.
[10:24] And as they were glad, they saw him and they were filled with joy.
Actually, the Lord have told them that you’ll have sorrows for a wee while, but then I’ll come to see you again and you’ll be filled with the joy that and your hearts will be joy and no one will take your joy from you.
And that is the joy, staying in the Lord’s presence.
The presence of the Lord bring joy. You’re in your presence, there is fullness of joy, the Psalmist says.
But as we’re talking of this joy, we have to be aware that the joy again, like the peace doesn’t depend on our circumstances, what’s around us, But depends on who we are.
[11:17] Disciples came out of a month of outreach in a foreign country and they were full of joy.
And they say, Lord, we have done great things and we did this and we did this.
And remember, John, remember when that happened there? And oh yes, yes, and that miracle.
Lord says, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on.
The joy doesn’t depend on what you do. Depends on who you are.
Rejoice. because your names are written in heaven and they saw the scars and they were full of joy the joy belonging to the Lord and not only the joy belong to the Lord but the joy of praising him obviously they’re full of worship and and adoration and and praises for the one who was risen I for them and you’re, showing them the signs of of his suffering, the signs of his love, the joy of belonging to him, the joy of praising him and then the joy of serving him. The joy of serving him. He’ll say, the Lord says as the father have sent me I send to you the joy of serving him.
[12:36] Actually, there is a great joy that all who are parents know is the joy of bringing your, child home from hospital.
You bring a new life. That’s a great joy.
[12:56] And actually, as a young man, I never experienced it before, but it’s a great joy.
And that is the joy of bringing someone to the Lord.
The joy of seeing someone rescued and seeing someone saved and seeing the grace transforming.
A psalmist will speak of the reaper who goes full of tears and comes with the joy.
The Lord will talk of the same thing.
And he said as the father have sent me even so i sent you, they’re back to their families they’re back to their work without the risen christ, is the work our main purpose in life is our family our main purpose in life, as the Father has sent me, even so I send you.
[14:08] The Lord has given us, has given them, and he has given us a purpose to live.
As the Father has sent me.
Actually, the disciples need to hear that constantly. We had four, actually five times the Great Commission.
You have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you have in Acts, the Lord constantly was repeating them.
You have to go, your duty is to make disciples, to preach the gospel.
I have a great people in this city.
He commands it and became their duty.
The passion of the early church came from the passion of the Lord Jesus.
The same passion as Him, the same purpose as Him.
As the Father has sent Me. Who was Him? Who was the Lord Jesus?
He was the image of God among ourselves. He was the image of God on the earth.
And that image, that character changed the life of disciples because Once they got saved, if you can say that, they were, the Holy Spirit changed them to be according to that image.
As the Father hath sent me, even so I send you not.
[15:31] The Lord was saying to them that as the Father hath sent me, I start to build my image in you, so you might start to build, to call others that I can build the same image in them.
[15:48] It says Thomas was not with them when Jesus came. He missed the peace, he missed the joy, We miss the purpose, but let’s come together this morning as we remember the risen Christ, to get from him peace, to get from him joy that comes from those hands that are scarred, and still are, and that purpose that come from the Great Commission as the Father have sent me.
Even so, I sent you.
Gospel from Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_08Gospel20220917.m4a[0:01] Revelation chapter 1, and we will break in here at verse number 5.
The Apostle John is speaking as he addresses these Christians, and he says this, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and, washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
[0:47] Just a phrase in verse 5 that I’m thinking about for the next 20 minutes or so, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood.”.
[1:05] This is a very special song, really.
It is a song that every single person who is going to be in heaven will be able to sing.
And we’ll sing.
You see, we’re all looking forward, at least most of us here, and I hope you will stick around and stay for a hymn sing. Maybe that’s in your mind right now. I wonder how the hymn sing is going to go. And I’m sure it will go well, especially for those of us who are believers, who will unite to praise the Lord Jesus Christ and praise God. But here is a hymn sing that is going to take place in heaven, and it’s one song. And every single person who is going to be in heaven will be able to sing this song honestly. You see, it is very possible and likely, even my own life to be able to sing songs but not to sing them genuinely. To just mouth the words, but really if you took a look at the lyrics you’d have to say, I can’t say that. I can’t sing that.
You know, every single person who will be in heaven will be able to sing this song genuinely and honestly. These lyrics, it doesn’t matter how old they are, it doesn’t matter their race or their gender or how wealthy or unwealthy they are, everyone will be able to sing this unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood, unto Him.
[2:26] It is the distinct song of heaven. I want to ask you just here at the beginning of my remarks tonight, can you sing this song?
[2:40] Are you going to heaven?
Have you thought today that if this life came to a close, and if you were to open your eyes in eternity, would you be able, would you know, would you be a hundred percent sure, that I would be in heaven? Because I can, honestly, from my heart, sing these words.
I can talk about another who has washed me from my sins by his blood. Can you sing that song?
Very serious to think about. I want to tell you, first of all, you can know. You can know tonight if you’re ready to be in heaven.
The Apostle Paul said, he said, to die is gain.
He doesn’t say, I hope it’ll be gain if I would die. He said, for me to live as Christ and to die, if I were to die, I know it is gain.
He said, if I were to die, I would be absent from the body at home with the Lord.
It is possible to know, and I would like to begin by asking, do you know?
Do you know that you would be in heaven? Do you know that your sins have been washed away?
And I would like to look at these lyrics tonight.
I would like to look at these lyrics to this great song in the gospel.
First of all, I want you to notice the direction of the song.
[4:05] Unto Him. Listen, there are a lot of good, nice people here. Listen, the only people who will be in heaven are people who will be pointing to Him. If tonight, if tonight you point to anything in yourself, if you point to your good works, if you point to your church attendance, if you point to any ritual you went through, even if you were to point to your own faith, or your own believing, or your own repentance. No, friend, everyone who will be in heaven will say this, I am not in heaven because of some great amount of faith I exercised on such and such a date.
It will be because of Him. Unto Him! Unto Him! That’s the direction of the song. And that’s what so many people miss. They miss this and their pursuit for forgiveness and peace. They look at themselves and they look at themselves and they don’t find any peace. And then they’ll tell you, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say I’m going to be in hell, but I just don’t know.
[5:13] And then they would tell you, you can’t know either. Listen, if I were to look at myself, I couldn’t know either. If I were to look at my experience that took place March the 22nd, 2003, I would have many questions. If I were to look at my repentance, I would have many questions.
You know how I know? My faith has found a resting place, not in device or creed.
I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plead. In other words, unto Him. Unto Him, that’s the direction of this song. And so, if you’re going to be in heaven, you will be able to point completely, solely to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was the direction of the song. Here’s the devotion in this song, unto Him that loved us.
[6:07] You see, everyone who will be in heaven, they won’t be there because they loved God, and they just loved Him enough, and they maybe even gave their heart to Him out of how much they loved Him. No, everyone who will be there will all unite. Now just think of it.
Think of it. A congregation far bigger than what’s here tonight. It’s pretty big.
It says, out of every tongue and tribe and people and nation surrounding one person, unto him that loved us. Every person will point to his love for us. And I want to tell you, even as our first hymn said, if it weren’t for the love of God, there wouldn’t be a gospel message. There’s no gospel without the love of God. If God had just seen us in our sin and all our ruin, and if he had not loved us, there There would be no hope for any of us.
Even the most religious or the most good person in this auditorium, there’d be no hope for you.
But praise God. That’s what this hymn is. It’s a praise to God, unto Him who loved us.
That brings me even great comfort as a believer.
You know, He loved me at my very worst.
[7:29] He loved me in my sin. He loved me when I was just completely helpless.
And so as Christian life comes and goes and there’s fumbles and stumbles unto Him who loved us.
Unto Him. So the direction of the song is to Him, the devotion of the song, it’s His love.
[7:55] His love. His love that did what? What did His love do?
It says here, here’s the description, it says, unto him that loved us.
[8:04] And washed us from our sins in His blood.” The description in this verse is very interesting.
It describes sin. I don’t know how you might think of sin. There are people who say that sin are the mistakes that some of us make.
Sin is, you know, cheating and lying and didn’t mean to do it and if I could take it back I wouldn’t have done it. Sure, we all make mistakes.
But in this verse, this group of people are describing sin in a way that God would look at sin. It’s described as a filthy thing, something that’s dirty, that needs to be washed.
You know, in the first three chapters of Romans, we have a very interesting view of what sin is.
[8:51] There are a group of people, the Gentile people, that would be you and I today, but back then there were people who had no real relationship with God, and yet whatever light they had, They just ignored it, they suppressed it, and in rebellion, they continued doing the things that they wanted to do.
And then there’s the Jewish people, and they do the same thing.
Against the light that they have, they rebel against God.
In other words, the Apostle Paul in Romans is describing sin not as the few mistakes of us make, but as open, willful rebellion against God. That there is a standard.
There is a expectation that God had for us, a way we were intended to live.
[9:36] But we have shaken our fist against God. We’ve gone against our conscience.
[9:42] How many people are weighed down by the sins of a conscience, and they take something, and they take it, and no one knows that they took it, and they think they got rid of it, and they got it for free, and then years later, they didn’t get it for free. A guilty conscience weighs on them. Years later, and we sin against conscience, and we sin against God’s law.
And here in this verse it’s described as like a filthy thing, a dirty thing.
[10:12] And everyone who is saved, everyone who will be in heaven, not all of us come to great theological understandings when it comes to the depravity of man.
But all of us understand this.
Sin is an offense against God.
Sin is dirty in His sight. That’s why when a person is saved, the Bible says that they turn.
They turn, repent, they turn from sin to God.
They turn because it’s dirty, it’s filthy.
And that’s how it’s described in this verse. It’s described as a dirty thing.
Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin.
I want to tell you just bare, basic facts today.
There will not be one sin in heaven.
[11:07] I’m thankful for that, because all it took was one sin on earth to make earth the way it is today.
And earth is a very ruined place. And God is going to protect heaven.
He is committed to the purity of heaven, and there will not be one sin in it.
Listen to what the Bible says, also in the book of Revelation.
Neither shall enter into it anything that defiles neither whatsoever worketh an abomination or maketh a lie in other words God has said no sin it’s never going to make heaven dirty it’s never going to make heaven corrupt heaven is going to be pure beautiful you know what the big problem is all of us in this room all of us without exception have sinned against God and more than that, Yeah, as we even heard earlier today, it’s not just the things that we’ve done.
It’s who we are.
Do you know how God describes your heart and mine?
[12:09] God says that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Filthy in the sight of God. Filthy. It’s not how He intended human beings to be.
It’s not how He created them to be. But we’ve all turned our own way.
[12:32] And this is how the description of sin. Strange thing that people are singing about that.
But they’re not singing about how filthy they were, and they’re not singing about how depraved they were.
They’re singing that no matter who they were, He washed us.
He washed us! Oh, it’s a great thing, my friend. Listen, it’s a great thing to preach the gospel.
And I want to tell you this.
Just in case there’s somebody here, and you’re holding on to some kind of a shell of a profession.
Maybe some story you have, or something, some profession you made, and mom and dad were happy and elders were happy and the assembly was happy and you know right well tonight you have not come in the good of being washed I want to encourage you tonight it’s a real thing it’s a real thing to know and the sight of God I’m clean because of the blood of Christ don’t hold on to a shell don’t hold on to anything that’s just false security there is real security real security and the blood of Christ and that brings me to this to this next point. The direction of the hymn, unto Him. The devotion, He loved us. The description of our sin, it’s filthy. Something that needed to be washed away or God could never allow someone like me in His presence. But here’s the great news, the gospel, the news of deliverance.
Him that loved us and washed us from our sin. How?
[14:01] His blood. This is the great deliverance, the great deliverance in the gospel. Let, me ask you something tonight. I don’t know very much about washing. I don’t know how soap works to take out stains. From what I understand from those who do know something about the subject, soap has to work almost like a key and the stain in your shirt or in your clothes is like a lock. That’s what keeps it on your clothes and they come up with this composition in soap or in detergent or whatever and it, works as a key that unlocks the stain and then it breaks free when water washes it away.
Soap is like a key and a lock mechanism.
That’s how they say it works. So what we need then if we understand sin as filth that’s not only on the outside, not, only on the things I’ve done that people know about, but on the inside, on my secrets, on mind, on my heart. What we need is something that is able to meet the claim of sin. Something that is able to to break sin’s power. And I’ve asked this often in gospel preaching, but I would ask you tonight, do you know of anything thing that is stronger than sin?
[15:22] Do you know any church that’s stronger than sin?
[15:27] Any ritual that’s stronger than sin? Any preacher that’s stronger than sin?
No. No, all of them have fallen victim to the power of sin.
Sin, when it’s finished and when it’s run its course, has brought forth death.
But thank God, thank God that there is something stronger than sin.
Oh, the blood of Jesus. The precious blood of Jesus.
Oh, the blood of Jesus. Listen, it cleanses from all sin.
It cleanses from all sin. Why? Because the Lord Jesus came into this world as a perfect man.
And He lived a life without one fault. No sinful thoughts or deeds, or even a sinful motive.
There was no sin within him.
Perfect. Impeccable.
And as he lived on this world, in that perfect life, people hated him.
They were envious of him.
And there came a day where they all came together and set a way with him.
And they put him out on a cross.
We also learn in the Bible that he wasn’t just there because of a victim of circumstances.
He was there by his own will.
He said, I have the power to lay down my life. I have the power to take it again.
And the Apostle Peter says he was there by the determinate counsel of God.
God wanted him there.
Why?
[16:54] To meet the claims of sin. You see, if you were to understand tonight, just to be very simple, if you were to understand evening that sin is your problem. It’s not so much that hell’s the problem.
Not so much that the Lord’s coming is the problem. It’s no problem for me. Sin is the problem.
If you were to understand… Not so much that you can’t believe. That’s not the problem. Not a problem in the Bible. The problem is my sin. It is filthy against God and His law has said it can never enter into His presence. If you were to understand that and you were to look for is there any answer for sin? You know what the Bible would tell you? Over and over and over there’s an answer for sin. Listen to it. It’s clear over and over in the Bible. Christ also once suffered for sin.
Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for our sins. The just for the unjust that we, can be brought to God. You see the Bible is telling us over and over not much about the crucifixion, not much about how painful it was, not much about how shameful it was, but it’s telling us the purpose of it. God is saying over and over, that center cross was for sin, for sin, and if there was someone in this meeting tonight who would understand this, I have sinned.
[18:21] God would say this, that’s why I sent my son, that’s why he shed his blood, and unto him that loved us and washed us from our sin in his blood. You see, when he died under sin’s penalty, that is the penalty for sin, the wages of sin, is, death. The Bible, the law of God says the soul that sins must die. Now remember, if If you’ve followed my little analogy, a stain is locked to a shirt or a piece of clothing, right?
What is locking? What is binding?
What is the claim that is keeping sin on me? It’s the claim of death.
The soul that sins, that’s me, must die.
[19:17] You see, when the Lord Jesus went to that cross, sinless, and when He died, and He shed His blood, He did it as a substitute, and He did it toward God, as also we heard about today, to satisfy God.
For what? To satisfy God for the claim of sin.
You see, when He suffered on that cross, the Bible says it like this, it’s so simple.
It says this, all we like sheep had gone astray, each of us have turned our own way, but the, Lord laid on Him the sin of us all.
[20:02] His soul was made an offering for sin. And what a person understands when they’re saved, what I understood was this, I didn’t know very much, I thought I did, I had heard the gospel and I thought I was Sunday school, pupil, you know, chief of the class, but you know, when I was saved, what I understood was this, because he died, I’ll never have to die in hell.
Why?
Because the payment God required for my sin, it wasn’t that I did something, it wasn’t that I felt something. It was that I understood that that payment that God required for me, He took. He endured. He suffered under the penalty for my sin. He was my substitute. He died for me. He shed His blood. Remember what the Bible says, book of Hebrews, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. But, the Lord Jesus saw us in all our need. All of us would have only offered guilty sinful blood and he came and he offered his sinless blood that’s what’s being offered here to you tonight in this gospel meeting please understand what’s, being offered is not an experience.
[21:20] We’re not even offering a verse it’s Christ and it’s the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses from sin.
I am not going to be in heaven because I will say, look at this verse.
I will be in heaven because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
I will be in heaven because of a man, and every single person who will be there will sing what?
Unto Him. Unto Him who has loved us and washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Sing to him. I stop and ask you again tonight. Can you sing this song?
[22:09] Do you know what it is to have your sins washed away? To see them gone? Not because of anything you’ve done. Remember, it’s not unto me who worked, unto me who believed, unto me who figured it out.
No, it’s unto Him. Unto Him who loved me and washed me from my sin. Can you sing it? You could.
You could be able to sing this song before you leave this meeting if by simple, childlike faith, You are to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The duration of this song, I don’t want you to think like heaven is a never-ending hymn sing, but at the same time, from our hearts, this is one song that will never go away.
Forever.
Throughout the never-ending ages, as He continually shows us the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ, as we look at Christ unto Him who loved me and washed me from my sin in His blood.
Christ today, and you’ll be able to sing this song in truth.
Panel discussion.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_07Panel20220917.m4a[0:00] I’m just going to read a verse from 1st Timothy in chapter 4 where we get the basis for the topic, this afternoon. I’ll make a couple of remarks in opening and then we will just be having more of a conversation, a conversation on this important topic of spiritual disciplines for the purpose, of godliness. But we’ll read from the from the Word of God here in 1st Timothy chapter 4 and beginning at verse 7. But refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself or train thyself, discipline thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
[0:55] We were talking this morning about the need for godliness, and I hope we would all share, those of us who are born of the Spirit, a greater desire for personal godliness in our lives, that it is a felt need, even as we were talking this morning, that the Lord would intervene, for godliness seems to be so lacking.
But now we get to really the sweat of it, the work of it, because what we’re going to find out is that godliness isn’t easy. It’s expected, it’s commanded, but it is not easy. The word here, we’ll take some time to discuss it just at the beginning, the word is a very rigorous word, a word that, like I said, involves training, discipline, effort, and so we’re gonna talk about really some of the spiritual disciplines that are necessary in the pursuit of godliness.
I have felt this burden, it was kind of one of my ideas really for the conference to take up this this topic. I have felt that among my own generation, and those maybe a bit younger, there is a healthy rejection, maybe even hatred of legalism. There is the eyebrow raising and the, disgust when people stand up on a platform and make rules. But I wonder sometimes if the hatred for legalism is complimented by this rather, don’t fall off the stage now brother, we need you.
[2:23] By this rather careless or, you know, if godliness happens it’ll happen.
I’ll just coast and when it happens it’ll happen in spiritual things.
And God, discipline is a word that the apostle Paul loved, you know, he beat his, he says he disciplined his body, kept it under subjection, but he hated legalism. And so we know that these things maybe can get related in our mind, but they are distinct. We’ll talk maybe a bit more about that tomorrow. But that’s really the burden for this. What are the practical disciplines in your life and mine? This will apply to really all ages, all genders by and large. What are the practical disciplines that we need to incorporate in our daily lives if we want to be godly?
I read something that at first I was like, wow, that’s a little strong the way he said it, but he said this, there is no access to God outside of Christ.
[3:22] And there is no godliness without discipline.
That there’s no other way. We’ll learn that here in this verse.
Discipline thyself, exercise thyself, train thyself rather onto godliness.
And so this panel is really for all of us who would like to grow in godliness to incorporate spiritual disciplines. Discipline is in vogue now today. YouTube is filled and people are following morning routines. And there are psychologists and psychoanalysts that have become famous for giving self-help courses on how to get better discipline and structure in somebody’s life. Well, godliness will require discipline, and it will require structure in a person’s life if they’re going to be serious about the things, of God. And so I’ve just organized the discussion in really a few topics. We’re going to look at really godliness personally. Discipline thyself rather unto godliness. And so the personal discussions I broke it down in my own mind when we get to the practical things like my Bible and I.
[4:22] And the disciplines necessary with the Word of God. My prayers and I, my prayer life and I. And then lastly, my body and I. I’ve chosen those three because those three are all found in the Word of God. When it comes to the subject of spiritual disciplines, we can get kind of, you know, gardening could be a spiritual discipline to somebody. Or mowing the lawn can be a time where people, you know, and we can get really vague. So I’ve tried to limit it to things that we find in the Bible. My Bible and I, my prayer life and I, and my body and I. Three areas in which a godly person will have to be disciplined. But just as we begin, that’s just my brief introduction. Maybe if any of our brethren here, thankful for them, being here and their help, if you can better define or explain what godliness is, or if you’d like to just jump right in in 1st Timothy 4 and explain this word for exercise and what the Apostle has in mind to Timothy.
So just feel totally free to jump right in on those.
[5:22] Joe, I thought that the point that you made in the meeting this morning about godliness not being godlikeness, but a disposition, an attitude towards God. I think disposition is my word, but you were using similar descriptions. It’s a really important thing. And so, just to recap for anyone who wasn’t there, one of the big points that you were making was, that ungodliness is forgetting God, it’s leaving God out of the equation, whereas godliness is bringing God into the equation.
And so godliness should really be the, should be a characteristic of all of us as the Lord’s people in every department of our lives.
But that doesn’t come easily, and it most certainly doesn’t come naturally.
And so you get these kinds of words that you’ve been highlighting for, you know, exercising, for discipline.
And in addition, in a minute we can go to Titus and think about some things that Paul says to Titus, which you alluded to this morning.
[6:38] Yeah, it was very good what you said this morning, yes. I don’t want to repeat, Ian.
To bring God in our lives.
See, some years ago I didn’t use glasses. Now I’m using them.
I need to focus and I have to see through my glasses. And I think Godliness can be, in a way, described in that way.
We bring God in our lives in a way, the way we see the world, the way we see ourselves, the way we see the others through the eyes of God.
So when we bring God in our lives, everything that we see is through the, let’s say the glasses, divine glasses, and that, in a way, help or better focus us, to be more concentrated and more biblically, and thinking more biblically, in that sense.
Henry, what do you mean by bringing God into our lives? What do we mean by this? Okay, so…
[7:51] What do I mean by bringing God in our lives? We mentioned a bit of, you know, a bit of legalism.
Now, it has to do with our behavior.
But before we talk about behavior, there is something deeper than our behavior, which is our character.
You may behave perfectly. You may come to every meeting, and even you may pray.
But if your character is not changed, that doesn’t have any effect, or it’s not just hypocrisy.
Your character depends on your values, what values you held.
You may have a good character, as is your neighbor maybe, but if that character is not, supported by values, again, is empty.
And the values depend on your worldview.
[8:49] So in all these four elements, you have to be careful that as we speak to others, or we as teachers and preachers, we have to tackle the worldview.
Because you may have people change their behavior, but not the worldview.
And when the storms in life come as the worldview that gives us the direction.
So that worldview should be a godly, a divine worldview.
So I invite God into my life.
And so what is conversion? Now, I don’t want to go further, but what is conversion?
It’s changing your worldview. I see myself with the eyes of God.
I’m a sinner. I’m lost.
I see Christ with the eyes of God. He’s a savior.
His blood was shed for my sins. And I see God how God sees himself.
So conversion, turning, as we read this morning, they turn, they change the worldview.
So godliness means we see everything as God sees it.
[10:02] As God sees it. What is the difference between a Godly, a Christian, who has God in his life, and a non-Christian, or an atheist, who doesn’t have God?
So he doesn’t see with the eyes of God, with the divine eyes, what, again, but who God is, who the others are, and who yourself is.
Yeah, so the scriptures wouldn’t want to give the impression that godliness is taking God and bringing him into our lives as if he’s not involved already. You know, in him we live and move and have our being. And so godliness is just the recognition that God holds sway in my life, that it actually, he actually does hold sovereign sway, and not only in my life, but in the life of every person. The atheist or the person who is an unbeliever just hasn’t bowed to that.
That. So I wonder if we could have maybe some discussion on the word… Oh, did you have something?
Well, let me… I’m not sure if this is hair splitting. So if it is, shoot me. So is there a difference between bringing God into our lives or bringing our lives into subjection.
[11:16] His will, his mind, his purpose. I have a notion there might be a slight difference in that. And so when you’re coming to 1 Timothy 3, not 4 but 3, great is the mystery of godliness.
So we were looking at the example of Joseph this morning and there are any number in the the Old Testament, there are examples of godliness where people seem to view their life in the, way that we’ve been speaking about just now. They brought God into everything. This is what we were saying about Joseph. But when you come to 1 Timothy 3, great is the mystery of godliness. So there was godliness that was seen in Christ that had never been seen before. It’s the mystery of godliness. So that which is mystery truth has not been revealed, before. So the Lord stands completely distinct, but he’s saying things like, I do always those things that please the Father. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. You know, those kinds of things, which certainly seem to be somewhere higher than even Joseph or any of them at their very best.
No, very good. I see what you’re saying. Good hair to split.
So what about the word discipline? Any help on that? Like, what does that word mean?
[12:39] Maybe I could just tell you what I think before you jump in. It’s the idea of, it’s where we get the word gymnastics from. And I understand, you know, every day in the United States, it’s National something day. Well, today’s National Gymnastics Day, believe it or not.
I saw that this morning. So we’re right up to date. We’re very relevant this session right here.
It should be abolished. Yeah, very good.
So we’re talking about really what this, someone has said that this term has the smell of the gym on it.
This is a sweat term, right? Gymnasticize yourself for godliness.
Like put in the work, put in the effort. In other words, Paul’s telling his son of the faith, Timothy, it’s not going to come easy, Timothy.
[13:23] It’s not going to be by osmosis. You’re not going to sleep beside your Bible and wake up godly.
This is going to take work.
To take labor, it’s going to take striving. And now again, not divorced from grace, which you were kind of alluding to there in Titus, and also Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, where he says, I labored more abundant than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God in me. And so it’s not divorced from grace, it’s not disconnected from the gospel, but it’s out of the gospel and out of grace, this vigorous word for training, for discipline. So if you have anything to add on the word itself.
I’m not sure if it’s the same word, but you’ve got the same idea in Hebrews 12, that no chastening for the present seems to the joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. It’s that idea of stripping down for the gym, because as you’ve been explaining, you’re putting effort and energy into it.
[14:20] So here’s a question, maybe you can help us with this, Henry.
Why worry about discipline for godliness if, as we’ve been discussing, if all of us who are saved are one day going to be conformed to the image of his son?
That is a fact. That is the purpose of God.
Why not just coast to the finish line? It’s going to happen.
Why worry about, if it’s going to be this much work, if it’s going to be sweat and training, why worry about it?
[14:51] So, that’s a very good question, that challenges me, challenges everybody. Why worry about it?
We have to realize that when we’ll be on the other side, yes, we’ll be changed, but the transformation will be different.
What I’m going to say is.
[15:14] How to put it?
We bought a plastic tractor for our son when he was only two, I remember, building up for Christmas.
You see, Christmas night, you know, before Christmas, and then he came, ah, tractor, he loved it, okay?
So, and then he took the tractor to the farm. My father-in-law is a farmer, and he has a huge tractor, a real one.
Now, Luke loved his tractor, and he played with his tractor.
Papa loved his tractor, and worked with his tractor.
They’re all happy with their tractors, but the tractors were different.
And I think that when we’ll be on the other side of heaven, everybody will have in a way, his tractor, his enjoyment will be full.
The cups will be full, but I believe the cups will be different, different sizes.
So that means, do I want in a way to be thankful to my Lord who did that great sacrifice for me.
And that means that when we’ll go on the other side, I’ll bring my knowledge of him.
[16:30] And that means that I’ll know Him as He knows me now. But the enjoyment, I don’t want to say that, you know, don’t get me wrong on that.
But I think the enjoyment of Christ will depend from how much we know Him today.
And that I have to practice myself and to train myself into the fellowship And, you know, Bible reading, prayer, and all that, which results in better knowledge of God.
But is it also to do with this, that, you know, we’re not saved to be made happy.
We’re not saved just so that we might be in heaven. We’re not saved just so that we won’t be in hell.
I mean, all of those things are true.
[17:19] But the first thing is, we’ve been saved for the Lord.
So this is Israel, long ago. You should be a peculiar people unto me.
But it comes up in this Titus 2 passage to which we’re making allusion.
Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people.
Not odd or strange, even though that might be the case at times, but a people for his own possession.
So this is the big thing about redemption, it’s the big thing about being saved, that we don’t belong to ourselves anymore, we belong to him.
And therefore what we surely would want to do is to be what he wants us to be, which is now be conformed to his image, to the great degree that we’re able to be conformed to his image, even if when we ultimately are conformed to his image, it would be a whole lot more than what we experience now.
So I think that in all areas of our Christian life, it’s a really important thing to remember that we are his.
We’re not our own anymore, and that then would govern everything, including this whole idea of disposition towards God in godliness.
[18:31] So some people react or reject against the word discipline because they think it’s going to, hamper their freedom. You know, I’m free. I have, and I’m already stretched. I’m a very busy person.
I have a lot of pans on the fire and now discipline seems to hamper me and make me less free.
Does discipline do that? These disciplines we’re going to talk about, does it make me, does it hamper my freedom? Or do we maybe have a skewed understanding of what we’re free to do?
And what freedom actually is? Well, exactly. Well, in spiritual things, true freedom is actually being bound to Christ, isn’t it?
It’s that whole thing. You know, there’s not a free person in the world.
You’re either a slave to sin or you’re a servant of God, Romans 6.
But discipline is Titus 2 again, isn’t it? That the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching us.
It’s the idea of disciplining us. but that is the idea in the word. It’s a disciplining thing. So it disciplines us to deny. So we’re, living in an age where third wave feminism and beyond says, you can be what you want.
[19:43] You can be what you want. People actually think this, that you can be what you want.
And that worldly thinking is very pervasive in society and what’s thought about out there soon enough, if we’re not careful, becomes part of our thinking.
So it’s well worth remembering that actually what the grace of God teaches us to do is to deny.
So we’re to deny ungodliness, number one, and we’re to deny worldly lust, number two, so that we should live soberly as far as I’m concerned, righteously as far as my relationship with you is concerned, and godly as far as God is concerned in this present world.
But we’ll maybe come to that.
May I add, in every aspect of our daily life, we use discipline.
[20:35] We use discipline to go to school. We use discipline to go to work.
We use discipline in every aspect of life.
We have all our watches, we have all our calendars, Google calendars or whatever it is.
So we are disciplined.
It’s not that we are required to do something that we have never done before.
And so what we are required now is, maybe loads of you have a gym subscription.
See, where you go there every day or whatever it is. So what we are required is to have a divine gem subscription, subscription, which is not an unusual thing that which we have.
[21:22] Yeah, I know like say an instrument like the piano or the guitar, I am bound because I don’t, know how to use the five strings. But somebody who’s practiced for thousands and thousands of hours and disciplined themselves, they’re free. Now, they weren’t free for all the work they put, in. All the time that they spent practicing was really tied them down for all the things I could do. But what you see when they have those strings in their hand, they’re free and I’m bound. And so, you see, there’s people you meet. And I think one of the things I would just pass on for, and I, And I think you might agree with this as far as godliness or training for godliness.
When it comes to training for anything, practice or training to be financially responsible or training to parent, most of us needed some kind of a shepherd or mentor or somebody to help us along.
And I would say when it comes to godliness, if there is, like if you know someone who’s.
[22:14] Godly, that’s a great person to get their ear and figure out, like get close to that person and figure out how, and I’m sure if they are godly, they’d be more than happy.
[22:25] To help you along, right? Because we all need help and training on these things.
Can I just raise what I think is a practical difficulty on this? We all have different dispositions. Some people by nature are unbelievably disciplined, okay? It just seems to come to them without any great effort. They’re always up early, they always go to bed on time, you know what I mean. Now, some of us are not just exactly like that and actually, it’s a struggle. So just like some people look at life and see, you know, two men look through prison bars, one saw mud, one saw stars. Some people are optimistic, some people, are not. Some people are melancholic, some people are a whole lot better than that in, in their outlook or happier. So we’re all born with a set of genes and some people’s genes are a whole lot more likely to produce discipline easier and quicker and more long lasting than in other people. So what steps might we say could we take if we are at that wrong end of the scale on this to sort ourselves out.
[23:45] Oh, you’re looking at me. Go ahead. Okay.
Not saying you’re on the wrong end of the scale. No, you think I’m going to speak from experience, well.
Well, I think there’s a really important thing in this, which is this, that in any spiritual exercise, and in this matter of discipline, in the matter of holy living, it is not a natural thing.
Very good. So, we are absolutely 100% dependent on the energies of the Holy Spirit within us in all areas of seeking to live a godly life. So, is self-discipline important? The answer to that is yes. Okay? But self-discipline by itself will not produce the desired result. So, I’m thinking of Romans 8 for instance, if ye through the spirit demortify the deeds of the body you shall live.
So it may be that someone in the meeting, no it is the case that there will be people in the meeting, who are troubled by certain things in their life, that they’re actually having difficulty getting a handle on in terms of self-discipline, things that are not best for them.
[25:04] Of one kind or another. I think what Paul’s saying in Romans 8 is, it’s not just a question of self-discipline, not just a question of, training the flesh to deal with it, but in actual fact, it’s if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh. You’ll live the kind of life that God wants you to live in terms of the enjoyment of sonship in Romans 8. Or, if you go to Galatians 5, where the works of the flesh are something that any one of us could fall into at any time.
That’s the point in Galatians 5. So we’re in a world of conflict and there is that conflict within us.
There’s the flesh and the spirit.
So what he’s, he’s not saying just walk a self-disciplined life and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
That’s not the approach to it.
[25:57] It is this, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
So does the spirit produce that self-discipline? Yes, I think he does.
But I think it’s important to see where the roots of that will be with us.
It’s not by natural disposition.
Some are more inclined to self-discipline than others.
Some sleep in longer, in the mornings.
Like students. Often. Or what? Millennials. Millennials.
Or pensioners, maybe. We might all have sort of a…
So the big thing is to recognize the Spirit of God within us, and for him and for that, for everything to do with that to be coming from inside.
This is sanctification in another sense from the inside out.
Very good.
Yeah, like the Pharisees may have been the most disciplined people around. Yeah, correct.
So we understand that discipline is not the end, just the means. Correct.
Yeah, very good. of that must be the Holy Spirit.
[27:04] So maybe we’ll just move in, just 20 or so minutes left, if I understand the time there.
Let’s just get into some of the areas of spiritual discipline.
I was thinking my Bible and I, so under that I have the discipline of reading.
Maybe you can help somebody who is like that, struggling to find the time, make the time for reading their Bible.
And then we’ll move through a few things. I have reading, meditating, memorizing, then studying.
We covered that last year, but just as far as establishing a discipline, I think we’d all agree, without which there is no godliness, without my Bible and I. So, reading, first of all.
[27:46] may help us.
Discipline for reading? As Ian said, things don’t happen by themselves, so we have to be energized by the Holy Spirit and then discipline ourselves.
We still understand that as we go on, the lives are busier and busier, although we get more things that help us.
You see, iPhones or whatever, electronics or travels. So the lives get busier and busier.
So that means in my daily routine, in my agenda, I should have time, specific time for Bible reading.
[28:29] For personal Bible study. That can be, if you are inclined, waking up in the morning, that can be in the morning.
Personally, I have it in the evening because I can stay up. Are you really safe?
No, I can have it during the day, but when everybody is in bed, I can have it in the evening.
I have it in the evening because everything is quiet and I’m quite up.
So the mornings are busy, kids going to school and all that.
So I personally, you know, this is not, I’m not talking of Bible study for preparing for the preaching or, you know.
I’m talking of my personal time.
I want to say that when I started, I don’t have a time with God, you know, but when you have a program and you read.
See, I have a program and you read the New Testament twice every year and once the Old Testament.
And you have passages, you can get that on internet or anywhere.
And that helps you to go through the reading.
[29:46] Very good, thank you. And it always seems to me that unless you have a system, for reading your Bible, you’re not gonna read it as much.
No, very good.
So I think that’s a great point. And there are various means by which you can read through the Bible.
Now, some people read through the Bible a whole lot quicker than others.
I mean, some people read it any number of times a year. I’m thinking what somebody told me once, and I found it hard to believe the number of times you read the Bible in a year, well I say good for him.
So, but not everybody’s like that. And so, you know, we all read the Bible at our own pace.
And there’s no point particularly reading it if it’s not profiting us.
So on a practical level we do that.
So, but unless we have a system for reading through the Bible, we won’t read through the Bible.
So whether it’s Robert Murray McShane’s thing or whether you say, I’ve got a thousand pages in my Bible, so I need to read however many pages a day, however you do it, do it.
However you do it, do it.
And make sure that you’ve got that discipline in your timetable to make sure you do, because we all eat during the day.
It doesn’t matter how busy you are, you eat.
[31:07] And we’re to desire the sincere milk of the word in order that we might grow thereby.
Man does not live by bread alone. No. By every word.
Yeah, so I think one of the things for me, just personally, I guess kind of vulnerably, is when you’re, before things get busy, before there are three toddlers running around and your night schedule, like your 5.30 a.m.
Time with the Lord and the espresso is nice and the sun is just coming up and everything’s just beautiful, might end up not being that.
It might end up being miserable because you didn’t have a good night and your kids were up or someone was sick.
So I think embracing the regimen, if I can use that, embracing the idea of a habit when it’s not, like when the espresso is cold or decaf, you know, and still just like reading the Bible because I have to understand that if I don’t read the Bible I’m not gonna grow and I’m not going to eat, right?
Like I think embracing the habit is so helpful when life gets chaotic or when you’re on jet lag, or jumping around to different parts.
Do I look that tired? No, no, no.
Well, you almost fell off the thing. Yeah. Yeah.
[32:19] Thanks.
Yeah, I think all of that is really, really, really important.
The biggest things in the Christian life are not going out to be a missionary.
When I was a kid, I used to hear missionary reports in London and I had this romantic notion that I’d love to go to Africa or India or somewhere, which in due course of time disappeared out of my system completely when I read about mosquitoes and other things.
But I also learned a thing, that the biggest thing in your Christian life is your daily fellowship with God, in which we hear his voice in his word, and he hears our voice when this heart cries to him.
So there is nothing bigger in the Christian life. So to me, the discipline of our daily reading and our daily time with the Lord.
[33:16] Is so important. It’s so important that you really need to be prepared to sacrifice just about anything else in order to do it. And nothing can take its place.
So like what you were saying there, Henri, with all the things we have today that are, kind of helpful, there is a sense in which technology is really, it makes us spread our time out in so many different ways. Like we live in an age where people can get a hold of us no, matter where we are. I mean, you used to be able to take yourself offline. It’s very difficult, basically, to take yourself offline. And so I think if we understand spiritual disciplines correctly, we understand that we have a helper, the Holy Spirit, who wants to make us godly.
And all of us, regardless of how busy we are, have enough time for these disciplines.
We just might not have enough time for all the rest of it.
Like there might be things that we have to cut out in order to read and- Yeah, have to be, have to be.
[34:20] Have to be some sort of protected time. Yeah, okay. Okay. you know, that you take, you know, from…
[34:27] 10, you know, or whatever it can be from 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock if you are a student.
Now, because I have three children and I said the mornings are always crazy.
When you have younger children, it’s not the mornings, every night might be crazy.
So again, you have to take and you say this 45 minutes or 30 minutes, whatever it is, I’m dedicated to the Lord. Now, I don’t want to be again, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever your time.
If you are on vacations, you might take two hours.
If you are a student and you are in summer, you are not working or whatever, you might take longer.
But you have to put on your agenda, on your schedule, on your diary.
This is my protective time. I switch off my phone and find a quiet place and I read my scripture.
Now, how you do it can be different systems as chronologically or whatever, But even how to imply to yourself can be other systems.
I don’t know if we’re going into that, or do you want to go, or how I read the Bible?
Sure. Okay, so some years ago, many years ago, I started to use notes, you know.
[35:52] I was young and using notes in the Bible. So if you read, this is not the Bible study, this is more a personal Bible reading.
So you read a chapter or two chapters, and then you start asking the chapters questions, at least four questions.
What tells about God? What tells about yourself? What tells about the Lord Jesus?
What tells about salvation?
And then this, these questions can be even enlarge. About yourself, is there any sin in your life that you see?
Is there a thing that you can change?
And so on. and then you write.
[36:30] On the margin of your Bible. I’ve developed some sort of system.
Now, this is not, again, this is not a Bible study where you see, this is daily reading.
It’s being fed for yourself, not trying to find out for others.
Now, that goes by default as well, but you know, so. And then another thing that has helped me, was as you meditate during the day, you might have some sort of thoughts.
[36:57] That you think, oh, that’s really precious, okay?
Now you have old phones today, we can write that and keeping that for later as you think of a verse or something that sometime can come in while you’re asleep, you know, you’re awake and then, oh yes, that’s very nice.
And you write it and you keep it into your Bible as a precious thought that maybe the Holy Spirit, has given that to you and that will carry on on you.
That’s really where I wanted to go.
I think we understand the need of reading, but maybe the lost art of meditating.
I think even sometimes using the word, people think of yoga or, or, or like therapy, you, know, Ken Ham, he posted like in his, on the Arc exhibits, taking back the rainbow.
I think we need to take back meditation, like, uh, meditation belongs to the Christianity.
It doesn’t belong to yoga.
You know, it belongs to us and it’s a biblical art. You know, you think of, uh, the Psalmist, Psalm 1, in thy law doth he meditate day and, night. So I think that suggestion is very helpful as far as how to meditate.
How many of us struggle when we read the Bible then get off and we’re done reading the Bible, maybe it’s breakfast, lunch, what’d you read? Oh, what did I read?
What did I read now, right?
And maybe if we spent, like you were saying there about how much you read, maybe if we We read a bit less, but meditated, asked questions of the text. we would.
[38:20] Yeah, and the difference between yoga or transcendental meditation that the Beatles used to be on about, Is it I think that all that’s to do with emptying your mind, isn’t it?
Yeah, whereas this is to do with a filling our mind with that which is good, There might there might be lots of people. It might be some people here. You’ve never read the Bible through, In a year say you’ve never done it. So I want to encourage you to do it yeah, I was I was preaching on this once in New Year conference in Manchester and, And I have this little thing that you need to read 3.25 chapters a day to get through the Bible in a year.
Well, everybody laughs at it at home because I say it so much, but 3.25 chapters a day will take you through the Bible.
No one reads 3.25 chapters, but if you read three chapters on three days and four on the fourth, and give a whole day to Psalm 119, of course, but adjust it just a little bit.
But that’s the kind of thing you’re reading. So about 18 months after I was in that part of England and a couple came up to me and they didn’t say, hello, how are you? They just said, it works, it works.
[39:25] And I didn’t know what they’re on about. I said, what works? So they’re saying about this conference. And I said to them, if you read through the Bible, if you read through it, it’ll become a new book to you. And they had just retired and together they read through the Bible in a year and they were full of it. So I just want to encourage that.
And so get the discipline, because not as an exercise in itself, but to what it produces, which is what we’re on about, because it produces that whole desire more to live a godly life.
[40:00] Yeah, meditation, someone has compared it, I think one of the Puritans compared it to lingering by a fire.
And I mean, you take somebody who on a cold day goes up to a fire and they just stand by it for a little bit, and then they say, oh, I’m still cold, versus somebody who’s lingering and really getting warm, right? Stewing over, percolating, I don’t know.
Like the idea of really absorbing, right? Like a teabag continually dipping in and letting the scriptures really do their work in us. And I really think that reading, I would totally, endorse that, reading through the Bible in a year. At the same time, I really think if, If you can read something and stew over it, think over it, meditate over it, this is a deep book, it’s a word of God.
There are depths to this book. How many times you’ve heard a preacher say, I never saw that before until last week.
I mean, there are depths to this book if we can just continually linger at the fire of the word of God.
And so that links in with studying. Which is another exercise and another discipline in itself.
Not just studying for meetings.
But studying because it’s God’s word. And not just simply saying, what is God saying to me in this?
To me, but the broader question, what is God saying?
[41:21] And to spend the time in it, I mean, that is such a time consuming exercise to study the word.
I want to say to all of us, all of us, I’m speaking to myself, but all of my younger brothers and sisters, you really need to get into Bible study, because in 30 years time, you will have the responsibility.
Less than that, comes quicker than that. And you need to be equipped and prepared for that, for maybe teaching, for you who will then be older women, teaching the younger women.
That’s not to do women’s meetings, to do with at home and in the environs that you’re in domestically and so on, teaching younger women, maybe in the home like Priscilla.
So the study of the word in detail and comprehending and noting and having systems to do that and, keeping at it is really, really important.
I said to Mr. John Riddle once, what’s the hardest thing you find in Bible study?
He said the first half hour.
Sometimes it’s breaking through barriers, getting into it, keeping at it.
Pretty important.
[42:43] Can I add, you know, as Ian was saying of responsibilities, you know, in 30 years or so, in 20 years, whatever, I’d like to underline even the timing.
Okay, you are a young one, young guy, young girl, you don’t have many responsibilities in life.
Maybe you are just married, you don’t have kids, you have only one kid.
And then number two comes, and number three comes.
And the hour, the day is only 24 hours. So, do it now, prepare, go to gym as much as you can now.
[43:21] And, you know, strangle your muscles and pursue godliness and train yourself into, you know, Bible reading and then we’ll have to pray, speak of prayer, you know, meditation.
And later on, you’ll start work, or if you have not started yet in the life, people like me, I film myself, I’m young, but people like me see how life busy is, and you guys have plenty of that time.
Yeah, I think, very good, very good, Andrei. We’ll move, that was very good to touch on studying, and we’ll move to prayer.
I just had here as well a word on memorization, also a lost art today. It seems that meditation would really help that. For some of us, it might just be, and I don’t mean to take pot shots, but the last time we memorized a verse was for the Sunday school treat. You understand that it is a command as well to hide the Word of God in your heart, that you may not sin against Him, that the sword of the Spirit is not the Bible in leather, it’s the Bible that you have in your heart. So I think memorizing is such a needed thing as well. Don’t have time to really go through that. Let’s go to this next one, prayer.
I think when it comes to the Bible, many of us, although we would like to see our Bible reading maybe shored up a bit, I think when it comes to prayer, we usually find ourselves ourselves flat on our face with how.
[44:45] Um, difficult it is to really pray, you know, not just bless my family, bless my kids, bless my grandkids, but pray.
And would you agree with this statement that a godly man is a praying man?
Um, and so any help on structures for prayer beyond just, you know, my personal needs, of course that’s necessary, but as a family, not even in the assembly, but for the assembly in private or for the work, the need for prayer.
I was telling someone just yesterday that there’s a brother in England, he was a Scots brother, but he lived in England called Mr. J.B. Hewitt.
You might have seen books that he’s done, Joe Hewitt.
[45:32] So when I was 13, he was staying in our house over the weekend for the Saturday Bible reading and the Sunday.
So, the next week I got a letter from him.
He said, dear Ian, blah, blah, blah, I will be praying for you every other Tuesday.
Which I thought was a bizarre thing when I was 13. I was very happy.
But every other Tuesday.
And I spoke later to somebody who knew him well, a lot of years later.
He said, oh, that’s what he did. He had a prayer list for every day.
And his young men prayer list was every other Tuesday. So he must’ve had 14 prayer lists, I think.
[46:12] Wow. So, you know, that’s one way that might appeal to people in the discipline of prayer.
But coming back to it, I think prayer is harder than Bible reading.
I really, really do. And I also think that it’s really, really important.
And as you say, there’s no godliness without prayer.
Actually, there’s not anything without prayer. and I think we’ve fallen down on this.
If I could just tell you this little story. I was sharing meetings in Scotland with Mr. Peter Brandon, who in more conservative assemblies had a bit of a reputation as being more open, and in more open assemblies had a reputation of being not open.
So he got knocked by both sides. He was one of the godliest men I ever knew.
So we were sharing these meetings and he said to me over a weekend, he said, Ian, before every meeting, I want you to come to my room and we’ll pray.
[47:18] So, we knelt at the side of his bed and Peter started praying.
I knew him well, he had brothers in our assembly, but he started praying and I had to say to the Lord quietly, I said, Lord, I have never learned to pray because what he had done in his life was cultivate an intimacy and a reverential closeness to the Lord like I don’t think, I’ve ever heard with anybody else.
And I went away, I really did say to the Lord, Lord, I just haven’t, I felt very reproved, that my prayer life was so second rate compared to what it could have been.
But it’s from prayer, the power in living, the power in service, and everything else comes from that communion with God in prayer.
[48:17] So it goes with that Bible reading, where we’re hearing God, but in prayer, God is hearing us.
And that communion between us and him is the thing that will lead to godliness.
Yeah, can I add, when Paul read to first Thessalonians, It’s prayer without ceasing.
So somebody called the doctor and said, the son has a cough, is coughing without ceasing.
It’s not that he starts coughing and is coughing 24-7 without any gaps between, but he is coughing continuously.
Prayer without ceasing means that my mind is enter the divine realm.
As we talked of the Holy Spirit having a grip on us.
And that means that my mind goes to be in fellowship, in communion, not only those 45 minutes that I have in the morning, but constantly to see, to walk in the presence of God.
[49:25] When I am in my car, when I am in the bus, you know, when I have a free moment in a way.
So to, as you said in the morning, to put God into my equation, or better, to put myself into the equation of God.
So pray without ceasing means having that fixed.
[49:45] So there’s like the idea of living in prayer, and so you’re talking about living in it.
And then there’s the idea of maybe a specific time of prayer, which our brother just mentioned that this brother had every Tuesday.
Then there’s the instant prayers. Like before I was opening this, just a, Lord help me, right? Nehemiah type prayer.
So in other words, prayer is life. Prayer is air.
And to not pray is to not breathe. Just like to not read is to not eat.
And so I hope it makes sense.
I think that’s very helpful, a prayer list.
I found myself, just to come to maybe something practical for the local assembly, I found myself struggling very much to pray in the weekly prayer meeting for needs if I’m not praying for those needs outside the weekly prayer meeting.
Seems like I just come and then gotta get burdened about it.
And I think that’s kind of where I was going as well. Not just praying, Lord, bless me and my family and this need and that need.
And confession of sin is another thing we haven’t covered, but that, as God speaks to you, praying that right when you notice it to confess that sin, but also praying for the believers, praying for the work.
I was touched by a verse in 2 Corinthians 1. The apostle tells those believers, you have helped me by your prayers.
That’s powerful that you can help the work by praying. And it’s not just a little nicety, you can actually help.
[51:09] So yeah, the need for prayer. We’re not going to get to my body and I, uh, that’s okay.
The communion, communion is the only way to godliness.
I think that’s okay to not get to my body. And I was thinking of our mind and that again, would touch on our, on what we’re reading, our eyes, we live in a world that is very visually provocative and to be, disciplined about our eyes.
Like the, like Job said, I’ve made a covenant with my eye, our tongue, the book of James, the discipline of our tongue.
But I hope that from this session we can at least take away this, that if we want to be godly, we must be disciplined in reading, meditating, studying, memorizing, and in prayer.
Communion is the powerhouse, and we neglect it to our peril.
Personal and practical godliness.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_06JBaker20220917.m4a[0:02] Now, good morning, I’d like to read the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, please.
Genesis in chapter 39.
My privilege to join in this 80th Bible Conference with the Midland Park Assembly.
Always a privilege to be back in Midland Park and work with the Christians here, and as, well see so many who have come from other places.
Thanks for being here.
I have a burden on my heart for this opening message, wasn’t able to really shake it in, full transparency, don’t feel the most qualified to speak on it, but it is a burden I feel first of all for myself and I feel for the assemblies represented here, Christians represented here and in other parts of North America.
Genesis chapter 39, and we’ll begin at verse 7.
[1:00] And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph.
And she said, lie with me.
But he refused and said unto his master’s wife, behold my master, what if not what is with me in the house?
And he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I.
Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Over to chapter 40.
Stories well known. We’ll just break in for some scattered readings.
Chapter 40 and verse 8.
And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.
And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God?
Tell me them, I pray you.
[1:59] And verse 15, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream and there is none that can interpret it. And I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Chapter 50 and verse 20 speaking to his brothers but as for you you thought evil against me but, god meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive now Over to to the 12th Psalm for my text, really that’s on my heart this morning, the 12th Psalm.
To the chief musician upon Shemineth, a psalm of David, help, Lord, for the godly ceaseth.
[3:17] We will begin with a bit of a lament. It’s not meant to discourage anyone, but hopefully it’ll get our eyes fixed for this weekend.
This is my text this morning.
We heard about a prayer last night, and I was very encouraged by the prayers even of, brethren last night, this is a prayer that’s on my heart, first of all for myself.
Help, Lord, for the godly ceaseth. I would like to speak to you about the necessity for personal, practical godliness.
[3:57] I want to talk in this message about the desperate need. That’s really what we have in this 12th Psalm.
Help, Lord! Save, Lord! The psalmist is in a place where the wicked are camouflaging themselves.
They’re looking faithful. They’re saying the right things, but they’re flattering.
And the psalmist understands this, that I can’t tell who’s true and who’s not, who’s putting on the mask and who’s not. And the faithful and the godly are nearly all gone. And maybe it’s like a Elijah experience for David here and the Lord is going to remind him that there are there are certainly those who are still godly and yet From his heart he cries out, Save us Lord, The godly are gone and I have felt this very much Every funeral that seems to take place where whereabouts I live. I can’t look at the people who pass away and say oh, oh, We’ve lost greatly gifted people. I, I don’t look at the casket and think, oh, we’ve lost people who had a real stamp in our community.
They had a lot of connections.
But we’ve lost godly people, and we haven’t replaced them.
[5:06] And where there is a real need in my own heart, first of all, and in the need, I think, for all of us, for practical godliness.
And it must begin here, with David in the 12th Psalm, with an acknowledgement, with It’s a passionate desperation, Lord save us.
The godly are gone.
Where are the godly? And so that’s what I’d like to take up.
Someone has said this, there is no higher compliment that can be paid to a Christian, than to call him godly.
[5:39] He might be a conscientious parent, a zealous worker in the assembly, a dynamic spokesman for Christ, a talented leader.
But none of those things matter if at the same time he is not a godly person.
The great thing in an auditorium like this with such scattered needs, this is nothing gifted dependent.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a preacher, it doesn’t matter if you have leadership qualities to one day be an overseer, it doesn’t matter if you’re greatly gifted in a certain area.
Godliness is expected and commanded for all believers.
And so I would like to look at godliness today. Someone also wrote, and it quite discouraged me, that to give an address on godliness in the 21st century is to have everyone at the same time to tune off.
Because he said not too many people are interested in practical godliness.
Better to give an address on how to build a church, or on a building project.
Get people excited about things to do, or mission to a city nearby.
Everyone will get excited about that, and we should.
But personal godliness? No one will listen to you.
And then he said something that kind of bothered me.
He said no one in the millennial generation will listen to you.
I think millennials have been given a bad rap.
[7:06] I guess I am one, but I think they’ve been giving a bad rap.
Perhaps the reason why we somehow shirk back from a message on godliness is because, we don’t know what godliness is.
There’s a vagueness to godliness and that’s what I want to do today. I want to begin with this need for practical, personal godliness, this desperate cry, save us lord, intervene god.
The godly are gone. But I want to move now to what godliness is. What’s the definition of it?
Let me begin by what godliness is not. Often with virtues in the Bible, if we can begin here. What is godliness not? Godliness is not somberness.
Godliness is not having the longest face possible. It is not gritting your teeth and being morbid, and sad through life. That is not godliness. Godliness is not joylessness. It’s not having, no fun, no pleasure. No, those things are not consistent with godliness.
As we’ve already talked about, godliness is not giftedness.
[8:24] Godliness is not intelligence.
Godliness is not success. Godliness is not being connected. Godliness is not wealth.
You see, I sometimes look just in my little corner of the world and I think, We have successful people. We have connected people. We have gifted people.
But godliness is not any of those things. Godliness is not the absence of wealth.
Just to balance it. That’s not godliness. Godliness is not merely orthodoxy. It is not merely somebody who holds all the right doctrines.
Now, you’d hard to find a person who’s godly who doesn’t hold the right doctrines, but a person could hold the right doctrines and not be godly.
It is possible to be very orthodox in one’s doctrine, upright in one’s behavior, and not be godly.
[9:25] Godliness, we’ll learn, is not optional. It’s a command. It’s a command for me.
It’s a command for you to be godly. What is godliness linked with? This will also help us.
Some people think godliness is linked with kind of like a legalistic, a rigid person, and they follow all the rules. Do you know godliness is linked with grace? Says Paul to Titus, the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present age. And so a person who is Godly is a student of grace. It is grace that produces godliness, not rules. Grace.
Godliness is also linked with persecution. Says Paul to Timothy, all that live godly will suffer persecution.
[10:35] I was thinking about this last night in the prayer meeting. The number of addresses that we would become more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Godliness is linked with Christ.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Godliness is linked with the Lord Jesus. If you would like to be like Christ, You must be godly.
[11:06] So what is godliness? Well, we’ve read an example that we’re going to come to in the life of this man Joseph, but let me give you a definition. We kind of know what manliness is, right? We can see, when somebody’s not manly, right? Manliness, be like a man. Godliness, sometimes we can think, is to be like God. Now, strictly speaking, I don’t think that’s an accurate definition of godliness, at least not the word that’s used here over and over in 1 and 2 Timothy and the book of Titus, and even in your Old Testament, godliness is not so much to be like God, although that is a result of godliness. A person who is godly will become, in a greater degree, more and more like God.
[11:47] But godliness is to be toward God. Godliness is a God-towardness. You say, great, you’ve just explained something we don’t know what that means.
Godliness is to be centered on God, focused on God. Another, I’ll give you what Mr. Vine says, godliness is to be devoted. It denotes a piety, sometimes if you have a different translation of the Bible, a godly person will be called pious. It denotes a piety which is characterized by a God-word attitude, and, does that which is pleasing to Him. You say, okay, the opposite of godliness is worldliness, but I think the opposite of godliness as well is not so much hating God, God, but forgetting God.
[12:41] You see, a godly person is God-toward. Their life is toward God, is centered on God.
The opposite of godliness is like a practical atheism, where we forget God.
Now, no one here, I doubt, is an atheist. But we can all be practical atheists.
There are times in our lives where we can forget God. Like, God doesn’t have anything to do with, that. Some people think that if you’re godly, you’ll never go on a vacation.
That used to be said from pulpits, from what I’ve been told. Now, that’s not true.
But if you’re godly, you won’t go on a vacation without God.
[13:23] Your vacation will be governed by bringing God along with you, by doing it in fellowship with Him. Not by doing it and saying, oh God, I know you care about Sundays, and I know you care about ministry meetings, but like this is a vacation, great deal, I’m going. No, no, no, that’s ungodliness.
Godliness is centered, focused, focused on God. It is the idea when you say God-towardness, it’s the idea of seeing God and bringing God into every area of my life. Godliness, you see, blows apart the compartmentalized life. The life that says, well, this is for work, and this is for my family, and this is for the assembly.” No, no, no. Godliness blows it all apart because Because God has something to say and sway in every area of life.
[14:13] So let’s just look in the remaining time at this example. You know, I think when it comes to, any word, any word we learned, I have children all four and younger, and when they learn a word, it’s not because I open up a dictionary and tell them running means to vigorously extend your right leg in front of your left leg. No, I mean, you could say that and they’ll know, but you just, watch somebody, that’s running! And they clue in, that’s running. And I think for us as believers as well, if you want to know what godliness is, you could listen to what Mr. Vine’s dictionary is, and you could have that definition and do you good in a Bible reading somewhere, but you might not know actually what it means. That piousness, that God-to-word attitude. Yes, it’s okay to say that. What does it mean? And I think we have an example in the life of this young man, Joseph.
You see, we have read over and over in the life of Joseph while he’s in Egypt of specific situations where he brings God right into it.
[15:18] We have read in those verses that we took the time to read of Joseph referencing God. That’s godliness.
That it’s not just when Joseph is with his mom and dad, it’s not just when he’s in the land that’s going to be that promised land, but no, even when he’s out in Egypt, out in the world, like most of us are going to go back to come Monday morning, and Joseph over and over brings, in God. That’s godliness. This is godliness, this God-centered, God-to-word attitude. Godliness, I guess, is a twin of the fear of God. They go together. And so we see it in the life of Joseph.
And let me just go through them in the next 10 to 15 minutes.
[16:03] We notice, first of all, it’s a young man.
I hope there’s nobody here who thinks that godliness is only something I graduate to when I’m 80, and when people visit me, they say, well, that’s a godly sister.
No.
No, we need godly young men.
I have a plea today. A plea. It’s my burden.
I’m not sure how good I’m going to be at getting it all and organizing it all in the life of Joseph, but I want you to understand my burden. We need godly young men and young women.
[16:35] Go in for godliness. Go in for it. Understand this, that your success, whether or not you will be pleasing to the Lord, will not matter so much about how gifted you are, or how successful you are, or how influential you are. Go in for godliness. Go in for living for the eye of one.
Joseph. First of all, we find him, the first time he brings God in, is in this temptation.
Potiphar’s wife. And she comes, and the first time you know it, you know the story, and then she comes again and again. Here’s Joseph in the land of Egypt, Forsaken and sold by his brothers.
[17:29] If there was ever a man who would think, why live for God? It’s Joseph.
Here he is and he’s just been taken to this foreign land, separated from his own father, whom he had a very special relationship with.
Separated from his family, a slave in Potiphar’s house.
Now a temptation comes.
I’ll be very surprised if there is nobody in this auditorium tonight who cannot relate with the temptation that Joseph just felt that we’ve read about.
We live in a seductive, sex-crazed, pornographic world.
[18:13] And it is not my intention to make anyone overwhelmed with feelings of guilt at the, same time, would you like to know how to face temptation in godliness?
Look at this man.
Here comes the temptation.
And this is what Joseph says, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
God. God. He brings God into the temptation. And in this foreign land, where there are many gods, Pharaoh’s God, Joseph says, no, there is one God. And when the temptation assaults him, it’s so strong, he just has to flee from it, which the Bible says we must flee from fornication.
But Joseph understands this, that even though he’s separated from his mom and dad, even though he’s in a foreign land where nobody who knows him can see him. He understands this, that even there God sees him, and he’s accountable to God, and he brings God right into the temptation.
That’s how you endure temptation in a godly way. You bring God into it. Bring God into it.
When the temptation comes, hard day at work or school, all alone, laptop, computer, Private browsing is open. Bring in God. It’s for your life. It’s for your life.
[19:37] Please understand, it’s not a small thing. It’s gonna affect your mind. It’s gonna affect your life. Bring in God. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in this world. Bring him in. That’s what Joseph did. He understood this, I am accountable to God and he brings in God and then he flees. Moving to the next part, then he’s put into the prison. Things just seem to be getting from bad to worse. He has a revelation from God in his hometown.
I don’t think he shared it because he was proud. I think he shared it because he had a revelation from God and as a result of that he’s thrown into a pit sold as a slave, now he, as a slave, facing a temptation from a very influential woman, He stands righteous and he gets put in prison.
[20:33] I say there are times in our lives where it’s like, God has let me down.
And here’s Joseph in prison. Butler and Baker are there.
[20:45] And Joseph understands this, that when it comes to anything, I’m going to do for God.
Not just my accountability before him and temptation, but anything I’m going to do.
You notice what he said. He says, do not interpretations belong to God. You tell the dreams, to me. Some people have said that this is when Joseph sinned. This was pride from this young man. After all, here he is in Egypt and he says, these things belong to God, but you tell him to me.
I think that is a very low estimation of this young man. You know what I think it was? I I think Joseph understood this, that even though I’m in prison, God is with me.
And the God who is able to interpret your dreams, I rely wholly on him to interpret the dreams through me.
And a person goes through service for God, right? Whatever it is that you’re called to do, whatever it is that God has gifted you to do in your own local assembly, you do that in the good.
How do I serve godly?
By depending on God. By understanding it’s God who is going to do it through you.
This kind of work belongs to God, but God, I rely on Him, and He’ll do it through me.
[22:05] Then he gets put into Pharaoh’s palace, this young man, and it’s been a bit of a while, right?
He tells the butler, remember me? You’re graduating there. You’re going back.
Cup again. Just remember me. Tell Pharaoh about me.” And you know the story, the butler forgets Joseph.
And all these years pass Like just I think sometimes we we spiritualize joseph so much. We he’s a beautiful picture of the lord. Jesus We forget this is a real young man as real as any of you here tonight today, Right. He has a sinful nature. He has a heart that’s deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, This is not a superman. This is a young man, And here he is forgotten by god for years, it seems There he is faithful righteous doing everything right in prison, and now the butler even forgets him, and now, Pharaoh has dreams, and Pharaoh’s calling for Joseph, and Joseph’s shaved, and he’s brought right before Pharaoh, and graduation day has come. Joseph, take the glory! Take it! It’s yours! And Pharaoh says, oh I’ve heard great things about you, Joseph. I’ve heard that you’re the man, you’re the guy who can interpret dreams.
[23:19] And Joseph says, this is only done by God. Right in the midst of success. Can you imagine?
Pharaoh thought he was God. Imagine quoting God, the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Israelites.
That could be enough to get you back into prison.
And yet Joseph doesn’t care. He understands this.
If anything’s going to happen with this man’s dreams, I want you to understand, first of Pharaoh. It’s only going to happen by God. And he brings God into his success.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget God in trial, right? We know that from the life of Job, a misunderstanding of God. God has set me as his target and we can forget God in trial.
I think it’s easier to forget them when things are going well.
[24:14] When the promotion comes, when the new house comes, when everything’s going well, everything’s just great, we forget God.
I think very soberly of another man in the Bible, David. I think he’s also an example of of a godly young man, says of David, his heart, right?
I have sought out for myself one who is after my heart. I don’t think that’s so much means, although it may be part of it, that David had a heart, that was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, but we understand that David’s heart was deceitful as well.
I think when it says he was after the Lord’s heart, it’s just he was after it.
He was pursuing it, right?
Context when that verse is said, David, a man after the Lord’s heart, it said, Saul, who did not do my will. But David, who is after my heart, who will do my will, here’s a person who is searching and longing after God’s heart. And over and over in the life of that man, he inquired after the Lord. He inquired after the Lord, except for one chapter in his life.
[25:30] And it’s all successful. And Saul’s gone. And the armies are conquered.
And you read through that chapter. A time when kings go out to battle and David’s not going.
[25:44] And no mention of God.
Just about David.
Success. Very easy. Very easy to forget God when things are going well.
But Joseph, first thing, he brings God in. Bring God in. That’s godliness.
Bring God into the temptation. If there’s a young man, young woman here today, and this week has been filled with clearing history, hiding, You know what it is to come to the Lord’s Supper, blushing, worried. Listen, bring God into it.
Bring God into it. I’m not giving a simplistic answer. I understand that these things need to be nuanced, but that’s where we start. We start by bringing God into it. We don’t start with programs and all the other things that are helpful and accountability partners.
First, bring God in. Get the first accountability partner. There’s power. If you’re a believer, There’s power and bringing the Lord in, If you’re doing service for God you feel overwhelmed Bring God into it Bring God, Success bring God’s praise into it, David we Joseph I mean we didn’t read about it, but when gifts come from God those two boys, He he names his sons God has made me forget.
[27:07] God, the Lord, has made me fruitful.
Right?
Even in looking at his children, he brings God into it. Gifts.
You see, everything about this young man in his life, I’m not saying by any means he was perfect, but everything about him, he continually is bringing God.
Now, this is godliness.
You say, what does that mean, God-towardness? That’s Joseph.
It’s bringing God in. Centered, focused on God everywhere he goes, no matter the situation, temptation, trials, success, gifts from God.
Likely in this conference there are people, and you struggle with what I imagine Joseph must have struggled with, bitterness.
Bitterness is a dark place.
[28:04] It’s self-eating, destroys a person, bitterness, discouragement, taking pot shots at people.
And it’s one thing to have bitterness, you know, towards the neighbor who put up a fence.
Oh, well, he’s just a person in the world.
But really, I think if we’re honest, most of that doesn’t affect us.
It’s just bitterness within.
It’s just a believer that we can’t believe they did that. Irritation, and the root goes down deep, and then we water the root with our pity and our tears and then it grows up into something that’s very hard to remove.
You know, I don’t know what you’ve been through in your life in the local assembly.
It’s easy to have bitterness creep in.
I doubt that you’ve been through what this young man went through.
[29:04] Put into a pit, stripped, sold, and now here comes bros. There they come.
And he puts them through a test. skipping over that, but he wants to make sure they’re truly repentant.
And now his dad has passed away. Think of all the years Joseph missed of time with his father.
And as he looks at those boys, he could very easily understand it’s all because of you.
It’s your fault! Your fault that I missed all that time and now I buried him!
And they’re all worried. What’s Joseph going to do now that dad’s gone?
And it says that Joseph, he wept.
[29:53] And in a time where bitterness could take over or discouragement, he turns to those boys and he says, you meant it for evil, but God, he brings in God, God meant it for good.
And the man who I think has every really reason to be bitter, he understands this.
God was in control. God was in control through it all. He sent me to preserve your life, to save your life.
And although you meant it for evil, God meant it for good.
You see, here’s a young man, and when it comes to godliness, he’s not put in a bubble. He’s not a monk.
He’s not sitting in a study surrounded by beautiful books from the 18th century.
He’s in a real world, a hostile world, and he’s facing temptation, and he’s facing pride, and he’s facing bitterness.
But Joseph is godly, for he brings in God.
And that brings me to the conclusion for this opening message.
I don’t want to deflate an expectation for this weekend with a conference, but I just want to begin.
I hope we all can unite with this prayer.
Perhaps you know people in your life and they were godly and they’re gone.
[31:23] Save, Lord! Help us, Lord! Intervene, Lord! The godly are nearly extinct!
And more than that, Lord, no matter how gifted I am or not, how successful I am or not, by whatever means necessary, make me godly. Make me godly! That’s what God wants for you.
Godliness with contentment, says the Apostle Paul, is great gain.
And so, this is just my burden for the weekend, really.
That from this conference, through the messages that will be weaved together by the Spirit of God, we would grow in godliness.
We would leave this weekend more godly.
More godly. Hopefully more knowledgeable. Hopefully learning things from the Bible, but more godly.
And so may God, may God intervene.
For the godly are nearly extinct. And yet there is hope, if we begin, as David did, in dependence.
Sent to spread the gospel.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_05IJackson20220917.m4a[0:01] Book of Acts, Acts chapter 1, and we’ll break into the passage of verse 4. This is thrilling reading, isn’t it, in the book of Acts and the great history of the spread of the gospel, as the Lord begins to call out of the nations a people for His name. And in this opening section of the book of Acts we learn some very pertinent things in relation to that.
And the Lord of course has showed himself alive by many infallible proofs.
Verse 4 says this, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he, you’ve, heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the, Holy Ghost not many days hence.’ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
[1:14] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which, the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as, ye have seen him go into heaven.
The Lord will bless to us.
His Word.
We’re often reminded by our preaching brothers that verse 8 contains a division of the book of Acts.
[2:35] And when you’re reading in the book, you learn in the first seven chapters of the way in which the gospel spread in Jerusalem and in all Judea.
[2:47] And at that time the gospel was preached in those environs and not beyond and indeed in an amazing way, the kingdom was offered again to the nation of Israel, but that nation that refused our Saviour while he was here, the king in their midst, refused him when he had gone back to heaven.
The nobleman’s son returning to the far country and they sent a message after him in the stoning of Stephen when they said, we will not have this man to reign over us and the Messiah who was rejected on earth is the Messiah who was yet rejected in heaven. Then from chapter 8 onwards, you begin to read of the gospel going to Samaria and as we read from our brother earlier, from, Samaria upon the persecution that arose from Stephen’s martyrdom, they went up and they went to Antioch, all the way speaking the gospel and telling others about the great news of the Savior.
And when you come to chapter 13, which we also read from earlier, separate me now Saul and Barnabas, and there they were separated and the gospel was going, to go out to the uttermost parts of the earth. Do you know one day the gospel reached Albania, which, by the way, is not as far out into the uttermost parts of the earth as America.
[4:14] I know you all think that America is the sort of center of the universe. I have news to tell you, it’s in the far reaches of this verse in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. I’m glad for the fact the gospel went to Albania earlier on, Illyricum, and I’m glad of the time the gospel came to the shores of my country and to England and how it was spread and through a lot of British history, into the far corners of the world, the Lord taking up that in His providence.
And ultimately right out to the far corners of the world. How wonderful, exciting, invigorating, stimulating to read of the fact that the gospel was intended to go to the uttermost hearts of the earth as the gospel was preached to all and sundry in order that so many multitudes might come to know the Saviour. And of course these disciples were recognising, they were cognisant of the fact, that the Lord Jesus had said to them after his resurrection, but before this that we read of in Acts chapter 1. He said, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. As my father hath sent me, even so send I you. And as they listened to our Lord in that room with the doors locked.
[5:42] And they having fear of the Jews, he’s telling them that he’s sending them and, he’s sending them on the same mission that the Father had sent him on, and as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And it may be that the voice of Christ, risen and powerful, might resonate in the heart and soul and conscience and and spiritual experience of somebody in our meeting today.
As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And the you might not be the person next to you, but Christ in his risen power addresses you. And in the conference this afternoon you hear his word, you recognize his voice, you’re stirred in your soul as my father hath sent me even so send i you may i remind you, that Christ has no tongue except yours.
[6:48] Christ has no feet to go except yours. Christ has no hand to work save yours.
And what a happy thing if today in our meeting, maybe in the life of some young believer or some older believer, you come to the recognition that Christ is speaking to you and that from this moment onwards instead of living a life for your career and for your advantage and for your benefit.
[7:20] You are willing to say to the Lord who saved you that in actual fact I am willing to lay down my life for thee that wherever thou descend me round the corner or round the world Lord I am ready, I am willing, I am prepared, to do as thou wouldst have me do, as Saul of Tarsus when he was saved.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And in love for Christ, and in love for a world that’s perishing and lost and breaking and devastated by the increasing impact of sin, as the mystery of iniquity goes into turbo charge, still there comes a call that gospel light might shine.
[8:09] And it will only shine as his people stand and count the cost and out of love for Christ, are prepared at whatever cost to make him known. And so thrilling when we come to the beginning of the book of Acts and what the Savior is saying is this, that the great mission of the Father on which he had been sent and the continuing mission that these men were given now would go not just to the limited regions of Jerusalem and Judea but to go to Samaria, what a read that is, about Philip in Samaria and ultimately to the uttermost part of the earth.
[8:54] There’s a very interesting thing in the book of Acts at the beginning here which will help us to understand what was going on and help us in our day.
The disciples, those that were with the Lord, probably not just the 12 here but others as well, they had heard what the Lord said to them and when they would come together, they had a question for the Lord and the question that they had for the Lord really showed where their understanding was in relation to the things I want to talk to you about, because they’re saying to the Lord, Lord wilt thou restore the kingdom again to Israel? No, they didn’t ask that. So what they asked was this, they asked Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
[9:45] You remember that they had great difficulty in realizing that their Lord whom they were following in the Gospels was actually going to suffer and to bleed and die, because here was the king in their midst and the idea would have been this that they would were thinking that he had come to establish the kingdom and to rid them certainly of the Roman yoke and to set up that messianic kingdom of which the bible is full in the old testament in his predictions that a king shall reign in zion and of course that was the hope of israel, that’s contained in the abrahamic covenant it’s contained in the palestinian covenant, it’s contained in the davidic covenant that is to say in promises unconditional given to abraham, and given to David about the land and about a king who would reign.
[10:42] Isn’t it wonderful, by the way, to read through some of those Old Testament prophets? I mean, it’s a bit hard going sometimes. I know you all prefer the New Testament section of Isaiah to the Old Testament section. Well, I guess everybody does, but it’s far easier to read about comfort ye my people than woe unto Jerusalem in chapter 29 or wherever. And you plow through some, but you come to those wonderful sections in the prophets that speak of the fact that a king shall reign in righteousness and a king shall reign and prosper and you read in chapters like Isaiah 11 and elsewhere and then in Romans 8 how that the whole creation is going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and it won’t be that wolves and lambs and sheep and asps and lions and all and children are all going to be at odds with each other. The wonderful fact is this that the bondage of corruption into which creation was placed at the beginning will be, they’ll be delivered from it and a king shall reign and Edenic conditions more or less will return in the millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and if you were a Jew in the Old Testament this was your hope, this was your hope, it still is the hope of orthodox Jews.
[12:06] In North Manchester, near where Stephen and Carol used to live. I remember sitting at traffic lights, in North Manchester one day and it was on a corner and right the way around the corner on a wall, there was painted, beautiful inscription as I remember and what it was saying is this, that the Messiah is coming. It’s a very Jewish area of North Manchester in England.
[12:32] Messiah is coming, Moshiach is coming, and that was their hope in the Old Testament, and the disciples, this was their hope. So now Christ has died and is risen, and they’re asking this question, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Now I want you to understand something, the fact that Christ has died, and the fact that we are now living in a dispensation where God is calling out of the the nations of people for his name and in which the church is being formed, I want to talk to you about in just a moment, the fact that we are living in this era, this distinct dispensation, has not for one minute meant that the, promises given to Israel have been annulled or abrogated. In other words, those promises are still good. At the moment, that program, God’s kingdom program, in which his great purpose and design is that there will be a manifested, mediatorial kingdom for a thousand years on earth, that program is, at the moment, as it were, don’t make me an offender for a word, as it were, it is is on hold.
[13:57] God is not now dealing in that way. God now is dealing in another way and it is this, that he’s calling out of all of the nations, a people for his name. Isn’t that wonderful?
When you get to the Old Testament, it was to do with Israel my son, my firstborn.
The only have I known of all the nations of the earth.
God is dealing in particular with the nation, you know the story, but aren’t you glad, I’m glad, aren’t you glad that now it’s not like that?
[14:35] And here God the Lord is forming that body which is the church, but the fact that God is doing that, does not mean that God will not fulfill His promise to the nation of Israel. Now follow this carefully. They say, wilt thou restore again the kingdom to Israel? No, they had no doubt that God would keep his promises. Now I’m amazed that people take an amillennial position, where they say that actually that whole program of the establishment of the manifested kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will not be fulfilled. It’s being spiritually fulfilled now in the church.
I just say to you, don’t believe a word of it. When you’re reading in Romans 11 at the end, there are multiple reasons for believing that God is going to take up again his dealings with Israel as a nation and in connection with that and them being the head of the nations and not the tail, He’s going to establish that kingdom of which our Bible speaks.
So the disciples had no doubt about that. They did not say, wilt thou restore again the kingdom to Israel?
But what they did say was, wilt thou at this time?
Will you do it now, Lord? Do you see that?
[15:58] And the Lord didn’t say to them no, but the Lord did say something different was going to happen.
[16:07] So instead now of a king coming in glory and a king coming in power and in might, to Jerusalem, instead of that from Jerusalem they would go out.
[16:22] So what he’s going to say to them is, look, actually the Father has put in his own power the times and seasons and it’s not for you to know that. This expression times and seasons has always to do with the nation of Israel and it always has to do with that which is on earth.
So he says, look, it’s not for you to know the times and the seasons, the Father’s put that in in his own power, but the thing I want you to know is this, you shall receive power, and what he says is this, that you receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and then you’ll be witnesses unto me. So what he’s saying is this, that the age that was being ushered in was marked at its beginning by this that he says about the Holy Spirit.
In verse 8, the Holy Spirit will come upon you but look back the way and in verse number 5 we read that John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. So the Lord Jesus is marking out the beginning of the church age, that it would actually be begun by the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
[17:47] I want to talk to you about that just for a moment because we’re living in an age when there’s whole heaps of confusion about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and I want to put this to you, that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a one-off historic never-to-be-repeated event, that happened on one day in history and that one day in history was on the day of Pentecost, And whenever anybody is saved, they come into the benefit and into the good of that which happened on that one day in history.
Now I don’t have time this afternoon to expand very much on that, but you might remember that the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians in chapter 12, and he’s speaking to them about that.
And in that chapter, he’s going to speak to them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The late Mr. Hunter used to tell us that it was the only apostolic exegesis of what happened on the day of Pentecost.
[18:57] So on the day of Pentecost, Paul’s speaking about it in 1 Corinthians 12, 12, and he says that in one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free. I remember well Mr Jack Hunter speaking to us on this the baptism in the Holy Spirit he used to put it like this that in any baptism there are four elements, At the first is the person who’s going to do the baptizing.
[19:37] So in any baptism this is the case. If someone’s getting baptized in connection with your assembly, someone has got to do the baptizing. Somebody who hopes the immersion heater for the water is working, especially in winter baptisms. But someone’s got to do the baptizing. Secondly, there has to be the candidate for baptism.
[19:59] Thirdly, there has to be the element in which the baptism took place.
And fourthly, it’s unto something. So in water baptism, somebody does the baptizing, the new believer, we trust the new believer. By the way, if you’re a believer but not baptized, you really should be. Don’t wait for a flash of lightning or a word from the brethren, just get exercise, because it’s an anomaly to be an unbaptized believer. Anyway, here’s the person doing the baptizing, here’s the candidate for baptism, here’s the water, and it’s unto Christ. In my baptism what I’ve said is this, that I’ve died to sin, I’m laid in the same grave as my Savior in that, but I’m also now in union with a risen Christ, and in association with Him, I’m living now to a new principle, and that principle is the glory of the Father. I’m living in newness of life. So that’s water baptism.
In the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Christ was the baptizer. John the Baptist said, he shall baptize you. Christ is the baptizer, the risen and descended Christ.
The candidates for baptism, well, these were they who were gathered on the day of Pentecost.
[21:26] But the thing is, they were actually a representative company.
So there they were in that room on the day of Pentecost.
These were they who were to be baptized in the element of the Holy Spirit who came and filled the room.
So the element was the Holy Spirit. They weren’t baptized by the Holy Spirit.
They were baptized in the Holy Spirit by the risen Christ.
[21:51] And what that was unto was this. It was unto one body.
[21:55] Jews and Gentiles, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So the idea is this, that on the day of Pentecost the body of Christ was formed. When you were saved in practical experience you of course were added to it, you came into the good of what happened on the day of Pentecost. Now don’t be sidetracked by charismatic teaching, it’s all over the place. The idea is not that when you get saved, you need to pray and wait in order to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That’s not the idea. The idea is this, at the moment that you believed, you came into the good of what happened on the day of Pentecost and what happened on the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the church age. It was then that the body of Christ was formed. So what that means is this, the church is not a continuation of Israel. The church has not, as it were, come into the spiritual benefit of all of the promises that were given to Israel, which lo and would then need to be all allegorical. So it’s not like that. On the day of Pentecost a new thing began in God’s dealings with men and he’s calling out.
[23:23] From the nations a people for himself, by the way, a people for his son. Isn’t that.
[23:30] Wonderful? Don’t you love to think about divine purpose, the design of God in all he’s doing. Brothers and sisters, one day there will be a people surrounding his son.
They will be sons, that’s Romans 8, all conformed to his image, but this church will be his bride, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, his complement. Isn’t that brilliant?
See I think of Adam and Eve. I mean that was an event wasn’t it when Adam Adam went to sleep by whatever means God used to put him to sleep and here’s the surgical procedure that was taking place.
[24:23] And eventually Adam came round from it. That was a busy day, day six. Adam came round from it.
Imagine, before Adam went to sleep, all he had was a bunch of animals and birds.
And he couldn’t really speak to the parrot. You might think parrots are wonderful in speaking, but Adam really couldn’t speak to the parrot. And if he did speak to the parrot, all he might get is something back in whatever language Adam spoke, which I think was probably Hebrew.
But and really Adam couldn’t speak to the cows because there was nothing in the cows that that he could commune with there’d be no understanding in the cows of what he said they couldn’t understand his heart he might say to a cow oh you are lovely Daisy and all Daisy might do is moo might do a lot worse but all, Daisy might do is moo there was absolutely nothing the pigs would only he oink and grunt at Adam and he went to sleep and he woke up and there she was.
[25:25] Do you ever wonder what Adam said to Eve when he opened his eyes? I often wonder what what a moment that must have been. Did he say good morning or good afternoon or will you marry me or perhaps perhaps in the divine mind they already were. I’m not not too sure these are these are amazing things but in any the event term. The thing is that Eve was everything that Adam wasn’t and she was everything that Adam needed. So he could speak to her and she would understand him and she would speak to him and he might understand her. And they could love each other. So everything that Adam needed intellectually and for purposes of communion and companionship and of course reproduction for the race, the woman was made for the man, we know this, she was the complement of Adam, she was the fullness of Adam, so that’s taken over into Ephesians 1 and the church is the complement of him that filleth all in all. This is an amazing thing, Christ in glory is incomplete without his church.
[26:39] I know you got a blink about that one but it’s true, Christ in glory is incomplete without His church. So what God is doing is this, He’s bringing her to His Son.
He is really, He’s not just leaving that to the whim of fallen man either. God has purpose and design, and it will happen. Praise God it will. There will be a people.
[27:06] So you see, it’s marked at the beginning by the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but then he’s also going to mark out in this chapter that this era in which we’re living is going to have an end.
[27:20] So later on in the verses that we read, they’re looking steadfastly up to heaven.
[27:28] And as they’re looking steadfastly up toward heaven, he’s taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Isn’t that just the most wonderful thing?
Paul writing to Timothy says he was received up in glory. Glory was the accompaniment of his ascension. What a moment when the risen Christ ascended to glory. Listen to what’s happening. He’s leaving his witness, his testimony, the spread of his gospel in the hands of people like Peter, Thomas, those who hadn’t been able to stand by the cross and had fled? He’s leaving the spread of the gospel to Jerusalem and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world in the hands of failing, frail, weak, unable men, whose failure wasn’t all over yet.
Don’t you love that? And he himself is received up in glory, and as they’re looking up, here’s the question, why stand you gazing up into heaven? He says, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, he says, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you’ve seen him go into heaven. Now here’s a talking point for tea time, dinner time, and whenever the next meal’s coming.
[28:52] I think the normal line is this, that when they speak about him coming in like manner as you’ve seen him going to heaven, that because it was from the Mount of Olives, people say, well he’s coming back to the Mount of Olives, which he is, and that this is actually speaking about Christ coming in glory.
I have to say I doubt that.
So you see, look what it says, This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come here’s the words in like manner as you’ve seen him Go, what was the manner of his going?
Well, if you’re reading in Luke 24 you discover this that as he was going he was blessing them, Like when he comes back to the Mount of Olives, it’s as a warrior King and he’s coming in judgment.
[29:40] But when he ascends up here, it’s in the act of blessing them. And not only that, but when he ascended up into heaven here, he was unseen by the world. Of course, when he comes in power and glory, every eye shall see him. They also which pierced him. I have a notion, it’s only a notion, I have a notion that the eyes of every living person who has ever lived from wherever they are, will see him on that great day. Every eye shall see him when the heir of all things comes to claim his inheritance.
But he comes as a warrior king. He’s going up now unseen by the world. He’s coming visibly, at that time. And not only that, you see, there’s a very personal element about this.
He says, this same Jesus.
[30:36] You know when the Lord’s speaking about coming in power and glory, it’s always third person.
The Son of Man shall come. The Son of Man this, the Son of Man that, in relation to His coming again.
But when it’s to do with a rapture, not a Bible word, but praise God it’s a Bible truth.
The early believers used to say to one another, Maranatha. What a great word, Maranatha, our Lord, cometh.’ When it’s to do with the rapture, it’s all very personal. Don’t you love the words of the Lord Jesus in John 14? If I go away, I will come again. Or the language of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. This is personal, this is that which is close to him and here in this passage, this same Jesus. So I want to put this to you, that actually because he’s speaking about the manner of his going and coming that this actually refers to rapture. I’m putting that to you. You might have to think about it, you might take a long time to come around and agree with me, but ultimately if you think about it hard enough you just might in any event, what I’m putting to you is this, that in Acts chapter 1 he’s marking the beginning of the church age and he’s also marking the end of it.
[31:57] Because once the Lord comes to the air and receives his people to be with himself in that personal unseen moment of great blessing no longer will the gospel of the grace of God be preached on earth and no longer will there be opportunity for people to be saved as we have been saved the Bible teaches no second chance for those who reject the gospel in this particular era. And in the meanwhile, people are still being sent. There came a day when our brother Enris and Sylvia, they heard the call of God for Albania and they obeyed.
[32:43] You will know people who in their lives in a very definite, real and powerful way heard the call of God and they went.
I love the old missionary stories. My favorite missionary story for those of you connected to this part, that part of the world, is a book. I’ve got an old edition thick red book called It Can Be Done.
William Williams and the work in Venezuela. Great missionary story. If you haven’t got the book, buy it, borrow it, beg it, don’t steal it.
That’s when you borrow a book and don’t return it. If all the books came back to me that I’ve lent out, we’d need to move all the stealing Christians in fellowship with us.
I love the stories of people like Fred Stanley Arnott. Went over to Africa in the year 1884, landed in probably somewhere around what is now Namibia.
For three years, went through the bush with two African helpers, unbelievers.
Made his way ultimately right into Central Africa, taking the gospel, blazing a trail for Christ.
[33:57] The Lord meeting his every need along the way. I love the story of Arnott’s boots.
His boots went through and he prayed at night with the two helpers that the Lord would provide him a new pair of boots and they just laughed at him that in the bush in Africa in those days that the Lord could possibly give him a new pair of boots out the next morning there’s a lad coming the other way with a pair of boots strung around his neck with the laces which they were able to trade some cloth for. Arnott said they were the best-fitting boots he’d ever had. He heard the call and he went.
[34:40] When you come later into Acts, Philip heard the call and went to the desert. There was one man that he had to go to.
You know why the Lord sent him to that man?
So that that man on his return to Africa could tell of the wonderful Saviour who bled and died for sinners on Calvary.
Do you know if we were thinking about taking the gospel to Africa, people would form committees and they’d set up trusts and they’d do this and that. Do you know what God’s way is?
He’ll raise a man and send him.
He’ll meet his every need.
He’ll give him wisdom, he’ll give him understanding, he’ll take him to where he wants him to be, and the work of God will be accomplished when done in God’s way and in response to his command.
Acts chapter 9, not to Philip now, arise and go and he went, but to Ananias, arise and go and he went.
I picture Ananias sitting in his house in Damascus. and go. What Lord? To him? But ultimately he went, and he went, do you know where he went?
Round the corner. We can have romantic notions about where the Lord is sending us.
I’m going to Africa. I’m going here. I’m going there. Maybe the Lord just wants you to go around the corner. It’s a bigger thing to obey the call of God to go around the corner as it is to obey the call of God to go to Africa or somewhere.
[36:05] And Acts chapter 10 to Peter, arise and go. And he arose and went and what Peter was doing was this. He was speaking to Cornelius, the first fully fledged Gentile in the book of Acts to get saved. They arose and went.
This is God at work. This is God calling, God raising, God equipping, God sending, God providing for, God Blessing!
[36:26] What a day it will be when the story’s told in glory, of all that God has done through His servants whom He’s raised up and sent, of the gospel going to the darkest places on earth, and gospel light shining, and in places where Satan reigns supreme, it would seem.
Souls and souls and more souls were saved, and gospel light shone out. Thrilling, isn’t it?
So I say to you again as I sit down, as my Father has sent me, so send I you.
Maybe this afternoon in this meeting a young man will hear the call of God or have it confirmed, But instead of pursuing everything that people pursue in this world, you say, I have heard the call.
All of that I lay aside.
Christ must be everything to me in what he wants me to do. Maybe some young sister in the meeting tonight, maybe older, but maybe some young sister in the meeting this afternoon, and you hear the call of God resonating in your life.
[37:48] Will it be that you will rise up and say, Lord, all I am and all I have and all I ever hope to be is thine and thine alone. Let me have grace that thou mightest use me in all my weakness and need, to further the interests of the Christ of God and His wonderful gospel.
May the Lord bless his word.
Report from Albania.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_04ENase20220917.m4a
[0:02] It’s great to be here, especially after the lovely lunch that we had.
To be thankful to the Lord, but even to the sisters who had prepared, and we feel thankful, about it.
Now if you want to, the lights are dimmed, and so if you want to follow with closed eyes, I don’t have any problem.
I fully understand that. So, we can turn to the scripture.
1 Corinthians chapter nine, or you have the verse on the screen.
1 Corinthians chapter nine.
[0:50] Verse 22.
For sake of time, we can’t read all the passage, But verse 22, Paul is writing to the Corinthians, and he said, “‘To the weak became I as weak, that I may gain the weak.
I made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.'” I’ve made my things, Paul says, myself, all things to all men, that I may save some.
I’m going to speak about the work of the Lord in Albania. My report is going to, you’ll see, in just three parts, some just general information about the country, some information about the assemblies there, and then our ministry and where we fit with the wider view.
So where is Albania? in the Bible Romans 15 Paul says I went preaching from Jerusalem unto Illyricum. So that Illyricum is Albania of today is in southeast of of Europe right you are you’re here somewhere And we are just on the other side.
So.
[2:11] It’s just next to Greece, maybe you have heard, or Italy. It’s a small country, it’s relatively small, so this is our map. Its population is 3 million. Now, it will be 3 million Albanians speaking in Albania within our borders, but there are up to 6 or 7 million of Albanians speaking, in the region, in the Balkan region. So, there are 2 million that they speak in Kosovo.
They speak the same language. There’ll be almost a million in Greece.
There’ll be good numbers in Macedonia, or Republic North Macedonia now, and Montenegro as well.
So, and the Balkan region, which is the third peninsula in Europe.
[2:57] There’ll be, I said, up to seven million speaking Albanian.
So the language is Albanian, religious by tradition.
Now it’s a Muslim country, has been, we used to, or the Ottomans, Ottoman Empire came, the country used to be nominal Christian, so Catholic and Orthodox, but after five centuries, you have 70% of Islam, so it’s an Islamic country.
And Albanian Orthodox has 20%, and then Roman Catholic, 10%.
That’s to have a general about the demographics and religion.
So capital Tirana approximately is a million.
Now, as you saw on the title of my presentation, it says, Albania, new work, new challenges, new opportunities.
[3:51] And this is a big challenge. You have a country of 3 million, a million lives in a capital.
So a third of a country is in Tirana, the capital.
And that is a big challenge, especially for people who have moved from north and south, east and west, who have come there.
They’ll come from small places, small villages, obviously for a better life.
Or they will come as students and at university in Tirana and they will stay there.
So it’s a big challenge to them in a way. Why is that? Because when you come from your own town or from your own city, everybody knows you.
You come in Tirana, you lose your identity.
[4:36] And that is in a way a big challenge. But we as Christians have to get that challenge and make it as opportunity.
When we talk of the challenges, we have to be fully aware. The challenge is a relatively new word.
The use of it came from this land, from America.
In Europe, people, or everywhere, people used to talk of problems.
See, nowadays, you don’t talk anymore of problems, you talk of challenges.
Have you ever thought what is the difference between a challenge and a problem?
Now, a problem is there, and you say, I have a problem.
A challenge is there, and the question that comes into your mind is, how I can get over it?
A problem is a wall, and you say, the wall is there, I cannot move it.
I can’t do anything, I feel helpless.
The challenge is, how can I get the other side?
[5:31] And as we all live our Christian lives, we have to see our problems as challenges.
How are we gonna get on the other side?
Now, there were three, again, three brothers, and they were going to hunt for wolves, because the fur of the, you know, the skin of the wolves is going quite expensive.
So they went there nighttime with their guns ready to hunt for wolves.
[6:06] The night came, they all fell asleep. And here in the middle of the night, the youngest brother woke up and woke the other.
He says, Do you see we are circled about… there are loads of wolves around us. Keep quiet.
But he woken up the other brother. He says, wake up, we are rich now.
[6:32] Obviously they were hunting wolves and they got the wolves. And that’s the difference between a challenge and a problem.
A big challenge in Tirana, a million of population there, is a crowded city, but that is a good opportunity to share the gospel.
As they come, as I said, with no identity anymore, you are no one in Tirana, in this big city.
You don’t have friends, you can make friends.
And Christians are there to make them friends, to befriend them, and to invite them into gospel meetings, and to share the gospel with them. So, I go on.
Tirana is a country of contrast. Albania is a country of contrast.
When I think of Albania, you might think it’s a poor country.
It is a poor country.
It’s a country, or they call it today, like a country in development.
It’s a poor country, but it’s a country of contrast. You hear of reports, a poor country, not everywhere is poor. Here we go, two pictures.
First picture, you can see here, a Merc. People love massive cars out there, And then you see a public transport donkey.
And then another picture shows a big contrast.
Now, when I show this picture, people think that contrast is the big mama and the thin lady. No, it’s not that.
[7:50] A contrast is, you see where these people live, and then that’s the town, the city.
So it’s a country of contrast.
How the assemblies have started, yes, there is always another side, that’s a beautiful north.
That’s Sais, and that’s Tirana, and that’s our beautiful Sais again.
So it’s a beautiful country.
Tourism, tourism is coming over there. We have actually this year was the best ever that we had.
So it’s a nice country.
[8:26] Remember why I spoke of Barnabas, that he went and took Saul, right?
So young guys, I can come and I can recruit you.
So be aware of it.
So, right, work of the assemblies in Albania have started in 1991.
Nah, before that, there was nothing.
When we say nothing, there was nothing.
Remember, you have read in Matthew, the people which sought in darkness, they saw a great light.
And that was Albania.
After the Second World War, in Albania was established one of the fiercest regimes ever we saw, right?
You have heard maybe of reports on Romania of Ceausescu or, I don’t know, Soviet Union of Stalin and persecuted church and all that.
There is no persecution of church in Albania, because there’s no church at all.
[9:31] For 50 years, more than one generation, the communists established a very hard core communism in the country.
They wiped out everything that was there.
[9:46] And the young guys, you that I see, the privilege that you have to be grown up in a Christian family, We don’t realize that. I didn’t have that. Anyway, in 1976, the government had a new constitution, and it was a specific article saying that we don’t have any religion we do not believe, and atheism is our official ideology.
The first country in the world atheist by constitution.
A total darkness. I’ve been raised in an average Albanian family.
I have to come tomorrow to hear that.
But in my childhood, I never heard the name of God.
God didn’t exist, you go to school and all that. No, it’s all myths.
Anyway, and that was Albania. In 1991, the light of the gospel came into my country.
And that was this man who came from Italy.
They were praying for Albania for so many years. Albania was such an isolated, and then democracy came, open up.
[11:12] They came with a team of 10 people, only 10 people. They didn’t know any language, they didn’t know anything.
And then they established themselves in Tirana, the capital.
[11:25] When you speak of the Lord’s work in Albania, you have to speak of the Lord’s work in Italy, actually.
Because in March of that year, there were Albanians who left Albania, went to Italy, migrating by boats.
And then the assemblies there welcomed them, giving them shelter, shared the gospel with them.
And then when Albania opened up in November, they came to visit the families of those immigrants and refugees that they give shelter.
So they had open homes everywhere.
And the testimony started slowly, slowly in the main cities in Tirana, in the center, You can see, and from Tirana, and Vlora, and from Tirana, and Skoda, from Skoda to Al-Basan.
And this is how everything started. Remember now, you all remember the strawberries?
Here’s some strawberries now.
[12:22] There are today 15 assemblies and testimony. By testimony, I mean a place where they don’t break bread, it’s not assembly, but they still can have the preaching of the Gospels.
And this is the situation today. People would start in darkness, total darkness, but they saw a great light of the Gospels.
The Lord’s people is there. So this is our family. Actually we have the up-to-date photography.
So this is our family. We all know now.
Luke is 16. Luke is 16. Luke is 16.
Luke is 16. Luke is 16. Luke is 16. Luke is 16. Luke is 16. Luke is 16.
Oops, went too far. Benjamin and then Esther. So, as you might gather, my accent is a bit different.
Luke is 16. Luke is 16.
[13:08] I’m, you know, it’s similar to the Hamiltons, and that is because my wife is from Northern Ireland.
I moved to Northern Ireland in 2004, and I stayed there for some time.
As I said, I was involved in the assemblies in Albania, I saw them, loads of assemblies starting up and growing, and then we met with Sylvia and moved to Northern Ireland.
When I moved to Northern Ireland, I have to say that everything is nice there.
You know, you have a nice house, you have a nice assembly, have a nice job, and everything is nice, but the weather.
But you can cope with it anyway.
And as we were there, you know, trying to do our best for the kingdom and in our local assembly, a burden came to our hearts.
Sylvia was very still, it’s a mission-minded, she has been to Zambia, to Africa more than once.
And so we were praying, and as we were praying where the Lord wanted us, and a burden came to our hearts.
When Nehemiah, when he was in exile, now, in exile in Babylon wasn’t like slavery in Egypt.
[14:32] They’re well off. Daniel, civil servant, Nehemiah, civil servant, and all that.
But there was one day when the king, emperor, asked Nehemiah, he said, why your face is sad, Nehemiah?
And Nehemiah said.
[14:50] How my face cannot be sad if I see my people in distress, and I see the gates of Jerusalem in ruin.
So, and that was the burden that the Lord put in our hearts, and that is in 2008.
And as we were praying, and I want to make a long story short, as we were praying, we shared this burden with our elders.
And we said we feel that the Lord wants us to go back to Albania.
And there they were more than happy to commend us to the work of the Lord.
And that is October 2008.
Luke was two and a half. Benjamin was just a few months old.
And then we went back to Albania.
And they said they were more than happy to commend us.
Maybe they wanted to get rid of us.
Anyway, so what is our ministry? Teaching, preaching and training ministry.
Now a big challenge over there is everything is new.
I’ve been to Northern Ireland and I’ve been so much encouraged by the elderly brothers and sisters.
You see in Albania you don’t have that. You don’t have a 60 years old or 70 years old or 80 years old Christian.
[16:11] Everything is brand new. And I remember coming back, you know, and the dual carriageway from a Bushmill Bible reading.
And as we were flying on that dual carriageway, we overtook a brother.
He was maybe 80, and his little car, you know, going back to Belfast.
And it dawned on me, I said, if God has been faithful to him for so many years, the same God will be faithful to me.
[16:42] And if he has been faithful to his God for so many years, that means I can be faithful to God, same as him.
And as I said, it’s a big challenge to him.
Oh, everything new.
Why is that? Because people are not used, everything is new.
You have to translate the hymns.
You have to, you know, when I got saved 30 years ago, there was no Bible, there was just a New Testament.
Everything started by scratch.
And that, as I said, is a big challenge. You don’t have, you know, brethren that you can call them and say, Listen, what about the Ezekiel 37 and Ezekiel 38, is it?
[17:27] No, you have to do it yourself. You have to go to the scripture and read it on your own and find it out.
[17:35] And that is as a teaching and preaching and training ministry. So as you can see here, this is not an assembly gathering. This is on Saturday morning when we do Bible classes, when we gather the young people and others and we open the scripture and we go same as in a class or here with nurses.
Sylvia, she is involved in a Christian clinic and what they do, they organize seminar for the nurses, you know, on a medical basis.
But every time that they are there will be a section, one will be the preaching of the gospel.
And that’s me there. Now, because of COVID, we have learned Zoom.
Everybody’s learned them. Everybody has learned to go online and all that.
So we’re developing a website, and Moodle, for those who are in education might know what Moodle is.
And then we are trying to put a Bible lesson structured so people can go there, can learn there about the Bible, New Testament, Old Testament, and all that.
So teaching and preaching ministry takes a lot of our time. And then publishing ministry.
I’ve started to publish the Emmaus courses.
[19:01] I would encourage the young guys to do them. I’ve done in 1991, 1992 from Italian, What the Bible teaches was eye-opening to me.
[19:11] You know, and I started to do them in Albanian, translating them and printing them.
That’s before I moved for Ireland. And then when I moved in 2008, we’re doing some outreach, but we realized that there was no many leaflets.
So we started to do leaflets. There’s no proper bookshop. There’s just one, actually, we can go, but there’s no, a lot of materials.
So we started to do, to write leaflets and to print them, hundreds, thousands of them.
And now this is the latest one, as you can see, it’s COVID-19.
Calendars, calendars, we started to do them for, it’s 15 years now, we’ve printed to the country and hundreds and thousands of them.
As Paul says, by all means, by all means, as we give out calendars, not only in Tirana, but we give calendars to other assemblies around the country.
There are people who are asking, and you get, because we put a phone number, We put a contact detail.
There are people who ask questions.
And it’s quite good to see that people read not only the calendars, because especially the latest years, we have done some more interactive calendar with a question there, with a short story or so.
And then we started to do books.
Now, I like books.
[20:31] And as I like books, because I can read them in English or Italian or other language.
And then you say, I love this, so people can have that, can read that.
And then another thing, another question is the question of legacy.
If the Lord does not come for a hundred years or so, nobody will be here.
What is the legacy? we have left.
The brother talk of a library, 1800 writings.
[21:03] Although we have them in Albanian. So we started to do books, and slowly, slowly.
[21:09] That is our books that we have done so far.
And as you can see, you can, this is David Gooding’s, and this is John Lennox, Determined to Believe, and this is If You Want to Go Far, or From Now On, Ralph Charles, from assemblies in France, and so on.
So books are a good legacy.
And as I said, we’re trying to do the translation as a very long process.
I don’t translate personally, I do the copy editing. So I get the material and then you go, almost paragraph for paragraph, word by word to see the accuracy of translation.
And then after that, you read it again for a second time, full book, to see how the thought is flowing, if it makes sense in Albanian.
And then again you print it, for a third time you read it again.
And to see maybe grammar mistakes and so on.
And then came the laity.
So a part of the translation, these other processes, I do them personally.
So publishing ministry, we have three books, Israel and the Church, a very good book, Ronde prose, he was from New Zealand, he’s with the Lord now, he’s a missionary in Italy, and it’s a very good book between, tells of the difference between Israel and the Church.
Can we trust the Gospels?
[22:37] It’s a very, very good book. Again, the challenge that we have there, in Albina we are like a sandwich between Islam and Atheism.
[22:48] So, can you trust the gospels, answer to both, to Islam and to atheists as well.
And then the later one was almost done, has to do with eschatology.
So it’s the first book of that kind in Albania, I’m quite excited, and soon we’ll have it to print. So I have to go on.
A Bible exhibition, I like, I love history.
And as I love history, I want the people to know that our faith is based on historical facts.
So, the idea of it started when I was in the book fair. I’m going to mention book fair again, but just this is a Gutenberg press replica and it works.
You see, I’m showing them, I just printed here and just showing them John 3, 16.
Try this, you know how you print?
You go to file, you go to print, and you print.
[23:49] 500 years ago, it wasn’t like now. So it was quite a complicated process.
But anyway, so, and this became the idea of the Bible Exhibition, to show people how the Bible came.
And again, this are some, this is a Jewish scroll, and there’s some new texts and manuscripts.
Now, there’s nothing original or old replicas, but they work.
So, and then we started to prepare panels, how the scripture came, and this is, the Jews in Egypt, how they’re making bricks and all that.
[24:23] So how does it work? It’s like a small museum. Here’s my van there, and you put them, everything on a whole, a bit like that, like this one here, and then you assemble it, and here it is.
We have almost 40, a bit more than 40 displays, and it takes you, first part is how we have the, how we had the Bible, and then the second will be a longest one, you know, from Genesis to Revelation, and it will be a lot of archeological site pictures, and actually we wrote to museum, British Museum to get some high resolution, of their material as well.
They’re more than happy to send them to us.
So, and what you do, you go to a place, and we hire, you hire a hall, And then you put up the exhibition and you go with the billboards, go on the local radio and you announce it.
And then you have people coming.
[25:22] Now, because of COVID over there, it stopped this last two years.
We didn’t have any of that, but we plan to have soon a Bible exhibition.
So sometimes it can be an event. If you go in a small town, it can be an event.
The mayor will come there and they will have an opening ceremony.
And so it’s a good way to present the gospel, to present the Bible, the scriptures, to people.
So I was in the book fair last November, and there was a young guy who came, and he said, you know, he shook hands with me, and he said, do you remember me?
I said, I’m sorry, I don’t know you.
I’ve been to your Bible exhibition, and that was the first introduction, my introduction, he said, to the Bible. Now, he’s saved, he goes somewhere else, doesn’t matter, by all means, Paul says.
[26:08] ABC Christian Clinic. Now, she’s a doctor, she’s a family doctor, she’s a GP, and then she has a license to practice in the UK, she has a license to practice in Albina. There’s a lot of bureaucracy to get that license, but anyway, so this is how they start their day. So all staff is Christians, and then they are there to serve people and to show the love of God. And they do a lot of training as well for young doctors, young nurses, and that is a great opportunity. As I mentioned before that.
[26:40] Lot of them have come to the knowledge of truth through those seminars. We had a girl in our assembly and then as she came to one of them, she was from a nursing faculty and then she was listening and she asked the question, I never heard this, how do you get saved? And then she, got saved, baptized, and fellowshiped in our assembly. So please pray for the ABC clinic, that’s during COVID, as you can see, and that’s the star. And I have to run. What’s the children’s home in Jurocastro. Now our God is the father of the fatherless. This ministry has started more than 25 years ago by a sister commanded by the Dutch assemblies. She came in Albania.
Whoever you are, if you are motivated to serve the Lord, brother or sister, you can be used mightily by a great God. She came on her own, commanded, the elders commanded her, they didn’t know much, you know, how she was going. Today there is a well-established ministry, 15 children, 13 at the moment, but full capacity, almost.
And we have them, there is.
[28:08] Let me show you, here it is, it’s a home, it’s not an institution, it’s not an orphanage. It’s a home.
When they do homework, when they play together, it’s just a lovely environment.
So please remember that the children’s home.
I’m one of the trustees and I’m actively involved. I go there, visit them, not only to see the well-being of the children, but everything that has to do with legalities and with the staff and all that.
So please remember Children’s Home in Jiricaster.
[28:39] And then as the new outreach, the last but not the least, this is into my heart, right?
In 2009, somebody asked me to take a youth camp, and that was in August of that year.
And here I am, I’m here, you can see more darks here and I’m getting wet.
Anyway, one guy got saved there and it thrilled our hearts and then I said, is there any follow-up?
They said, no, we’ve just moved.
We were in, you know, a year or so, we’re fellowshipping another assembly there, but this was the other side of time.
So at the same time in November, I was at the book fair. The book fairs are a massive family event, it’s usually a third week in November.
And the first time on that book fair, I went in 2008, we were just in the country.
I took my son, Look, and visiting the stalls, as I said, a lot of publishing houses, they’ll bring their books and there’ll be a lot of advertisement and all that, as I said, it’s very family orientated.
And as I was there, I noticed that every other stall
was…[29:53] A Muslim stall. So I said, right, we have to do something. We have to be here.
And then this is how it started. In November 2009, we were at that big fair.
Here it is, giving out tracts and presenting people with the gospel literature.
And as that developed, we said, why don’t we do something else? A kind of outreach.
Now, people are not churchy there. If you ask somebody, do you want to come to church? No, church doesn’t mean anything to them.
But if you tell them, do you want to come to a conference or do you want to come to a seminar?
And I say, yes, okay, it might come. So the first seminar that we organized was, has man created God or God created man? Because that is a bottom line question.
If God has created us, that means we are responsible, accountable to him. So this is how we started we gained a bit of momentum and the people the young guys they were coming they called themselves explore uh people are great you know are modern english there they want to speak english and everything like that they called expo they said we are here to explore and as we explore we find Christ.
[31:14] EXPLOSION, stand for explosion also, as we have found Christ we want to affect others, that they may come to the same knowledge and that is our motto still is in and out.
[31:33] And as i said we we gain a bit of momentum that time we started to have this kind of seminars and And from every fortnight start, almost every Saturday night, and then we’re having, preparing leaflets and people starting to come.
And we started children’s meeting that time, the same time. And there were four couples, but two couples moved again because they got married, moved to Tirana.
And we were having, as I said, Bible studies together, and we’re having a prayer together, When we’re having fellowship together, you see, something is missing, isn’t it?
And then in May 2011, we said, right, in fellowship with other assemblies in the country, we said we’ll establish ourselves as a new assembly.
We’re only four couples. Out of those four couples, we’re just left two.
Migration is a big challenge, a huge challenge. As a small assembly we have seen couples with children left for abroad, obviously for a better life.
Now we can’t stop that, but we are asking people to think about their dimension in eternity.
[32:54] What is going on? How much am I investing for heaven? How much am I investing for when I’m going to be there on the other side, when I’m going to see my Lord as we read, as we sang together.
So there’s us working as a new assembly. So there’s a tent, Sylvia and the colleagues having a medical tent there, and what is that?
That’s a youth meeting, the teenagers actually, and then this is one of the Christmas dinners before COVID. So please pray for the new assembly. Now last year we celebrated together 10 years, we have retreats, usually happens in September, last year we had it in May. So assembly in lockdown, you are all familiar to that, that Zoom, we discovered Zoom, we never knew Zoom before March 2020 but anyway in the middle of lockdown in the middle of of COVID there are some light there. We had two couples getting married and they, whoops.
[34:08] Here it is. And one of them, they’re taking responsibility with the youth and meeting that we have. So please pray for the for the assembly. Ten years. This is a historical picture, at least for us. One, two, three, four. These couple here, they were not baptized at that time.
Now they’re baptized, but they migrated as well, unfortunately. And ten years after, here we are. We’re almost 30 in fellowship and we’ll have the children and teenagers and all that. Now before I close I’d like to speak of these two very dear to my heart. Now they’re, all dear to my heart and these two in special. In 2007 I was in Albania in Vlor and I was taking, some sort of Easter conference and after one of the sessions somebody came to me and he said, He said, I want to give you, I want to thank you. He said, why?
I said, he said, I want to thank you. I said, don’t think I know you, but he said, I’ve heard you on the radio.
Said, speaking. And because of that, he said, I got saved. He said, praise the Lord.
Now, this guy who got saved in 207 is his cousin, okay?
[35:24] And he shared the gospel with him. That time, he was engaged to her.
Not interested but her.
She started to come to the English classes and then she got saved.
And then after that we are having a dinner with all the couples and they were married that time and then we said, why don’t you come bring your husband and he came for the first time and then later on he got saved.
And they got baptized just three years ago.
And then he spoke to her, who was a sister of him.
And she got saved. You see, when she came for the very first time in our meeting, it was just Sunday morning.
[36:15] And I said, we are not a big crowd, you know. We don’t have this kind of gathering over there.
As she came on the Sunday morning, she thought that we were faking it.
[36:26] Because people are so nice. People are so lovely to each other.
And she said, oh, maybe they are faking it because I am here.
And then after two, three months, she got saved. She got baptized just last December.
By all means, all sense, it can be an English class, it can be a couple’s dinner, it can, be just by visiting the assembly.
So be encouraged.
The Lord wants us to be used and you can be used if you allow yourself to be used.
The last verse I’d like to leave with you is this one here.
Paul says that we may all strive together in prayers for what I will be delivered from, them who do not believe in Judea. We will be delivered from the dangers.
There are a lot of dangers over there.
And then that our ministry may be accepted and that we all may find ourselves in the, will of God. And that’s the most important thing.
Wherever you are, here in the States, back in Albania, in Europe, in Ireland, everywhere, important is that you may be in the will of God.
And that is what we want all to be. Amen.
Ministry on our Great High Priest from Ian Jackson.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_03IJackson20220917.m4a.
[0:01] The fifth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.
And I want to read with you at verse number seven, the epistle to the Hebrews chapter five and verse seven.
Christ, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, in that he feared.
Sometimes that is rendered, he was heard for his piety.
As we’ve been thinking, a word closely connected with that idea of godliness, a proper disposition and attitude to God, was heard in that he feared, though he were son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”, Now some verses please in chapter 10, secondly and finally, Hebrews chapter 10.
And reading of verse number 19.
[1:25] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”.
[2:09] Now the Lord has blessed us, as he always does, the reading of his word.
It was a very difficult thing to be a first century Hebrew, a first century Jew, converted to Christ.
And as the writer to the Hebrews is writing to them, he recognizes this.
And he knows that there is so much against them.
Is so much persecution, so much misunderstanding. And the great thing in the epistle to the Hebrews when you read it is to remember that these are great encouragements to those who were, in need of encouragement, they were weary, they were fainting in their mind. We read later in chapter 10, in chapter 12, and he wanted to bring them great encouragement and you could understand, it that if you were a first century Jew now converted to Christ, that maybe some in your Your family would come to you and they would say, why are you doing this?
[3:18] What have you got? You’re following a man who was crucified, that’s the last thing that the world saw of him.
He was crucified in weakness, they might say to you, and you follow him? Yes, we follow him.
And in this newfound faith that you have, what do you have? Do you have a temple?
And they would say, no, no, we don’t have one of those. We don’t have any building at all like that.
Do you have a tabernacle? Not even a temporary structure like that, not one of them.
[3:52] And do you have a priesthood? We have a priesthood. It was ordained by God. Do you have a priesthood?
And they look around and they say, well, no, no, we have no distinctive priesthood. We have no people who represent us in the presence of God with distinctive clothes and a distinctive position.
No, we don’t have that at all. And do you have any grand choirs? No, we don’t have those either.
And do you have big orchestral music with which to worship God? And they would say, no, no, we haven’t got any of that either. And they would say, well, what have you got?
And these believers might be just stretched to tell them exactly what they have with any advantage over what they had in Judaism. And the writer to the Hebrews, whoever he was, I think you know who he was, the trouble is you might all know differently who he was, but you know who he was. Anyway, the writer to the Hebrews, he’s going to write to them and he’s picking up his pen and his paper and he’s going to say to them, listen I want you to be encouraged because what you have is far greater than anything and everything you ever had in the days of of your Judaistic faith.
He says, do you know something? The Son of God is greater than angels.
[5:19] You Israelites, he say, the Israelites might well have boasted in the angels and angelic ministry, and they did. There was angelic ministry at every significant point in Israel’s history. But says, the writer to the Hebrews, I want you to know something, that it wasn’t to any of the angels that God said, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And when God brings again his son into the world, it shall be to the angels that he says, this is my son, worship him.
[5:51] I want you to know, he says, that in the world to come it won’t be angels that have the governance of that age. They are the dominating influence in this present age, but in that age to come, no, no, this will be God’s son. And those connected with him, but this will be God’s son, greater than angels in that millennial kingdom. And he says, and by the way, by the way, he was greater than Moses. Moses was a servant in God’s house. Christ is son over God’s house.
Just bear that in mind for a little later in what I want to say to you. Christ is son over God’s house. And by the way, says the writer to the Hebrews, I want you to know he’s not only greater than angels, Israelites boasted in angels, and not only greater than Moses in whom they also boasted, because I want you to understand he’s greater than Aaron, and.
[6:52] Not only is he greater than Aaron, but he’s also greater than Melchizedek, or by the way, he operates in a far greater tabernacle, and he’s going to say the sacrifice that Christ offered at the cross is far greater than all of those sacrifices in Old Testament times. He said, I want you to understand something, that the Savior who is your Savior and the great High Priest who is your great High Priest and the great Priest who is your great Priest, is now somewhere where angels will never be and Moses will never be and Aaron will never be and Melchizedek will never be, in a scene really nothing like the, the scenes that you have ever known in your Jewish history.
He says he’s at God’s right hand, a place reserved uniquely, entirely, and wonderfully for the Son of God.
Chapter one, he’s at the right hand. Chapter eight, he’s at the right hand.
Chapter 10, he’s at the right hand, all because of a finished work.
Chapter 12, he’s at the right hand of God because he’s walked the path of faith and he’s done it perfectly.
This is the outcome, this is the issue, he’s at the right hand of God.
Well, that would surely make you want to be a Christian.
[8:16] And when the people came along and said, thank you very much, but we’re going to spoil your goods, you would take joyfully the spoiling of your goods. And if they came along and said, we’re going to take away your business enterprise, you would happily lose it for the man of Calvary.
Now exalt it. This is what we have. We have such a savior. This is God’s son. This is who we’re connected with. And by the way, isn’t it a wonderful thing to be a Christian? And you and I living in the world in which we’re living, with so much against us, the tide of gospel testimony going out, the rise of wokeism, the rise of godlessness, the rise of secularism and atheism all around us, and the pressures it brings upon you. Just remember the greatness of the privilege and benefit of belonging to a man in glory who gave himself for you.
[9:16] And so the writer to the Hebrews writes to them. Hebrews is not the easiest book in the New Testament, but I think this just for those of you beginning your Bible study, if you’re studying three books to begin with, you would do worse than make them Romans, that will establish you in the gospel, Ephesians that will establish you in church truth and dispensational truth, and Hebrews for the reasons I’ve just said.
[9:49] When you come to chapter 10 of this epistle, you have three things at the beginning of the chapter that lead into the verses that we have read, and it’s not the only chapter in the bible where this happens and in this order. Firstly, the writer to the Hebrews in the first 10 verses or so, he’s going to speak about the will of God. Then the next verses down to verse 14, he’s going to speak about the work of the Son. Then in the remainder of the verses to where we began reading down to verse 18, he’s going to speak about the witness of the Spirit. You get the same by the way in Ephesians 1, you get it in 1 Peter 1, and here’s now the writer to the Hebrews, and he’s, going to speak about the will of God. He says an amazing thing. He says, you see the will of God, You see those sacrifices? In Old Testament, how many sacrifices?
There was an article in the Believer’s Magazine about 30 years ago, or thereabouts, where somebody attempted to calculate the number of sacrifices, animal sacrifices, that might have taken place in Old Testament times. And I’m not sure how he worked it out because it seemed to me a totally impossible thing to work out, and I can’t remember what the answer was. But if I said to you zillions, you’d understand.
[11:18] But the amazing thing, because when you’re reading in Hebrews chapter 10, it says not one of them accomplished the will of God and not one of them pleased him.
This is the writer to the Hebrews quoting from the Psalms. He says in verse eight, “‘Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings “‘and offering for sin thou wouldest not.'”, That’s to do with the will of God, thou wouldest not.
He says, neither hath pleasure therein.
Isn’t that amazing?
All of those sacrifices are not one of them, accomplishing the will of God or pleasing him, but contrary, in contrast to that, he says in verse 10, by the which will, the same will of God, he says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
He speaks about the will of God.
Then you’ll speak about the work of the Son, and you’ll say, you see all those Old Testament sacrifices.
By the way, did you ever think to yourself when you’re reading through what a dirge and a drudge it must have been to be a priest in Old Testament times?
[12:26] Like seriously, day after day, you’re offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which cannot take away sins, says verse 11 of our chapter. Repetitively, continually, impossibly, and here Here you are standing in the priesthood and you’re doing this day after day.
[12:53] My dear brothers and sisters, thank God for verse 12 of our chapter, that in contrast to all of those priests and in contrast to all of those sacrifices, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down. The idea is this, he sat down to perpetuity.
[13:18] And you might say, but surely he’s going to rise again because he’s coming to the air.
He is. And he’s going to come again and praise God he’s going to sit on the throne of his glory.
He is. But the idea in Hebrews 10 and 12 is this, that he’ll never need to rise again from where he is seated in respect of the question of sins. So it’s not that he sat down unconditionally, but he sat down forever, the great’s once for all sacrifice for sins having been accomplished, praise God, it admits of no repetition. And in the good of it all our Saviour sits today on the right hand of God from which he will never again rise in respect of the matter of sins.
And says verse 14, that by that one offering he’s perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now bear all that please in your mind. Sorry to be cracking on at a bit of pace. I’m having an argument with the clock already.
[14:27] Then he speaks about the witness of the Spirit, and what a wonderful witness.
Dear child of God in the meeting today, will you grasp this and live in the good of it, will you really? Because what he’s saying is this, quoting of course from Jeremiah 31 and New Covenant matters, which I’m not going to go into just at the moment, but what he’s saying is this, there’s sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more. I love that verse in the Bible.
[14:57] For all of us who are saved today, and for those of you who are not saved, would you grasp this as a possibility for you, even in the conference, to come to Christ, and to know the value of this. God says, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Sometimes at the end of meetings, by the way it’s very interesting what people say to you at the end of meetings, when you’re shaking hands at the door. It’s a terrible experience, because you never know what people are going to say to you.
Sometimes they’re a wonderful word, brother, and you know in your heart that it wasn’t.
[15:40] Sometimes people think you’ve said the opposite of what you have actually said, so they go away saying, I really agree with that point that you made, and the point you were making was the very opposite and you think to yourself, am I really such a bad preacher and communicator, that that’s the case? Sometimes people just go out and say absolutely nothing. Sometimes people say to me at the end of the meeting, it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes people say to me at the end of the meeting, oh you’ve got a wonderful memory and all I always say, talk to my wife about.
[16:09] It. Because sometimes I’m going from our house into town to the shop and so I get into town And she said to me, would you get, would you just pop in and get this and this and this?
So I say to Sue, my wife, sure. And I get into town and there’s a bookshop in town.
So I get waylaid in the bookshop. And suddenly my mind is filled with all sorts of other things.
And the thing that I would most certainly not forget to get for my dear wife is still in the shop and I get home and she said, did you leave those things in the car?
She knows full well what goes on. Did you leave those things in the car?
No. you’ve got a terrible memory.
You see when you come to this verse, this is nothing to do with God’s forgetting.
This is God as judge. This is God coming to a judicial view of things and what he’s saying is this, their sins and iniquities will never again rise before me. I want you to grasp this because it’s really important for where I really want to get to. He says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more and if you’ve heard the brethren quote this and add the words forever, It’s a misquotation but it is the truth. He says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Isn’t that something? That your sins that you might still remember.
[17:35] Your sins that might trouble you from the past, God has said I’ll remember them no more. This is God as judge. He’s put them away from before him. We praise his name this morning that that’s the the case that God has said their sins and iniquities will I remember no more and where there is remission of these there is no more offering for sin because there’s no need for any more offering for sin. It’s a done deal, it’s done, finished, sorted, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now it’s on the back of that that the writer to the Hebrews says having therefore.
[18:17] Brethren. Having therefore, you know the old thing, when you see a therefore, you’ve got to see what it’s there for. Well we’ve just seen what it’s there for. So, what the writer to the Hebrews is saying is, look, look we have a great privilege in being able to enter into the very presence of God and he says the reason why we have that privilege.
[18:40] Well he says, I want to talk to you a bit more about it, but the reason why we have that privilege is this, there was one who accomplished the will of God and by that one offering, in accordance with his will, we are perfected forever, and sanctified forever, and God remembering our sins no more forever.
[19:03] And therefore he says, in the light of that, we have boldness, and we have boldness as we enter into the Holiest. We read about our Savior praying in Gethsemane, and our Savior was the only person ever who lived on earth with a, right to be heard. Yes, in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 5, he was heard in that he feared. There was a godly reverence, there was a piety in our Lord Jesus Christ. And the idea in chapter 5 is this, that because of that piety, he was heard. He did in fact have the right to be heard, which you and I do not have, apart from him. And yet now what he’s saying here in Hebrews chapter 10 is this, that we have boldness to enter into the holiest. And not only that, but he.
[20:12] Says we come by a new and living way which Christ himself consecrated, inaugurated for us, and that new and living way is his flesh given in death, and by it we enter through the veil. Now there’s some stuff to unpack here, I really want us to understand this. I said to my wife one day, I have got two problems. She looked at me and she says, you can’t count, Ian, as wives kind of do, you know. But the point about this was this, that your two problems and mine are, number one what you do and number two what you are. But that’s fairly comprehensive. Romans speaks about this, you see in Romans we have guilt before God as sinners, that’s as a result of what we do.
We’ve missed the mark, we’ve fallen short of his standard. We have guilt, that is legal guilt, not feelings of guilt, but legal guilt. We stand before God as guilty and the only thing that will answer for your guilt and mine is the blood of Christ. That’s why the basis of justification is not substitution, it’s propitiation.
[21:34] So the idea is this now, that Christ by the blood that he shed on Calvary, has met the demands of the throne of God. This is a most wonderful thing.
[21:45] The righteous demands of God’s throne have been fully met in the blood of Christ.
He’s an infinite sacrifice of infinite worth.
He’s paying an infinite price to satisfy the infinite demands of infinite justice.
He did it by His blood, beloved brethren and sisters, the sacrifice that He rendered to God at the cross. We thank God for it. That’s why Romans 3 speaks about propitiation in His blood.
The blood of sacrifice was always first for the eye of God. We saw that in passing last night.
The blood on the doorpost was for the eye of God. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
The same thing is on the day of atonement. His blood sprinkled on and before the mercy seat.
It’s blood for the eye of God. Listen, I know you’re happy that Christ died for you.
And I know that you’re happy that Christ gave himself for the church.
And I know that you’re happy that Christ gave himself in a special way for the nation of Israel.
And I know that you’re glad that he gave himself a ransom for all without exception, but the first direction of the cross is Godward.
[23:07] By that precious blood he satisfied every single demand of the throne of God, against sins. He’s the propitiation for our sins, says 1 John 2, the things that we’ve done, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Listen, I want us to grasp this again. By that precious blood, every single one of your sins and iniquities has been absolutely obliterated from before the face of God. In our gospel preaching, let us make much of that sacrifice, of that precious blood. Do not be ashamed to lift high the banner of the cross in the, preaching of the gospel, because the basis of all our blessing, and any blessing at any time, is the blood of Christ. Grasp it, believe it, love it, adore the one who shed it. Because after all, by Him, says the writer to the Hebrews, we, have boldness to enter.
Imagine saying this to Old Testament Jews, that in time to come, all those in God’s house, We’ll find out who they are just before lunch.
[24:35] All those in God’s house, not only are able to enter into the presence of God, but they have boldness to enter. Imagine if you were the high priest in Israel’s history, and you’re in the tabernacle now, and it’s the day of atonement. You remember that it was on that day only that he went into the presence of God. He went within the veil. The language in the Old Testament is within the veil, the language here is through the veil. He went within the veil, so the idea is this. If I was Aaron, or one of those subsequent hybrids, if I was Aaron.
[25:16] I would stand there outside the veil with my teeth chattering and my knees knocking, for this very reason, that within the veil was God.
Here’s the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, with cherubim beaten out, each end of the mercy seat, looking towards each other, looking down. That mercy seat was the throne of God. The New Testament speaks of it, the Old Testament speaks of it rather, as the throne of the God of the whole earth. It’s where he was, he was between the cherubim. And Aaron going into that presence God would discover this, that if he went in without the incense, if he went in without the blood, that would be no throne of mercy, no mercy seat, that would be a throne of judgment, because he was going in to the very presence of God. And would any of the other Israelites think of entering into the holiest of all in the tabernacle? Not on your life they wouldn’t.
[26:21] It would never occur to them that they might be able to enter into the holiest of all, where God is. Praise God for this, my beloved brethren and sisters. This verse is telling me, and you this morning, that we have boldness to enter on by the way. When we enter, we enter through the veil, not a rent veil.
Remember that bit? You know sometimes we sing that, we sing, maybe you do, the veil is rent, lo Jesus stands and all that, and sometimes it’s taught that the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom in order that we might enter in. This is not true.
God is not behind a rent veil.
[27:10] The point about the rent veil was that God was going to come out in grace and in mercy to Gentiles. Praise God he did.
Now the imagery here is the tabernacle, the veil standing. This is in the wilderness.
Here’s the veil hanging in the tabernacle and just as the high priest went within the veil, So now, says the Lord, not in an earthly material tabernacle, but in that of which it spake, the very sanctuary where God is now.
Using this imagery from the tabernacle, He says, we have boldness to enter and we enter through the veil, says verse 20.
And why do we have boldness? We have boldness because of the blood of Jesus.
Praise God. That blood that has dealt with everything that I have done, which was a huge hindrance to me ever entering into the presence of God.
Grasp this. We have boldness. It means we can speak freely.
We’re not like the Old Testament priests who came into the presence of God with remembrance of sins.
[28:23] We now come into God’s presence, as we have done this morning and in prayer, whenever it happens.
We come into God’s presence with this wonderful recognition that all of our sins have been forever dealt with.
And we therefore come with boldness.
Anyway, the other limb of this is this, not what I’ve done, but what I am. What you are.
[28:49] The Bible, well when you read the Bible, you really realize what you are.
[28:57] So the idea is this, that when you’re reading in Romans 5, there is a fallen head of a fallen race, that was Adam. And everything that issued from Adam, okay, is marked and characterized and governed indeed by words like this, sin, offense, death, death reigning, it’s a whole range of really awful words, of things that are true of those who came from Adam.
[29:28] And I have a problem and you did as a sinner before God, which was this, not only what I’ve done but what I am, a sinful child of Adam’s race. So the second inhibition to me entering into the presence of God was not now what I’ve done but what I am and as a child in Adam’s race, I’m an enemy of God, I’m alienated from the life of God by sin and wicked works. You remember, you are a sinner not because of what you do but because of what you are. So that needs to be dealt with. Now listen carefully, by the blood of Christ what I have done was dealt with once and for all. Christ died for me, he gave himself for me but another thing happened at Calvary which is a wonderful thing and not often preached which is this, that when he died I died. The man that I was as a child in Adam’s race was.
[30:30] Brought to an end in death in the death of Christ. So in other words, he died not only on my behalf and he died, this is the language of faith, not only as my substitute but he died as my representative. So when he died on my behalf or as my substitute, he went to Calvary alone, he died alone. But when he died as my representative, he took me with him.
That’s the teaching of passages like Romans 6, Romans 5 on reconciliation.
It’s the teaching of all the major reconciliation passages. It’s to do with his death. He’s actually entering into death and he took me with him. The man that I was in Adam was brought to an end in death, in the death of Christ, before the face of… Have you ever recognized that?
To me, that’s one of the most liberating truths in the New Testament.
I don’t know what the name of your polish is for your furniture here in America, but We have Mr. Sheen.
[31:41] And see when you got saved, there wasn’t some kind of application of a spiritual Mr. Sheen, and a yellow duster. Don’t you polish up well? It’s just an old sinner underneath all of that, but you polish up well. That’s a second-rate view of salvation, let me tell you. I praise God that the man that I was in Adam was brought to an end in death, in the death of Christ. That’s why in In verse 19 it speaks of his blood in relation to my sins, but in verse 20, the new and living way which is consecrated for us is, listen, it is his flesh.
And the idea in that when you read it in the New Testament is his flesh given in death.
He dealt entirely with the man that I was.
[32:30] In Adam, in his death, as in his death I died before the face of God. So what that means is this, that everything that hindered me, everything that was an obstacle for me to enter into God’s presence, has been cleared in the work of Christ. Isn’t that just tremendous?
Nothing left undone, nothing outstanding. I have a list of things on my desk at home, outstanding. It gets longer every week. It’s terrible. I read that list sometimes I’m ashamed at what I haven’t finished.
Praise God for this finished work. Nothing to add to it. Nothing can take from it.
This is the work of our blessed savior. He’s cleared the way for us, not only to be saved, but now as we have done in the meeting this morning and shall do, to enter into his very presence.
Will you grasp this?
Look, by faith and in spirit, We come into the very presence of God.
[33:36] In other words, that is our place of worship. So our halls, buildings in which we meet, they’re not our sanctuaries, they’re not our tabernacles, they’re not our places of worship.
You don’t need a building for that. You can be in a forest.
I was meeting with the believers in Ukraine and they all gathered just in the open air, in the place where we were.
And our place of worship isn’t here, brothers and sisters, it was in Old Testament times, the place of worship was the tabernacle, the temple, but our place of worship now is this, the Father seeketh worshipers, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit. That’s, not just in the power of the Holy Spirit, but it is this, that by faith and in spirit, when we pray, when we’re engaged in worship, we enter into the very presence of God.
[34:44] Isn’t that something? Oh, by the way, we’re not strangers there, we’re encouraged to be there because this is saying that not only have we boldness because of all of these things, but he says we have a high priest, a great priest over the house of God, and he’s great not so much because of the office he bears, that’s chapter four, but he’s great because he encourages us to enter in by faith and in spirit to, the very presence of God. It was said of the late Mr. W.W. Faraday, none of you heard him preach, he died a long time ago. It was said of the late Mr. W.W.
Faraday that he was lying ill, he was known for his terseness. He was lying ill in bed and somebody came to see him, brother came to see him. So after a little while he said to Mr. Faraday, Mr. Faraday perhaps I’ll just pray and then I’ll go. So he begins to pray, he says, our Heavenly Father, oh stop it says Mr. Faraday.
[36:02] He said, look, if it is that you pray in those terms, Matthew 6 teaches to pray, our Father which art in heaven, it assumes that you are on earth and there is a distance to the Father, but he says that’s not the case in the dispensation in which we live.
He says the case in the dispensation in which we live is this, It’s not that we’re here and he is there at a distance.
He says, by faith grasp this, that by faith and in spirit when we speak to God, we enter into his very presence.
There is nearness because not only that, but he says, let us draw near with a true heart, not like the evil heart of unbelief earlier on, with a true heart he says, and in full assurance of faith as to our acceptance. He says, and in full assurance of faith, our hearts being sprinkled from an evil conscience, that’s the action of blood, our bodies washed with pure water, that’s another subject in itself by the way, but what he’s saying is we draw near, we don’t just enter, but we draw near. I want to ask you a question, see that privilege that we have, did you use it this morning?
[37:20] I said it was a busy morning, I understand. We were rushed, I understand. Did you use it yesterday?
[37:29] Is it on the agenda for tomorrow? But, brothers and sisters, there is a thing that goes with godliness hand in hand and it’s seen in the person of our blessed Saviour who was heard And in that he feared, and that is the presence of God, communion with God, sanctuary experience with God. What do you know about it?
When the things of earth recede, alone with thee, O Master, where the light of earthly glory dies, misunderstood by all, I dare to do what thine own heart would prize.
Shut out from friends, shut out from relatives, shut out from your phone.
That’s a big thing. Shut out from everything that might intrude and intervene, alone in the presence of God, where you are privileged not only to be able to enter, but to enter with boldness, and not only so, but the great priest who is over the house of God, every single believer in this present era in the house of God, whoever they are, wherever they meet, every single believer in the house of God, ours is the privilege to enter.
I want to say to you, there can be no godliness without the sanctuary.
[38:59] There could be nothing of God-fearingness, nothing of piety, without us being often.
[39:10] And more often and more often taking up the huge privilege that is ours in this dispensation, and may I say in no other, of entering into the very presence of God.
You’re great to be saved! All of this, and that’s just touching the borders of the land!
May the Lord help us to be in the good of it, for his name’s sake.
Ministry on Acts 11.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_02ENase20220917.m4a
[0:00] Good morning everybody and I have to say that I’m humbled to be together with you at this, 80th conference of Midland Park Assembly and I would like to thank everybody not only for coming but for paying such a attention reverently to the word of God. We saw an example and as As Joseph said, we like examples.
So we saw an example of a young man who was looking after God and he was looking after Godliness.
I’d like to see now an example of a group of people who are looking after Christ and being Christ-like.
So come to the New Testament please in Acts chapter 11.
Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, verse 19.
Are going to see the birth, the growing in numbers.
[1:11] And growing in quality of the church in Antioch.
[1:18] Chapter 11 of book of Acts, verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Venice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but only the Jews, unto the Jews only.
And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, speak unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came onto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch who, when he came had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people were added unto the Lord then, departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he has found him he brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that the whole year they assembled themselves with that church and taught much people and disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
[2:43] In these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them, named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. And to chapter 13 please, just the first few verses. They go to Jerusalem, they leave the relief there, the aid, and they, came back. Chapter 14 last verse 25. When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. In the church of Antioch, now they were in in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers.
[3:42] As Barnabas and Simon was called Niger and Lusus of Cyrene, and Manhane which has been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.
As they ministered to the Lord and fastened, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
And when they had fastened and prayed, they laid their hands on them and then sent them away.
And as I said, we have seen a godly man. And I like to present a Christ-like church.
[4:19] And actually as we see through the New Testament gathering of Lord’s people, we see them with troubles and challenges.
But the church of Antioch I think is a perfect, almost perfect example of how the church of God should be.
A local church, a local assembly.
Antioch was a very important city, was founded and was called after the name of one of the generals that came after Alexander the Great.
There was many Antioch in that time. Actually, we find more than Antioch in the New Testament.
Was a third city in the Roman Empire.
Was a very metropolitan city. Was almost half a million of population.
When we consider that, comparing to the number of worldwide population, it’s quite a huge number.
As a large population of Jewish origin as well. And then, as I said, it was a center of commerce, was a religious center as well.
And actually, Rome wanted to make Antioch like an eastern Rome.
[5:36] What happened in this city? When we consider the verse 19, it goes parallel with with Acts 8.
Those who are scattered because of the persecution that came with Stephen. And then chapter 8 says, Philip went to. So we have a parallel passage, two parallel passages. We’ll see later the similarities but just as a start they were scattered, because of persecution those who live godliness will be persecuted but the persecution that happened in Jerusalem, didn’t extend them actually made them a spawn they went everywhere, Preaching the good news and as they went, these people went here to Antioch, they were preaching to the Jews, to their fellow people.
But it says some of them were preaching to the Greeks, they spoke to the Grecians.
[6:44] First of all, we see that there is no name in this group of people and that speaks of humility.
They’re all together and there is no one of them who was the first or who was the leader.
They were all preaching, not only humility, but we see the involvement of everyone.
They all felt responsible to share the good news.
But what have happened in Jerusalem, how Christ died for their sins, how he rose again and how he was the Messiah, the Lord.
And they were all united, obviously, as one body. As they were sharing responsibilities, they all felt the burden.
[7:37] There were three brothers and they were partying together. They came all together.
They said, we’re going to have a big party and we’re going to bring the wine together.
So all the food came and as they brought the wines, they put them all in a big jar.
And one of them thought, listen, the wine is going to be put in the big jar. I’ll bring water.
Or they’ll mix with the others and nobody will recognize anyway.
Nobody will realize that.
And then all the tables are spread and here comes a big jar of wine.
And as they’re pouring the wine into the cups, there’s only water.
All of them thought the same.
[8:26] I’ll not bring my contribution. That will not be noticed.
But wasn’t with them in Antioch. There is no name because everyone put his weight on.
And not only that, not only no name, there is no discrimination.
They were Jews of diaspora. They were going back, maybe not into their homes, but anyway, they were going because of their persecution.
We have to realize that Judaism is not an outreaching or it’s not an outgoing religion.
You are born a Jew. You cannot become a Jew. But this one are different.
This one, they’re actually, they’re more loving than Peter. Remember Peter?
God had to, the Lord has to intervene. And Peter had to say, Lord, I’m not getting defiled by them, by going the house in Cornelius.
[9:27] They preached the gospel with no discrimination. They were talking to the Greeks that actually they considered Lord by themselves.
They didn’t consider themselves higher than others.
But they went down and shared what they had in their hearts.
Not only no name, not only no discrimination.
But we have one message, two audiences.
It says that they preached to the Greeks.
[10:03] They spake unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus. Structurally is the same structure as I said in Acts 8.
In Acts 8 it says, verse 4, it says we’re scattered and preaching the word.
We’re scattered and preaching Christ unto them. And we have preaching the word, preaching, the Lord, preaching the Lord Jesus. As I said, one message, two audiences. The message, if you see in the book of Acts, the message that the Jews or the apostles were preaching to the Jews, to their fellow citizens, was Jesus of Nazareth.
[10:49] He is the Christ. He is Messiah. He is the suffering one and he is the glorious one.
He came, yes, we killed him, but God has given us another chance to accept him.
And that was the message to the Jews. But to the Gentiles was something in a way different.
The Greeks wouldn’t, the Gentiles, people like us, not interested in Judaism, they would say, Messiah, who is he? Here’s the promised one that God is going to send, that he has sent it actually, to us. He said, to you, but not to us. So the message to the Gentiles was, as Peter would say to the Cornelius, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all and that was the message to the Greeks, to the Romans, to the Gentiles. Jesus Christ as the Lord of all and he is the Lord, he is the Curious.
[12:06] And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.
And we can see the divine approval on what they’re doing.
The hand of the Lord. Nehemiah will write the hand of the Lord.
Ezra will write the hand of my God.
And it’s time of returning. It’s time of rebuilding. It’s time of revival.
And what happened in Antioch was not planned, was not programmed.
But it was an organic growth of people who shared the gospel in their simplicity.
And the result was a great number, a great number. They believed and they turned.
They believed and they turned.
I think that today we need to see people turned and not only believing.
See, the other day I met David for the very first time. Actually, we were late.
And as we were meeting him, you know, we greeted. Imagine if I could have said, David, listen, while we were coming, the tire went flat.
And while we were trying to change the tire, a truck came and threw us into the side of the road.
And this is why we were late. And David would say, what? A truck against you?
[13:35] Where are the signs? Where is the evidence?
[13:41] And we have been stuck by a power that is way greater than a truck.
Where is the signs? Where is the evidence of life-changing power of God?
They believed and they turned.
They turned.
[14:06] And this is how the church has started, how the local assembly here in Antioch have started.
Let’s see now how it expanded. It says that the news of this arrived in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem sent forth Barnabas. The time of these things came under the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas. Again the same structure we find in Acts where the gospel arrived in Samaria and the news of it arrived in Jerusalem and Jerusalem sent somebody, actually sent Peter to see how the things were there, Peter and John. And again in Acts 11 we have the apostle of the brethren that were in Judea heard that Gentiles received the word of God and then they were questioning. So there was something new here, historical. The Gentiles in the beginning of the Samaritans and then the Gentiles trying to accept the gospel, trying to receive, the good news. So Jerusalem sent Barnabas. Why they sent them? Oh to check who are these people, that claim that they believe in the same Messiah, in the same Lord as we do. And there they sent Barnabas. Why they sent him? They sent him to check actually. Why Barnabas?
[15:32] There are reasons, I think, why they sent Barnabas. First of all, he was a Cypriot.
He was a Cypriot, the same as these people here. But more than that, I think that there are qualities in Barnabas, and that’s because they sent him.
[15:51] Barnabas is a pivotal character in the life of the early church.
We see him here and there.
It’s not a main character, but I would say it’s a key character.
Find him first time Acts 4, where he had a piece of land.
He was a Levi, he sells it and brings the money into the feet of the apostles.
But actually he was called Joseph. And they changed his name in Barnabas, the son of consolation.
Or actually, the one who walks near to you.
Barnabas was the son of consolation.
[16:34] I think today we need Barnabas and that’s why the reason they sent him there, the missionaries that they were translating the the bible into an african tropical country, they were they were translating first corinthians chapter 3 and they were showing to the locals you see where paul says that he writes that paul uh planted and apollo watered and they said, perfect pole a wise man he plants a pole water we don’t know what watering is because if it rains every day there is no need for irrigation there is no need for water so they couldn’t understand this concept and as they put it into the local language they said pole planted and a poles put the stick where this This plant could live.
And I think today we need people who are like sticks. And as we see the young plants growing, people who walk near to us.
And this is why they sent Barnabas.
[17:45] The quality of him. And we saw him not only in Acts 4. We don’t have time to develop it.
Saw him in Acts 9. Again we have a young fellow, young guy, young fellow, Saul of Tarsus. We, know him, he was a persecutor of the church and then he miraculously gets saved. And he, tried to speak to the brethren, he tried to join them. They were afraid, rightly so. And, And it says that Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles and declared unto them how Paul or Saul have sinned the Lord and the way.
Barnabas took Paul, Saul, and brought him to the Apostles.
[18:35] Because he was a son of consolation, he was doing what he did his best.
Supporting people, encouraging people and he saw this young guy with potential and actually he was risking his reputation saying this I know him, he’s genuine and he brought him, draw near to him, encourage them.
I wonder if we today would have had the epistles that the apostle Paul wrote if we would not have Barnabas and then he went there and he was full of spirit and he was full of faith because he was full of spirit he saw the grace of God they sent Barnabas, and he saw the grace of God.
[19:37] The Spirit of God recognized the work of God.
Actually, Barnabas didn’t see the differences but they were in Antioch. We have to realize, that the assembly there in Antioch was different from the assembly from the church in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem they’ll speak Hebrew.
Their singing was different. With their way that they have built up But they would know the Old Testament in that perfect inside out.
The church in Antioch, they were brand new Christians. But Barnabas saw salvation in them.
He saw the grace of God.
And he was glad what God and what the Lord was doing in their lives.
Because when Barnabas left Jerusalem to go from Jerusalem to Antioch, He led Jerusalem to Jerusalem and he saw there and what he did, he exhorted them.
He exhorted them because he was the son of consolation.
[20:48] He encouraged them. He encouraged them to what? To remain true to the Lord.
And as another another version puts it, encourage them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, true to the Lord biblically, with devoted hearts.
And that is actually the temperature of your truth.
You can be biblically as we heard, but cold. said you have to be true to the Lord with a devoted heart with open heart, and we see the effect much people much people was added unto the Lord the result of good separate care the result of good encouragement much people were added unto the Lord the growth the start of the church the, growth numerically. Let’s see how they grew in quality.
[21:52] Barnabas, he departed for Tarsus and he found to seek Saul. We have found him.
He brought him to Antioch and it came to pass that the whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and they taught much people and the disciples were called Christian first in Antioch.
Humility of the servants. Barnabas realized that physically he was insufficient.
It couldn’t deal with the hour. The day is only 24 hours. I can’t. The thing is growing here.
A ministry is growing. I can’t cope anymore. So I need somebody else.
Where do we do that?
I’m not sufficient. Not only physically But only even spiritually. I’m not a great teacher. I need a teacher.
I am yes, someone who looks after the souls, I’ll take care of them as a good shepherd, but I’m not a teacher, Barnabas says.
So he gets, he gets soul and brings him.
And he brought him into Antioch. Let’s speak about this guy, not the apostle, but this guy here, Saul of Tarsus. Every time that we see him until this point, but even a bit after.
[23:17] It seems that he put himself into the hands of the others. Acts 9 says, as then disciples took him by night, let him down by the wall in a basket.”, Again, verse 27, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.
You see, they take him and bring him down.
He took him and brought it to the apostles.
And then Acts 30, 9 30, which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.
See, it’s a young man.
But the others seem that they have an influence in his life.
And not only an influence, but tell him what to do.
And Paul will say, hold on. Where is my saying in all this? They tell him, Saul, go there.
Saul, come here.
Do this. He said, what? Hold on.
Do I have a saying in all this?
[24:14] It seems that he didn’t have a saying in all this.
Because he trusted himself into the hand of others. We are the young man like Saul today.
That will hear what more mature believers will ask them to do and they’ll do it.
Saul was like that. He left himself to be carried around in a way.
He was faithful in small things.
And for that reason God used him mightily and he became faithful in big things Much people were added. Much people were taught. It says.
[24:57] Most people were taught in Antioch. All those who were added, all those who were added were taught.
They were taught into the scripture, they were taught in the Bible.
It’s nice to see all this process of growing, not only numerically but even in quality.
And obviously, those who were taught, they were different levels.
You see, I still remember bringing my second and third child into home.
When they came home, we didn’t put them on the table with Luke, who’s our firstborn.
I don’t know. We kept them in their cradle. We didn’t give the same food, it was different.
And the same was happening here. Those who believed were taught, but there were people who were more advanced.
And obviously the food was different. Those who were added were taught all of them according to their needs.
And what happened?
It says, for the very first time in Antioch, this is historical, they were called Christians first in Antioch.
The character of Christ, that godliness that we heard in the life of everyone, every single believer.
[26:24] Alexander the Great was a great general and his custom was to walk in his army by night.
And one night actually they got him there as he was walking in the fields in the camp, and they brought a guy that he was caught in sleep.
[26:50] Suddenly, Alexander the Great asked him, he said, son, what is your name?
And the guy caught him sleeping said, my name is Alexander.
[27:04] He said, listen, son, you change your name, or you change your behavior. You cannot carry my name and be caught in sleep.
They are called Christians. They were called like Christ. They saw their life. They saw their godliness.
They saw their how behaving.
It’s like Christ. We have to bring honor to the name that we carry. And there were prophets who came from Jerusalem and Agabus was one of them and he was saying that a great famine was going to happen in Judea. And what they did, we see the fellowship here among the assemblies. There are at least two reasons why they gathered money. There are many but at least two. First of all, as a Gentile church they were giving to the church in Judea, a Jew church, to show that they’re one now in Christ, that there is no Jew, that there is no Gentile, there is one body. But there is another reason I believe.
[28:27] Because they’re showing their gratefulness. The gospel came from the Jews and they are showing their gratefulness to those people, to those believers who are bought with the same price by the same blood the blood of the Lord Jesus and we see the results actually in Acts 13. Barnabas and Saul they come back from Jerusalem, and as they were together in the church in Antioch there are certain prophets and teachers there, was a was a multicultural church there were different people Simon was a was a black person maybe a Ethiopian Jew and there was Lucius Cyrene of Cyrene he is Latin North Africa maybe more today, Libya. So it was a multi-ethnic church where different people, there were Jews, there were Gentiles, there were blacks and whites and different others. And actually.
[29:34] All of us come from different backgrounds. Our stories are different, but that was not their weak point. That was their strong point. Unity in Christ, is not based on ethnicity, on social group, on cultural background, but is based on the Lord alone and that is why the Lord put the blessing on this gathering. They’re one in Christ. Dependency from the Holy Spirit as you are ministered to the Lord and fastened, the Holy Ghost said, separate Barnabas and Saul.
Willingness to obey.
They send the best.
They send the best.
[30:26] The best teacher and the best shepherd. They send them out there.
And as the church in Antioch was praying to understand the voice of God, they all agree.
And as Mr. Darby says, they let them go.
Let them go to a new thing for the very first time. A church is sending missionaries, not because they are forced as in Jerusalem, not because of… but just a structured team effort to bring the Gospel somewhere else.
[31:08] A church who grew not only numerically, but even in quality.
We all love strawberries, at least some of us. You see, I’ve started to grow strawberries.
And as you have them the first year, after sometimes it seems like a shoot comes out of it comes out of it and goes into the ground again and the new plant starts and again after the second year another shoot comes out and a new plant starts. This is.
[31:49] How the strawberries grow. You don’t scatter the seeds and this is how the churches grew in the New Testament. Barnabas and Saul went and a new church start and so on. And because these people hear, they are godly people and these people here heard the voice of God in their lives. They were motivated to bring the gospel everywhere in effort that was lead it under the Holy Spirit and a, power of God. If we want to be, to have assemblies with a nice taste as strawberries, maybe we should think now to start Auschwitz and starting somewhere, in you. Amen.
Ministry on Friday night of the 2022 conference.
https://media.jjministry.org/Conf2022_01IJackson20220916pm.m4a[0:02] I want to read some brief readings, please, firstly from the book of Joshua and in the 14th chapter. The 14th chapter of the book of Joshua.
Can I say what a privilege it is to be here this weekend? Very grateful for the invitation to be with you, and we really do trust that the Lord will mightily bless us as we’re gathered together.
Look at Joshua, please, and chapter 14.
And I want to read, please, verse number 12. Joshua 14, 12.
[0:44] And this is Caleb speaking. And he says, you’ll see at the beginning of the verse, give me this mountain.
Now over to chapter 15, please. And we’re going to read some of the words of Aksa, the daughter of Caleb, and verse number 19, she says this, give me a blessing.
And halfway through the verse, give me also springs of water.
And a further reading please in 1 Chronicles and chapter 4.
The first book of Chronicles and chapter 4.
And reading of verse number 10.
[1:50] And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me.
And God granted him that which he requested. Now, the Lord always blesses to us the reading of his word.
I often wonder why people come to meetings.
[2:31] Why do people come to conference? Why are you here this weekend?
And honest answers only will do in the presence of God. And I suppose that there will be a variety of reasons why we are all here.
There will be primary reasons. reasons and I’m trusting that the primary reason is that which we have been praying about.
And I was heartened to hear the prayers and the direction of the prayers of the brothers, that it might be that the Lord himself would be amongst us and empower that we might hear his word. There’ll be other reasons why you might be here. You might be here to see friends and to make new friends and who knows but maybe long-term friends. I’m sure that people come to the meetings like this for all kinds of reasons.
But I have been praying that will all of us go away different and that we will all of us go away with a prayer burdening our hearts.
The prayer that I would love to burden my heart with, and I trust we all shall, is really the prayer, one of the prayers or requests that we read in Joshua 15, where Axter says, give me also springs of water.
[3:51] Give me also springs of water. Of course, I’m really hoping we’ll pray a kind of a New Testament equivalent of that.
It’s doubtful we’ll go away praying, actually give me also springs of water.
But as we’re going to see in the next little while.
[4:14] There is a New Testament equivalent to this. Give me also springs of water.
Don’t you like the desire that’s expressed in these requests?
Give me this mountain, says Caleb, which he saw as a spy when he entered into the land.
And having seen that mountain, he’s now in the land. the land. To Joshua he says, give me this mountain.
He’s acts as she has a field, she’s asking for a blessing, she says give me also springs of water.
Can you understand in this that there is an appreciation of where they are, but at the same time there is a proper discontent with being just settled and happy, with not having the best that they could have in the land that God had given them.
[5:09] So what they’re saying is, I really want the best. Give me this mountain, says Caleb.
Give me a blessing. Give me also springs of water.
Or in the prayer of Jabez later in 1 Chronicles 4, enlarge my coast.
Lord, let me not be constricted. Let me not be limited.
Let me not be constrained and small and mean in these things.
He’s saying, Lord, enlarge my coast, enlarge my border. Lord, let me be and have more than I have now. And he’s bringing his prayer to God, the God of Israel, that he might be enlarged. It seems to me that would be a good thing, if in the course of this weekend this touched us and that we went away discontented with how we have been. It may be as I speak to you that you have known better days spiritually. I’m kind of long enough in the tooth to know this, that the last sign of, that not the first sign, but the last sign of a backslidden condition is not to be at the meetings.
Plenty of meetings I’ve preached in with backsliders in the meeting.
[6:30] Maybe tonight you look back to better days. Or maybe it is that you come to the conference and you’re in the good of things.
May God grant to us all, whether we’re in the one condition or the other or somewhere in between, that we might go away with holy desires and that those desires might be, to know springs of water in our land, that we be not dry, that we be not arid, that we be not unfruitful in that of which the land speaks, and that it may be that our souls and our spirits will be enlarged, and that it will be that the Lord himself will enlarge us.
[7:15] I love these people.
Of course, they’ve arrived in the land. Joshua begins, you may remember, with the fact that Moses, God’s servant, was dead.
And here is Joshua now, he’s leading them into the land. It’s sometimes said that, Moses is mirrored in Peter in the New Testament, he brought them through the wilderness, but actually Joshua is mirrored in Paul where he brings them into the good of the territory that we have as being in Christ. So let’s just about that for a moment because I wouldn’t want us to miss it. How many times have you sat in the shoes of the firstborn, in the land of Egypt, on the Passover night.
[8:05] And on that night, there’s a dead lamb on the kitchen top, or wherever it was.
I’m not sure they had kitchen tops, but you’ll understand what I’m saying.
And on the doorpost, there’s the sprinkled blood of that lamb.
And a word from heaven for God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
How many times have you sat, maybe in gospel meetings or in your own sanctuary at home, in the presence of God, And you have been glad, as it were, for blood sprinkled on your doorposts and on your lintel.
And to hear the word of God again, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
What a happy place to be in.
That when the destroyer was coming through the land at the midnight hour, the Lord himself would hover over to prevent the destroyer destroying in the homes of the people of God, with blood there on the doorposts.
And aren’t we glad that Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us, and that by that precious blood, we have known redemption greater far than Israel ever knew.
[9:19] I love to see the people of God as they’re leaving in the strength of the food that they ate, the lamb roast.
That was the strangest meal you were ever at. Well, you were never at it, but it would be the strangest meal that we would ever have been at.
Where on the table is a whole lamb, whole lamb.
The head, the legs, the inwards, all there on the table. I’ve had some strange meals in my lifetime, but I have never seen a whole roast lamb on the table, nor people sitting at the table with a staff in their hand, their shoes on their feet and garments all girded for the journey that they were going to take in haste, and strengthened by that land.
They’re gonna make the journey to the Red Sea.
And as they’re at the Red Sea, God is gonna open it, you know the story well, and he’s gonna open it to let them out of the land of Egypt.
And he goes through the sea and they’re in the wilderness and the sea is closed.
[10:26] I heard a brother many years ago say a simple thing, which was this, that God opened the sea to let them out, and he closed it again to keep them out, because God never wants us to go back to the world from which we have been delivered, from which we have been redeemed. He’s brought us out into the wilderness.
And here we are tonight, truly in a wilderness. This world is a wilderness wide. Mr Darby wrote that lovely hymn. This world is a wilderness wide. I did it. There’s nothing to sustain us, except that which comes from heaven. They’re in the wilderness and singing. Don’t tell the brethren, but there’s a women’s meeting in Exodus 15. By the way, the only one in the Bible. You don’t get any more. And there they are. And Moses is singing and the people of God are singing and and Miriam is singing and the women with her at the end of Exodus 15.
[11:23] In Exodus 12, the first blood of sacrifice in your Bible. In Exodus 15, the first song in the Bible.
The Lord had done great things for them, whereof they’re glad.
He’s brought them out now through the sea and into the wilderness.
And ultimately, he’s going to get them through the Jordan, as big a miracle as the Red Sea.
And he’s going to bring them in on dry land, even as he brought them out on dry land, because the great purpose of God was this, that they’d come into the land that God had promised them all of those years before in the Abrahamic covenant, the Palestinic covenant.
He’s gonna bring them in to the land that he had.
I want you to watch this carefully because I haven’t got long to say it in, and I need to say it quickly, so you need to grasp it. so you’ll need to be awake.
I’m the one with the excuse for sleeping in this meeting.
With that jet lag from yesterday, still not out of my system. I hope he’s out by tomorrow.
So follow this very carefully, be alert for this.
When I see the people go through the Red Sea, I remember this, that Christ died for me.
[12:37] In the language of Galatians 1 and 5, he gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. I see the Red Sea that Christ died for me. He delivered them by blood and by power, by blood in Exodus 12, by power in Exodus 14, and he’s now, I see this, he died for me. But when I get to the Jordan there’s another thing I see, and it isn’t now that he died for me. So much as at the Jordan what I learn is this, that I died with him, and that it’s only in the power of my death with him and my resurrection with him that I will ever be in the good of the land into which God has brought me, now I do want you to follow this carefully you see you see when you were saved, whatever that was, and you became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[13:45] Wonderful things happened. I expect that when you came to Christ it was for one thing in particular. When I was saved, it was because I knew that I was going to hell, and the Spirit of God really, really wrote this deeply in my heart, that I I knew I was lost and I didn’t want to be there.
I did want to be in heaven.
And my wife, she got saved at Sunday school like I did and she realized that she had an unclean heart and she wanted a clean heart.
Other people I’ve met come because they know the Lord’s coming and they don’t want to miss out.
All sorts of different reasons why people come to the Lord, usually for one main thing.
And then you say, well, praise God, I’m saved.
I’ve got the thing I came for. And then you start reading your Bible. I hope you do.
Then you start reading your Bible and you do discover this, that actually the moment that you were saved, You are blessed with every spiritual blessing.
[14:53] I saw once on some online thing where people were trying to list and enumerate all the blessings that they had in Christ. I think that was a long list and difficult to have it complete, but I’ll just tell you this, that the moment that you got saved, you were blessed with every single spiritual blessing that God had to give you, and the sphere in which he blessed us was in Christ.
That is in the man at God’s right hand who has entered into death and risen and is ascended and is at God’s right hand. That’s where our blessings are. They’re in Christ. You see, and the idea is this, that our blessings now are not like the blessings of the Israelites long ago where there were blessings connected with the land and connected with Zion and the anticipation of Messiah reigning.
Our blessings now are present, they’re heavenly, they’re connected with that sphere, they’re in that sphere of Christ at God’s right hand.
And so the idea now is this, that the Bible is not teaching a health and wealth gospel.
That’s a terrible thing when people preach a health and wealth gospel.
It’s a funny thing this, but they all die and they all take nothing with them.
[16:16] Very, really odd, just a moment’s thought and you see that how crazy that is to preach a health and wealth gospel.
But what we have is every blessing in Christ in the heavenly places, spiritual blessings, not material, but spiritual blessings.
You see, and Canaan represents that.
Canaan is heavenly territory in picture.
Where it is that we are in Canaan, that’s in New Testament, in Ephesians language, that’s where we are now.
So they come over the Jordan, or through the Jordan, and they get to Gilgal, and in the good of Gilgal, they enter into the land. So these people that we’ve been reading about, they’ve entered into the land.
They’ve got their feet on the territory.
But by the way, I hope you have got your feet on the territory.
Like it’s one thing to sit at home or in a meeting and to study or to read your Bible or to listen to preaching and the brother’s taking you through Ephesians or you’re studying Ephesians for yourself and you come away with your head stuffed full of knowledge, of Ephesians territory and church truth in the large thing.
And it’s possible to be stuffed full of information and to be as cold as Christmas and as hard as nails and to be distant from the enjoyment of what we actually have in Christ.
[17:45] Because these people only enjoyed the land in the measure in which they put their feet on the territory. Wasn’t that what the Lord said to them?
Every part of that land that the sole of their foot would tread on would be theirs.
And if you didn’t get to the gold mine, you’d never dig out the gold.
[18:06] And if you never got to the hills, you’d never get the benefit and you’d never get the milk and the honey.
Unless you got your feet on the territory. These people have done that.
They’re in the possession that God gave them, but they have now a proper, holy discontent, in the sense that they didn’t just want to be there, but they wanted to be in the enjoyment of what they had and God had given them in the land.
Do you get the point?
So Caleb says, give me this mountain.
Give me a blessing, says Axel.
Give me springs of water also. Let not my field be dry.
Let it not be unfruitful. Let it be irrigated.
Let my land here, this field that I have, let it be productive.
Don’t let me just live dry here, unfruitful, barren, arid.
She’s really saying, no, give me also springs of water.
[19:15] Do you know what Midland Park needs?
Or wherever you may come from, where I come from on the south coast of England, do you know what it is that we need?
In our assemblies, we need people in the good of and in the enjoyment of the heavenly position that we have in Christ.
To be living above the level of the street, no more than that.
To be living in the good of heavenly things, of Christ in glory, ourselves feeding on Him there, taken up with Him, forget social media, be done with all the drivel that people are taken up with, the transient, passing things.
Brothers and sisters, we are connected to the eternal.
Let us live as if it’s true.
Let us be in the good of it. Give me also springs of water. Maybe that would be a cry tonight from a dried up soul, from a worldly mind.
The cry that comes for the dismissal of a carnal attitude.
Lord, let me live in the good of all that I have, In thee, at God’s right hand.
[20:38] Let me live as belonging to heaven. Let me live out, Lord, the life of heaven on earth, like at Philippi.” Brother was quoting from Philippians 3.
There’s Philippi, the colony of Rome. The life of Rome was lived out in Philippi.
Paul writes to them, he says this, live out the life of heaven in Philippi.
The general population of the city would live out the life of Rome. It had the registers of Rome, the fashions of Rome, the clothes of Rome, the language of Rome, the manners of Rome. In Philippi, if you’ve been to Rome and then you went to Philippi, you’d think this is déjà vu. I’ve been here before, even if you haven’t.
[21:21] To spalls of the Philippians, live out the life of heaven. Let this one thing be before you, that I might know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death.
Let Christ be my life.
Let Christ be all.
All that this might be the outcome of our meetings this weekend.
Give me also springs of water.
The water, of course, in the Bible will speak of the Holy Spirit.
Well, water speaks of different things, but certainly this kind of thing would speak of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus said in John 7, he that believeth in me out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters.
This speak he of the Spirit.
Oh, may it be that filled with the Spirit and with the Spirit of God, ungrieved in our life, that we might all desire to live in the good and enjoyment of what we’ve been brought into in Christ.
And may our conference meetings help us to that end.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220724.m4a[0:00] The 130th Psalm, if you have a Bible, Psalm 130. Psalm 130, and we’ll break in at verse number three.
If thou art, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Let’s read it in a, maybe in a way that would help you understand what’s being said here.
Psalmist is crying out to God and says, if you, O God, should keep record of sin, O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, maybe reverence towards you.
[0:44] I’d like to close tonight by looking at a wonder about God that I’ve just been enjoying for a little bit.
The God we speak about tonight, the God of the Bible, the God who made the world, the God of many wonders as we’ve sung it.
Great God of wonders.
And one of the wonders I’ve enjoyed is that God is a God who knows everything.
There is nothing that God learns.
God knows, he’s all-knowing. It’s a word that maybe you’ve heard, omniscient.
[1:14] And yet there’s a verse in the Bible, we didn’t read it tonight, in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, and he says to people who trust Jesus Christ, that their sins and their iniquities, God will remember no more.
And so an all-knowing God has his memory clear. He chooses not to remember sin.
And that is an amazing wonder, how an omniscient, all-knowing God can choose to not remember sin.
I’ve just been thinking about his all-knowing character throughout the day.
You know, series of meetings like this are very uncertain to us.
Those of us who speak and those who sponsor these meetings, What’s gonna happen?
Hope the tent stays up. Hope people come.
So we’re sitting here on this Sunday evening and do you know, everything that’s happened and hasn’t happened, it’s all been known to God.
There’s nothing he learned. There’s nothing that took him by surprise, not the heat wave or the storm.
Nothing that startled the mind of God. It was all known as if it was one closed book.
[2:17] Don’t lose everything.
[2:20] Our sins, my sins, and your sins, tonight, you are to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior.
He would choose not to remember them.
And I want to speak tonight on the blessing that you can leave this meeting with, the blessing of sins forgiven.
I hope to look at it very simply. First of all, I want to tell you that sins forgiven can only be yours from God.
In order for your sins to be forgiven, you require God. You require God.
There is no man, there is no church, there is no priest, there is no process that can, give you peace that, oh, my sins are forgiven.
If your sins are going to be forgiven, if you’re going to know that, you require God.
When Jesus was here on earth, he said to a man, your sins are forgiven.
They said, they knew. Who can forgive sin? But God.
Only God can forgive sins, they misunderstood who Jesus was in that story, but it is only God who can forgive sins.
And so I would ask you tonight, those of you who have been so kind to come, do you know tonight, that your sins, this all knowing God, who knows everything about what you have done.
[3:35] He knows everything about what you haven’t done. Your sins stand in His sight very clear.
Do you know that He has forgiven your sins?
There’s some people and they long to feel forgiven. There’s people who like coming to services like this because they say when they leave, I feel good.
We hope you would leave feeling good. We certainly don’t want you to leave feeling bad.
At the same time, it’s not about a feeling.
It’s not about somebody leaving saying, I feel forgiven. That won’t do. Do you know?
Tonight, do you know that as far as God is concerned, as He looks at your life and your past, my sins, which are many, are God’s.
They’re forgiven, they’re cleared. You need to know that.
You need to know that, and you need to know that from God.
That’s what I read from the Bible.
You need to get that from God. No preacher can give you that.
Nobody can walk you through and say, okay, what was your experience?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, you must be forgiven, you must be saved.
No one can tell you that.
It is only, you must get that from God, from His Word. So that’s the first point, that if you’re going to know the forgiveness of sins, as it says here, if God will keep record of sin permanently, no one, none of us would sin, but there is forgiveness with Him, with God.
Secondly, forgiveness assumes that the people who are seeking it are guilty.
[4:57] You don’t need to seek forgiveness if you haven’t done anything wrong.
Forgiveness assumes people are guilty.
It says in that same story, when that man was brought down and brought down to the roof, and the Lord Jesus told that paralyzed man, “‘Rise up and walk, thy sins are forgiven.'”, It says something very interesting.
It says that before that whole story takes place, it says, the power of the Lord was present to heal.
It wasn’t as if, and it says present to heal them, all the people who had come to listen to Jesus.
But you see, they didn’t get any blessing from Christ being there and Christ speaking.
They didn’t leave with their sins forgiven because they didn’t realize that they had sins that needed to be forgiven.
I wonder tonight, do you realize that?
Do you realize that in the sight of God, you have sins that he knows all about?
He’s never gotten used to that. He’s never gotten desensitized.
He’s never forgotten them.
There are sins so clear and open in his eyes.
There are sins that he will have to judge because of who he is as a holy and just God.
[6:10] Are you willing tonight to acknowledge your guilt? The story in the Bible about a prodigal son, spent all of his dad’s money, wasted it on riotous living. And it says that when he came to himself, that was a far journey to come to, but finally, at last, he came to himself. I have sinned. I have sinned against heaven, against the that night when I have sinned against heaven.
I wonder tonight, do you realize that your sins, whatever they might be, whether it was cheating on a test and the teacher said, you know, that’s not allowed and you copied somebody else’s answers or swearing when mom and dad weren’t listening.
Do you understand like David understood that my sins ultimately are against you and you only.
My sins are against a living, holy God.
[7:02] You understand that tonight? You see forgiveness is only available for guilty people.
If there are people who are attending this meeting tonight and you are not guilty, I’m, sorry. There’s no message for you. This is good news for the guilty.
This is good news for the hungry. This is good news for the thirsty.
This is good news for the needy. People who have no need, no guilt, no hunger, no thirst, like the power of the Lord is present.
They just leave. No use of the gospel.
So there is guilt that makes forgiveness needful.
And this guilt, you know, I don’t know if you’ve ever had somebody wrong you, but you have. And if they seek your forgiveness, you understand that.
The reason they’re asking for your forgiveness is because what they’ve done has hurt you.
[7:47] It’s offended you. Right? And maybe they’ve never even asked for your forgiveness.
Usually, just as human nature, we don’t really think about too many of the people that we haven’t asked forgiveness from.
[8:01] Let me quickly remember all the people who haven’t asked for our forgiveness. That’s human nature.
And maybe just now you’re thinking of people and they just carry on with their life, and, they’ve never had the decency you might say.
They’ve never come to themselves to just come to you and say, I’m sorry, will you forgive, me? Because what they did, and whatever you might be thinking about just now, hurt.
I have to tell you that sin has hurt God.
It is a deep hurt. It’s not a small thing, not with God. So, forgiveness is necessary.
Forgiveness also assumes that the party that’s going to offer the forgiveness is God, right?
Only God can forgive sins, and it’s only the guilty who need it.
[8:44] The party that offers the forgiveness must be gracious. No one deserves forgiveness.
In order to receive forgiveness, it’s out of the grace, the kindness, the love, or the care of the other party.
That person, like if all of us here tonight could at least unite with this, that we are, guilty and we need forgiveness from God, there would be no good news if God wasn’t offering it.
I hope you understand that. God wasn’t coming out to the sinful, if God wasn’t coming out to the guilty, there’s no forgiveness. He must make the first move. And thankfully my friend, He has. God has come out in grace. I love that. The bright glories of His grace above His other wonders. He has come out with pardon and grace. It says of the Lord Jesus, I try to mention one of these nights that He stayed silent just before before going to the cross, didn’t speak a word in his own defense.
And yet right when he’s put on that cross, nails are driven through his hands and feet, right when saying even a single word would have been unbelievable pain, push his hands and his feet against the nails and to lift up a scraped plowed back against the twisted wood.
It’s then that he starts speaking. And you know the first thing he says, Father.
[10:11] Forgive us. I don’t know what they’re doing, but the Savior we represent tonight, I couldn’t represent myself as a very forgiving person, but the Savior I represent is a forgiving Savior.
He comes out to sinners, the very people that put Him on the cross, the very people that hammered nails through His hands and through His feet and spit on His face. Father, forgive us.
And after He had risen back from the dead, after He died on that cross and rose back from the dead. He told his disciples, I want the good news of this message. This message of repentance and forgiveness. I want it to be sent to all the world. But I want you to start at that very city. See that city? That city that sent away with me. See the city that said, spit on him. See the city that said, crucify him. I want you to tell them.
Tell them first. I want the whole world to know that I went to that very city that said I was worthy of a crown of thorns. I want them to hear the message first. Oh, my friends, God is coming out to sinners, God is coming out with forgiveness, and we represent a gracious God.
And so for forgiveness to be possible, we require God, a person must acknowledge guilt.
[11:22] Then there must be grace.
The fourth point I would give you is very important. I would ask you just to think about it, because likely somewhere, maybe not even in this tent tonight, but sometime in your life you have some quiet space where you think about sins that bother your conscience and you wish you could have them cleared.
[11:48] God is holy, God is just, God will not forgive sins illegally. What does that mean?
That God is legal.
Yes. Yes, God made the law. And God has a law by which He runs the universe.
And nobody can be forgiven illegally. God can’t just look at a sinner and say, okay, I’ll let you in there, your sins, no problem.
I know what you’ve done. I know you’re sorry.
No, sins have a legal consequence.
Sins are a crime, really. You could think of, rather than doing it a sin, you could think of it as a crime, a crime against God’s law.
It’s God’s law that says we shouldn’t lie. And when a person lies, they have sinned against God’s law.
And so we need a ground, a ground where forgiveness can be possible.
And it must be a legal ground.
How can a God who is just and holy, righteous, Ever look at people like me and you, who have committed all these sins, all on our record, they’re all known by him.
How could he just forgive us?
How could he just clear it? After all, isn’t it his own law?
It’s his own law, not the devil’s law.
Not some law on planet Earth. Isn’t it God’s law that says the soul that sins should die?
[13:10] Isn’t it God’s law that says the wages of sin is death? Isn’t it God’s law that says whoever keeps the whole law, and yet the peasant wants a
Am I not just quoting God’s law? So how can God look at His own law and then look at a sinner and say, you’re sorry, no problem.
No, it must be forgiven legally.
I would tell you this, please don’t gamble with your soul. 45,000 years from now, if there’s a legal loophole in my forgiveness, I will be in hell.
If the devil can find some legal loophole, that man has sinned and they weren’t forgiven legally.
He’s mine. I would be in hell, and so would every one of you.
No, it must be forgiven legally. But that’s why Jesus came.
He came to provide this legal ground. And I have to tell you, that’s what Calvary, that’s what the cross is all about.
[14:08] He went to the cross. He didn’t just go there by accident.
He didn’t just go there because it’s a sad story.
He didn’t just go there because God wanted to show just how much he loved us.
And so he put his son on the cross and said, this is how much I love you.
No, there was legal requirements for sin, legal requirements.
And God could not just pass sinners by. Their sins demand that they must die.
But in the cross of Christ we see how God can save the righteous.
That’s what the song says, and that’s very true. And the song goes on to say this.
The judgment fell on Jesus.
By His shed blood, sin’s debt was paid.
Now mercy can dispense its sword. You see, what happened on the cross was the Lord Jesus went there willingly.
And He went there to take the penalty, the legal consequences for sin that you and I have endured.
[15:07] The law says the soul that sins shall die. Lord Jesus went to the cross to experience death.
This is what it says in the Bible. I’m just telling you what the Bible says now.
He tasted death for everyone. That’s what he did on the cross.
He tasted death for everyone. What a scope for forgiveness.
Everyone, wow. And so there is a legal ground that has been laid.
He went to the cross, he was made accountable for sin, suffered for his bullying, God raised him back from the dead, God announcing to the world that now there is a ground.
There’s a solid ground where I can legally Forget any sinner, and trust Jesus Christ.
[15:51] What does that happen? Well, this is what happens when a sinner trusts Christ, according to the Bible, and we can get make it theologically complex We can just tell you in very simple terms. I’ll tell you what happens.
You know the day you trust Jesus Christ, the day I trusted him, with all my record of sins, do you know what God did?
[16:10] He took what his perfect son did and he credited that. My account before God, I had sinned, I don’t glory in them, but my account was Joseph Baker has sinned and I should die.
[16:28] But I depended on the 22nd of March, 2003. I depended on him according to the Bible, it says this about him, he was wounded for my sins.
I depended on him. You know what happened? When he got on that cross, God, in a mighty transaction, credited that, freely, to my account.
It was credited to me, as a gift.
And that’s what happens when somebody trusts Christ. And so it’s not that they’re forgiven because they’ve become religious.
It’s not that they’re forgiven because they’ve said the right prayers.
It’s not that they’re forgiven because they’ve joined the right church.
They’re forgiven because they came humbly enough as a sinner to say, I trust him, I trust the one who took the death penalty for me.
And so, thank God, really, that there is a ground, a legal ground to forgive sins.
That brings me to my final point.
Forgiveness must come from God. Tonight, if you want to know whether you’re forgiven, you must get that from God.
It is only through the guilty.
It is only available by grace. There must be a legal ground.
But point number five is this, forgiveness must be received as a gift.
[17:40] You cannot earn God’s forgiveness. You cannot change your life enough to merit God’s forgiveness.
You must receive God’s forgiveness as a free gift.
[17:55] How amazing that that’s how God is offering it. He turns to sinners, just like those people in Jerusalem who said that his son was worthy, of spit on his face, and says, I’m offering you forgiveness for what you did with my son.
I’m offering that to you tonight.
And a person receives that as a gift. They turn to God by faith and just receive it as a gift.
They don’t do anything.
They never, I’ve never met a person who figured out how to believe.
Never.
[18:30] I’ve never met a person who figured out how to trust or suddenly read the Bible enough that a verse just popped into their mind in gold letters.
I’ve met a whole bunch of people in my two weeks here that understood that they were guilty of religious sins and had nothing in their hands and understood that God was coming out to set them free. And they took it as a gift. And my friend, tonight, if you were to take it as a gift, you would go home rejoicing with this man, David, and this Psalm. Oh God, if you were to to keep track of sins, I could never stand, but there is forgiveness.
It’s the fact that there is forgiveness that tells us to share this great news with you.
There is no message like it, as we said before, there may be better messengers, but there, There is no message to think that you can go out into the parking lot tonight with every shit legally forgiven by the God of this great universe.
Nothing between you and God, only the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to leave this tent tonight.
[19:53] I really insist on going back to your vehicle, Mr. Simms, because I’d love, I’d love to have what Joseph is talking about.
I would love to know that my sin record is completely cleared.
[20:09] And I have peace with God. To the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. We’re glad you’re here.
And just before, in case I forget at the end, I just want to thank everybody for being patient with us, over the last few weeks, and for attending, for all the refreshments we’ve enjoyed, a lot of work involved in that every night.
And I have to say it’s been very much a pleasure working with Joseph as well.
So pray for him and his future and his family, and just appreciate the opportunity to share Christ at this time.
So we’re going to read one verse in the Old Testament. And the meaning of it can be somewhat obscure to us tonight in the imagery here.
[20:58] We’re not going to get distracted by that. It’s not going to be too difficult.
But if you look into it, it’s looking forward to a future day when Christ himself will defeat, every foe and every enemy, and he will be the mighty conqueror.
He will reign universally, he’ll reign globally, but I just want you to remember three words, from this one verse that we are going to read.
I want you to spot the three words. Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63 and verse 1.
I think that’s 63 and verse 1.
[21:43] I said these words may be somewhat obscure and may not mean a lot to you and.
[21:51] Verse one says, Who is this that cometh from Eden with dyed garments from Balthazar, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Now, I didn’t want to give away which three words I was picking up, but maybe just by the way I emphasize it, you clued in.
[22:22] Mighty to save. There is not a scanner on planet Earth that Christ cannot save.
He is mighty, mighty to save.
So I took my little sign here.
Whether it blows in the wind or not, I don’t know. If it does, keep much, you’ll see it for a flash and then it might fly away.
Mighty to save.
You ever think about if you need to be saved for that?
Would you like to be saved? Is there anyone here who is saying, I heard about salvation, but I’m not saved?
Well, you’ve been hearing about one who is mighty to save.
Now I want to read the antonym of mighty to save. in the new testament.
[23:24] Antonym, for those of you who are younger, just means the opposite, the opposite.
If I say the antonym of dark is light.
So that’s what an antonym is. If it’s cold, the antonym is hot.
Well, let’s read the antonym of mighty to save. Romans 5 verse 6.
Romans 5, verse 6 says, “‘For when we were yet without strength,’ in due time, Christ, died for the ungodly.
The antonym of mighty to save is without strength.
[24:16] Stops at a mighty to save, and maybe there’s a heart that’s resonating with these two words tonight in the tent.
That describes me. I have no strength to save myself.
I’m without strength. Well, we point you again to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Without strength, there is one who is mighty to save.
[24:47] Some people, you’ve already been here, people wanting to believe and trying to figure out how can I be saved?
Well, you can save yourself.
And the more a person tries, the weaker they are. They realize, I can’t do this.
I want to have my sins forgiven, but I am lost. You try, they say, to get saved.
Get saved.
But to know you aren’t saved, you know, this little text service is, you’re either lost, or you have been saved.
Someone asked us over refreshments last week, were you always saved?
You were always a Christian. Absolutely not.
No one has always been saved and no one has always been a Christian.
Every Christian has found themselves without strength to save themselves.
You say, well, I say I’m a Christian, but I don’t remember a time in my life when I, understood I was without strength to save myself.
Well, from the Word of God, I would tell you, timely, you’re not saved.
[26:04] Call yourself a Christian, but you’re not a Christian if you haven’t found out that that I have no ability, no strength to save myself.
As you’ve heard in my past, save implies a rescue.
So specifically when were you spiritually rescued? When did Christ save you?
I know when he saved me, June the 2nd, 1969. Oh, I know a lot of things happened in 1969.
Landed in the moon for the first time. 69.
Teddy Kennedy drove off the bridge in 69. Someone drowned in his car.
Woodstock, Rockvessel, 69. He experimented with the first debit machine, 69.
All these wonderful things in 69. But the greatest of all things that happened in 69, I was slain.
I found I had no strength, but there was one who was mighty to save me.” Have you found out that the Lord Jesus is mighty to save?
[27:17] Let me tell you a little short Bible story. Some of you probably know, but just a few days after Jesus was crucified, two people were walking away from Jerusalem and they were lamenting and sorrowing about the death of Jesus.
Probably tears running down their faces as they headed home and all their hopes had been centered and pinned on Jesus.
And then, as the story goes, a third person joined them.
And so they were talking along the way, and he asked them, so what things are you talking about?
And they said, you don’t know what happened in Jerusalem just the other day?
He said, what things?
So they said, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet.
And here’s what they said, mighty indeed at the works and mighty in word before God and before all the people.
And so that’s what they told the third person who was walking with them.
Mighty indeed and word before God and all the people.
And then they ended up at the house. The three of them walked in over the patio and through the door and they sat down at the table And just the three of them.
[28:45] He said, oh, that’s it’s Jesus. It’s Jesus risen from the dead.
If that’s not power, if that’s not might, here he is alive. This is might, this is power, this is strength that eclipses all other displays of his power.
Someone who was dead, died on the cross. His corpse was removed from the cross, wrapped, put in a tomb, stone rolled in front of the tomb.
And the third day, there was no power and hell or an earth in all the universe that could hold him back.
Power, he is mighty to save. He has the power to raise himself from the dead.
Jesus said, no one takes my life away from me.
I let it down of myself, and I have the authority to take it back, take it up again.
That’s what Jesus said in John chapter 10.
Then he said on another occasion, he said, destroy this temple of my body.
[29:59] I will raise it up in three days. You’re wondering if the Lord Jesus can save you?
You say, I have no strength. I’ve been listening to Joseph. I have no strength to save myself.
That’s why we point you to the Lord Jesus. He is mighty to save.
I’ve only spoken on this one other time. I just discovered mighty to save in Isaiah and I underlined it.
I got out my notepad and I was like, this is thrilling, mighty to save.
Who are lost and desperate in their sins, and we can point them to the Lord Jesus, He is mighty.
I’m pointing you to the Midland Park Gospel Hall.
Well, I would be home so fast if it was just about the gospel hall or a church.
It’s about a man called Jesus. He is mighty to save. I’m not here to present the irrefutable truths and the facts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he was mighty to bring himself back from death. Do you need any more proof that he is mighty to save? You have no strength to to say I’m aware now that I am a sinner.
[31:22] I pray, I shut it in my room and I tried to cry. I thought maybe if I could cry, that he’d see my tears and have mercy on me.
No, that’s not how a person trusts Christ.
Tears have no part of it. God never said if you cry, enough tears, And if you say enough prayers, and if you try really hard and you up it a couple more notches, when I see you’re there, then I will change and go.
It’s not like that. That would be human effort, wouldn’t it?
There’s no human effort involved at all. You don’t want to come out, you’re without strength.
Nothing you can do. Give up tonight.
If you want to have your sins forgiven, Give up and face the facts in the Bible.
The Bible says you’re without strength.
You have no ability. Um…
Bankrupt. You are not. No more sins.
That’s why we need upstrength.
I’d like to see who can save you tonight. What do you think you can do? What sort of thing?
Thank you for watching.
[32:52] Giving God is everything to do with Jesus Christ, the mighty one, who is able to save you.
You know, from the beginning of time, mighty to save.
God promised that there was one coming who would be mighty to save.
Genesis 3, you know, the awful, the catastrophic fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and the dense darkness and the brokenness of the world, as a result of his awful sin. Way back in Genesis chapter three, God promised that there would come a mighty one.
You read it in Genesis three verse 15. He said, oh, Satan, the devil may bruise his heel, will bruise his heel, But the one that’s coming into the world with a cross, Satan’s head is ours.
But promised way back in the Garden of Eden that this mighty one was going to come.
Satan will not triumph forever.
Jesus will come. Evil enters the human family, poison spread by Satan, misery.
Well, I’m so thankful that way back in Genesis, promise was made, that one who is blessed and saved could be better appreciated by the Lord Jesus Christ in that way?
[34:20] Like, is there any response in your heart? Like, did you thank the Lord Jesus Christ today for taking your plunge and dying for your sins and bearing the penalty of your sins?
I think I’m safe, really?
And there’s no appreciation in your heart?
Big question mark there, something wrong? If someone went to the cross and shed his precious innocent blood, and you couldn’t find it in your heart any hour of this day, to say, thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for dying for my sins.
Question, are you saying?
[35:05] God promised back that there would be that strong, that mighty one who would come.
So you read all through the Old Testament. I know there’s some difficult passages in the Old Testament and the Psalms and Isaiah. God promises that the mighty one is going to come.
And one place it is, the wind will be his chariot. Oh, isn’t that figurative?
Mighty to say, oh, there’s no weakness, no lack of strength in Christ. He is going to come.
That was the message of the Old Testament.
The Lord himself will come and with conquering power, the feet, the forces of evil.
What a hope throughout the Old Testament. Someone, Isaiah wrote, whose arm is not too short, that it cannot reach down and save.
We talk to people and they say, well, I’m too far down. I’m too far gone.
I’ve lost the sin. I love the Bible.
It says, my arm is too short.
I could reach anyone, wherever they are. We can reach you, reach you in a tent tonight, and he could save you.
[36:13] Stronger than the strong. You get to Mark chapter three in the New Testament.
And there’s the whole story of people saying, this is Satan and Beelzebub.
They’re attributing the powers of Christ to Satan and to Beelzebub.
And Jesus said, he’s strong, Satan’s strong, but there’s a stronger one than Satan.
The strong man arm keepeth his palaces with their peace, but a stronger than that strong man.
Who is a stronger than the strong man?
Christ, Christ. You see, friends, this message is all about the Lord, Jesus Christ.
[36:55] Strong, mighty to save. Would you like to be delivered? Would you like to be saved?
Would you like to be set free from your sin? Would you like someone with might, with power, to reach into your life, just where you are tonight,
[37:16] Well, who will you find in the universe? Joseph is a good preacher, and I’ve had quite a few coffee with him, and he’s a nice person.
We can’t save him. Who can save you tonight?
[37:36] Absolutely, only Christ. He is mighty to save. When you think of how he came every Christmas, because I enjoy it throughout the year, but at Christmas time, when you’re seeing the nativity scene, he came in a parent weakness.
In the stable as he slept in the manger, he looked like a fragile, weak little baby boy.
That’s what he looked like, parent weakness.
Wrath and swaddling clothes, omnipotence. You can hear me about his omniscience, all knowing, But this is almighty power wrapped in baby blankets.
Isn’t that amazing? Apparent weakness.
He was mighty, you know, at that stage in life. Mighty, he was Christ in human flesh.
He was mighty when he was in the carpenter’s shop. Oh, he just looked like he was an ordinary tradesperson.
Mighty.
When he slept on the cushion in the boat, tired and weary, sound asleep, mighty, mighty when in the cars of Gethsemane, they wrapped his arms, they bound his hands, he had a sufficient power that he could have broken those bands of thunder and he could have swept the ball out into eternity.
[39:01] But in apparent weakness, they bowed the hands of Jesus, and they paraded him through the streets, and they nailed him to the cross. I’ve often wondered what those soldiers thought.
Those are skilled soldiers. The Romans, that’s what they did. That was the way they, yelled with criminals. They were skilled at crucifixion. I wonder those soldiers when it came to selecting the nails to nail Jesus to the cross. And when he just willingly, I wonder the soldier looked at the other soldier. There’s no resistance.
Look at the other ones. We have to put our knee on the arm and hold it down and the other person dives the nail in.
But this lovely man, who is he?
He provides no resistance. His eyes aren’t flashing with anger.
His cheeks aren’t white with rage.
Absolutely is a friend. He has nothing to say to you. He went to the cross in apparent weakness.
[40:14] He didn’t look like a mighty one. He didn’t have all the outward trappings of wealth and strength the greatness of power and might, his ordinary clothes.
No big security details following him everywhere he went. No minstrels going down the road ahead of him, playing a little tune, here he comes, here he comes.
Nothing like that.
Just looked like a poor 30 year old man.
[40:44] They underestimated him. Maybe you’re underestimating Jesus tonight.
Maybe you’re undervaluing him as well, give no place for him.
Oh, think of who he is. He is mighty deceived.
Some accused him of getting his power from the devil, even his own family.
Did you know that? His own family said he’s mentally ill.
They came to physically take him to a family intervention because they thought he had lost his capacity to make sound choices and read good reasoning.
Apparent weakness.
[41:23] Display inherent strength. This lovely one who’s mighty to see. Remember those two in the road to Emmaus? They said, mighty in deed and in word before God and all people his deeds. I don’t, need to enumerate the deeds. They just, it blows their mind when I read the gospels, how he healed impossible cases, just spoken word or by a touch. What no doctor or specialist could do, Mighty, mighty, oh, he has power, mighty to save you tonight.
Anybody interested? Any takers? Anyone wanting just to put up a little hand inside your heart saying, I need strength, I need to be rescued, I’m without strength, I’m ungodly in my sins, I need to be saved.
[42:16] But I can rescue you from your sins.
Weakness, mighty power.
When he went to the cross, he was strong enough, strong enough to overcome evil, Satan, and the intractable problem of sin, that has plagued this human family for millennia.
He had the power to deal with that problem of sin at the cross, mighty to save.
Religious people, prophets, they tried to deal with sin, but there was only one strong prophet, who could deal with the sin problem.
He was strong enough, I already said, to raise himself from the dead.
[43:01] From of the same sinners that are true in the ages. And he’s strong enough to save you.
[43:10] Would you like him to save you tonight? You know, the Bible says he knows.
Chapter 9, once at the end of the ages, appeared to put, put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
That’s the best point. That’s power. That’s strength. All by himself.
He did it. What no one else could do.
Worsened than for mine. Tonight, he has the ability and the strength and the desire to, save. A lot of people have a desire to save. I was reading a story, it happened a little while ago, I have it on my website, but it’s the Nutty, it took place in the Nutty Puppy Cave, way out in Utah. And it used to be a very popular destination for people who like caves and, John Jones, he was 26 years old in medical school and, trained to be a pediatric Cardiologist and he was a he and his wife were expecting a little baby and, All for your Thanksgiving and they thought there would go some age problem, And John Jones went into the cave and he got stuck inside the cave.
[44:23] He got stuck upside down, he thought he would just go a little further, he got stuck upside down.
It was Tuesday at 9 o’clock in the evening, and he was 400 feet inside, and he was unable to move. He was stuck.
Stuck at a 70 degree angle, and most of his middle body pinched in a probably 10 inch wide space.
[44:50] They worked the rescuers. They briefly pulled him out of the crevice. They used a pulley system, ropes that tied to his feet. They gave him food and water. They sent things down to him, trying to rescue him. And they thought they had him out of the narrow space for about 30 minutes. They thought they had him free. And then the rope broke and he went back in.
This time they couldn’t get him out. He slipped back in. He was so close to safety.
And after 27 hours of trying to rescue them, trying to save them, they had to give up.
137 people tried to rescue Jones, but they said, we’re physically, mentally exhausted.
Is it our make-up to leave anything undone?
All of our Herculean efforts make us insane.
[45:49] But it’s very important, David said, if you want to make a spiritual analogy, and he’s, not going to tell you, the rope’s not going to break.
If you want to be saved this evening as we close this gospel service these two weeks, If you would like to have your sins forgiven, we point you to the one who won’t let you down, won’t let you go.
Herculean effort, the power is all in himself, mighty to save you.
But maybe you’re still floundering around saying, I have a little bit of ability to save myself.
You’ll never be saved when you’re taking that life. When you get to that point, oh God, I’m without strength.
My sins, I need to be respected by those who might be saved.
Joseph and I have accepted visiting someone who has experienced God’s salvation.
Thank you.
[46:48] Thank you.
And I wrote about a few years ago, David Berkowitz, who’s still in Sam.
He murdered six people over a period of years, wounded seven others, awful, heinous crimes.
And I asked him, what does Jesus Christ mean to you today? He wrote me back, the Lord Jesus is my savior, my hope, my friend.
Experiencing his forgiveness is wonderful. Being able to know Christ as my shepherd is also wonderful.
One of my favorite scripture passages can be found in Hebrews 2.
My Savior says that concerning all his blood-redeemed children, he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
And this means that the Lord is not ashamed to have such a miserable sinner as I once was, now a part of his family.
And then he’s got amazing! Exclamation mark!
And then he wrote, no one is too far away that the Savior’s mighty arms cannot hold.
He experienced God’s salvation.
[47:53] We’re sitting here, blank. As we close this meeting tonight, let me tell you, he is mighty.
He said, I give to them eternal life.
You will never perish. He never dropped you.
Come to Him, you’re saved forever. Secure in Christ.
He’s able to save to the uttermost those who come to God for Him.
He not only saves you from your sins and lifts you up, but He saves you throughout your whole Christian journey and pathway.
He’s mighty to save.
Pastor, have you ever called Heaven’s 911?
[48:34] Oh Lord, I’m down here on planet Earth! I have no strength, I’m going to hell!
My sins! My sins! My sins!
If he heard that cry from a human heart that no other human can hear, just the faintest cry from the inner recesses of a human heart, his ears are tuned to that cry, and he’s mighty to save.
And if you said, oh God, I have no strength to save myself in my sins and just dying for how you’d reach it safely.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220722.m4a[0:01] I’d like to read in the Gospel of Luke, if you have a Bible, that is the third book of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Luke and chapter 2. I can say from this side of the platform, these two weeks have come and gone very quickly.
Not sure about those of you who endured some pretty rough nights, but we have a beautiful night tonight, and it’s gone by rather fast, and the Lord will, Sunday night will be the concluding night, at least as planned, at 730 for the special series of gospel meetings. Luke chapter 2 and we’ll read from verse number 8.
And they were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and, the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the The angel said unto them, fear not.
For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Just drop down to verse 18.
[1:21] Shepherds go and tell us what has happened. and verse 18, it says this, “‘And all they that heard it wondered, marveled.
“‘They were amazed. “‘All they that heard this announcement “‘that the angels had given, “‘they wondered at those things “‘which were told them by the shepherds.'”.
[1:40] I just wanna look at this story, and I understand that for many of you, this might be a story you read at a far different time of this year, maybe around December.
But really, this is, in essence, the gospel message. If you would like to know what the gospel message is, it is presented actually here by angels.
Now, Peter and I are not angels, and you’ll find that out very quickly, but actually there was a day where angels announced the gospel.
That’s what it says. It says, angels brought good tidings.
That’s just what the word gospel means.
Good news. And this was the good news. Unto you was born this day, over 2000 years ago now, this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
I want you to go home and just think about those words, a Savior, Christ the Lord.
This is the message of the gospel. This is good news from heaven, that a Savior has come, who is Christ the Lord.
You see, in that title given to Jesus Christ, What we find out is really, in those few words, the core of what the gospel is.
We could ask a number of questions. First of all, why is he called the Savior?
[3:01] He’s not called a counselor, he’s not called an advisor, he’s not called a guru, he’s not called a priest, he’s called a Savior.
And then the Savior is Christ the Lord. The Lord, this is a title that was only given to God.
It says in Isaiah, I am the Lord, that is thy name, and my glory I will not share with anyone else.
And yet, there’s a baby, a baby that’s born, wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem.
And the angels say that baby is the Savior, Christ, the Lord.
[3:45] So God has come into our world and is found wrapped in swaddling clothes as a baby.
That is very important.
But why? I want to tell you that the reason he is the savior, Christ the Lord, is because we all, all of us as humanity, have a problem that’s just that bad.
A problem that’s just that bad to need a Savior.
[4:12] The reason Christ the Lord came into this world is because of a love that’s just that great.
A love that’s just that great. The Lord came into our world. God, who made the world, came here.
[4:26] The reason he’s called a Savior is because of a provision that’s just that complete.
Nothing else is needed. He’s not a helper. He doesn’t get you most of the way.
He doesn’t do 90% of the work. No, He’s a Savior.
A provision that’s just that complete. But if this is a Savior, Christ the Lord, then that makes rejection.
Just that sad. Because you see, when people leave and turn their back on the Gospel, they’re not rejecting a preacher, they’re not rejecting a church, they’re not rejecting Christianity.
They’re rejecting the Savior. The Savior, Christ the Lord.
Lord. Tonight, if it hasn’t been clear in previous nights, we preach Christ. We present Jesus Christ. He is the message, and he is what’s on the table, if you will. He is what is being offered to people, this living person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let’s just go through it briefly in the opening part of this meeting. First of all, a problem that’s just that bad.
[5:26] When you think of the word saved, what do you think about? I’m rather concerned that some of these words have been almost hyper-spiritualized.
They’ve been made so religious, like people think of, well, saved is what happens when you go to a summer camp and you say a prayer, or you raise your hand, or you sing a song, and I got myself saved at a summer camp.
Or I go to a religious service, and I get myself saved.
Now come on, when you think of the word saved, I think this is not a religious word.
We’re not talking about like baptism or church or anything like that.
Saved, it’s a word we use all the time.
Right, rescued.
I’ll tell you a little story about what I think about when I think of the word safe.
[6:07] I was sent to a little YMCA thing during the summer and I didn’t know how to swim and it was a beautiful, very hot day like it was earlier today. And we were in the pool, all the kids were in the pool, and I loved the shallow end because you could touch the bottom, you could, play with the balls. But of course, when you love the shallow end and you can’t swim in the deep end, this is the place to be. Diving board and all the things that everyone can’t do. And my brother, my older brother, he wanted to go to the deep end. And so the lifeguard said, okay, well, you have to take a swim test. They took him over to the deep end and put him in the pool, and he did a swim test down and back. As long as you can do that, then you can go swim to the deep end, right? Now, I didn’t know how to swim. I knew I didn’t know how to swim, but it just bothered me so much that he was over there and I was over here where the kids play. I thought to myself, I’m going to go over there too. So I told her, I want to go over there. She said, well, you have to take a swim test. So I got into the pool on the beach and I had no clue how to swim.
I didn’t know how to do it. But I thought to myself like this, I’ll push my feet up against this wall. You know that wall is a pool. And I’ll push myself where all I’m worth.
[7:32] And then I’ll hopefully just float to the other side, grab the wall of the pool, and do the same thing going back.
[7:40] I just push myself right up against the wall of that pool, far as I could, push myself across. Guess what happens?
And I didn’t make it very far, as far as the little boy’s legs could push him a few feet across that pool.
And I looked up and there was this lady, this young lady, she was sitting on this funny looking thing that for some reason they make super high above the pool.
And I looked up at her, and I just said, help!
[8:19] And I went down. The next thing I know, she leaves her high place and jumps right down, right to where I was because I was going down. I was sinking in that pool, and she grabbed me. You know what she did? She saved me. That’s what I said. I didn’t tell her, thanks for helping me. I was going to the bottom of that pool. I said thanks for saving me. I was, was saved by a young lady in a YMCA camp who left her high place to come right down to where I was.
Now, that’s what it means to be saved.
That’s what it means to be saved. It means to be rescued from something that is dangerous, from something that’s taking you down.
There was a man in the Bible named Peter, and he cried out one day when he was thinking, Lord, save me.
And the Lord didn’t tell him, well, Peter, now say a prayer, Peter.
Peter, live as good a life as you can from now on. No, Peter’s going down.
In the bottom of the sea. And the Lord Jesus reached out his hand right to where Peter was, picked him right up.
So to be saved means to be rescued.
[9:26] And the reason a person needs to be saved is because that’s a problem that’s just that bad, my friend.
I don’t know what you think about yourself.
I know there’s people and they have different ideas and they say, well, it’s so hard because really shouldn’t we all accept more of a pluralistic view of our world?
Shouldn’t we all accept that really, religion is quite complicated, but really there’s different rivers and they all flow through the same stream, the same source, God.
It doesn’t really matter which river you take to get there, as long as it gets there to that one same source, isn’t that all that matters? After all, do you have any idea how sincere people are?
Like you think you Christians are sincere, meeting for two weeks, do you realize that people in this world who are on their face for six hours of a day to find favor with God.
[10:17] There are people who cut themselves to find favor with God. There are people who sell everything they own to find favor with God.
Surely that stream must somehow connect.
Now the only right way to understand it is a problem, right?
There’s many religions in our world. The only way to understand it is to identify what is the problem. Is the problem insincerity and it’s solved by sincerity?
[10:46] Is the problem not trying my hardest, and it’s solved by trying my hardest?
What’s the problem with humanity?
You know what the Bible says? Problem is sin.
The problem is sin in the human heart. The problem is guilt in our hearts, and that sin is like a weight that is sinking us down away from God.
And so whatever solution a person presents, mind us now, it has to solve the problem of sin. That’s the problem.
And so there may be people who are very sincere, but is what they’re doing solving the problem of sin?
Is it removing their sin? Are their sins forgiven?
Is their conscience clear? Are they at peace with God, whatever concept of God they might have?
Sin is the problem in the human heart. Sin must be solved. And the Bible says this, the wages of sin, death.
Sin is like myself there in the pool. Sin is sinking us down to death, and not, just death physically, but what the Bible describes as the second death, eternal death, the lake of fire, according to the Bible. And really, respectfully now, because I was a very religious boy myself, but if there’s anyone here tonight, and you’re quite religious, respectfully, do you know what religion is? Religion is that little boy trying to get across the pool by just pushing with all his work.
[12:15] That’s religion. He doesn’t know how to swim, that silly little boy, and yet he’s pushing for all he’s worth, hoping to get to the other side. Never take people there, and I have a real burden in my heart because there’s people who think they’re going there. There’s people who think they’re going to reach the other side, but they’re not going. The problem is sin, and sin has made us even helpless in the sight of God. That’s what the Bible says. We are without strength, helpless, just like me in that pool, going down, all I could do is cry help. And I didn’t say it respectfully, I didn’t say it worried about who else was in the pool, like I’m going down, I’m going down, I’m drinking water, help, drink, help, nothing respectful about it.
[13:04] It has made a person so helpless that all a sinner can do really is cry out. Now I’m not I’m not talking about crying out from your mouth or using your muscles here.
I’m talking about the cry of the heart.
Says, I’m just going down. I’m going down to hell in my sin.
I’m going down to be away from God’s presence in my sin.
And all the person in that condition can do is just look to God, save me, help me.
And so that’s why the savior was provided because humanity had a condition that’s just that bad.
And you’ll notice that it’s not limited to a certain kind of people.
Maybe if, as I described that, as I described those people who are sinful and going down, maybe you have an image in your mind, like people in prison or people who are, who didn’t grow up with privilege or something like that.
But did you notice what it says?
This is good news of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[14:00] This is for everyone, all people. It says it right there in the verse, that this news is supposed to be spread to all people because all people on our planet were born sinners who are going down, without exception.
I’m no exception to it.
I was going down myself. And that’s why the Savior was provided, because of a problem that’s just that bad. But there’s a love that’s just that great.
You see, it was Christ the Lord.
God himself was provided to save us. And we’ll find out in just a few minutes why it had to only be God who could do it.
Maybe you wonder that. Why couldn’t, okay, say we need saving.
Why couldn’t we need somebody to save us?
Why can’t we come up with a Savior, like the best of us and bring him forward, or the most pious, holy act, and offer that to God. Why did it have to be Christ the Lord?
Why did he have to come down?
But before we get there, isn’t it amazing that the Lord came here?
Let’s just for a moment, I don’t know what you think about the Bible, but for a moment, just assume that the Bible is true.
That means that the God who created the sun, the God who counts the stars, The God who measures all the waters in this planet in the hollow of his hand came down here.
[15:16] For sinners, for me, for you, not a lifeguard who left us a pretty high place, but God himself, from the throne of heaven to come down here. I tell you what, it’s a love that’s just that great.
And I can’t explain it any more than that, but except to say, my dear friends, I don’t know what you’ll take from the gospel tonight, but I want you to know God loves you. God loves you. God, God loved you so much that he sent heaven’s best.
He sent heaven’s king into this world to save sinners.
And to save them, he has to come right down to where we are.
And that’s what he did. He became a man.
God became a man. Christ the Lord was found as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
I see.
Because of a love that was just that great, God loved us, a solution that’s just that complete, called Savior.
I just want to answer a couple of questions that I would have if I was listening to a message like this.
I would wonder, okay, if the problem is sin in my heart, the very root cause that causes me to lie, lust, have evil thoughts, hatred, jealousy, if there’s something wrong in my heart, If that’s not how I was made to be.
[16:44] Why is he the only answer? Why is it just Christ the Lord? Why is it just the Lord Jesus?
Why did Peter say neither is there salvation in any other?
Why did Jesus say, I am the way?
No one’s coming to God except through me.
Make no mistake, it’s not Christians who say Jesus is the only way.
He said it, he said it, and the Bible says it.
Why? That seems very exclusive.
That seems to blow apart this idea that there’s many streams to get to the source.
That seems to say there’s only one way, right?
But why?
Well, remember, whatever solution it is, it has to deal with the problem. That’s pretty basic.
So we need a solution that we know has dealt with the problem of sin.
[17:37] Secondly, we need a solution, and this has helped me anyway, we need a solution that does not come from sinful human thoughts, sinful human beings.
You know that with all the religions in the world, I googled it one time, I think there was 3,200, 3,200.
Google, that’s my favorite research tool, like some others.
But 3,000 religions in our world.
[18:05] Know that really, according to the Bible, there’s only two. There’s the religion of humans working their way back to God, somehow, by good works, by good karma, by, good outweighing bad, by being the best person they can be, by Reformation, by changes. All that’s humans changing to please God. And there’s only one other religion, and that’s God coming down for men. All religions of planet Earth can be, just put into either of those categories. Human beings working back to God. Now mind you, even parts of Christianity are over there.
Even parts of so-called Christianity would be just human beings working back to God. But Biblical Christianity, what the Bible teaches, that’s what it says here. God coming out to human beings. God providing a Savior, Christ the Lord.
God coming into our world. That’s what it says there, doesn’t it? It says, you will call his name His name, Immanuel, which means, God with us.
[19:09] And so this Savior that’s being preached here in this tent tonight has not been provided by any church, it’s not provided by a committee. This is the Savior provided by the God of heaven.
That’s what’s being provided tonight. And so he meets the qualifications. What was the next qualification? He must deal with sin. Now this is why I really struggle with people who tell me, well, I don’t know, I’m saved, I hope that I will be in heaven, or I hope that I have favor with God, and I ask them the basis for their hope, and they, and they tell me a whole bunch of things they’re doing, but my question is when, where do you have that understanding that any of the things you’re doing ever dealt with sin?
Like, take some things that Christians do. Getting baptized.
Where in the Bible does getting baptized deal with sin?
[20:09] Where does that concept come from? How do you know that if I get baptized, I’ll wash away my sin?
Or join the right church? Or say the right prayer?
Or have a certain experience?
Where is any of that? Where is the basis for any of that?
What we need is some certain, sure way.
Like I need something that I know 100% has dealt with sin, and not just dealt with sin to it. I think that’ll do for me.
But dealt with sin in the sight of God, that God says, that has dealt with sin, my sins against him!
[20:42] We are the Savior Christ the Lord. He came into our world. He lived a perfect life. He had no sin himself.
But he went to a cross.
And the Bible says this. This is what happened on the cross, according to the Bible.
He was wounded. Listen to these words. For our sin.
He was bruised. For our sin.
[21:10] It says in another place, his soul was made an offering for sin.
It’s almost like the Bible in all its simplicity, from a God who loves every single person and wants everyone to be saved, is saying, if you identify the problem of sin, I am shouting out from heaven the answer. Christ!
Christ! He’s the one who dealt with sin! He did it! Christ dealt with sin!
Any verse you turn to, you look at the Bible and you try to find things about, I wonder how painful crucifixion was. I mean, I listen to different doctors and they talk about the, different wounds he experienced. You won’t find much of that in the Bible. Hardly anything is said about how painful crucifixion was. But all over the Bible it says that whatever happened on the cross, it was for sin. Christ suffered for sin. Christ died for sin. Constantly it’s like an arrow that’s pointing. Anyone have a problem with sin? Christ, he’s the lifeguard. He’s the one I sent into the world to save sinners. And there was only a person And he said, yeah, that’s the problem.
It’s sin. Oh, and that’s the answer. It’s the Lord Jesus. That’s why God sent him.
That’s why he sent him for sin. And it is in fact that complete because after he went to the cross, after he suffered for sin, he said, it is complete. He said it is finished.
[22:28] And then he died.
And it’s not a, it was hidden secret. Like it’s, uh, like this is open to investigation for any sincere person.
Make no mistake. The Christian faith rests on this rock that on that third day, this man rose from the, dead. Paul said, if he’s not raised, we are yet in our sins.
Paul says if he’s not raised, preaching’s for nothing.
Falsehoods that he’s not raised were false representatives of Christ.
Make no mistake, we stand tonight that there was an empty tomb outside the city of Jerusalem where God brought back the body and life of this man, and he is risen.
Jesus Christ is alive. God raised him from the dead, and that’s the great testimony that shook the Roman world and the Jewish world.
This makes a lot of sense.
[23:35] And so the solution is that complete. God has said, I am satisfied with Christ.
I’ll close tonight just briefly, not to dwell on it, but that makes rejection very sad.
Person who rejects the gospel, the gospel here that was preached by angels, this gospel that a savior has come. God saw sinking sinners like me in that pool, sinking. No matter how strong your leg muscles were, you could never go to the other side. God sent the lifeguard in. He had to, come right to where we were. And he saved us. But imagine somebody drowning in the water, and the lifeguard comes in and they just push the lifeguard. Wouldn’t that be such a sad rejection?
Just say, no. You know, that’s what broke the heart of Christ. When he looked over a city that and had so much privilege.
Many preachers were sent to that city. He said, oh, Jerusalem, I would have, but you would not.
[24:37] I wanted to save you, but you wouldn’t have me. And it broke the heart of Christ, that he had come for people and they said, no.
[24:49] Apparently there are people who still do it today. Make no mistake, when it comes to the gospel, It is not accepting a religious creed.
It is not accepting a testimony of faith from a church. It is not signing, I agree with all these doctrines, no.
It is accepting or rejecting the Savior, Christ the Lord. That’s what’s before you tonight, my friend.
In all our weakness and frailty, we present a glorious, mighty, strong Savior.
He could save you tonight.
You must receive him. You must accept him by faith, depend upon him.
Worthy of your songs.
I was reading today, I wrote it down here. I’ll just read it to you before Mr. Ramsey comes up here to speak.
It was by a historian. I found it quite fascinating. Let me just tell you what he said.
Maybe you think speaking of Jesus Christ is really, that’s only for religious people.
Listen to this quote.
He said, I am a historian. I am by no means a believer, but I must confess, as a historian, that the penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history.
[26:10] That’s a skeptical historian, not a believer, not a Christian.
A penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably center of history and the center of eternity.
And I want to tell you, he’s no longer a penniless preacher from Nazareth to me.
My savior. and he could be your savior.
[26:35] You have probably gathered that, just from listening to Joseph, that this isn’t about, raising money for a cause or for a church, and it’s not a church membership drive. In fact, if you check the table back there, there are not even cards to fill out to join a church.
It’s nothing to do with that. It is all about Christ, the penniless creature from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, but the Lord of glory, who came down to be the Savior.”, That’s our message tonight, and it has been for the last two weeks.
And if it wasn’t for that message, I sure wouldn’t be here. I would love to be back home in St.
Bernard Island. But it’s because Christ came down from heaven to be the Savior.
And without the Savior, people will perish forever. There is no other way to be right with God.
There is no other way to enjoy eternal life. There is no other way.
People say, well, where am I going to be after I die? Everybody wants to be in heaven.
If there’s a good place after death, they want to be there. There is no way.
There is not the slightest chance Anyone would be in heaven without Christ the Savior.
[28:03] And that’s what causes us to travel, to be here. There’s no collection, you can just relax.
There’s not a collection here tonight.
This is about promoting the Lord Jesus Christ and appealing to you with everything else that’s going on in the summer of 2022, appealing to you, the deepest part of your heart, consider this lovely man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He could be your savior. I’ve known him.
So you can’t take that away. You can’t say, no, you didn’t. It’s my own personal experience.
I have known him for over 50 years through the ups and the downs of life.
I’ve been on my way to heaven. I’m not, I don’t have my fingers crossed hoping that I’m going to get there.
You know, biting my teeth, my fingernails with my teeth. No, no, it’s all settled.
I remember specifically the night when it was settled, when I realized Christ died for my sins and he rescued me, he saved me.
And so you can, it must be wonderful, right? Do you have what I have?
Do you have an anchor in life like that through all the storms?
Life can be dreadfully tough at times.
[29:23] And I don’t think there’s a person here this evening who hasn’t experienced dark times, ears and pillows, dark thoughts.
Wonderful to have Christ in this life, be anchored through the storms of life.
You know anything about it?
You could, he could be your savior tonight. We’re gonna read again in Romans chapter five.
Romans chapter 5, we’re going to read eight verses.
The first eight verses of Romans chapter 5.
[29:58] Verse 1, this is Paul, the Apostle Paul. He wasn’t always a Christian.
No one has always been a Christian. People say, well, I was always a Christian.
No one has always been a Christian. Paul was once an enemy of Jesus, and his raison d’etre was to stamp out Christianity because he hated Jesus.
He thought Jesus was an imposter until he found out that the Jesus who died on the cross, died for his sins and he trusted him on the road one day and took him as his savior.
[30:41] So every Christian has a starting point, conscious starting point. And he’s writing to other Christians here, therefore being justified, we heard about that word last night, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, this amazing grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, patience, experience, and experience hope. And hope makes not a shame. This is a verse I really want to underline. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. The love of God is shed abroad or poured out is the the thought is poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us.
But there are three other beautiful verses here. Look at verse six.
I know people who found Christ.
And verse six, for when we were yet without strength, and people say, that was me, my sin.
[32:05] My sin, I had no ability to save myself.
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
And they just close the battle with, there it is.
I’m the ungodly sinner.
I can’t do anything about my sin, but there is one who did something for my sin.
He died, he took the penalty for my sin, and they received Christ by faith, reading that verse.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would be there to die.
But God commends or demonstrated his love toward us.
Now, how do you demonstrate your love to people in your life?
[32:47] Well, I mentioned one other night. I know on Valentine’s Day, you probably get some roses.
God demonstrated His love toward us while we were yet sinners.
Before we were all cleaned up of our sins, when we were still in our sins, God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Praise God.
So, the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. I can relate to this verse.
The love of God shed abroad, or the love of God poured into my heart.
You know what the word pour is. It’s poured this week. We use that word down here, poured. We use it back in Canada.
It’s not when it’s pitter-pat on a vinyl tent roof.
Pitter-pat. Pour is when it’s a downpour, and that’s the thought here.
God poured into our hearts the love of God.
He did it by the work, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So it’s the thought of dispensing without holding anything back, letting loose the love of God.
He poured it into our hearts.
[34:13] The thought is it’s a continuous stream. The night I trusted Christ as my Savior, the night that I opened up to Christ and said, I am just the sinner.
He started pouring into my heart his love and it never stopped.
Do you have anything equivalent to that?
Oh, this is what real life is. This is the life that God intends for everyone in this family.
He wants to pour his love into your heart. Not sprinkle it in, but flow in large quantities.
[34:51] On impetus, his love. That’s the heart of God.
Maybe you’ve harbored some hard thoughts against God.
You think he’s mean, cruel. Why does he let this happen? A lot of bad things happen.
The world is broken. There are other parts of the Bible that we’ve spoken on this other night.
The world is broken. The world is a sad place.
There are tears. There are broken homes. There are broken lives.
There are scams. There are cheats around.
[35:20] Don’t blame that on God. The Bible says it’s sin. Sin is the source of sorrow.
But God says, I’ve got good news for you. I want to pour my love into your heart.
So Paul is writing to Christians about trials and difficulties and how they make us deeper people, greater confidence in God.
He says we have peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus.
Let me ask you, do you have anything in your life that relates to this verse?
Do you have a moment in your life when you consciously receive the love of God in your heart? The love of God is poured into our hearts.
You’ve been hearing about that love, a love that is marked by complete selflessness.
It’s extravagant love, where sometimes we make meager expressions of love.
God held nothing back.
He gave his Son. He said, this is the way I love you. This is the character of my love.
[36:26] The character of my love is that I gave my only Son that whosoever believeth in him should, not perish but have everlasting life.
A love that is marked by complete selflessness. God’s love at the highest level coming down to man through Jesus Christ.
Sorry, but the angels announced that night so long ago.
[36:52] Shed abroad or gush out the love of God poured into our hearts without any reserve.
You know, God wants to bless you tonight.
He really wants to change your life. He wants to flood your soul with His divine love and give you peace and deal with the problem of your sins.
That is God’s heart for you.
If we say heart, and that’s, we know our physical heart is our primary body organ.
Spiritually, the heart speaks of the center of our affection, affections, our desires.
So the moment that you open up to God, He will pour in His love, and it remains a permanent positive.
It’s actually, if you look up the original language here, it’s the perfect tense.
It continually pours in his love. So there’s nothing miserly, nothing mean, nothing skimpy about God’s love.
It’s abundant, it’s profuse, it’s generous, it’s extravagant.
God’s love infinitely beyond what we ever deserve.
So what is your mental image, your concept of God?
[38:15] You think of love, you think of his generosity, rich grace, just like standing over you.
I know sometimes I visualize things. I just, when I read these verses, I just picture a God in heaven standing over you tonight with a wanting to pour in his love, to a willing heart, to a responsive heart.
He wants to bless you this Friday night. It’s a love without limits.
It’s a love without boundaries. It’s without restrictions and it’s without exception.
This wonderful love of God.
So human love, we sort of tend to love the lovable.
[39:00] People that we sort of connect with. similar personalities, and there’s just some, they say, a chemical reaction, and we, you, know, we love that.
We love the lovable, but you know, God, God loves the unlovable.
[39:20] I don’t know if any of you have been involved in dating in your past, but it’s a lot of it’s done online these days, I guess.
But did you ever play the cat and mouse game?
Like you didn’t want to come out to somebody you think might be your partner for life and you didn’t want to come right out and say the first time over a salmon dinner, I love I love you, I love you.
No, it’s just you’re putting out little feelers and you’re seeing if there’s any reciprocation.
And then just inch by inch, you just don’t flush it all out.
Because what would they say if they looked at you and said, well, hey, let me out of here.
I’m not finishing my salmon dinner.
Oh, what I love about college, well, whether you ever reciprocate or not.
[40:17] Loves you, you can turn your back on him and he still loves you.
He displayed his love when he gave his beloved son for you.
Whether you ever respond to his love, he’s told you over and over again in his word, he told you by way of the cross, I love you.
I love you.
The degree of love is measured by the costliness of the gift to the giver and the worthiness of the recipients to receive the gift.
[40:55] The costliness of the gift and the worthiness of the recipient.
The more costly the gift and the more unworthy the recipient, the greater the love is seen to be.
And what could be more costly than God sending his son, knowing that he was sending him to the cross?
The lostliness of the gift and the worthiness of the recipient.
I look, I live with myself for, it’ll soon be 66 years. Every year I see more of myself and I say, what did he ever see in me?
There’s nothing lovable about me and looking the more I wonder why he ever loved himself.
Think anything about that today? Oh, it would be wonderful if there was a cloud burst of God’s love on your chart tonight.
How refreshing a start to life would that be, if not try to chart the hardness of life, flooded with divine love.
Refreshing.
Well, I’m going to ask you, have you been open to receive his love?
[42:20] I hope this doesn’t offend you, but sometimes they use object lessons because there’s young people in the audience.
And I was staying at Dave and Joy’s Hamilton place, and I went into their fridge today, and there was only a little bit of marmalade left in their fridge in the bottle.
So I said, I need a bottle for tonight. So I scooped it out, made the remaining remnants of the marmalade, and I washed it out. Did you ever think of yourself like this?
[42:52] And God wanting to pour out, pour out His love into your heart.
That’s what I was enjoying today.
How He wants to just pour out His love.
You’re the repository. You’re the bottle. You’re the container.
But there was something wrong with that, wasn’t there? to say there’s something that would have to happen for that water to get in, this is the problem, isn’t it?
[43:31] Who’s responsible for this? You are, you are. His love will never change your life if you leave that lid on.
He’s standing over you wanting, it’s the desire of his heart to pour in his love.
You’ve got the lid on tight, close to him.
I wonder, I believe God is working in your life, trying to soften the cover and trying to get, wanting you to take that cover off.
So open up for many, many things in life. Oh, for your advancement, right there.
A raise, a promotion, here to receive it.
Good friends? Oh, right there, I know how to receive good friends.
Receive God’s beloved Son as your Savior.
[44:28] I was not being overly dramatic, but let me just ask you, have you ever been open to God and honest with God?
Oh God, I’ve received so many things in life, But I’ve never received the one who died on the cross for my own sins.
Tonight, I’m open!
Hello. Kelly Clark, I don’t know whether you follow snowboarding. My son did a lot of snowboarding in his day and so I knew a little bit about Sean White and Kelly Clark and both great Americans, but Kelly Clark, she’s a retired professional snowboarder now. She was the most medaled snowboarder in all history of all the world. And then Shawn White now and her share that honor.
[45:22] And she competed in five Olympic winter games by 18, age of 18. She was at the very top of her game, gold medal from the Olympics hanging around her neck. But she said, but I was empty. I was disillusioned with success and I had dark thoughts inside about the purpose of my life at 18 with a gold medal around my neck. She was at a snowboarding competition and she spent the morning in her hotel room writing about how empty her life is. She said, people think I’ve got it made, but on the inside I am dying. She said, I’m standing at the bottom of a half pipe, to use snowboarders language and at the very bottom of the half pipe, a couple of years later she was heading into a world cup event and we had to go through the qualifying process. At the bottom of that half pipe there was another snowboarder and she had fallen. She didn’t qualify, she had fallen twice and she was down at the bottom of the pipe and she was crying and her friend was trying to make her laugh and say, hey it’s all right, God loves you anyway!
Kelly Clark is standing up the top, thinking, God loves her anyway?
I wonder would God love me?
[46:49] She’d never been to a church inside a church in her entire life.
That stuff with her, God loves you anyway, and she went back to her hotel room.
And she said, I know hotels have Bibles, and she found a Bible.
And she said, I couldn’t shake the thought, God loves you anyway.
And she said, I found out where that snowboarder was in her room, and I went and I knocked on her door and brought the Bible from my bedside desk, And she said, she said, are you a Christian?
Could you tell me about God’s love?
I’m Kelly. I think you need to tell me about God. And the girls in that room started to share the story of Christ and God’s love.
And Kelly’s heart was touched.
She started her search.
The lid was coming off. Are you searching tonight?
Starting to think about Christ? The lid was starting to get soft, and Kelly was thinking about God’s love.
[47:55] Well, she found out that Christ died for her sins. Some of you are old enough to remember, he was a legend in his time.
His name was Larry King, and he interviewed her. You can watch this on YouTube.
And he was nearing the end of his days, his little stint on, I think it was CNN, And he looks at her and leans over towards Kelly Clark.
She was telling how she became a Christian.
And he said, how did you find him?
She said, how did you find him? How did you find him? And Kelly Clark says, basically when I came to an end of myself, God met me.
And then she writes, the very best day of my life was when I responded to God’s love and trusted the Savior.
She said it was the best day of my life.
No trophy, no medal, no amount of money can equal what Christ did in me that day.
[48:59] What’s your story? I just told you I spent a lot of time telling you Kelly Clark’s story.
Do you have any story about finding out that God loved you and that Christ died for you?
I wonder, as you look at this little bottle here, uh, so yeah, the problem is the lid, isn’t it? How do I get that lid off?
Like, there’s no question about it.
God wants to pour in his love, yes, but it’s not going in, is it?
What’s the problem, you’re saying? Peter, it’s the cover, it’s the lid. It’s the lid.
[49:39] Coming to a gospel meeting like this, it’s like God pouring out his love, but you’re closed to it.
It’d be a tragedy to die.
God’s love poured over you, hearing the gospel message, but never into you because you were closed.
What a haunting memory of life to think that I heard about the love of God, But I never got the lid off.
What is your lid?
Sometimes it’s the fear of the unknown. I don’t know what it’d be like to be a Christian.
So I’m not ready yet to take that lid off.
Afraid you’ll lose control of your life? I’m gonna keep this tight under my control.
Some people have too many years that they say, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
I’ve been going this way to all the change.
My mother used to have a cold room and she bottled pickles and jam and sometimes it was the humidity control left something to be desired in the cold room in the basement.
Then you get this bottle and oh, you couldn’t get it. Oh, oh, it was rusted.
I wonder if anyone has a rusted cover. Been on there so long.
Other times we get a bottle and all the guys try to show their might and their power and pop their eyelids.
They’re going like this. My wife, Joyce, give it to me.
She runs some hot, warm water over us.
[51:08] There you go.
Is God running warm water over your life right now? Trying to melt you?
Trying to say I love you? Please take that cover off.
That’s what gospel meetings are about. They say it’s too humbling to admit, oh, that’s sin.
There’s things in my life I can’t spin.
God may soften the cover, but he’s not going to take that cover off.
He’ll never save you against your will.
He gave you the ability to make an informed choice. He may work in your life like you’re here tonight, not by coincidence, But ultimately, it will be you that says, My sin as a cause is separating between me and God.
[52:07] It would be a wonderful Friday evening, if you would say tonight, I’m just a sinner. I don’t care. I’m desperately lost. I need the Savior.
I’m open to God’s love if he will save me. I’ll tell you the moment, the moment that lid comes off, I don’t know what your lid is, but I know one thing, sin is a lid.
But the moment that lid comes off, God is thrilled and delighted, oh heaven is, to be, able to pour in his love.
Are you open to that tonight? Or are you going to go home with a lid on, tighter than ever?
Just cranked up, just, I’m not going to yield, I won’t surrender, I’ll get on with my life. What a tragedy.
Friend, this is for eternity Everyone in this tent will be somewhere 100 years from now those who remove the lid.
[53:16] Open up to Christ You see God love, You’ll be with us in heaven. I don’t mean us the people at both our church There are millions of people in the world and I can they’ll be in heaven. They never heard of our little church We don’t believe we’re the only ones going to heaven, but we know that, So that anyone good to heaven, anywhere in the world, any culture in the world, they, all have a moment in their life when the lid came off and God poured in his love and they were gloriously, wonderfully saved.
That’s our prayer for you as we close the meeting.
Do you have any room tonight for Jesus?
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220721.m4a[0:01] That’s what a gospel meeting is all about. The Lord Jesus is passing this way.
You don’t see him physically, but when the Word of God is open and we’re speaking of the Lord Jesus, it’s like he was passing by.
It’s an opportunity for someone, or one, plural, to have their life changed, to be saved.
So consider this another opportunity for you to become acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ.
You could take Christ home with you tonight.
[0:39] That’d be something going into your house up the steps, through your door, hopefully your AC is working, and just say, I’m taking Christ home with me, into the house for the the first time, she is mine, she’s my savior.
We’re gonna read in the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 18, Luke 18.
[1:03] And while you’re looking up Luke 18, there’s a verse in Psalm 34 that I was appreciating this morning.
Here’s what it says, Psalm 34, verse 18.
The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart broken heart, and he saves those of a contrite, a contrite spirit. Or that just means someone who is crushed in spirit. I’m going to read about a man, the knight who was crushed in his spirit. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed, So if you have your Bible, Luke 18, and just let me say that we are glad you’re here with us.
It’s a hot evening and in a little over an hour, you’ll be happy to have some refreshments and some water.
You’ll be heading out into the parking lot and Lord willing, you’ll be heading home.
And there are two ways you can go home.
[2:12] I’m not talking about streetwise. There are two ways to go home.
Let me see, I printed it off. It looks like this. You can go home right with God.
[2:31] Or you can go home wrong with God, just to make it really simple.
We’re gonna read about two people. One went home right with God and one went home wrong with God.
And they both prayed.
So, I wonder which way you would like to go home. Would you like to continue to go home wrong with God?
I think there’s probably someone saying, no, never.
I want to go home right with God. I want to step into my house right with God.
Well, that’s the great possibility, the potential of a gospel meeting like this.
You wouldn’t be the first one who came to a gospel meeting like this, and they went home.
They came wrong with God and they were all right with God.
You say, really, just like that? You mean you don’t have to sign anything and you don’t have to memorize a whole list of things?
Absolutely not.
[3:37] Everything that you need to go home right with God was done 2000 years ago by the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you would receive him tonight as your savior, You could go home right with God.
So that’s what I want you to think about it. Will I go home right with God or wrong with God?
So the Lord Jesus is talking about two men who pray, they went to church, temple in their days, and they both prayed, pray.
A lot of people think that if they say their prayers, I feel that. It’s sort of a conscience soothing exercise. I used to have a friend back in Nova Scotia and he struggled a lot with alcohol and drugs and he’s a nice guy and he would, do it hard and then he would every night pray. He would pray. I think he sort of was soothing his conscience. That’s not the kind of prayer that gets through to heaven. And maybe you Say, well, I have prayed, Peter, and my prayers have been answered.
[5:01] So does that mean I’m right with God? No, it doesn’t. Just because God in His kindness, you know what the Bible tells us about God?
Romans 2 verse 4 says, the goodness of God leads people to repentance. God may answer your prayer, with the desire to lead you to face the reality of your sin and repentance and save you.
But just because he answered your prayer, gave you the job, the dream job that you wanted, doesn’t mean that you are a Christian.
Now there’s more to Christianity than an answered prayer.
Well, you say, how do I approach God? How do I approach God?
You say, well, God is holy and maybe I should, if I’m gonna pray, I should just talk about the good things in my life. You ever think that?
I can’t tell God some bad things, even though you know there’s some bad things.
So if I’m gonna say my prayers, I’m gonna say some good things about myself just to make the point with God that I am basically good.
It’s like you go for an interview for a job and inevitably.
[6:22] They will ask you, So what would you consider to be your strengths?
Oh, you can lift them off like that.
You know what your strengths are.
Okay, so what about your weaknesses? And so you try to put a nice spin on those.
You say, oh, my weaknesses.
Well, I tend to work too much. And I probably try too hard to keep everyone in the loop.
Yeah, a real weakness. And once I start something, I’m almost obsessed about finishing it.
I almost obsess over it.
And some people tell me that I try to cover all the bases and then to.
[7:08] You know that you were just telling yourself those weren’t your weaknesses.
You’re just saying they’re weaknesses, but you know that they’re going to be perceived as strength.
So how do you approach God? We’re going to read that here in Luke’s Gospel chapter 18.
There’s a contrast in prayers. There’s a self-righteous church-going man who trusted in himself. A man, the other man knew that he was just a sinner.
[7:37] And Jesus said, one of these two men went home justified, or right with God. Here it is.
That was the long preamble, wasn’t it? Luke 18, verse 9. And he, that is Jesus, spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that, they were righteous.
And they despised others.
So they looked down on others. We’re good, they’re bad.
So he tells this story. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one, a Pharisee.
That’s a very religious person. And the other, a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or you can almost see him pointing in his prayer, can’t you?
Or even as this publican.
[8:49] I fast twice in the week. He deprives himself of food twice a week to find favor with God.
I give a tenth of all that I possess.
The other man, verse 13, and the publican, standing afar, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his blessing, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And Jesus tells the end of that story.
Verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified for right with God, rather than the other.
For everyone that exalted themselves shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.
So the religious man went home wrong with God.
[10:01] But the man who faced the sin went home right with God. That’s what Jesus said.
Justify. That means right with God.
How will you go home this evening? Wrong? Or you say, is it possible that I could go home?
I would love to just put my head. I don’t know whether you have a foam pillow or a tethered pillow.
So I hope it’s an air conditioned pillow.
And wouldn’t it be nice to say, thank God, I’m justified. Romans 5, verse 1 says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
Lord Jesus Christ, wouldn’t you like to rest your head on your pillow tonight saying, finally, there’s no hostility. There’s no barrier between me and God, justified by faith.
I have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So let’s just talk about these two men.
The first man.
I have a problem when I speak in this section of verses because it’s tempting to almost mock the religious man.
[11:21] And in my room today, I thought, Peter, be careful how you present this.
That religious man is on the way to hell and he’s blinded by religion.
Oh, no, stop him.
You know, I have a few points about this religious man. The approach in the wrong spirit.
He came with pride.
There was nothing humble about his approach, was there? Jesus said he came into the temple and he stood, stood.
Oh, there was no slouching his shoulders back. He approached in prayer with pride.
He was conscious of God, but it seemed like he was actually oozing with self-righteousness.
He arrives in that temple plaza and he makes his appearance.
I’ve seen that on more than one occasion.
It’s like someone from town is coming, they’re going to church as if they’re coming to a prestigious country club.
[12:38] They make their, they walk up the center aisle and they take their seat and they go through all the forms.
This man approached in the wrong spirit. If you want to approach God tonight, you cannot do it with p-r-i-d-e, pride.
This man approached in the wrong spirit. He stood in contrast to the other who had his head down, he couldn’t lift his eyes up.
This man’s good confidently. I’m okay This is a message for down-and-outers Not for me. Oh, You don’t understand Have you ever seen like the charitable gifts that I put on this that entry in my my tax forms at the end of the year?
Oh, I can’t give gift.
[13:27] You know that God consistently hates pride People say, well, I know what’s called an abomination in the Bible.
It’s called an abomination, people say, and they’ll select a sin.
It’s called an abomination.
You know what’s most frequently referred to as an abomination in the Bible?
Maybe not the sin that I’m thinking of or you’re thinking of.
What’s most consistently called an abomination and most frequently called an abomination, is the stigma of pride in the human heart, where we think we’re just a little bit better than someone else.
And God says that is an abomination.
So no one can approach God and go home right with God if they come with pride in their heart.
That’s why a lot of people don’t like coming to these services.
They say, those aren’t, I’d like to go to a feel-good service.
You just now, Amanda, you’re like cringing in my seat.
I feel like I’m about this high by the time you guys are finished up there in the pulpit.
[14:41] No, no, we’re just trying to communicate what the Bible says.
We had to face that we were just sinners too.
And there was no, we were no more qualified for heaven than you.
We needed a Savior as much as you need a Savior.
There was no more chance of me being right with God than you being right with God.
Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God is as much needed in my life, as it’s needed in yours.
So please don’t think we’re pointing fingers at you. We’re just telling you what the truth is from the Bible.
So we’re not belittling anyone’s sincerity the fact that you respect God, God only has one thing against you.
[15:33] One thing, it’s one thing.
It’s not how tall you are or how short you are. It’s not your cerebral capacity.
[15:49] That’s not what God has, that’s not his measuring stick, the intellectual capacity of an individual.
I don’t know whether we’re handsome or beautiful or I come from one side of my family who have long noses and God isn’t looking at any the length of anyone’s nose.
The only thing that God has against anyone in this tent service tonight is sin, sin.
If you could come to Christ and have all those sins removed, there would be no barrier between you and God.
It’s your sin.
It is sin that keeps us from God. So he approached in the wrong spirit and came with pride.
He applied the wrong standard.
[16:41] He said, I’m not what these other people are. Oh my dear, I don’t have to wait till the other night.
I’m a good person. I go to bed before midnight, but I get up to go to the washroom the other morning, it’s four o’clock in the morning, and they were still partying.
The music was blaring away.
Oh, that’s not the standard, though. We measure ourselves by community standards, and by community standards, I’m pretty sure some of you qualified for a Good Neighbor of the Year award.
But that’s not God’s standard. This man was measuring himself by the standard of the neighbors.
[17:28] I wonder what standard you’re picking up tonight. You say, do I need to be saved?
Do I really need this salvation that you’re talking about?
I know that I’ve had an evil thought and I’ve had an outburst of rage.
The car, the light turned green and I was in a rush and I just kicked my fist and I pounded the steering wheel And I know that was road rage, but other than that, I’m pretty good.
[17:55] Wrong standard. God has a holy standard, and the only one who ever lived up to that standard, Jesus Christ.
And if you’re not as good as Jesus Christ, and no one is, then we’ve all fallen short of his perfect standard.
That’s why we all need a Savior. He applied the wrong standard.
It’s like he’s up there praying, because I’m in a class all by myself.
I’m not as other men are.
There’s always someone we can find worse.
[18:30] I think maybe I’ve told it since I came down here, but I was talking to a man in prison who killed 31 people, on behalf of the mafia.
And he was talking about another prisoner who killed six. And he said, oh, the guy who killed 31?
He’s like, oh, he’s disgusting.
He was killing people indiscriminately, no reason.
I was killing people for the mafia for a reason. So even, even there, listen, they’re comparing themselves. My sin isn’t as bad, but that’s not the standard.
This man applied the wrong standard. My dad used to paint the bottom part of our elm tree in the backyard, and then he’d get some clamshells the beach and he would paint them. It wasn’t real white paint, it was something called white wash.
I was looking it up this morning, it’s calcimine, we always called it white wash, but it’s some cheap, stuff that looks like, and he’d paint the bottom of the trunk of the tree, and then he’d put this, tacky looking thing around the base of the tree, the flat, all painted this white, white wash.
Then you do the side of the burn.
[19:45] Whitewash, and they looked pretty nice until the white snow fell in Canada.
And then you saw how grossly yellow the whitewash was.
And your deeds may look very nice and impress other people, but when you put your deeds alongside the beautiful, sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ, Oh, we all must hang our heads in shame.
We fall short of God’s glory.
He applauded the wrong Savior. It’s like I’m, whoa, look at all that I do after his obligatory and ritualistic references to God.
The rest of all the clapping, he’s applauding, patting himself on the back.
My church, my faith, my prayers, my charity.
I give a 10th of everything, but I’m the one.
[20:46] Friend, if you’re ever going to be, there’ll be no one up in heaven singing, I did it my way.
Frank Sinatra may have sung it, Elvis did even a better job if I did it my way, but, there’ll be no one in heaven singing, I did it my way. Anyone in heaven will say, I came by the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I’m here because of him.
He’ll be applauding him for all eternity.
The blessed savior.
What does Christ mean to you tonight?
You know, is it resonating in your heart? Can you say, he rescued me, he saved me.
He applauded the wrong savior. He was applauding himself. So he approached in the wrong spirit, pride.
He applied the wrong standard, his neighbors.
And he appreciated and applauded the wrong savior.
And he appreciated the wrong sacrifice.
[21:38] I give a 10th of everything.
So those people back in the day, in Jesus’ day, even a little bit of cumin, the spice, just a little, little speck of it, they would take a couple of grains out and say, there’s a tenth of even that little bit of spice. Say, oh, I give this to the Lord.
Oh, those aren’t the sacrifices. There’s no sacrifice that a human could ever make that could ever measure up to the sacrifice that Christ made in the cross.
There’s only one sacrifice, we think.
The sacrifices that humans make. You may go without money.
You may give some hard-earned income to help the poor.
But those are not the sacrifices that deal with your problem of sin.
Only the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appreciated the lone sacrifice.
The Bible says, Titus 3, it’s not by works of righteousness, which we have done, never.
It’s according to His mercy, He saved us.
So let’s talk about the other man. So, I think needless to say, that man that I just talked about, went home wrong with God.
[22:58] Wrong with God. The publican, he comes, he stands afar off. He’s not like, he’s like a traitor to the Jews.
He’s working for the Roman Empire, and they hated the Roman Empire, collecting taxes.
You’re a Jew, you’re one of us, and you’re working for them, the enemy, and you’re taking our hard-earned cash, and you’re taking more of it than you deserve, and everybody hated them.
This man knew he was a sinner. It says he stood afar off. So how did he come? Unworthy.
I’m not worthy, timidity. He couldn’t lift his eyes heavenward.
All I can think about is my guilt, my sin, my shame.
I have nothing to be proud of.
[23:49] Sinner, do you ever tell the Lord that some of you are trying to figure out how to be saved, and like to be saved? Have you ever gotten alone in your bedroom and said, I am just a sinner? Period.
God responds, that’s what I was enjoying about that verse. He hears those who are brokenhearted in the trust in spirit, those are weighted down by the reality of their sin.
He couldn’t lift his eyes to heaven, and then it says he smote upon his breast.
I’m not sure what that means.
I think it’s a thing with intensity, but some say it could mean that he’s saying the problem is in here, in here, in here.
A lot of people say the problem is out there. If we could only get a president who could solve all the problems out there, we’d be, no, the problem is in here.
Out there is just a reflection of what’s in here.
[24:48] And he was smiting his chest. Not around, not my neighbors, I am the sinner.
Then he says, God be merciful to me, the sinner.
Like he’s saying, if ever there was one deserve to be in hell. It’s me!
Did you ever get there with God? If ever there was someone who deserved to be punished for their sin, it’s me, I’m the offender.
I fear that someone with us tonight, then that’s exactly what you’re thinking. I am the sinner.
[25:24] This man cried out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He needed mercy.
I don’t know what he understood about the biblical term propitiation, But this man knew if he was ever going to be right with God.
[25:41] His sins needed to be resolved.
Someone had to be satisfied. There had to be a sacrifice that he had no ability to bring himself.
So whatever he understood, he knew that he had nothing to offer and that mercy would only be granted on the grounds of a sacrifice that pleased God.
My friend, tonight, as you listen to Joseph, there’s only one sacrifice, not yours, that could ever please God, satisfy God’s holy requirement.
It’s the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’re hearing from Joe the other night about, it is finished!
It wasn’t a cry of defeat, it was a cry of triumph. It is finished!
God raised him from the dead.
God is satisfied with the sacrifice of his Son, the payment for sin, and it’s only upon that ground or that basis which anyone’s sins can be forgiven.
So we point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you could come the way this publican came, Jesus said, this man went home justified.
[26:54] Right with God. If you come as a sinner to Jesus, you’ll leave with your sins forgiven and you go home right with God.
[27:13] Ask you to turn a far ways to Luke chapter 18 again. The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 18.
I was sweating for different reasons, because we’re going to read the same verses, not because I can add anything to what you’ve heard, but maybe just emphasize one more thing before the meeting is concluded.
[27:38] Luke 18 and verse number 9, just to refresh your mind again on what the Scripture says about this story. First of all, I want you to notice who Jesus is talking to. Verse 9, it says, spoke this parable, a certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others.
Throughout the gospel of Luke, there are these religious people that trusted themselves, that they’re good and righteous, as you’ve already heard described.
And actually my brother Peter read yesterday in Luke 15, that they murmured that this man eats with sinners.
So they didn’t receive Christ with joy or gladness, but they rumbled at who he was associated with.
And so often many of the stories in the Bible are actually geared by Jesus to address these people.
Like the story of the prodigal son really is likely the story of the prodigal older brother.
We kind of throw him out when we preach the gospel, but I would suggest to you he’s the main character in the story.
Jesus is, because right when they heard that, they were gripped, they were gripped.
Are we that older brother? And Jesus is telling them, Well, God, God in heaven, he runs actually for a sinner.
[28:51] You see the older brother, he doesn’t even come in to eat. He doesn’t even come in to enjoy the feast.
And the Lord Jesus, one day he healed a blind man, John chapter nine.
And he used that blind man as like a visual picture. And he said, people who know they’re blind, they receive sight from God.
But see people who think they can already see, see who he’s targeting?
[29:13] He’s targeting people who think they’re right. people who think they can see.
So he speaks this verbal unto us, trusting themselves that they were righteous, despised others.
Two men went up into the temple to pray.
One a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican standing far off would not lift up so much as his eyes went to heaven, but smote upon his breath saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified right with God rather than the other.
For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
[30:13] When it comes to being right with God, I want you to just think of it like this.
I’ll just add one little word to that. Right in the sight of God. In the sight of God.
We’re not talking about whether after this meeting, when you walk out, we have some kind of, of ESPN, right with God, wrong with God.
No, we have no idea.
There are people who could take part of communion and be wrong with God.
There are people who have been baptized to be wrong with God.
So we’re talking about how a person stands in the sight of God, the God who sees your heart, the God who sees you as you are.
See, there’s a man I was thinking about in this story, we visited a man who’s president and he’s leading a Bible study. I think it was yesterday on this story.
So hopefully this meeting is as good as his because his is probably gonna be pretty good.
But I was thinking about a story in Isaiah six of a prophet, a preacher, if you will, a holy man.
And he got a vision of the sight, his sight of God.
What do you think about God? Do you think about God? like he’s maybe like a grandfather?
[31:36] Really nice, loving, he’s gracious, he’s kind. Is that the trifecta of God?
That’s his character?
Maybe your idea of God is he’s angry and cruel and indifferent.
[31:52] See, this man got a sight of who God actually is. This preacher, Isaiah chapter six.
He saw God high and lifted up, far different than humanity, far different than any of us, and glorious, where even those angelic beings have to cover their eyes and cover their feet, and cry out in the presence of God, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.
This man is preaching.
He saw that. He said, I am unclean. I am unfit.
He said, what this man said, this poor sinner in the meeting that Jesus is describing.
I’m a sinner.
And so see, it’s not so much about how you appear before your friends, as you’ve already heard tonight, the standard isn’t others, nor how you appear according to the standard of any church, whether you meet their marks or wear their clothes or pray the way they tell you to pray.
No, how do you think you are, how are you in the sight of God?
And you say, I know I am right in the sight of God.
[33:07] Can you say that? Or would you have to say, I hope I’m right.
I had an experience one day, some years ago. There’s a verse in the Bible that means a lot to me. No, no.
This man went home right with God. Can you say, I know, 100% sure, I am right in the sight of God?
I can say that. I don’t feel right in His sight.
I sin every day.
If you were to observe me, you would say, I’m not sure if that guy’s right with God.
But God has done something by a declaration of His own will based on something that Jesus did on the cross.
And I am declared in His sight right.
[33:52] And I just want to ask and answer the question because my brother’s already spent a lot of time on this story.
A question that Joe asked in one of the earliest books of the Bible.
How can a man write with God?
We’re gonna look at the second man. I want you to notice first of all, that he understood he was wrong in God’s sight.
As you’ve heard, me the sinner, me the sinner.
As he understood the God who has seen everything about him, the God who knows his heart, the God who knows what he’s thought and where he’s gone and what he’s done, all he could conclude is, I am a sinner, I’m just a sinner.
And again, I would just ask you, have you ever come there? Have you ever understood that in the sight of God, I am a sinner?
Do you understand how dangerous that is, that God’s wrath abides over you?
That there’s no, no- I don’t think you should have a sinner in none of us.
But we understood that he was wrong in God’s sight.
[34:49] But then, of course we learned, that he who understood he was wrong in God’s sight, according to the Lord Jesus, goes home right in God’s sight.
So I just want to ask a question, to the Bible, to God. How can a man, how can a person who’s wrong in God’s sight, go home right in God’s sight?
How can that happen? After all, God is a holy God. God is a God who not should, not it’s a good idea.
God is a God who must judge sin.
He has to. For God to let even the slightest sin enter into heaven would be to compromise who he is. Some people say, well, like the prisoners you were hearing about tonight, I could see how God wouldn’t want any of them in heaven. They’re filthy with sin. But sure, like lying or cheating, God should be able to just live with that. Let me ask you a question.
You ever go out to eat at a nice restaurant?
[35:57] And imagine on your plate, what do you like? Do you like a steak? Is that okay?
Steak, and you got all the fixings. And imagine if scurrying across your plate was one cockroach.
Not a hundred.
Not an infestation. Just one.
Bottoms up. Bone apathy. How many would it take for you to be like, no thanks?
How many would it take for you to say, I’m not coming back here until there’s an investigation, until there’s a fumigation?
Right, how many?
A hundred? Or is one too much for you? One doesn’t make a difference.
I’ll tell you that. For some people, one piece of hair is enough.
Nevermind a cockroach. Listen, sin is more disgusting in the sight of God, than a cockroach is to us.
Sin is a deep offense. A lie is never gonna get into heaven.
How can God look at a sinful person like that? through this man admits himself to be.
I’m just a sinner and we know he is. The cheater, likely a thief.
How could he ever be declared right?
[37:10] How can a holy God just do that? Does he have a magic wand?
And you say a prayer, man said a prayer, right, wrong. How does it happen?
Do you have any idea?
Very important question. The answer to the question is the center of the gospel.
See, this man, Keith Ray, he understood he was wrong in God’s sight.
He goes home right in God’s sight because he depends on what was enough in God’s sight.
[37:49] It took me a long time to think that up. Not that brilliant. So can I repeat it?
He is wrong in God’s sight.
[37:59] He goes home, one meeting, right in God’s sight, because he depends on what was enough in God’s sight. Not necessarily what was enough in his sight, or enough in the sight of the other man with the church. That was enough in God’s sight. And that’s that word, Lord be merciful or Lord be propitious. You heard my brother say, propitious to me the sinner. That word propitious means this, God, I’m a sinner. I’m a sinner and I could never satisfy your justice for the soul that sins must die. I could never give any reason why, no matter how much I wash my hands, I can’t get rid of these sins. I could never give any reason why I should be in your holy, pure, clean presence.
But is there any reason you have? Is there any reason you can provide that would satisfy your own justice? And that’s the message of the Gospel. That’s the marvelous message of the Gospel. See, like, the mystery in the Gospel is not how God allows filthy, sinful to be in hell. That is no mystery to God. That’s what should happen. The mystery is, how God provided a way for filthy people to be in heaven. That’s the wonder! How did that And that’s why it’s central to the gospel.
[39:27] Outside the city of Jerusalem. That’s why Paul said, I came not with excellency of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. That’s what it says in the Bible.
The preaching of the cross. The cross. There’s a preacher who spent many years here in the United States named Billy Graham.
He went on a little park and the place was filled, He said there wasn’t much response, and he couldn’t understand because he had been a lot of places.
And he wondered at that. And I’m not sure who it was, whether it was one of his advisors or his own wife who told.
[40:08] Him, Billy, you didn’t preach the cross.
You didn’t preach the cross. And that man said this later on.
It’s a marvelous thing to say. I’m not sure how true it is for every preacher, but I have never preached many times.
He says, I have never come to the point in my message where I preached the cross and did not feel help from God.
God wants the cross to be lifted up, not us, not them, not church, but a stake outside the city of Jerusalem, where an innocent man who came from heaven, went to deal with the problem of this man’s sins, and my sins, and your sins. That’s the story of the gospel.
That’s what I say at 53 and verse number 6. All of us were like this man.
We were like sheep that went astray.
Each of us turned our own way.
But the Lord on that cross, God, laid on the Lord Jesus the sin of us all, of us all.
And the great thing about the message is that whatever happened on that cross, I don’t understand everything that happened.
[41:20] I know that they nailed him there. I know that they nailed him after mocking him, mocking everything he claimed to be.
Bible tells me that on that cross there were three hours where there was darkness.
The Bible tells me that on that cross that God, as we read there, God laid on Jesus the sin of us all.
The Bible says His soul was made an offering for sin.
[41:47] I’m not sure everything that happened on the cross, but I know this. It was enough.
It was enough. It wasn’t enough in the sight of God. That’s the important thing.
As the offended party said, that’ll do, right?
You wrong someone, has the one who’s been offended say, okay, that’s all I require.
Sin is an offense to God. And God said to the cross, to the man who suffered there, all I require. the storm of God’s wrath bungled on that cross.
[42:30] It was like, if you think of it as capital punishment, it was like those who should die by a firing squad or something like that.
It was like heaven had a firing squad, really. I know it’s not a pretty picture, but heaven had a firing squad against every sinner for the soul that sins should die.
And my dear friend, listen, if you’re in your sins, the guns of heaven are aimed at you.
Make no mistake tonight.
This is no happy-go-lucky message. The Bible says in John 3, 36, the wrath of God.
The wrath of God abides in the person.
And the guns of heaven are aimed at a sinner. What happened on the cross is all heaven’s guns turned, and fired on a man on a center cross who had no sin.
Who had no sin, so there was not one bullet left in the chamber.
God said that to him.
[43:27] According to the Bible, Paul says it’s not a big secret. It doesn’t take a theological degree.
Paul says, here’s the message of the gospel. Christ died for our sins.
If there’s anyone who has sins, here’s the great news. That’s why Christ died.
For those sins. For you.
We were just helpless if Christ died for the ungodly. The reason we know today that it was enough in God’s sight is as you’ve already heard.
After that man bore the full weight of sin, he cried out, it’s finished.
He died. He dismissed his spirit back to God, bowed his head in all the dignity of his person.
Tucked his body down, and they put him in a tomb, a cave. On the third day, God raised that man from the dead.
The reason we preach the Resurrection is not just, well, there’s a living Savior.
No, like, do you understand the implication?
I know it’s a hot, humid day. Have you followed the implication of that?
God has said that there are people who are wrong in His sight.
God treated Jesus on the cross as being wrong in His sight, and judged Him.
[44:53] And then God raised him back from the dead, saying, I’m satisfied with you.
And Jesus today is at the right hand of God in heaven.
You see, it’s no church that satisfies God. No prayer.
[45:10] No verse.
Christ says the Bible, He is the satisfaction for God. And so you see, when a person trusts and depends, like this man, God be propitious, God find satisfaction for me, the sinner, you provide it.
God says, well, that’s why I sent my son.
Then they’re wrong in his sight, but there’s something that was enough in his sight.
And when they depend on, they can leave a meeting like this, right in the sight of God.
It’s an amazing thing today that when God looks at me and all my sins and all my weaknesses, I am no perfect person, but God sees the perfect person of his own son.
God says about me, I am well accepted in the beloved one.
God says to me, I am highly favored in Christ. You know what happened when I trusted Christ?
I didn’t know that would happen.
All I knew was I was going to hell, and yet there’s one who took my sins. I trust him.
Do you know what happened when I did that? God actually placed a sinner like me in His perfect Son!
[46:31] And holiness looks at me and says, I need nothing else. I need nothing else.
That’s amazing. You could leave with that, you know. You could leave if tonight, from your heart, if you were to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ, you would leave right beside of God.
It says that verse in John 3, 36.
He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on them.
[46:58] But for those who believe there’s no wrath in John 3, 36. Why?
Why is there no wrath there?
Because the wrath fell on another and they’re relying on him.
And so we would appeal to you tonight, all of you who have come, thanks for coming once again.
But we would appeal to you tonight if you have not to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t leave like that first man.
Don’t leave saying, well, that’s good for other people. And I’m happy with my own resume.
No, scrap your resume and trust Christ.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220720.m4a[0:01] Now I want to read in the Gospel of John in chapter 4.
That is the fourth book of the New Testament, John chapter 4.
If there’s anyone here who hasn’t maybe heard of a gospel meeting or anything like that who’s here tonight, the word gospel simply means good news, and you can think of it like the Bible is a rather big book, Genesis to Revelation.
Really what we’re presenting here tonight is the core message of this book.
Is it from Genesis to Revelation? What is the core message? The core message is about who we are in the sight of God, what God has done for us, and the response expected from us. And that’s really a message of good news, it’s the message of the gospel. And it can be presented from, as you heard in the announcements, through different stories or verses. I want to look at it through a story, tonight that just fits in in my own mind with the weather going on outside. I want to talk about a woman who was thirsty in John chapter four.
So I’ll read from verse number one.
If you have a Bible, you can follow along or I’ll just read it to you.
[1:07] John four and verse one. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee and he must needs go through Samaria.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. He saith unto her, Give me to drink.
For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
And whence, then, hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?
[2:30] Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again.
But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
The woman said unto him, sir, give me this water.
[2:53] When nature and science get together, pretty sweet things can happen.
He whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and this thou sayest truly.
The woman said unto her, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you neither shall worship in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. Worship the Father.
Drop down, verse 24, God is spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah, the Christ is coming, which is called the Christ.
When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee and he.
[3:40] And upon this came his disciples, and here’s our word, and marvel that he talked with the woman.
Yet no man said, what seekest thou? Why talkest thou with her?
The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the man, come, be a man which told me all things that ever I did.
Is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city, came unto him.
A rather lengthy reading than what we’ve usually done so far in these meetings, but a very beautiful story.
And really, I would consider it a good spending of my time. If you were to leave tonight with just four things about Jesus that you’ve learned from this story, that I appreciated today as a believer.
First of all, Jesus, the Lord seeking, seeking.
Secondly, the Lord giving. He said to this woman, if you knew the gift of God, the Lord giving.
Thirdly, the Lord knowing.
[4:44] She said, I perceive you must be a prophet. The Lord knowing.
And lastly, the Lord satisfying.
Satisfied, because she leaves the water pot she came with and she leaves because she has been satisfied with something that she received at that well that was not found in the well, but actually was seated on the well.
And she leaves satisfied. And my brother Caleb and I didn’t talk, but that incurs me just in this, that there is really none but Christ that can satisfy, and he could satisfy you tonight.
So those four things about the Lord Jesus, seeking, giving, knowing, and satisfying.
And I hope all of us, those here who are Christians, will leave with that, but especially those of you who don’t know the Lord Jesus, if you leave with those four thoughts of him, that would be a well-spent meeting, in my opinion.
First of all then, the Lord be with you.
[5:35] I’ve really enjoyed this more and more as a Christian. I’ve just noticed how cold and how indifferent my own heart is as far as compassion to other people, but I get so used to seeing people in need, that it’s so easy to just keep driving by or to just ignore it and carry on with my life, and it just so touches me more and more actually as a Christian than ever before.
How interested the Lord is in an individual person. is just one single person.
Like there was a man and he was having a big revival. Like a lot of people were coming to meetings he was having, actually in Samaria, his name was Philip.
And God took him away from there and sent him out in the middle of the desert for one man.
One man, and he was riding in his chariot, but he was seeking, he didn’t understand parts of the Bible.
And God was so interested in that one man from Ethiopia that he sends this preacher to that one person.
The Lord Jesus, when he was here, he knew that there was a man up in a tree, a rich man actually, up in a tree.
And he knew that he was there and he passed purposely right under the tree for that man.
[6:46] There was another time where the Lord Jesus was journeying with a bunch of people around him.
It says the crowd was pressing in on him.
And there was a woman who reached out and just touched just a piece of his clothing.
And he stopped and called out just one woman. No one else really cared much about her.
And he singled her out and called her.
And another time he’s journeying through the city and there’s a blind man, a blind beggar, really a very common sight in that day.
And the blind beggar says, Lord, have mercy on me. That’s amazing, those words.
It says, Jesus stood still.
He stood still at the cry of a blind beggar because he’s interested in individuals.
And you know, if you’re here this evening, I want you to know that God is not just interested in the whole lot of us here, this whole group.
He’s not interested even in just a specific race or a specific country, but he’s interested in every single person here.
He knows everything about you, and He is speaking.
And it says there at the beginning of the story about Jesus, He must please go through Samaria.
He had to go through this city because He was interested in one woman that as we look at her story, really, she was very, she would qualify as a person who really shouldn’t be having much interest.
[8:02] She wasn’t like a prime candidate for heaven. She wasn’t religious.
She wasn’t good living.
She wasn’t part, in that day, of the right race.
Jesus is crossing boundaries, and He’s very provocative, really, in the whole structure of the Gospel of John of what’s happening here.
He’s going into a race that people would think is contaminated, Samaritan.
And then He’s going to a woman.
And then He’s going to a sinful woman, because Jesus is interested in every single individual.
And I just want you to know that God is here.
I also want you to know that if you’re here tonight hearing the gospel, I don’t know what you think about it.
Maybe you think, well, I’m here because it’s just kind of by random chance, my parents brought me or my friends, or well, out of kind of just to be nice, I agreed to come, whatever.
I want you to know that there’s no such thing as hearing the gospel by chance.
You are here because God is interested in your soul. And you’re hearing a message that God, more than any other human being wants you to hear, the gospel.
[9:11] As we go through the story, we learn that Jesus comes to a well at a time of day when most people wouldn’t have been going to the well. You’d understand this is before the days of water in your home and stuff, where people would have to go quite a ways journey to a well to get water for drinking. And it says that she came to there about the sixth hour. That means about 12 o’clock.
Now, this is in the Middle East. There was a time of day where people would go to the well, maybe earlier in the morning or later in the evening, because no one would go at noon.
Noon was the time where it would be the most blazing heat at a well. Noon was the time where, the scorching heat would be there and no one would want to gather at noon.
So Jesus is going strategically, purposefully, because there’s a woman in the city who every day comes out at noon. For this reason, she doesn’t want to be seen by the rest of the of the people in the city.
She has a lifestyle that makes her look, people look down at her.
They don’t wanna be associated with her. And we’re gonna find out a bit about what she’s done.
And so shamefully, in the heat of the day, she is going to come and Jesus knows she’s gonna come.
[10:25] So he’s seated on the well, waiting for her. Somebody once asked me, I didn’t even think of this.
They said, you know, with Jesus, our Lord Jesus, Him knowing all things. Why didn’t He time it so that He came right when she came?
Why did He time it where He actually had to wait on her? Does that not tell us something about the compassion and patience of Christ? Isn’t that what He does in gospel work? Does He not wait on sinners? Does He not wait patiently on people to respond and to learn and to come? It’s just the patience of Christ to come at a time where he’s weeding.
We learn as well as he came, something about the Lord Jesus, that he was truly a man.
It says here that he was weary with his journey.
He was tired. You know, Jesus Christ wasn’t some kind of insulated man who didn’t face some of the pressures we face.
We learned that he knew the pressures of poverty.
[11:25] There was death likely in his family as far as his earthly parents were concerned.
We learn in another place that he was hungry, and another place that he was thirsty. And here it says he was tired, he was weary. He was a real man. He was a real man without sin, but a real man.
And he’s coming for this woman, who very shamefully and to avoid the rest of the people in the city of Samaria, would have made that journey. I think sometimes as we go through to the story of the woman, we may perceive her as, we might read into it our Western culture here in the 21st century.
We might think of a woman that says she had five husbands and the one she was with was not her husband.
We might think of a woman who maybe has left her husband here and there five times.
Likely, I would suggest to you that that’s very unlikely that that’s the case.
[12:17] Simply because a woman in that day, her security was in her husband.
They didn’t have the whole women’s rights that we have today where they could work.
Very likely it was because her husband had left her.
They didn’t find any satisfaction in her. Not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, five times, and the next man thinks so little of her they won’t even marry her.
And here’s a woman quite, quite feeling very shameful, feeling very used and abused, coming to a well in the heat of the day, and there that values her so highly.
He’s there for her, the Lord Jesus.
As she comes there, he asks her for a drink of water.
[13:04] Now, it’s hard to understand really the racial issue back then, but I think, thinking of the racial issue that was here in our country a number of years ago, with, in the slavery times and in all the laws that were passed and segregation and certain water fountains for one color and certain water fountains for the other, that might help us understand a little bit of what it was like here, that here’s a woman and she’s being asked to give water from her water pot to this pure rabbi, this Jewish man, and she says as much herself, she says, how is it that you, as a Jew, ask water from me, who am a Samaritan?
Sure, the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
And the Lord Jesus takes the opportunity to tell her about why he had actually come.
Do you know why Jesus came?
[13:58] Do you think Jesus came to start a religion? Why do you think Jesus came into our world?
He says, I have come to give.
If you only knew the gift of God, and He it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water. This is why Jesus came.
Now it might not make sense to you, maybe you’ve never heard that.
Jesus came to give living water.
I’ve never heard that. I’ve never seen that in a Christmas movie or an Easter movie.
Yeah, but that’s what the Bible says.
You saw that in John chapter four. Jesus came from heaven to give people, like this woman, living water.
It says water that she would never have to thirst again.
We should be very interested in what this living water is.
Now, I want to just emphasize here at this point that whatever this is that Jesus has given, it is a gift.
[14:51] It is a gift. He says, if you only knew the gift from God. It’s not something that a person has to earn or even can earn. Not something you get to pray for or pay for or go to church for. It’s a gift from God, this living water. And so the Lord giving. And we do have a very giving God, but I’ll just move on to the next part. The Lord knowing. Now I have a question. I’m not going to call on you. I have a question. They’re sitting here talking about water. And the woman, now just, put yourself in the shoes of this woman. She has to come out for however many days at noon, high noon, in the Middle East, with the scorching sun right on that equator line, scorching. So just just avoid the rest of the crowd.
And Jesus just says this, I have water, I’ll never be thirsty again.
And she thinks, sir, give me this water. So, why? So I’ll never be thirsty again?
No, so I don’t have to come here and draw. Like I don’t wanna come here anymore.
Give me this water. So of course, she’s still thinking, that’s a good idea.
And Jesus is going to use this to talk to show her that he’s actually talking about spiritual water, spiritual refreshment, spiritual satisfaction that he came to give.
But my question is this, when they’re talking about water, how come Jesus changes the conversation to husbands?
[16:15] Doesn’t really seem to fit. They’re talking about water, and she says, give me this water.
And he says, go call your husband.
Why?
[16:28] You see, whatever this spiritual water is that a person can receive, this living water, in order to receive it, they must face some of the dark and hidden things of their past in the presence, not of a preacher or a church, but in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A person must face, this is what the Bible speaks of as repentance, they must face their sin in order to receive living water.
There cannot be forgiveness without repentance. It’s just the message of the gospel, of the Bible.
And so she faces, she has to face her sin. Now she does what all of us did, I think before any of us were saved, became Christians, we hid it.
[17:11] He says, go call your husbands. Oh, I don’t have a husband. She’s hiding.
She’s hiding her past. She’s hiding her sins. Have you ever tried to hide sins in your life?
There’s sins that we don’t mind talking about because we all share them, like lying or swearing, or maybe cheating on a test, but is there any skeleton in the closet?
I have a friend actually, and every time there’s a school shooting in the United States, he gets all worked up, because he goes back to the fourth grade When he bullied another kid.
And when they all talk about school bullying and what it can result in and he just gets all worked up then. Like what happened to that kid? What’s that kid gonna do? Why did I do that? And it’s not like a hundred cents that he’s worried about. It’s just that one. And it so grips him. And he, just wishes he’s and he just says, I wish there was some way to wipe it out of my memory. You Do you have a sin like that?
Is there anything in your mind that, if you had brain soap, you would wash it away?
[18:32] You know, the Lord, He knew all about it. We learn that even in the Psalms.
I think it’s in the 90th Psalm, that the Bible says that our secret sins are in the light of His countenance.
But there’s no such thing, really, as a secret sin.
You know, people today, they do different things on the internet.
And they do private browsing or clear search history.
There’s no such thing as doing that with God.
There’s no such thing as privately browsing with God or deleting our history with God.
Like, He knows it all anyway.
And that’s what he was teaching this woman. She said when he found out, you’ve had five husbands.
You’re right. You don’t have a husband right now. You’ve had five.
And the one you’re living with is not even your husband.
She says, Sir, I perceive that you’re a prophet.
I perceive, like you must have been, you’re a man of God. You’re in touch with somebody who has told you about my life.
How often, you know, in Gospel days, there’s people who walk in who know nothing about this. Like I’m from Michigan, my brother Peter’s from Prince Edward Island, and people came I turned to the door and I said, who told you about me?
[19:38] Who fills you in? That’s not very nice, you know. I am telling like no one’s told me anything.
It’s God who is speaking to a person. God is the one who’s doing the work, like I am totally ignorant of it all. Because God knows and he wants this woman in order to receive the water, he wants her to face her sin. And it’s the same thing with us, my friend here tonight. If you are going to receive water so you never thirst again, something that fills the void, something that success, success could never fill the void. You know, more money, a different relationship, a different job, all the things we look for. So a young man here if you’re waiting for the iPhone, what is it? 15? I don’t even know. You think that’s going to fill the void? You think when they have technology and you can actually have glasses that can read text messages or whatever else they’re going to do, you think that’s going to fill the void? No, there’s nothing in our world that can fill the You know why? We were made for God. You were made for God.
The Bible says this, you were made by him and for him. And there’s a void in the human heart. And if you were honest tonight, if you were honest and forgot all about the other people sitting beside you, and you just faced yourself before God.
[20:56] You would admit that there’s a void that nothing in this life has ever filled.
No matter how rich the successes may have been, or the pleasures, There’s something that can never be filled because we are made for God, and Jesus knows that.
It’s a void that has been caused by sin, sin that has separated us from our God.
Says the psalmist, I thirst for the living God. I thirst for Him.
I’m panting after Him, just like somebody whose throat is dry and thirsty.
So Jesus wants her to face this sin. She not only hides from that, but then she tries to change the subject.
It’s so interesting when you talk to people about their sins, like just specifically, not like, uh, tell me about your sins or confess them to me. There’s no reason for you to do that.
But when you start talking about a sin that you’ve done against God, it’s so interesting how quickly people change the subject.
[21:51] Like, uh, did you hear about the president’s wife who had her funeral today? Yeah, but we’re not talking about that. This woman did the same thing. She was faced with her son and she said, so, you know, you Jews believe this and we believe this, which is right, Jesus.
We have a religious debate, we Samaritans, and you Jews think it’s this mountain, and we think it’s this mountain. Right? She’s trying to change the subject. Let’s just talk religion. You know, let’s just talk Protestantism and Catholicism. Let’s just talk, you know, you know, communion or baptism.
Oh, people do that all the time. Just to avoid the subject, just to avoid the root.
But you see the Lord Jesus knew that.
So he goes down her walkway about the subject of worship.
And he says to her, you know, the Father, he does seek worshipers, but he seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.
What he’s saying is he seeks those who will be sincere in truth.
He seeks those who will be genuine.
He seeks those who will be honest. In other words, woman, you’re not being honest right now.
You’re dodging the issue. You’re avoiding your sin.
So whichever mountain it is is irrelevant just for right now.
God is seeking those who will come to him in truth. Have you ever come to God in truth?
[23:12] I’m sure just faith, God, and truth, just exactly as you are, no mask, no extra, you know, performance on that. Well, I’ve done this and I’ve done that. No, this is who I am. Or do you cover it up?
To human nature, I should tell you to cover it up. That’s what they did in the Garden of Eden.
Right when they sinned, you know, the first thing our great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers did and grandmothers, they made clothes, aprons, and they covered it up. That’s our human nature. We We all did it.
And I would ask you tonight, don’t cover it up. Just face God in truth.
You know why? Because the God who is speaking to you is a God of grace.
And He is not here to judge and punish and throw you away, but to forgive and cleanse and to give living water.
And so as he dodges the issue and as he focuses her on the subject of truth, she comes back and she says, well, I know that the Messiah is coming. I know that the Christ is coming.
And I know that when He comes, it will all be right.
And I know that when he comes, it will all be right.
I don’t know if I have the ability to just get you into the scene.
Like, just think of it.
Here she is, and she’s looking forward to this mystical, wonderful person who’s coming.
And here’s this man sitting on the well over here beside her and he says to her, The person you’re looking for, you’re looking at.
[24:37] The person you’re looking for, you’re looking at. I am the Christ, he says. That’s who I am.
And that’s why I came to give this living water, that when a person faces their sins, and trust me, they can have a well of water where they’ll never be thirsty again. They can have real satisfaction.
And as I sit down, I just want to tell you how Jesus made that possible.
It wasn’t easy to give water to sinful people.
He had to go himself to a cross. And the one who made the waters and the seas, and the one who has control to send the rain, he said on that cross, I thirst.
[25:23] I thirst. You see, true thirst is not so much the parched tongue.
True thirst is the emptiness without God.
And that’s what Jesus experienced on the cross. He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
He went through that emptiness so that thirsty sinners like myself and like everyone of you here tonight, could never thirst again.
He said, I thirst, yet he made the rivers. He said, I thirst, yet he made the seas.
I thirst, said the King of all the ages. And in his thirst, he brought water to me.
If you were to trust the Lord Jesus Christ today, like this woman, it’s almost humorous.
Here she comes at our 12 o’clock noon to get water.
Did you leave the water pot?
She leaves it.
And she goes home and she tells everyone, come, come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.
Is not this the Christ? We pray that that’s how you would go home tonight, even as the meeting concludes.
[26:26] It would be wonderful if you got a drink of that living water tonight. I know we’re drinking the water out of the bottles and that meets a very physical need, but we’re talking about a spiritual thirst. And I think that lady went back to the town and she didn’t say, come see the church.
He said, come see a man that’s told me all things that ever I did, who met my deepest needs.
So just to clarify this for anyone that’s wondering, is this a church membership drive?
This absolutely is not a church membership drive.
We’re not asking no one to leave their church and join ours, there’s nothing about that.
We want to present a man to you. His name is Jesus Christ.
Many of us know Him personally as our Savior, and we love Him, and we have a relationship with Him.
John chapter 10, for one verse, and then I’m gonna read you a little story in Luke 15.
John chapter 10, where we’ve already been reading John 4, but John 10, here’s what Jesus said, verse 11.
He said, I am the good shepherd.
[27:45] The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Or the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Now that is a good shepherd. Most would say, well, I’ll go so far, I’ll put some effort into it.
But a good shepherd actually is willing to lay down his life for the sheep.
And that’s exactly what Jesus said, I am.
I’m the shepherd that you’ve been waiting for.
I’m the one who’s willing to lay down my life for lost sheep.
Now flip over to Luke’s Gospel, chapter 15, and Jesus tells another story.
It is about sheep.
Luke 15, verse 1.
[28:37] Then drew near unto him, unto Jesus, all the publicans, and those were sometimes the scoundrels of society, not that tax gatherers today would be cheaters, but back in the day, they seemed to have a bad reputation. And so they were called publicans and sinners to hear him.
And the religious elite, the Pharisees and the scribes who meticulously copied out the Word of God, letter by letter, so the religious elite and the scholars, they murmured, saying, this man, Jesus, receives sinners and eats with them.
I look at that verse and I say, thank God, he wasn’t a loot.
He actually received sinners and he can come down to their level and he eats with them.
And Jesus spoke this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep.
[29:38] If he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
He’s not going to give up.
And when he hath found it, he laith it on his shoulders. Plural.
Plural. What’s he doing? Oh, just another day, found another sheep. No! It says he’s rejoicing.
You see the imagery God is using, what he’s painting, what the Lord Jesus is saying?
Look at, when I save a lost sheep, I am thrilled. I’m rejoicing.
[30:21] Verse 6, and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.” You have it all over Facebook.
We’re having a get-together. I have found the lost sheep.
I’ll say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, good people, which need no repentance, think they need no, they have nothing to repent over. So that’s the story Jesus told.
You know, sheep and shepherds, probably you’re not that familiar with them in New Jersey, in a densely populated state, but there’s a lot of imagery in the Bible about sheep and shepherds.
And if you were to go over to the Middle East, even today, we were over there in a few years back and we saw Bedouin shepherds out in the fields with their flocks, with their sheep, and it’s still a big industry.
I looked it up today.
The revenue, not including wool exports, The revenue of the lamb and sheep meat market in the Middle East amounted to $7.8 billion in 2019.
[31:44] So it’s big business for the Middle East. Lamb and sheep meat.
Well, Jesus is meeting with people. I’m glad he wasn’t a lewk.
You know, sometimes religious people can be somewhat removed and distant from people, And you have to come in the right costumes, and you have to do your little bows and everything the right way.
But, oh, the Lord Jesus, He was just right there with them, and He was reaching out to them.
[32:17] Jesus says, give me one last sinner, and I will seek until I find him.
Matthew chapter 9, that is a beautiful verse there, it says, When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
So it’s not just once you read about the Lord Jesus being a shepherd, that was his heart.
I don’t know what you think of the heart of the Lord Jesus, or the heart of God.
You say he’s some mean, cruel despot ruling in the skies, striking out willy-nilly, unpredictable.
Don’t you think of God? Oh, read your Bible. Read the Bible. It’s entirely different.
Message conveyed from the Word of God about the heart of God. You’ve been hearing about it.
Compassion, how Jesus went out of His way to find that one woman who was so thirsty in more ways than one.
[33:22] Let me just put up a little picture here. I hope this doesn’t offend anybody.
There’s some young people here.
This is not a very flattering portrait of anyone in the meeting, in the service tonight,.
[33:41] So the Lord Jesus calls people, they’re like sheep.
You say, well, I hope I don’t let know you all look quite normal to the speakers at least.
The long nose. Just speaking about the long nose sheep, you know that I was looking the statistics up, on 2018 poll conducted by the American Academy of facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons.
55% of surgeons reported having patients who said they were seeking cosmetic procedures to improve their noses because of the way they appeared in selfies.
Too big of noses. And there was a 42% increase one year over another.
People wanting their noses made smaller because when they do the selfie, they look so big.
Well, we’re not concerned about anyone’s noses tonight, but the picture that we want to leave in your mind, at the close of this service is a lost sheep.
Are you lost? I can say I was lost, but Jesus found me.
[34:57] He saved me, he rescued me. And I would like you to ask that question yourself. Am I lost?
The plight of the lost sheep, know that the characteristics of sheep, they have a tendency to stray, they don’t have any ability to return, they wander further away, the grass is always greener on the other side, and they keep going and going and going. And someone has rightly said, sin will take you much further than you ever intended to go and keep you much longer than you ever intended to stay. I’ve worked with a lot of people who have chemical dependencies and addictions of many different sorts. They never intended, but sin got a hold of them and just put them in a certain direction and kept them longer than they ever intended to stay. The.
[35:51] Plight of a lost sheep. Maybe there’s someone here tonight and you’re saying, well, you, You know, this is sort of old time stuff you’re talking about.
Have you ever been to the city and seen some of the bright lights?
Like, how do you expect me to focus on these things? Isn’t this sort of ancient?
Oh, it’s right up to date. There are lost sheep. I’m sure there’s a lost sheep right in this tent.
People are dazzled by the night lights, mesmerized by all the options and the new options for fun, energized by the possibility, wow, I can climb this ladder and be famous.
There’s just, there are so many possibilities.
[36:37] Like a bubble. Do you ever think of yourself? I just go after bubbles all the time. They look so sparkling bright. And I reach for this one. It’s empty. It’s a wet spot in the hand.
Do you ever think of your life like that? Oh, this achievement. Well, then I’ll be able to reach a plateau and level off and just be restful and contented. And you’re not satisfied.
Here’s what the psalmist said, Psalm 58, sinners are estranged from the womb.
They go astray as soon as they are born. Doesn’t take long, does it?
For even little children to start wandering away and doing all their own things, and their parents have to correct them.
The last verse of the longest psalm in the Bible, the longest chapter, Psalm 119.
Here’s what the last verse says.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep.
There’s a beautiful verse, probably if I ask for a show of hands, if anyone trusted Christ reading this verse, they might, someone might put up their hands, a little nervous about their hands, but here’s what it says in Isaiah 53, verse six.
All, without exception, all we like sheep have gone astray.
[37:56] There’s not one person in this tent this evening from God’s perspective who hasn’t gone astray.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one to our own way.
You’re not taking God’s way. We do what we want to do. They say, follow your heart, they say.
That’s not what the Bible teaches.
Follow the Lord!
[38:23] And that’s exactly what Isaiah 53 says. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way.
And then it ends this way. The Lord God laid on him, that’s Jesus, on the cross, the sin or the iniquity of us all, for lost, perishing sheep.
Well, the night of the lost sheep, I don’t know whether your life has ever seemed like a dark tunnel and things closing in around you, despair, there’s storms in life, howling winds in life.
Now you say, but I’m not a drug addict.
[39:07] I’m not an out of control gambler. I just occasionally indulge, but I’m not out of control.
So the whole concept for you, The whole basis of your message is for lost sheep.
Those that show up at a food bank, maybe. No, no, no.
For them too, they are lost. There are people in the audience tonight and you are lost too.
There are people in executive offices and they’re plagued by feelings.
Is there anything more to life than this?
What are they? They’re lost sheep. There are lost sheep, very skilfully, Kicking the ball down the field, scoring a goal.
[39:55] And they’re still experiencing emptiness. They’re lost. They’re lost. They’re lost.
Sheep under the bright lights of the big stage clutching their Oscar trophy at the Academy Awards night.
And when you reach the pinnacle, is that all there is to life?
They’re lost. They don’t have that relationship with God. They’re lost sheep in Christian families.
Lost sheep. So I’m not talking about those who are out wandering in the sidewalks of the city, people in this tent. The one lost sheep here tonight. You know that you’ve lost your way.
[40:47] They say, does anyone really care? That’s why we’re glad you’re here.
The Bible tells us there is one, a good shepherd who cares for you.
You’ve already been hearing about that, how he singles out individuals.
And he loves you and wants to show you compassion. He wants to save lost sheep, loneliness.
Just picture that little bit, the imagery the Lord Jesus used.
Lost, vulnerable, fragile, sheep out in the hills, just wandering up the hill, down the, valleys, crevice, precipice, hot in the thorns, tumbling down, maybe bleeding.
That’s the imagery the Lord Jesus uses.
Loneliness, helplessness, no ability to see themselves.
Do you think he values you, friend?
[41:51] He really values you. The preciousness of just one soul. You’re wondering does he care?
There’s someone missing tonight. Missing, lost, just one heart. You know what sheep do? They go baa. That’s where the infant’s in the back. Baa. Is there one human heart that’s sort of silently bleaking, lost. You’d never know if you look at your face. You look like you’re prosperous.
You look like you’re faring well. But you say, no, not my heart. Look, I’ve got story after story on our little website, whether it’s Brad Pitt or Michael Jordan who’s gone, Michael Jackson has gone Michael Jordan, the whole list, Tom Brady, and they’ve all experienced that certain emptiness no matter what they achieve. Quotes from their own mouths. Lost, that’s what they are. Lost, helpless, perishing, without strength. Does he notice just one missing when he notices you?
Absolutely. You see, but there’s so many others. He knows you. You know, you’re of.
[43:15] Infinite value to the Lord. Oh, you see, look at I, I don’t, I’m not a big, I don’t swear a lot, but today I don’t know what I was thinking, but I just jammed my finger in the corridor And I jumped up and down and I, Jesus, thank Christ!
Is that it?
Do you think he still loves you? He does. He does.
I was looking for a $50 bill today. I don’t know what your $50 bills look like in the United States.
I know what they look like in Canada, even though I’m colorblind and we have bright colors.
But you know what? That’s a $20 bill.
[44:03] If you saw that in the grass after the rain and it was all crumpled up like that and you say, and you don’t want that.
Yeah, it’s all muddy.
No good to me.
I see some of your questions. You say, absolutely not. If I saw that all crumpled up in a mud puddle, I would bend down and I would pick it up and my heart would be 12 and 20 dollars.
Man, I would be telling my friends, I would clean it up and I would get the mud off it.
[44:37] You know why? because it is inherent value. It’s worth $20, whether it’s money or whether it’s clean.
And you have an inherent value in God’s sight. Whether you’re down in the darkness of sins, you’re as valuable to him as the best living person is in his tent.
He doesn’t have a grading scale to that mud in that person.
You are made in the image of God.
Oh, how broken we are.
How little we can see of the image of God in our lives, but that’s what the Bible teaches.
You are inherently valuable to God, and that’s why He goes after lost sheep.
He loves the missing one.
There’s a verse, there are three words in the Bible that I love, and it’s God is love.
See the little sign, God is love, but it’s mentioned more than once.
And as you read your Bible.
[45:41] It can’t help but be in breath. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, a sacrificial giving.
That’s how much he loved. God so loves you that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Let me tell you this, good shepherd.
He goes after the lost one. You’ve been hearing about a woman who went to the well and that’s exactly where Jesus went to.
There’s another beautiful story. There are many stories in the Bible where Jesus reaches out to those who are lost.
But one stormy night, he went to a part of the Sea of Galilee that he had never traveled before.
He’d never gone to the other side.
The disciples must have wondered as they got into that little boat and sailed through the dark night.
And a big storm. Why ever is the master Jesus taking us to the other side? You know why?
You can read this story in Luke chapter eight. There was a man over there, tormented.
[46:51] There was no psychologist, no psychiatrist, no social worker, no counselor, no spiritual advisor could meet the man’s need.
And Jesus went through a dark stormy night because he had no but one man over there who needed to be rescued, a lost sheep.
He knows about you.
And there’s nothing that would thrill his heart more than to rescue you, to save you tonight.
He finds the missing one. That’s what he can do. He not only goes after the lost sheep, he finds it.
[47:27] Sometimes people go looking, but they can’t locate that which is lost.
The Lord Jesus can find it. Sometimes people go after one, they find the person they’re looking for, but they can’t rescue them. They don’t have the right equipment or technology.
The Lord Jesus not only has, as you’ve already heard tonight, this is not a coincidence.
I know in your book you said, I got to check this off. I’m going there tonight.
We’re glad you’re here, you really are.
[47:57] But you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. It’s no coincidence that you have a Christian friend.
It’s no coincidence that your neighbor has invited you to this tent service, that your colleague is invited. That’s not a coincidence.
Behind the scenes, God is at work in your life, and he wants you to hear the message tonight, because you could be saved and rescued tonight.
So he finds the missing one, and he rescues the missing one.
He’s the only one who can rescue a lost, perishing, lost in our sins.
You know what Isaiah 59 says? The Lord’s hand is not short that it cannot save.
Be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?
If you could see someone lost there, but you just couldn’t reach.
Well, the imagery, the metaphors used in the Bible, the Lord’s hand is not too short, his arm not too short, that he can’t reach you.
He can reach you right where you are, but that, and he says, he’s not hearing in prayer that he can’t hear the bleatings of your heart.
He hears you.
[49:05] He knows what’s swirling around in your mind. He knows exactly where your mind is right now.
He knows all of that.
Oh, there are no deficiencies with the Lord. Thank God he is able to save.
You know, before Jesus was born, 750 years before He was born, it says, And to us, Isaiah wrote, and to us a child is born, and to us a son is given, and the government of the world will be upon His shoulder.
Singular. But did you notice the story?
When He rescues a lost sheep.
[49:43] When he saves a perishing sinner, so the image of it was, he puts that sheep up and it’s on his shoulders, oh, the security.
It’s not on one shoulder, maybe the government can rest on one shoulder.
But when it comes to a lost sheep that he went after and valued so much, oh, it’s secure, secure on both shoulders.
And there’s rejoicing in heaven.
I don’t know, there’s a lot of things that we can be proud about as a human family.
A lot of ingenuity, a lot of things that are created.
When Thomas Edison made the first modern incandescent light bulb, that was back a few years ago, 1879, I don’t know what the celebrations were back then, but I don’t think it caused much of a stir in heaven.
When the Wright brothers flew their first little airplane, you know, probably made the headlines.
It didn’t do much up there.
[50:44] And Henry Ford, first Model T, that was a big step forward. Apollo 11, 1969, that was quite something on the moon.
And then when we set up the, I wrote it down this afternoon, the James Webb Space Telescope last Christmas, December the 25th. That was quite a feat too of technology. But you know, the courts of heaven didn’t rejoice over any of that. Do you know what would make them sing tonight? You know what they would rejoice over? If someone came into this little tent service.
[51:23] Bothered about their sins, no fulfillment, a certain emptiness, searching for something to to satisfy and they repented of their sins.
[51:37] And he turned to Jesus Christ and he saved them. Jesus says there’s joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
Tonight as we close this little service, have you faced this question?
[52:02] I did. I was lost, I said it, and Jesus found me and I’m eternally secure in Him.
Are you lost tonight?
I can assure you on the authority of the word of God, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and He came to seek and to save those who are lost.
And if you’re that lost sheep tonight, we point you to a loving Savior who is also the good shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
You can have every sin forgiven, Every trace of guilt removed from your own heart, things that can never be removed from the records of the law of the courts of the land, can be erased in God’s eternal records.
And you can have peace and fulfillment and joy and you can be 100% sure you will be in heaven linked to Him forever.
Appeal to you this evening, look to Christ and trust him as your Savior. Shall we pray?
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220719.m4a[0:00] We’re going to read in the New Testament, 1st John, not the Gospel of John, but 1st John, Chapter 5.
I don’t normally speak with my shirt sleeves rolled up, but people say when you have your shirt sleeves rolled up, you mean business.
[0:17] And, unless you, maybe you haven’t noticed this other night, we are, we do mean business.
This is business for eternity.
There are business transactions that are taking place every day of the year, at a corporate level, at a horizontal level, and they will mean absolutely nothing 250 years from tonight.
But what we are talking about is eternal business, and whether we roll up our sleeves or not, We are concerned that the, what is it, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights remaining, that there may be someone who has had a beautiful opportunity to hear about Christ and they will miss the opportunity and never end up being in heaven.
That’s the sad possibility of a gospel effort like this.
Now on the more optimistic, the brighter side of things, people attend services like this, and they hear that they can have their sins forgiven and they can be absolutely sure.
I hope no one’s just hoping they’re getting to heaven.
[1:31] You can be absolutely sure. In fact, 1 John chapter five, we read about being absolutely sure, but you could come to a meeting like this tonight and you could hear about the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation through him alone, and you could leave, go out to your vehicle in the parking lot with a smile on your face, and joy in your heart and peace in your soul.
And that’s what we’re praying for this beautiful Tuesday evening.
First John chapter five and verse nine.
And while you’re looking that up, regarding Christianity, who really is a Christian?
Who has eternal life? Who can you believe about existential matters and matters, spiritual matters, about where you’ll be for the eternal ages?
How do you know if you are a Christian?
How do you know if someone else is a Christian?
So the Apostle John is writing about some of these great matters.
And here’s what he says, verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is a witness of God which he hath testified of his Son, that’s, Jesus.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.
[2:57] So it’s one thing to not believe me, by me untrustworthy, but when someone cannot believe God, you ever think that you’re calling God a liar?
You say, I’d like to be saved. I have a Bible.
I know those verses, but yet you’re not saved.
You probably can believe me, but you cannot believe God.
In other words, God is a liar. What sort of a stark, this is what he’s saying, Gideon believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.
What is the record? The Bible. The Bible is God’s holy, reliable record.
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, this life is in His Son.
It doesn’t say in the church.
It doesn’t say in baptism.
You don’t get an announce of life through baptism.
No church can give you a spark of life, eternal life. This eternal life is in His Son and in Him alone.
Verse 12 couldn’t be clearer. he or she, whoever has a son, has life.
[4:25] And he or she that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. And you don’t have to go through online, look for a lawyer in Manhattan to figure this out.
It’s so clear, isn’t it? If you have the Son, you have life.
If I was to ask you, everyone who has the son, a moment in your life when you receive the son personally, consciously, in your life.
[4:58] All of you stand here, and those who do not have the Son of God, stand here.
Where would you stand tonight? It’s just that clear with God.
There’s no foggy area, there’s nothing misty, nothing hazy.
You either have eternal life, the Son, or you don’t have eternal life.
And this little tent service is divided just that clear. We don’t know who is a Democrat and who’s a Republican here.
We have more parties than that back home in Canada, but we can’t look at an audience and say she’s a Democrat and he’s a Republican.
And we don’t know whether you have money. Some of the richest people shop at Goodwill stores.
So we don’t know that.
[5:46] Do you know something? God divides this meeting.
You either have his son and you have eternal life, or you do not have a son, and yet, and you do not have eternal life yet, but maybe tonight you’ll leave with eternal life.
That’s our prayer. One more verse here. These things, John writes, have I written unto you, that you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
But I just want to speak for the opening part of the meeting on verse 12.
Whoever has the Son has life.
But whoever does not have the Son of God has not life. You know, it’s really disturbing.
It’s sad to meet people who are accumulating many things in life.
But they’re missing Christ.
They are maybe rich with material possessions, They’re spiritually poor because they don’t have Christ.
[6:58] Do you have Christ? I’m not asking you. There are a lot of people who have got what they call God experiences, God experiences, or a religious memory that happened at a summer camp.
No memory will ever take anyone to heaven. God’s salvation is not in a memory, and it’s not in like a God experience or people have existential stories to tell.
Or a near-death experience. You know what I mean? You see them online, near-death experiences.
And they’re relying on those things. That’s not what this verse says.
Only the ones who can say, I have the sun, have life.
Those who do not have the sun, do not have life.
Well, how about you? Do you have eternal life? Some people have years of prayers.
They have an abundance of religious knowledge.
They have baptism. They have a lot of spiritual credentials.
[8:13] They have a lot of sincerity. I remember visiting an elderly lady back in Prince Edward Island and, oh, she said, come on in, dear.
And I went in and we were sitting there talking and this come over here.
I got his brain. This is my baptismal certificate.
[8:33] Well, it’s nice to have a baptismal certificate saved and preserved and framed, but no baptismal certificate will ever take a person to heaven.
I spoke with an 80-year-old woman in Northern Ontario in Canada, and we sat there, we said, what are you relying on to get into heaven?
And she said, well, I played the organ in the church, and I was a choir leader as well.
And she went over the whole list. She said, my mother and father were both religious people, two different denominations, but we were raised as a very religious family.
And then she said, I taught special needs kids in school.
And she thought about all the things that she did. And then it’s like her mind was going, what can I get into heaven?
Oh, she said, yes. And I was involved with girl guides.
[9:32] Those are wonderful things to be involved with. But checking off the list doesn’t get anyone to heaven.
You must have Christ. That’s why I’ve read this verse. Whoever has the Son has life.
Not whoever has a profession. Not whoever has a verse.
I mean, most people who have been raised in an evangelical church of any kind know the verse, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, Acts 16 30 31 can say it like that. A verse will never take anyone to heaven. Christ alone. You may see Christ in the verse. I saw Christ in the verse and realized that he died for me. But, Christ alone saves.
Well, tonight I was thinking of an analogy that I have used quite a few times, because I think it’s something we can all relate to.
You probably knew that this iconic beast that you… it costs so much to fill only up halfway now.
You probably know that it was invented in… designed and invented here in your country, as many other things have been.
And you probably know that the shopping cart was initially rejected by shoppers.
[10:56] Shoppers thought it was a beast of a thing. They thought it would be copped dead, but I will take and use my hand basket any day.
Not going to go around with one of those albatrosses.
And the person who invented it saw that they weren’t flying, they weren’t going anywhere. No one wanted, no one was going to stoop so low as to get a, make up a shopping cart, and to make a fool of themselves pushing a shopping cart around the store, so he was quite creative.
He said, I’ll hire a bunch of fine-looking young men and women, models, back in 1937, and I’ll have them go up and down the aisles pushing the cart, and people will say, look at it, it can’t be that odd.
They’re pushing. Those are fine-looking people.
And the shopping cart, the rest is history. We use shopping carts, right?
I don’t know whether you’ve ever thought of your life as a shopping cart, a shopping trip.
You’re going up and down the aisles of life.
You arrive at the shopping store.
[12:01] Grocery store, and you sort of have a list. Well, when did you pick up your cart of life?
Most who are old enough know when they arrive. It’s your birthday when you arrive here, when you start of your life, you know the date.
But there’s no one in this audience who knows the date that you will arrive at the checkout when you will leave.
But when you die, you know when you arrive, you know your birth date, but you don’t know when you will check out.
It depends very much on what you have in your car, whether you’ll ever be in heaven or not.
[12:45] Life is very serious. We said it other nights. You are different than the rest of creation.
God has made humans in, he said, our own image. That’s what he said.
The trying God, After our likeness and God, we’ve been created with a sense of God’s consciousness.
The Bible tells us that he has placed eternity in our hearts.
And you are here on planet Earth.
[13:16] To live for God, that’s his desire for you. And if you’re not, how could you ever expect to be fulfilled?
You are specifically designed to have a relationship of communion.
But it’s broken by sin.
But tonight the gospel can bring it all back together and you can have a vertical relationship that will never be severed.
We’re so glad you’re with us this evening. Arriving.
Well, as I said, we don’t know when we’ll arrive at the checkout.
Life can end quite abruptly.
It seems like such a short distance.
[14:01] From the cradle to the coffin.
From the fast race cars and the dirt bikes, the motorcycle to that very slow car, long car, with a little flag on it and lights flashing.
It seemed like such a short thing, time.
From the sand in the play box to the ash in an urn, such a short distance.
My grandchildren back in PEI, or our grandchildren back in PEI, On Sunday they went to a little cemetery and they looked at the Ramsey relatives who were buried there and they were looking at all the headstones.
You ever look at a headstone in a graveyard? Nineteen.
Two thousand. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen.
That just says, that’s how quick life is. Some die young, some arrive at the checkout older.
Eighteen.
Nineteen. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Sixteen. Eleven.
[15:13] But if you were to arrive at the checkout tonight, do you have what it takes to get into heaven? Well, you arrive, you pick up your cart, and you’re looking around.
OK, that’s the meat pot, like especially down here. Like I don’t know your stores.
I was in the store last night buying some fresh fruit.
And I went to three parts of the store before I actually found the fresh fruit. I was in the meat section and I was in the bakery section and I was going to ask somebody, where is the, I need fresh fruit for tomorrow. Not because they’re not giving it to me where I’m staying, but I had another purpose. So you look around, a lot of people looking around, maybe you’re looking around tonight. You know you’re here on planet Earth, but you’re looking around and saying, okay, where is it? What is it I need in life? And you’re looking around and trying to get located. We’re glad you’re checking out a gospel service like this. And we hope that your look will come to an end and you’ll focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.
People are looking around to calm the turmoil within, the unrest inside. Something that That will give them joy, a smile on their face, bring them pleasure, bring them satisfaction to look around.
And they go up and down the aisles of life. Some of you are maybe a preteen year.
[16:39] Some of you may be in your teen years, the aisles of the teen years.
My friends, my peers, if you’re going down the aisle of the teen years and others are in their 20s, it’s finished up our education.
And then my first job in my career path, my first set of wheels that I can afford, a nice one.
Maybe I should be looking for a life partner and you’re looking at all the things on the aisles of my 30s.
Anybody here in their 30s aisle?
And you’re thinking about promotions. Maybe if you’re married, maybe I should have some children, and maybe the payments are not getting weighed down with mortgage and payments.
And 40s, you know, dear, we should go on a little extended vacation and do some traveling in our 40s.
And check our investments have been doing pretty miserable the last few months.
[17:40] Um, I need to get. Like, I really need to find, I want to learn how to golf.
Forties. That’s the 40s aisles. Midlife crisis. Forties. I remember being down the road here in Hatboro, um, in Pennsylvania, and I just saw the first specks of white hair. And I went into a drugstore and I thought, is it too late to get some of that coloring stuff? And I picked up bottles. I guess that would be a mid-life crisis. It’s too late now, you’d all catch up.
But 40s, 50s, worried about getting old, trying to stay young, jogging more, and trying to stay current in the job unless some MBA, some river snapper of an engineer comes into the workplace and you’re just shoved out to get a golden handshake. Text me. Text me.
Retirement. Well, should we downsize? Well, we might need some extra space for our grandchildren.
Oh, I hope I’m not becoming a senior. 70s? 80s? What isle in life are you on? Are you, making the right choices? You’ve seen people go up and down the isles of life, the aisles the grocery store, and they go up and they say,
[19:07] And the reason above.
[19:11] No. Too many calories. And they put it back up.
It reminds me of people who come to a gospel service like this.
And they think about Christ. And they think about the implications if they trust Christ.
How He will change your life. Because mark my words, Christ will change your life no matter who you are.
Your life will be changed.
It won’t be just more of the same.
If you don’t want your life changing, Christ isn’t for you, but if you want your life changed, Christ is for you.
Some people think, no, I’m putting him back up on the shelf.
They go out to their car.
Not in the car. They don’t take Christ home with them. Choosing.
Never underestimate the importance of the choices that you make.
[19:59] Sometimes at a critical juncture in your life, you’re just turning the aisle and around the corner, and you’re going down and all of a sudden you’re blindsided. You never even thought of buying high detergent. And there’s a huge end of the aisle display. I know this because I used to work in the grocery store and mostly I was just tapping, just stopping the shelves. I remember when the manager said to me, Peter, we would like you to try your first end of the aisle display.
The whole idea was to catch the consumer off guard. They were never intending to buy it, but they see this beautiful, magnificent end of the aisle display.
I really must eat it. That must be on sale. And they take it and they put it in their cart.
Do you know what Satan often does? He has end of the aisle displays.
Just when you start thinking about being saved, you’re blindsided by a friend that you haven’t seen for a long time, or a job offer and you can’t focus.
End of the aisle displays to distract you.
Oh, don’t be distracted this evening. This is, this is for eternity, friend.
Please don’t take Christ off the shelf and think about him for five minutes and say, no, I’m putting him back. Not for me.
[21:22] Our prayer is that you will choose Christ tonight. You know, when you go to the grocery store, there are things that you must go home with, you really need. There’s things that you’d like to have, chocolates and chips. And then there’s a night, like we should get a few more paper towels and maybe some vinegar and sugar, although I got a few bags of sugar left.
I must have eggs and flour and whatever.
Well, it might be nice to have a new vehicle. And it might be nice to have a lot of things, but if you’re ever going to be in heaven, you must have Christ, Christ.
You’ll never be in heaven any other way. You must have Christ.
You know, you can go to heaven without money.
[22:13] You can go to heaven without friends. You can go to heaven without an education of any kind.
You can go to heaven without a church.
You can go to heaven without a baptism.
You can go to heaven without ever taking Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper.
You can go to heaven without a job, but you cannot go to heaven without Christ.
You must have Christ.
Arriving, looking, choosing, needing, leaving, checkout.
It must be an awful thing. It’s scary enough at a grocery store when you’re supposed to be there to pick up a roast.
You fill your cart up with a whole bunch of other things and you’re standing in this long line and they’re just about ready to say, next.
[23:07] Will I go back? It must be an awful thing to end that the checker come to the checkout of life, and realize I’ve got this and I’ve got that but I don’t have Christ. Some of you are old enough to remember Senator Ted Kennedy, John F Kennedy, his brother. Ted Kennedy died a few years ago and it seemed like he was going over all the things at the end of the shopping cart of his life that he was hoping to go to heaven with, and so he wrote the Pope.
[23:38] And he had President Obama deliver a letter, and the content of the letter, it’s no secret, it’s been publicized, and Ted Kennedy, I printed it out, Ted Kennedy told the Pope all the things that he had done in his life, all the things that he had put in his card of life over fifty years in elected office. He said he fought for education, he fought for access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I’ve always tried to be a faithful Catholic, your holiness.” And he went on about all the things. He listed all these things. I fought against discrimination. I worked hard to welcome the immigrants. I, opposed the death penalty. I fought to end the war. And the list goes on. And he asked the President of the United States to hand deliver this to the Pope, thinking, I’ve got all these things in my cart, and I read that, it touched my heart.
None of those things will get anyone into heaven.
[24:46] What you have in your cart tonight, will that get you into heaven?
If you have Christ, it will.
Well, let me give you one contrast, and then I’m finished.
Into some here, related to some here, a man by the name of Paul Prins. And he arrived at the checkout of life. Just as he was turning 50 on his 49th birthday, cancer specialists told him the grim news of the severity of his lung cancer. That’s what he got on his 49th birthday. Then he says this, he said, I was allowed to celebrate my 50th birthday. He said, I love my wife Stacey and my children Alexander, Fraser, Spencer, Olivia, and Anastasia, but soon I will have to say goodbye. I pray for their future, but for me, my future is heaven and it’s nearer every day. And I have peace, because I have Christ in me.
[25:57] You got that news that you’re arriving at the checkout much sooner than you ever expected.
By way of a car accident, by way of a deadly disease.
Are you ready? You don’t know when you’re going to arrive at the checkout.
[26:14] You won’t always have a chance to rush back and open a Bible and say, oh, I’m going to scramble now. Doctor’s only giving me an hour to live. You know, we said that some people are taken like that have an applause. And if you don’t have Christ, he that has a son, she that hath a son, has, life. Oh, there’s nothing more important in your life than making sure that you have Christ.
Don’t go home without Christ tonight as you listen to Joseph.
And I’d like to read in the book of Romans, New Testament, the book of Romans in chapter Romans chapter 3, and we will just read verse 19. See everybody who’s here tonight? Thank you for coming. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Every mouth may stopped and all the world may become guilty for God. Now over to the Gospel of Matthew. That’s the first book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 27.
[27:43] Matthew 27, and we’ll read from verse 11.
And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
Said Pilate unto him, here is thou not how many things they witness against thee?
And he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled.
[28:24] Greatly. That’s all we will read. Notice a couple of men this week who have marveled at the gospel. Nicodemus marveled. The Lord Jesus told him that he had to be born again. I think there was a man last night, despite the rainstorm, who marveled that Christ Jesus came into the world to save a sinner like him.
We have read an interesting expression here, that Pilate marvels greatly.
That little added bit is only found in the Gospel of Matthew when I tried to look at it today.
The governor marveled greatly.
What he marveled at was the silence. Right. So for these last few minutes, I want to speak about.
[29:24] Have you ever noticed how loudly silence can speak?
Sometimes I think when we preach, I’m speaking myself, we get so excited. We talk so fast.
There’s something about just taking a pause, letting people think about what you just heard.
Are you going to leave this meeting without Christ?
Silence. I’ve learned that humorously now. Wasn’t as much so.
I have two toddlers, and silence can speak.
We don’t enjoy their fighting and yelling. All of a sudden, sometimes during the day, it gets strangely, sweetly.
[30:18] And we have learned that that’s a bad thing, that there’s something happening.
And sometimes there’s food and sweets missing, or things that they’re not supposed to be into.
Into. Silence speaks. If you’re married or in a relationship, maybe you know firsthand experience of the silent treatment. Anyone know about that? Usually marriage is made up of somebody who’s really good at it, and someone who hasn’t a clue what is happening to them. The silent treatment.
You know, when somebody all of a sudden just won’t talk to you, and you’re supposed to get this message through silence.
[30:56] People have even said, when they were going through a hard time, that what spoke to them, more loudly than all the criticism of their enemies was the silence of their friends.
Where are my friends?
And so silence can speak very loudly. And it spoke so loudly to this governor, Titus.
Silence, the silence of Christ spoke to him. And I just wanna look at that at the close of this meeting, the silence of the Lord Jesus, because I want you to notice how beautiful a thing it is.
And believe it or not, it will tie into what you’ve already heard.
So just wait for that, because it does tie in so beautifully that the reason Christ was silent, was for people right here in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and for a person like me.
The first thing you have to understand that it was a peculiar silence. Like, this man’s pilot is going to, humanly speaking, determine whether Jesus of Nazareth lives or dies. This is not a time where you just don’t say anything. Your life is at risk. This man has the power, he says himself, to release him or to crucify him.
[32:06] And it’s peculiar, because if you and I stand before a judge, just like the Lord Jesus stands before a judge, we’ve read that actually in Romans chapter 3, when we stand before a judge, we’re silent too. I don’t know if you’ve ever had your mouth stopped by the Word of God. It’s a good thing when that happens, by the way. It’s a good thing when you’re faced with the claims of God that yes, you are in fact a sinner before God.
You have broken His law.
You are guilty. You are condemned to death. And there’s no buts.
[32:39] There’s no excepts. You just take what the Word of God says, and every mouth is stopped.
Stopped. And all the world, all of us are guilty before God when it comes to the issue of sin.
And so a person is silent as they stand before a judge when they’re guilty.
Boy, my kids are silent when they’re doing things. When they’re guilty, when I ask them, what did you do?
They get even more silent.
When a person’s guilty, they’re silent. There is solemn scene, the Lord Jesus talked about it as a, as a wedding feast, when a man came into the wedding feast without a wedding garment.
And, you know, there are people and they talk to me at times and they say that when they see Christ or when they see God and they stand before God at the final judgment, that they’ll have all the questions to ask God for why they didn’t believe in him.
They’ll ask him about bone cancer in children, and they’ll accuse the Almighty God.
They’ll tell him about how they didn’t have enough evidence.
You know what the Bible says?
You’ll be absolutely silenced.
[33:38] Says the Lord Jesus, when that man was brought without the wedding garment, this is what it says, he was speechless.
There will be no talking in front of Christ. It will be silence when a person stands in the austere presence of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Silence.
[34:02] So the silence of a sinner, as I look at God’s law, it tells me that the sinner understands I’m guilty.
I have no buts. I can’t look at that standard and have any excuses.
The silence of a person at the Great White Throne tells me that they have no excuse.
They can’t tell God, well, if I had that opportunity.
No, I sure hope this isn’t the case, honestly now. I hope no one from the Great White Throne will remember a tent in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Silence because there was opportunity.
My sleeves are all the way rolled up. As we do mean business friends.
Like this is for eternity.
This is your soul forever and ever and ever far beyond this time and the things that we think, are so important here today. But why is he fired up?
The governor marvels. The governor is amazed, greatly amazed.
The governor understood some things about Jesus. He understood that he wasn’t guilty.
[35:08] I find no fault in him. Before Jesus was even standing before Pilate, Pilate’s wife got a dream.
And in that dream, after that dream, Pilate’s wife comes to him and says, have nothing to do with that just man.
That innocent man, that perfect man. Pilate has a lot of evidence that this one is not guilty.
And he marvels at Jesus’ silence because he knows.
It says if he kept writing the story, he knows that it’s for envy that he’s being delivered.
He knows that the whole thing is a charade.
He knows that there are false accusations. Have you ever tried to remain silent when there are false accusations?
One thing to remain silent when somebody says something that’s partially true, and yet there’s maybe some things that are false and so you wanna clear it up, but you know that they actually have a point.
But imagine if it is a completely total false accusation leveled at you, hurled at you.
And if people agree with it, it’s going to mean your own shameful death.
This man is staying absolutely silent. He’s innocent in the face of false accusation.
And it’s a very strange thing. And it caused the governor in that day to marvel greatly.
[36:29] Not only was it a peculiar silence, But it was a powerful sight.
Just on the point of peculiar, I remember when I was a kid, I really enjoyed college football.
And it seemed like the big thing. And every Saturday there was a game, right, when the different teams played.
But I remember a Saturday when there was no games played.
I’m not talking about COVID.
I’m talking about the Saturday after 9-11.
[36:57] Not a football game. America. There was like a national moment of silence. It spoke to me. I didn’t really know everything that happened. I was just very young. I think I was in the fourth grade. But it spoke to me that something has happened that has made things silent, shut things down. It does take something peculiar. That’s the Lord Jesus.
Powerful silence. Some people think that the reason the Lord Jesus is silent is because maybe he’s weak, maybe he is like Gandhi or any of these peace-loving people and he’s just not going to say anything in his own defense.
[37:37] I want you to think about how powerful the silence is. Listen, the one who is silent here spoke the sun into existence.
At the word of his power, the ocean that if you wander out into, you disappear, was spoken by this one who’s standing before Pilate.
Spoken words, he created the whole show, people. The whole show.
And it’s almost afterthought, it says, he made the stars also.
This one, when he was here on earth, they marveled at his words.
They never a man speak like this man.
They said he speaks as one who has authority, not like the other teachers and scribes and preachers of the day.
They marveled at the gracious words, it says, that came forth from his lips.
No, as he just spoke, there was authority and power and grace and distinction.
It’s not like he couldn’t speak. So why is he silent?
There’s power in silence.
There’s power. Any of you struggle with an outburst?
Any of you come to a point, there’s some people and their personality is personality outburst.
That’s just who they are.
There’s others of us, and it takes a while to build.
You know what happens, right? They say, it’s the volcano.
And it bursts out at the most inopportune time, at the most embarrassing time.
Imagine the power.
[39:05] Like they’re going to spit on him.
[39:11] They’re gonna mock everything he was and everything he stood for and everything he taught.
Imagine the power in the face of that and just say, absolutely so.
[39:25] Heard a story, you said I come from three young men hopped onto a bus in Detroit, quite a ways back, in the 1930s.
And they tried to mess with and bully and mock a man who was sitting in the back of the bus by himself.
And they insulted him, and the insults got more personal, And the insults got deeper.
And they actually just started rubbing anyone in the back of that bus.
And that man didn’t respond.
Just stayed quiet. As these three young men basically bullied him.
They turned up the heat of the insults, says this that I read today.
And he still said nothing.
Eventually the stranger stood up.
The boys understood now that this stranger was quite a bit bigger than how they had estimated when he was seated.
He reached into his pocket as he was at his bus stop and he pulled out a business card and he handed it to him.
And he walked off the bus.
As the bus drove away, the young men gathered around the car to read the words.
And this is what it said.
Joe Louis World-Class Boxer.
[40:44] And there’s a fist in the state of Michigan, in the city of Detroit, pointing to Canada.
And there’s a fist that those men never saw, but deserve to see, of this man, Joe Lewis, who is still ranked as one of the all-time greatest boxers.
And for him to stay silent against a number of pipsqueak boys who are bullying him and insulting him, I want you to know that isn’t weakness, that’s strength.
Do you know with one swing, one swing, he could have stopped the whole thing?
And I want you to know, the Bible tells me this about the Lord Jesus.
He tells his disciples, he says, listen, put away your little pocket knife there, Peter.
I have the power to call 12 legions of angels.
Two angels, two, went into the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and wiped them out.
To 12 legions of angels, 72,000 angels.
72,000 angels and he says I could just motion and they would all come.
[41:53] They say silence. I want you to realize when someone has authority like that, when someone with one word can stop everything from happening, that is ultimate power.
So his silence is not only peculiar, but powerful. His silence was predictive.
[42:13] This is why, by the way, you should put full confidence in the word of God.
Maybe there’s somebody here tonight and you think, well, that’s what you preach from the Bible.
So-and-so talks about the Quran, so-and-so talks about the Baha Gita in the Hindu religion, so-and-so talks about the various different holy books.
[42:31] I want you to know that the Bible can be foolproofed. The Bible can be tested because the Bible actually makes predictions hundreds, thousands of years before Jesus was here, before other events took place.
You know one of the predictions it says about Jesus?
It says this, he will be led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, though he will open not his mouth.
The whole thing was predicted. There is Jesus before the judge, silent.
Is that this is the word of God and it was all planned before the foundation of the world.
This is no accidental reaction to anything. But I wanna move now to the main point of it.
It was a purposeful silence.
Why not answer?
Like if he has the power to stop it, if he has the power to change the whole thing and to show everyone that he is who he says he is, he is the son of God.
There was a day he took three of his disciples and before them, he showed himself in blazing glory, blazing glory, and they all fell down.
There was another day where a person fell on their face when they realized that he was the son of God.
And here he is, and he could do it all right there, but he’s not doing it, he’s silent.
And the governor in that day is amazed.
Why?
[43:54] Because if he would have spoken he could never have saved you.
[43:59] It could never have saved me You know why he’s silent not because he’s guilty, Because he’s willing I Want to now tie into what you heard at the beginning of this meeting, There is nothing more important to have in the shopping cart of life than Christ But I want to tell you something if Christ didn’t want you you have no hope You understand me?
We are not talking about some village carpenter somewhere.
We are talking about Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords.
And if Christ had nothing for you, no matter how much you may want Him, you could never have Him. But the great news tonight, Christ wants everyone.
Christ has come from heaven to pay a price for everyone. And He stayed silent because He came to save the world.
He came to save every single person in the world. And so there is a Christ available for people to accept and receive and bring into their life because He’s willing.
He’s willing, He said, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
The verse says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And so this silence tells me this about Jesus. He’s willing to go to the cross.
More than that, He wants to go to the cross. This is the purpose for why He came.
He came for that spot outside Jerusalem, Golgotha’s Hill.
That’s why He came.
[45:28] Later in the story that Jesus, He bearing this cross, went forth knowing all things that were gonna happen to Him.
You see, He came for this purpose.
He realized that for a sinner like me, there could be no hope.
There is no way that I could ever work my way back to God.
There is no way, like, look at the standard over me. Did you hear that in Romans chapter three?
My mouth is stuffed. I’m guilty. Guilty is a very stubborn word, isn’t it?
[46:01] It’s not like you could say, I’m more guilty or less guilty.
It’s not one of those words you put on a spectrum.
Guilty is still black and white. Guilty or not guilty. And I’m guilty.
And a guilty sinner, how does a guilty sinner get into heaven?
And yet there was one who saw guilty sinners from the heights of heaven, weren’t really very unimportant people.
And yet he valued them.
He valued them. We were talking to a man today.
I didn’t have a pen and paper. They didn’t let me take my phone in there.
So I had to just paraphrase what he said.
But he was wondering that Christ would ever value, would ever see worth in someone like he is, and for everything that he has done.
And he would come into this world to die for a sinner. If you’re a believer here today, do you wonder at that too?
When’s the last time you thought, and dish the holy and the just, the sovereign of the sky, shoot down to wretchedness and dust that a guilty worm might rise?
When’s the last time it came out of your heart? He came for me.
He came for me. And he stood silent as they spit on him and crucified him.
He stood silent for you, my friend.
He stood silent for you. And he stood silent for me.
[47:24] I was just thinking at Sunday school, One of the first songs I learned, all the way to Calvary, he went for me. He went willingly.
No one forced him to go. No one twisted his arm. No, he went willingly, willingly to Calvary.
We often say that it must have been something. We know that one of the centurions that day was actually saved.
He said, surely this was a righteous man. Surely this was the son of God.
What must it have meant as they pried open the hands and held down the body of a person?
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that, The people, when they’re resisting, are unbelievably strong, even people who seem kind of weak.
[48:01] I used to work in a place where we’d have to hold down people for their own safety.
People that you would think, oh man, she’s only 90 pounds and she’s 90 as well.
I tell you what, if they don’t want to be held down, people can become extremely strong.
And yet here’s one, what must have meant to those Roman soldiers as he willingly lays himself down.
As he willingly allows them to nail his hands and feet to be lifted up on the cross, so that the sentence for guilty sinners could be placed on him.
[48:34] There was one who was willing to die in my stead, that a soul so unworthy might know.
In the path to the cross, he was willing to tread all the sins of my life to forgive.
Friends tonight, don’t pass Christ. I tell you what, there’s a savior who’s willing to save you right here tonight.
If you were to trust Christ tonight, he wouldn’t ask you to do any more prayers.
He wouldn’t ask you to do any more things.
He would take you as you are here tonight. If you were to turn from your sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for what he has done.
So he came willingly out of his value for us. We don’t feel that value, but I, from this story, I learned that Jesus Christ says of every person in this time, if he says about you, you are worth his own blood, you are worth his own death.
And what a shame to see all that.
What a shame to look up at that and say, no, not for me.
[49:32] And so the silence of Christ tells me he’s willing. He goes to the cross, he pays the penalty for sin.
He’s in heaven today dealing with it fully. Anyone in this tent tonight, anyone on Zoom, anyone who can hear me tonight, if you were, to believe on that Lord Jesus Christ, he’s my Lord.
If you were to believe on him, he would save you.
Talked to a lady not too long ago, and she was talking to me as she was really trying to be saved.
Maybe there’s someone like that here in this tent tonight.
And you try, when you come to meetings, not to get too worked up because it sends you into some kind of a spell of depression, where it just goes through endless cycles, and you’re just frustrated at the end.
He told me, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Every night, I get down on my knees And with tears down my eyes, I ask God to save me. He never does.
[50:27] And I didn’t know what to say, except, you think God wants you to do all that?
You think he wants you to make a big show of it? You think he wants you to get down on your knees, spill a bucket of tears, tell him you’re the worst sinner?
Listen, he knows far more about your sins than you do.
You know what God wants you to do? Take his son.
Trust him! Turn from your sins, as dark as they might be, and trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sad thing about this story to me is here’s a man pilot and he looks at the silence of Christ, and it says he’s not just amazed. I don’t know what you think about it tonight. Maybe you can, tell me. What do you think? You ever heard a message like that? Maybe it’s non-conventional.
I don’t know. I haven’t been around long enough to know. The silence of Christ, because he’s, willing to save you. You think that’s amazing? Pilate says, it says, he marveled greatly.
[51:33] He was so amazed that this perfect one stayed silent. And yet he missed Christ.
He missed him. He never trusted him. Is it possible for somebody to be so amazed at the silence of Christ, so amazed at how willing he was to come, and look at him in the shopping aisles of life and see, wow, he loves me! He loves me!
[52:07] My brother Peter said at the beginning of this meeting, we are not here just as a, well here we are and take it or leave it type of preaching. I would plead with with you with all my heart. Don’t miss Christ. You understand? And don’t settle for anything except Christ. Nothing else is more important. Don’t miss Christ.
Whatever else you miss, don’t miss Christ. Miss anything else, miss straight A’s.
Miss whatever else you have in life, but don’t miss this man. He loves you, friend.
He loves you. Don’t you miss him. He stayed silent on that cross to take your And if you would trust him tonight.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220718.m4a[0:01] I’d like to read from the Bible, 1 Timothy, Chapter 1, 1 Timothy, Chapter 1.
I’m going to read this verse, actually, that’s to my right here.
I’m going to read some of the verses around it.
The writer is a man named Paul, and in verse 12 he says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious.
But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
It is verse 15 I have in mind tonight.
Can you read it again? This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
[1:16] We began last week by looking a little bit at a title that’s actually in this book in 1 Timothy, the glorious gospel.
Another word for glorious might be awesome, something that causes awe, wondrous.
And we looked at maybe six things about the gospel that can cause awe.
The fact that it comes from God, the speaker behind the gospel should cause awe.
The standard a person is faced with when they realize that sin is actually coming short of the glory of God.
The scope of the gospel that goes out to all the world.
The stakes in the gospel, that when a person hears the gospel, it’s not about which church to join, but it’s actually as big as either heaven or hell for eternity.
The simplicity of the gospel, and it can be condensed, this amazing message is just three words.
And the reality is that when a person receives the gospel, they can receive spiritual sight.
And this week I’d like to look at some of the people who were faced with the gospel and how they responded.
Some responded in shock.
Some responded like, I could hear this last night. How can these things be?
But this man, Paul, he’s a lot older now than when he was saved.
Not a lot older, I suppose, but nearer to his death than he was when he was saved.
[2:25] And what encouraged me here, even for those of you here who are Christians, sometimes you hear, that being amazed that you’re a Christian or being amazed at your testimony, is really like preschool Christianity. Like you grow out of that. But there’s a time where you appreciate other things beyond that. That’s true. And it’s kind of elementary. It’s kindergarten to enjoy your salvation. Or you’ll have a hard time swinging back by the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul, at the near the end of his life, it’s amazing.
You know, some people, when they talk about Paul, they think like when Paul was saved, he did God’s greatest blessing.
God stumbled upon a prodigy, Saul of Tarsus. And now, now the gospel can go forward.
You know, everyone might believe that except this man. He’s amazed.
He cannot believe that him, the gospel actually came to him, that he was actually a preacher.
Another man like John, an old man, likely at the end of the time the Bible was written.
[3:27] Just before the final words of the Bible, this man John, an old mature Christian, he’s just amazed at who he is as the disciple who Jesus loved.
So no, enjoying your salvation, or enjoying the fact that God has loved you and saved you, is not pre-K spirituality. This is something that we should enjoy all our lives.
And I hope if you’re safe here, you’re enjoying it, and you’re safe, happy day, happy day.
I just looked it up, I don’t know, I don’t sometimes pay attention to the words we say, I don’t know if anyone else is like that, and then all of a sudden it just hits you.
Like, that seems pretty extreme. and live rejoicing every day.
[4:12] Live rejoicing every day. So, whether it’s right or wrong, I was just looking up this guy who wrote this hymn. I wondered, like, did he not have any trials? I struggled to rejoice. I know what it’s like to hear the news on the end of the phone that somebody has passed away that you love, or somebody is really sick, or somebody gets into a car accident.
And so I looked him up, this man, Philip Doddridge, let me just read you some of these things about this man who says he can live rejoicing every day.
His mother died when he was eight years old.
Four years later, his father died. He’s 12.
He was married. They had nine children. The first child, Elizabeth, died before she was five years old.
He had a very sick life and eventually the sickness overtook him and he died, not all, that old himself.
And live rejoicing every day. Like, do you have something?
You have something that you can rejoice every day, even if your mom dies?
Or even the day your dad might die?
[5:32] If your child does? Not that you’re happy those happen, but do you have something that would bring you joy every day? See this man that we’re talking about tonight, Paul, he also had a very difficult life. He was beaten, there were times people threw stones at him, people didn’t like him, they drove him out of the cities, he spent many years in in a jail, ended up being executed. A lot of the Christians that he saw become Christians turned their back on him. There was a time they wouldn’t even acknowledge him as a real preacher or as an apostle. Yet there was one thing that he could rejoice in every day and that’s what we’ve read tonight. Did you notice what we read? This is a faithful state. Worthy of all acceptation, worthy for everyone to accept. What is it?
Praise Jesus. Amen to the world.
[6:31] And if you don’t know that joy that comes from no matter what’s going on in your life, knowing this, that actually there was one who left heaven to save me, then you can have that joy tonight.
And that’s why we’re here. We’re here so that that can be a reality in your life.
I want to just look at these, this verse, and I want to look at couplets in the verse.
First of all, I want to look at faithful saying. Secondly, save sinners. Thirdly, Christ came.
Lastly, all acceptation, because you know, far from now and my voice is forgotten, and, you forget all about me, I hope you’ll still remember this verse.
And I hope this verse will be seed from the Word of God that God can use in your life and in your heart whenever He should please. Faithful saying.
[7:13] I want you to think of it as a solid foundation beneath you.
Solid foundation beneath you.
What this word means, faithful saying, is that this is a statement, this is a word that you can rely on, unlike the prognosis of the weatherman, right?
Or unlike anything really in life that you can’t really rely on, like there was not too long ago where we were told, many of us anyway, depending on which news you’re looking to, that we’re near the end of the pandemic, that there’s no more, everything is now easy to, be dealt with, and yet we’re hearing of variants all over the world and shutdowns again, and, And I hope it doesn’t happen again, but at the same time, there are very few things in life that you can put both feet on and solidly rely on.
That’s what this says.
Paul says this is a trustworthy statement.
[8:03] I just want to appeal tonight to anybody here and all of you here to give you the benefit of the doubt for an intelligent thinking people.
What is the most important thing about a message?
[8:19] Is the most important thing that it is presented enthusiastically?
That’s good. I don’t know if somebody should be presenting it if we can’t do it enthusiastically.
That might just be my opinion. But it’s not the most important thing.
It’s the most important thing that makes you feel good.
[8:41] It’s the most important thing about a message that it makes sense of your experiences, the different things, and it just makes sense of everything going on in the world. And as long as it makes sense of things, then yeah. Or would you agree with me that the most important thing about a message is that it’s true? And that if it’s not true, even if it makes you feel good, even if it makes sense of things going on, even if it’s presented enthusiastically, you have every right to reject it. I’ve said this before, but I got an email once from the Prince of Dubai telling me, that he had transferred six million dollars into my bank account, and it made me feel very, very good.
And I just thought that was amazing. Six million dollars for the Prince of Dubai, never met him, and he knew my name, and all he needed was my social security number, and I would be linked $6 million to Prince of Dubai. You know like that. Yeah. You know what you do with it, right? You push spam or delete or whatever you want to do. Or if you’re like like those people who mess with them, You might do that as well.
[9:54] But no, that’s spam. No matter how good it makes you feel, you understand, like, that is not true. So I have to get rid of it. I have to delete it. And we’re struggling with that in our world. It’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not, right? Even in the news and different things that are presented to us. And so it’s so important that this is a solid foundation. Whatever Paul’s about to say, he’s saying, this is rock solid underneath your feet.
This is a faithful thing you can totally depend on. And that’s why, by the way, it’s worthy.
It deserves everyone to accept it because it’s true.
[10:25] Listen, I don’t have to be, really, I don’t want to say insane, but it’s hard not to be thinking properly to reject something that’s true.
Like if something is true, if you were to tell me today that it’s raining outside today, and I said, oh no, no it’s not, don’t rain on my parade, I’m having a warm sunny day here, I think you would have every right to think there’s there’s something wrong with me.
Because truth should trump whatever I feel or whatever I think, right?
And so are you willing tonight, is there anyone here who is intellectually honest?
Okay, we don’t do this every night, but I want you to appeal tonight to the intellect, so the will of anyone who is intellectually honest to face the gospel, or you’re just gonna shut out the truth.
Does it matter that it’s true? Well, I don’t need to deal with it.
No, if it’s true, you should face it, shouldn’t you?
And so it’s a faithful thing. Well, next couple here, save sinners.
See the reason I started with that front porch, if you will, about it being a truth, is because the description now, not the foundation under you, but the description about you, is not a description that I think anybody wants to hear.
[11:40] Sinners. Maybe if you grew up in Sunday school, I grew up going to church, maybe you’re used to that, yeah, I’m a sinner.
I was in Sarnia this year, having gospel meetings and there was a lady coming, I think she was, in her late 80s, and for the longest time, she would not admit that she was a sinner.
She said, I’m a pretty good person. She said, I’m not as bad as other people.
I know I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve asked God for forgiveness.
And as we were preaching, feebly, best we could, At the end of the third week, she came up to me and she said something that was both refreshing and concerning.
She said, I admit I am a sinner, but that is so hard to say.
[12:28] That is so hard to say. And I think if you don’t find it hard to say, maybe you don’t know what it is to be a sinner.
Maybe you don’t understand that a sinner is someone who is looked at in the sight of God as a criminal.
Someone who is worthy of death.
Someone who has already been condemned to death. The soul that sins will die, the Bible says.
Someone who is a sinner is described as someone who God’s wrath is hovering over them, and could fall at any moment.
It says that in John 3, verse 36, that the wrath of God abides on a sinner. It abides on them.
It’s not a pleasant description to be called a sinner, or to be called ungodly.
That’s how the Bible describes us.
We’re described as sinners, because that’s what we are.
[13:13] The reason it says to save sinners, this is another thing that really hits at the pride of human beings.
Is there nothing that we can do? Okay, I’m a sinner. I’ve broken God’s law. There are things He’s expected from me and I haven’t done them.
And there are things He’s never expected from me and I’ve done them.
But is there no way for me to make amends?
Is there no way, if you were here last night, for me to reconnect to God myself by something I could do?
Well, that word, save, save, that’s the word for a rescue.
That seems to indicate that there’s nothing I can do. And it does.
It does. If you understand the word save, it is only for people who need to be rescued, for people who can do nothing. It’s not the word for help.
It’s the word save, people who are absolutely helpless. And so this really strikes at the pride of people as well, that I am actually a sinner before God.
I’ve broken his law.
[14:15] And I’m helpless to bring myself back to Him. I’m helpless to clear my own record.
I’m not only a sinner, I’m a helpless sinner. That’s how the Bible describes you, my friend.
Again, are you willing to face the truth tonight?
Are you intellectually honest?
Is everyone here intellectually honest tonight? When the Bible says that we are yet without strength, are you willing to say, yes, I’ll stand on that foundation?
Or are you actually gonna say, no, No, God is lying in Romans 5 and 6.
And God is lying in 1st Timothy 1, 15.
Please understand, those are the options to us. It is either that God is true, and I am in God’s sight, a helpless sinner, even though I might feel perfectly fine, or that God is lying.
There are only the two options that are allowed.
Moving quickly tonight.
[15:08] Look at this. This is a faithful saint, worthy of all exaltation, that Christ Jesus came.
Christ Jesus came into our world, to save sinners. And there were storms when Christ came, just like today.
And there was a day when there was a storm when Christ came and everyone was watching him on the boat, as the boat was rocking and filling with water.
It was a wonderful day. I can’t compete with the rain, I’m shutting it down.
Just let me know. I want to tell you that if you accept this verse tonight, you can leave this meeting, safe. Christ Jesus did in fact come to save sinners.
Before that penalty on the cross, if a person will accept, that’s the last point there, if a person will receive, will welcome, will trust that Christ is God, they will be saved.
So I leave you with these 25 words, you can hear me tonight, and for those on Zoom who can’t hear me.
Listen, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into our world.
Bye.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220714.m4a[0:01] I’d like to read in the Gospel of John, that’s the fourth book of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John, and chapter 19.
John 19, and we will read at verse 16, just for connection.
This is the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate.
And then delivered me, and therefore unto them he crucified.
[0:32] And they took Jesus, and led him away. He bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him.
Two others with him, on either side, with Jesus in the midst.
Now drop down to verse 28, you have a Bible.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, by thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.
And he bowed his head, gave up his spirit.
There’s those three words in verse 30 that I’d like to speak on in this part of the meeting.
It is finished. One of the most amazing things about the gospel is how simple it is.
[1:35] Extremely simple. In fact, I don’t know, everyone who’s here tonight or some people I see for the first time, I don’t know what you think about maybe salvation. I don’t know if you think it’s a process that one has to go through from the caterpillar until they arrive at the butterfly.
I don’t know if you think you have to go to a certain amount of church services or get baptized.
I want to tell you that if you come to understand these three words and believe the man who said them, you will leave this tent in a relationship with God, with your sins forgiven, with heaven as as your home, all that would happen, understanding three words from the Bible, of believing the man who said them, it is finished.
Such a simple message.
I did a little study once on different gospel messages that could be contained in five words, like Christ died for the ungodly, or Christ died for our sins, or because there is wrath, beware, or a number of them.
There’s many of them actually, But this is actually just three words.
It is finished. Someone has said about this statement, these three English words, that this is the most important announcement that has ever been uttered on planet Earth.
[2:58] The most important announcement that was ever uttered on human Earth, or on this district.
[3:08] The simplicity of the gospel. The reason it amazes me, just before we get to this verse, is really, I suppose, two reasons.
Number one, I don’t know, have you ever talked to somebody who’s just extremely intelligent?
Have you had the opportunity, maybe in work, or maybe you have a professor?
I remember when I was in college, I had a calculus teacher, and everyone in the class understood that he knew calculus, but no one else understood what he was talking about.
About. And thankfully, he graded on a curve. So we all passed, and we all went to the next stage of Calc 2, knowing really nothing from Calculus I. And he was just brains, but ability to communicate and fun, extremely smart. And there’s been many intelligent people on planet Earth. You can probably think of a number of names that come into your mind. And what amazes me about the gospel is because the gospel comes from the most intelligent mind, the most profound mind, the most complicated mind.
[4:05] Existence. It comes from the mind that created the mind of Albert Einstein. It comes from the mind that created the mind of Thomas Edison. And, you know, our minds as human beings are rather.
[4:19] Fickle. They’re weak. You know, they even have to say about us that some of us are left-brained or right-brained. Some of us are mathematical and orderly and logical. And other people, There’s no therefores or wherefores or because. It’s just color pastels. It’s beautiful.
And it’s just a great mess of beauty. You know, God doesn’t have to pick between the two.
God is the most orderly person being in the universe. Orderly, logical, and yet look around.
Look at the beauty. Look at that. Look at the creativity. Look at the animals. Look at the plants. Look at the flowers. Look at the trees. Look at the stars. Look at each other. Other human beings and see the creativity of God. What a mind, an amazing mind, and yet the gospel is so simple. Nobody listens to the gospel when God is speaking and comes away like, oh, it’s just beyond me. I couldn’t understand what is being said. Lord Jesus, when he was here, actually said that the gospel is supposed to be presented simple. He said that a person has to become like a little child to believe it. He said that he actually He bowed one day and prayed, just like my brother prayed before this meeting.
Jesus Christ bowed one day and prayed, and he thanked God that the gospel was hidden from the intelligence, and only revealed to simple children.
It was intended to be a very simple message.
[5:44] And what amazes me is that it comes from the most profound.
[5:51] It’s also amazing to me that how simple it is is because it deals with the most complex issue.
There’s a book put on by a doctor, a very good read, it’s called The Emperor of All Maladies.
It’s a study of cancer.
And the doctor has tried in that book to outline what cancer is, how it has spread, its history, its treatment history, how it can be dealt with, and some of the things that scientists and physicians are using today?
Answer is a very complicated thing. Likely, probably in this tent, there’s somebody whose life has been affected by that emperor of all malady.
[6:35] But do you know that there is a cause behind cancer?
Like we can’t even solve cancer.
We can’t even solve COVID.
We can try to do different things that prevent transmission and build up immunity, but we can’t solve like these little diseases, and yet underlying them is this root cause.
[7:00] And it is, it is a principle in our world. And it is so complicated. Like, think of the thing that gave rise to cancer, that we have our best minds on the planet on that subject. Figure out cancer. We haven’t solved it for all these years.
And the root cause behind it, sin, it is the most complicated problem in our world.
And yet the answer to it is in these three words. It is finished. Like, imagine the most complicated and the most creative and the most transcendent mind communicates to people, about the most complicated problem in three words. I love that. That’s not the only thing about the gospel. God wants every single person to understand it. God, has not made it overly complicated. God has not made it so you need an eighth grade education. God has not made it so you need to be churched, so you need to learned Christianese or anything like that.
God made it simple. You may not leave this text tonight. I’m not sure what my brother has in mind for his message.
You may not leave knowing anything more about baptism.
You may not leave knowing anything more about church history or about communion.
But you understand these three words and trust the man who said them.
And you’ll leave this meeting saved.
It is a simple message.
I’m going to just break it down very simply.
[8:30] It is finished. It is finished. We’ll follow those three points, and then I will sit down.
The message is simple. It can seem that—I think the way I would explain it to you today is that it can seem counterintuitive.
[8:51] The gospel means good news, in case there’s somebody here who doesn’t know what gospel means—gospel meetings.
Meetings. And this is the good news from these three words. The good news is that there was payment, payment, that was owed to us. That payment that was owed to us has been taken by another. That’s what these three words mean. There are three words, one word in the original language, three words that are telling us, Jesus is saying this on the cross. That payment that was owed to people, he has taken that payment from them. Now, the reason that’s counterintuitive is because if there’s payment that’s owed to you and somebody takes it, that’s not good news, right? You work a week’s work and there’s payment, there’s a wage you’ve earned, and you have a check that’s coming to you, and I take it.
[9:49] That’s not a good news meeting. That’s a lawsuit and something else waiting to happen.
Not good. But actually in the Bible, this payment that is owed to us and has been taken from us and away from us is great. So let me explain that to you.
That’s the word that refers to the payment that’s owed to us. It. That Jesus is saying here on the cross. You see, in the book of Romans in chapter 6, I said the gospel, the gospel’s right there. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, it says this, that the wages, the payment that we have earned for serving sin.
[10:28] Is death. That’s what it says in Romans 6 and verse 23. The Bible describes those who sin.
[10:35] Not as people that make a few mistakes, not as people who couldn’t help it, not as people who had a certain upbringing that hardwired them to do the things, and if they didn’t have that boss or that girlfriend or that neighbor. No, the Bible says that when a person sins, Jesus said this, they are the slave of sin. That’s why they sin. They are sin’s servants.
There is this employer-employee relationship with sin, when a person sins. And it’s just like working for an employee, or looking for somebody, working for an employer, you earn wages. And what the Bible teaches is that we’re serving sin by doing what sin and its principle tells us to do the sin in our hearts, whether it’s lying, or cheating, or swearing, or pride, or anger, or jealousy, or envy. By doing these things, we’re earning wages. According to the Bible, Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says this, the wages of sin is death. And so the payment that is owed to us, according to the Bible, is death. So a person for living a sinful life, However that life may have looked, a person doesn’t have that matched by living a religious life.
[11:59] A person does not have that matched by turning over a new leaf.
A payment, the legal payment that a person has earned, deserves, a wage, the wages of sin is death.
We can see how, maybe, now this is pretty good, isn’t it?
Even that was owed to us, death has been taken from us. Jesus is saying that on the cross.
[12:34] Not, it is started, not, it is fifty percent done, finished, it is finished.
You see what happened here? The Lord Jesus, after living a perfect life, and if you were to watch him as he came down from heaven, born to Mary and Joseph, and lived a life as a boy, and then a teenager, and grew up in Nazareth, and moved in Galilee, even his enemies have to say, Even his enemies. Never a man spake like this man.
Even the people who were skeptical had to say, he has done all things well. Here was one, and there’s one thing that would be absolutely evident about him compared to everyone else, that’s that a servant of sin. All the rest of us are servants of sin whether we like it or not. We’ve proven it by the service we’ve done, but here’s one, and he’s never done a sinful thing. He’s, He’s never had a sinful thought.
He never had to get down on his knees or walk around in a desert region and look up at the stars and tell God he was sorry.
He never regretted a word. He never regretted an action.
He never regretted that he didn’t say something.
This was perfection. And yet he came into this world to go to this cross because you see, in order for him to take the death penalty that we deserve, he couldn’t have it himself.
[13:59] As the perfect Son of God, as the one who is sinless, Jesus Christ, who was put on that cross, lifted up between heaven and earth.
And after human beings have spit on him, mocked him, you know, Jesus, he didn’t have very much.
He wasn’t a prosperity preacher. He didn’t have a jet. He didn’t have a car.
Didn’t have a car. We have to borrow a donkey to get a ride.
Really, the only thing we see that he had was a garment, a garment. Somebody had made for him.
I’m not sure who it was, but somebody had made this special garment that was valuable, so valuable that they wouldn’t just rip it. They had to see who got it.
And they didn’t even give him the dignity of hanging on the cross with that garment on.
[14:52] They stripped it from him. And in shame, and he felt the shame, says prophetically in the Psalms, I may tell all, my bones, they look me, stare upon me.
This was no easy thing for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who angels and mighty beings had to cover their eyes and cover their feet.
[15:16] Human beings and they look and stare upon me as he’s hanging there. His body is bathed in his own blood. There are nails through his hands and feet. Spit is flowing down his face. He looks like a victim. He looks like somebody who has been beat up and defeated.
But actually this verse, these three words, it is this. It is the cry of a victor. This, This is the cry of somebody who’s fighting a battle.
But it doesn’t look like when you look at the cross, it doesn’t look like he’s fighting a battle. He has no gun or no sword or no weapon.
And he says these three words, this word as somebody who has won a battle.
You see, because he was fighting a battle.
He was fighting a battle against the devil. He was fighting a battle against the power of darkness, according to the Bible.
He was fighting a battle against sin itself.
Those hours on the cross, when his soul was made, the Bible says, an offering for sin, he was treated like sin.
[16:23] Notice that, it’s all done.
[16:26] It is finished! Finished! The battle’s done. Sin has been dealt with.
The payment that Joseph Baker deserved, I’ve taken. I’ve finished it.
Now, it was only God who could say that, because it’s only God who knows the full penalty that sin has earned.
No human being could say that. There’s only someone who knows really what sin has fully earned who could say that.
Say that. It’s a little proof right there in that three words that he’s the Son of God. And he says it’s finished. Not mostly finished. Not a little bit finished and you do your part. No, completely one hundred percent done. Finished. And so you see the full payment for our sin, everything that we have earned for serving sin, all our wages, our check that sin should write us, was given to Christ in full. Not a penny left out.
Somebody has said this, and they were making fun of, I should tell you, they were making fun of Christianity.
They said, like, Christians are really very simple people, very gullible.
Said, like, to live your life after a man, okay, he’s an intellectual teacher, but after a man, bright out in the middle of the afternoon, it is finished.
And to say, okay, I’m going to follow that man.
[17:53] Like, what… And this is what they said. Saw it on YouTube, I think.
So, like, what if I went on a hill?
And what if I shouted out, out. It’s finished.
[18:04] It’s finished. Oh, a bunch of people started following me.
[18:14] Come on, is that what Christianity is? Probably following a man who just went up on a hill to look at a sculpture.
Oh, is that what you’re doing? Is that what I’m doing? Oh, come on, don’t offend me. Don’t offend my intelligence of that.
You know, when this man, the Son of God, when he hung on the cross and he said, it is finished, when he said that the payment was fully paid, and he died. So he gave up his spirit and they took his body down from the cross and put it in the tomb.
[18:52] The Bible says that on the third day, on the Sunday morning, that tomb was empty. The stone was rolled out of the way and it says in the Bible that God had raised him back from the dead.
The reason I follow this man is because he said, it is finished, and God said it is finished.
God raised him from the dead.
The tomb is empty. That’s why I follow him. And so if some person left and said it is finished and died, and then God raised him from the dead, maybe he would have an argument.
But no, friend, listen, the gospel message is rooted and grounded in historic facts.
Immovable, stubborn, fact, truth.
And so he did, in fact, finish the work. God was satisfied with what the Lord Jesus had done for sin.
The payment my sins deserved had been given to him.
He bore it, he died under the penalty, and God raised him back from the dead.
It is finished.
Sin is dealt with.
The last word, is. How much do you think is in the word is?
A lot. A lot. Listen, he didn’t say it was finished. He didn’t say it was finished.
He didn’t say, it could be finished.
[20:16] That sin is… sin stands forever finished. Listen, if not one person trusted Christ, sin was dealt with by the cross.
This and its principle that has ruined this world was conquered and defeated at that cross.
If nobody trusted Christ, it is finished. It is done.
And the Word is in me.
It’s good for even right here tonight.
It’s 22 this July day. It is finished. It is finished.
You could leave tonight resting on that. That what Jesus did on the cross with the puzzle of sin was not just add a few pieces and then you have a few pieces and you gotta kind of figure out where they go.
No, it was like the whole puzzle but the last piece piece, smooths out the puzzle. You know what religion is? Religion is taking a puzzle piece that doesn’t involve and trying to squeeze it into a puzzle that’s all done. There’s.
[21:26] A great work right now actually going on where my wife used to live among the Hutterite colonies.
Of work that we haven’t heard much of as far as people being born again, saved. A number of people have been saved. We didn’t know too much about the Bible. The Bible is a mixture of things they couldn’t understand. There was a girl in one of those colonies, and she was saved, and she knew she was saved, and that’s a thing you can’t know. Now, religion says you can’t know, because if you know, then you’ll live however you like, right?
He didn’t have very many answers. And they said, no, listen, like, just, if you say your question just led that way, but you can’t know, because if you know so, then it’s like your ticket’s punched and just do whatever you want.
[22:17] And Jesus said, it’s a big shot, 100 Red Ministries. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen one, quite scary.
Mostly comes short, but they’re still quite scary.
Oh, no, no, no, Jesus said that it was fun. You know what happened about 100 Red Ministries?
They were furious. They had special meetings.
I know this because my wife and I, when we were just there in June, we were trying to visit one of these colonies where one of our family members lived, and we were banned.
They actually blamed her and some of the family members for spreading this false belief among the colonies. We weren’t allowed to go see family members. So persecution is a hard law in North America.
This is Canada. This isn’t your home. And anyway, these ministers were getting together in a special conference.
Trying to solve this. Like, what’s going on? They read written sermons.
They don’t come up and just open the Bible and read from the Bible.
I read some written sermons passed down for many years. Some of them quite good, actually.
The sermon that that minister who interrogated that young lady, my wife, Guess which sermon he has to read that day.
[23:28] It is finished.
And he opened the Bible in front of them all, or at least his sermon book, and he read, it is finished.
You know what he did? He got so mad. They’re not like, uh, charismatic or, you know, bombastic creatures, they’re quite dry.
But he picked up his little sermon book and he slammed it down.
It most certainly is not!
[24:03] See, this is the—these three words stand, shine against every form of religion.
There’s nothing Islam could help a person with.
There’s nothing Buddhism. There’s nothing, even different forms of Christianity.
No, my dear friend, it is Christian. Praise God.
The work for saving a person was fully done. There is nothing we can do.
We are completely without strength.
We are utterly helpless. There is nothing we can add.
It’s the most complicated problem. And the reason the gospel is simple, is because God took all the complexity on himself.
There’s no complexity left for a human being. It’s the most complicated problem, but he took it all the complexity on himself.
Son. You know as a free gift he offers to everyone in this tent tonight, everyone on Zoom, anyone who can hear my voice tonight. It is finished. That man left and said, it most certainly is not. I wonder how will you leave tonight even as you hear the gospel continue. Is it finished?
Or is it most certainly?
[25:27] An absolutely thrilling message and I’m sure I’m going to be in heaven because I’m working hard at it. No!
What you just heard, it is finished. It was all done 2,000 years ago.
[25:45] And I just, along with others here tonight, rested on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that made the eternal connection between me and God through the Lord Jesus, Christ. What about you? Are you still working at it? I sat as an honorary pallbearer quite a few years ago now and it was a distinguished person died in our little town that needed to be an honorary person in a little village like we live in. So, but beside me was a millionaire, and well-known in the community, and he was an honorary pallbearer, and the premier was there, and everybody was there, and he looked up at the wall, and he nudged me to Peter.
He said, I made that cross up there, and I donated it to the church.
It was beautiful. I think it’s probably bird’s eye maple or something.
I don’t know, but I got the distinct impression that he thought that by making a cross and donating it to the church, that he was adding his little 1%.
[26:59] But Jesus didn’t say it’s 99% done. Then you must do your 1%.
It is finished. I love those words. Now we’re going to open our Bible to John chapter 14.
John 14, the words of the Lord Jesus.
[27:19] And we’re just going to read the first four verses. It was just before the Lord Jesus went to the cross.
And he was meeting with a few of his disciples.
And he said, Let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
And where I am going you know, and the way you know, and so on.
The Lord Jesus was speaking about a place that is where I’m going in the future.
Heaven.
And you may call it by a different name, but I’m just talking about a place where the Lord Jesus is, heaven.
Let’s look at another verse. Over in Revelation 21, the last book in the Bible.
[28:34] And some of the theologians here, they can debate whether this is New Jerusalem or heaven.
Of this we can be sure the Father’s house, Heaven will not be any less than all the best of all the other places put together.
Revelation 21 verse four says, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
And there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away.
Well, there are other places that we could read about. I’m just gonna stop there.
I want to close this little gospel service to speak about Kevin.
That’s a pretty nice topic, Kevin.
[29:18] Some of you are old enough to remember, you’re dating yourself if you say, if I say you’re not in your head, a lady by the name of Barbara Walters, she’s 92. I just looked it up while I was sitting down there. I wanted to make sure I was right.
She was a famous journalist in her day and she pushed a lot of boundaries and went through some glass ceilings to be Barbara Walters.
She interviewed kings and queens, she interviewed terrorists, she interviewed popes, she interviewed like she there’s hardly anyone that we know about in history in our generation that she didn’t interview.
And she said, Barbara Walter said, the most important journalistic assignment that I ever had over all those years was my assignment on heaven.
[30:14] And she would go to the banquet in DC and she would get up from the table and push herself back very politely.
And she would tap on a person’s shoulder and say, excuse me, what do you think of heaven?
And she did that for quite a period of months, asking people about heaven.
She said it was fascinating. But this is what touched my heart.
She said, it must be enormously comforting 13, to know you’re going to be in heaven.
And then she said she didn’t know that. But she said of all the journalistic assignments, the one she did in heaven was the one that she considered her most important assignment.
Let me ask you, where will you be 100 years from now?
July 21-22. Not 2022. You may think you know where you’re going to be next week, but where will you be.
[31:28] 21-22? That’s what I want you to answer. In your heart, where will you be? I’m going to keep You know what the question is.
Where will I be in 2122?
We’re all going to be somewhere, aren’t we?
And you heard about it last night. One of the options, there are only two places. And last night, Brother Joseph spoke on hell. That’s one eternal destiny.
But I want to end tonight on a place called heaven.
Home, sweet home. Everybody in this tent tonight, you may not be religious.
You may not have ever appreciated those words. Innocent, you probably didn’t feel it up in your head.
Yes, that’s what I love those three words, innocent. You just sat there and it was sort of an empty ring to it all.
But yet, when your time comes soon, the house is gone, you really hope you’ll be in heaven?
You’ve got your fingers crossed, hoping that you’ll squeak through those, they call them the pearly gates?
[32:54] But are you sure tonight where you’re going to be in 2122?
I’m sure, nodding down in my mind.
Oh, you say that’s presumptuous. Who do you think you are? Are all Canadians like that?
No, they’re not. I wish they were.
I wish every Canadian was sure of heaven.
I’m not sure I’m going to heaven because I go to a certain church.
And I’m not sure I’m going to be in heaven because I’m working hard at this and I do this in the evenings, and I’m not sure I’m going to heaven because I try not to swear, and I try not to gamble, and I try to live a morally clean life.
That’s not why I’m sure I’m going to heaven.
It has absolutely nothing to do with me.
It has everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[33:54] What about you? Are you sure? You? Now, this isn’t a lecture where you just say, okay, go on to your next point now. No, we want you to think about this. Ask yourself this question.
I was going to put it, are you sure? Do you know where you will be? What about maybe if you’re reading it and I put the I in it? And as you read it, you’ll think, where will I be? I hope I’m I’m going to be in heaven, but do I know for sure?
The Bible says, these things I have written to you that you may know, not hope so, that you have eternal life.
Well, I don’t know whether, when I speak about home, heaven is my home, maybe you’re not, you have bad memories of home maybe.
I’ve encountered a lot of people, and they don’t find anything comforting without the thought of being in an eternal home, because all they have in their memories is a broken home and a abusive home, a home where they were mistreated.
[35:02] I remember a young man saying to me, he wanted to be saved and I went into his home and he was on the floor in his living room and he had his Bibles open, different translations of the Bible, really want to be saved and then he said, but Peter, what about my dad?
[35:25] And I said to him, everything your earthly father failed to be.
When you come to know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your heavenly father will be everything you ever wanted an earthly father to be, and infinitely more.
So don’t compare the heavenly home to anything miserable that you’ve experienced and the wounds of life.
They’re very real hurts. But we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and assure you, whatever your home environment was like down here, if you know Christ as your Savior, you can look forward to an eternal home where there’s none of that. So, the destination. Home is a real destination.
Only one of two places. There’s no in-between place. I know some places teach that there’s an in-between place, and I’ve been reading my Bible for, um, yeah, five decades, and, I’ve never read about an in-between place where people go. I’ve never read about purgatory.
[36:47] So the real Every healthy minded clear-thinking person wants to end up in heaven even if they think you know with all the guys They said I don’t even believe that crash, Well, it’s pretty brave talk, right?
But when it comes down to This one someone’s hovering between life and death. They want to go to heaven. They want to be in heaven, Do you want to be in heaven?
Could you tell us out there over a bottle of water or eating some sweets, I think we even have some coffee made for some of you coffee drinkers, could you say, come up to me and say, look it, Peter, there’s not a doubt in my mind, I will be in heaven.
[37:33] I’d love to hear from you. Well, heaven, I don’t know how you want to characterize it, a magnificent kingdom, a real place, it’s not restricted by the normal boundaries of time and space, but it is very real, heaven. The Lord Jesus spoke about it. There are other references to this wonderful place throughout the Word of God. It can be seen, it can be touched, experienced, occupied by beings with physical bodies. The Lord Jesus is in heaven. And he went back to heaven from the cross with a body, a glorified body. He’s there, in a body. The Bible uses a number of metaphors to talk about the character of heaven. Hebrews 11 refers to it as a country.
When you think of a country, you just think of a vast country. And in another place you read it called a city. Well that just means it’s filled with inhabitants. I’m going to be there? I’m going to be one of the inhabitants in that city. But will you be there?
[38:48] Will you be there? Where will you be in 21-22? Another place Matthew 14 is referred to as the kingdom. That just means perfect rule. Years ago we had a prime minister in Canada and he was going to bring in perfect rule to our nation. And he didn’t quite achieve what he set out to achieve. But the kingdom that we’re talking about, it’s marked by orderliness and perfect Justice, the rule, paradise, Luke 23.
Jesus said, today you’ll be with me in paradise, a place of beauty.
So as I said, there are a number of figures that speak where it’s mentioned.
I like this one that we read in John 14, my father’s house.
Something warm about that, isn’t there? My father’s house, my father’s house.
That’s where I’m going to be. Jesus said, my father’s house.
[39:51] Warmth, acceptance. And I think about father’s house.
I don’t know what you think about what heaven is like. It’d be interesting to do a little survey, do a Barbara Walters study of what people think heaven is going to be like.
But I think sometimes you think it’s like a cold, gold house, those big walls and you echoing corridors corridors and you say, hello! It echoes down these big corridors. Cold. It’s not a cold, cold palace at all. Not like an institution. I’ve talked to young people and they’re not excited about heaven. They say that’s for these people, that age. People with white, hair, they can get excited about heaven, but not me. You know why? I think they think it’s It’s like a nursing home.
It’s not a nursing home. Man, if you think people are alive on planet Earth, wait till you see what it’s like in heaven.
Really alive.
We’re not all gonna be there in a big easy voice and people bringing their crocheting up and doing their knitting and then singing one song after another, the eternal hymn sing.
No, I go to a hymn sing. I’m happy with singing five, six, 10 songs.
[41:15] So, in heaven, I wish I could just whet your appetite. I couldn’t do it justice.
Let me tell you what’s not there. There’s no sin up there. There’s no suffering up there.
There’s no anger. You can start in the alphabet and go all the way to your Z.
There’s no anger. There are no aches. There are no bruises. There is no brokenness.
There’s no cancer. There are no cemeteries in heaven.
No disease, no cancer, no darkness or light.
[41:59] No evil, no evil, no emptiness, no friction, no fighting or feuding.
B, I’m not going to go, but you can do the rest of the exercise at home, but it’s not there, but it’s easier to tell you what’s not there.
Because to tell you what heaven will really be like, and all its beauty and magnificence, as we gather around the lovely person of Jesus Christ.
Who could ever put that into human words? We could never be able to articulate what heaven will really be like, a place of light, warmth, acceptance, tranquility, peace, security, the list goes on and on.
[42:58] What else can I tell you about heaven? I said it’s not a place of eternal rest.
We’ll be very much alive, and we’re not going to be like zombies or witchy ghosts floating around with this, you know, nothing like that, nothing like that in heaven.
And I’ve already told you it’s not going to be like a celestial nursing home or an eternal hymn singing.
It’s not going to be boring. Let me tell you, heaven isn’t going to be boring, you young people.
Not boring in the least.
You know why, one of the reasons I know that? Because this God who made the universe, do you think heaven is gonna be any less than the thrilling aspects of our tremendous universe?
That which holds adventurous astronomers, scientists, explorers, spellbound, to give their lives to studying God’s incredible creation.
That’s spoken by sin.
[44:11] Do you think it’s going to be anything less than what we already see down here?
Oh, it’s going to be infinitely more. It’s hard to imagine what it is going to be like. I’ve watched the old Planet Earth series, and maybe you have too, and there’s a new one out. It’s sort of on the same line, and one of your former presidents, President Obama, is a narrator, and I just saw one of those, and it’s breathtaking. You’ve just been here in our broken little planet.
What ever will happen. Do you think God is boring? Creative? That’s where we get our creativity from. He put it in us. Creative. There’s no one more creative, infinitely creative.
[44:54] Than the God of the universe. The God of energy, light, and dynamism. It’s a real destination.
You going? Do you want to go there? Is that the place where you want to be? Heaven, you.
[45:09] Say. What are the qualifications for heaven? It’s a destination I know, but have you ever gotten excited about going to an exotic location and it just seems like it’s all coming together?
I don’t know what it is for you, Hawaii or safari in some distant land, and then it all falls through. You look at the bottom line, the price, you can’t swing it. You can’t handle it at this stage in life. You got excited about going somewhere and then you get that.
[45:40] Sneaking feeling, but I’ll never get there. Well, I’ve had a few of those experiences in my life. And we get all excited. We thought our dad and mom were taking us to Florida one year. It never happened. Never. But I’m going to be in heaven. Not because I had the cash to pay my way there, but just as you’ve been hearing there’s someone who paid my sin debt in full, that it is finished. Paid it all. And I’m going to be there because of Lord Jesus. Revelation 5 says, redeem to God by the blood of Christ. That’s why I’m going to be there. Sinners saved by grace, sins all forgiven. A Christian is not a professor. People say, I profess to be saved. A Christian is not a professor.
[46:41] A Christian is a possessor. I remember the night when I became a possessor of eternal life.
Do you remember the day, the night, the evening, the afternoon, the week, the year?
Some people say I’ve really got a bad memory.
[47:02] Something as wonderful as this tremendous transaction, and unless you’re afflicted with hardening of the arteries or advanced Alzheimer’s, I think you’re going to remember, that I remember when I first fell in love with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I became a possessor of eternal life.
People talk about the gates, there used to be jokes, I don’t know if they still tell jokes about, it’s faith that you’re standing at the pearly gates.
He won’t be standing at the pearly gates asking me questions.
On what basis do you come into the pearly beach?
But Sandy, what’s there? And he said, Peter from Prince Edward Island, on what basis should you come into heaven?
What’s your, do you have your passport there?
I’d say yes.
He just died for, come on in. Oh, the password to heaven is Jesus died for me.
Why sin?
Enter. Well, there’s been so many who have entered. You need to qualify.
[48:16] Think you’re gonna be in heaven?
Who’s up there? Who’s in the congregation in heaven? Believers of all ages.
Believers of all ages.
Before Christ, since Christ, we’re gonna be united in worship.
You know there will be mums and dads up there without a son. The sun never comes.
There will be sons and daughters up there, and their mum won’t be there.
You know why? Because mom never trusted Christ as her savior.
[48:56] There’ll be people up there we never expected to see. We didn’t know they were Christians.
And there will be people, not up there that we expected to see.
[49:14] Are you sure? Are you sure where you’re going to be in 21, 22?
When we’re reaching in heaven, John Newton, who wrote amazing grace, he said, when I reach heaven, I wrote this down, I expect to find three wonders.
To meet some I had not thought to see there, to miss some I had expected to see there, and the greatest wonder of all is to find myself there.
That’s the wonder that thrilled my soul, that I, a little pipsqueak from PKI, Canada, out in the Atlantic Ocean almost, I’m gonna be there.
Are you?
I told you what the occupation of heaven is going to be already.
We’re gonna be worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ. I can’t imagine what it’s gonna be like when I see him first time.
I’ve only seen him by the eye of faith. I’ve read about him, but my physical eyes have never seen him.
And so I have no idea how I’ll respond. I wonder sometimes, will I just fall out of his seat?
Will I wrap my arms around him?
I don’t know, but I know one thing for all eternal ages. I will say because of you, because you died on the cross for my sins, because you finished the work.
That’s why I’m here. I owe everything to Jesus Christ. Well, closing with this.
[50:43] You make your reservation? Is your reservation made? Are you booked through?
We talked about it’s a destination, qualifications, who’s up there, the congregation, what we’re going to be doing up there, serving and fellowshiping and worshiping, but the reservation.
And you said, Peter, my reservation is booked right straight straight through to heaven. I I don’t have a little interim place where I need to purge for my sins.
Sometime between death and when I get to heaven. No, nothing like that.
I’m booked through my path or to the realms of bliss if Jesus dies for me.
Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if you’re not there?
Where will you be 100 years from tonight? God wants you to be with Him.
But in a crowd this size, there’s a very good chance that at least one person will not be with you.
Will not be. Don’t let that one person, we don’t want anyone, but don’t let it be you.
You look after your own soul.
Get away with God tonight. Be safe.
Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Joseph Baker.
https://media.jjministry.org/2022Tent20220711.m4a[0:01] So we’re going to read in the New Testament, we’re going to read in Acts chapter 13. And while you’re looking that up, I’m going to talk about the Lord Jesus. I suspect everybody listening this evening has heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. Celebrate his Christmas. Others celebrate Easter. But we’re not talking about Christmas or Easter, but we’re thankful that he came and he was born, and we’re thankful that he died and he was buried and he raised again. But tonight our question to you is very personal. If you know about Jesus, Why haven’t you personally accepted him? Why is he still outside your life? Some people accept their church or accept things going on and they conform to all the different rituals of the church, but yet they draw a blank when you say, do you have a moment in your life, when you trust with Christ as your Savior? I have a moment like that. It was in an attic bedroom. No one was coaching me, say a certain prayer.
[1:17] I’ll just put your mind at ease tonight. We’re not gonna ask you to come up to the front, and you don’t have to shed tears and we’re not gonna ask you to quote anything. You can just relax and listen to the word of God. But I was in my attic bedroom as a young boy, just starting out in my teen years. And I discovered that I was a sinner and Christ died for my sins. And you can tell as I have friends back East and they call me a fossil. I think it has something to do with the color of my hair. But all those years, since my teenage years, through my 20s and my 30s and my 40s and my 50s, and yes, I’m definitely well into my 60s, I have known Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I highly recommend him to you. But why haven’t you accepted him? I’m gonna put a little sign up here. I printed it off. We’re gonna talk about this man, Jesus. And this is what I want you to think about for the opening part of the meeting is, what is wrong with this man? Like, why haven’t you? You know the Jesus story.
[2:31] So what is wrong with him? Why haven’t you just, why wouldn’t you just tonight, oh you say I didn’t intend to make any consequential major decision this evening, but why not? If you know about the Lord Jesus, who he is, what he accomplished, why wouldn’t you want to walk back out into that parking lot knowing Christ as your personal Savior? So what is wrong with this man is the question that I want you to think about. What is wrong with this man Jesus. The background to where we’re going to read in Acts chapter 13, the apostle Paul, he was, no one was always a Christian. The apostle Paul, some of you are older, old enough to remember a man by the name of Osama bin Laden. The apostle Paul was the Osama bin Laden of his day. Way, he was out to put to death every Christian, everyone who named the name of Jesus.
[3:31] That was the trajectory of life that he was on, to wipe out Christianity, until he found out that the very one that he was rejecting and so vehemently opposed to was the one who who loved him and died for his sins on the cross, and on a road one day, this man Paul embraced Christ as his savior. And so he’s in a synagogue on a Saturday in the city of Antioch. He had just been to Cyprus, like that’s in the Mediterranean, Cyprus. It’s his first missionary trip. Like what I like about, one of the things I like about the Bible, it’s not fantasy.
[4:16] You can visit Cyprus today. I have a second cousin who works in Cyprus. And when you open your Bible and you read about Paul visiting Cyprus, these are AD 48 real places, modern day Turkey, GPS coordinates. These are not fantasies. Not like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia or Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. I was in a store today and they said, so what’s your name? Peter, oh, it’s Peter Pan. No, and it’s not Peter Pan’s Neverland. No, and it’s not the Hobbit’s Middle Earth or Jurassic Park. These are real places. The Bible is the word of God and definite historical facts. They don’t dismiss it. And so he’s in a synagogue in this place in the city of Antioch, and someone read from the scriptures and then they invited Paul to speak.
[5:14] And he stood up, and he motioned with his hands, and he asked those who feared God to listen very carefully, we hope you’re listening tonight, we’re so glad you’re here. You could have been a lot of other places, but you’re here. Thank God you are here. Carefully and as we heard last night, think. About what the Bible is saying. And so the Apostle Paul, he’s reviewing their history and God’s dealings with the people. And then he presented the credentials and the claims of Jesus, who ended up being rejected and crucified. And then he made a crucial point, and that’s where we’re going to pick up our reading. Acts chapter 13, 29, 30, it says, They took him down from the cross, and they put him in a tomb, verse 30, but God raised him, that’s Jesus from the dead, and here is the verse I want you to think about. Verse 38, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, that’s why I wanted you to think about this question. What do I have against this man? What is wrong with this man? Paul said, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, what better message would there be? Like you must acknowledge that you’ve had sin in your path.
[6:35] Maybe even today, you experienced some road rage. You were first off mad at the red light being so long. And then the people ahead of you being so pokey. And you just, whoa, you restrained yourself. You didn’t blast the horn or anything, but it was inside you a little bit of a rage, Oh, that’s a sin. Anger, that kind of stuff.
[6:58] And to think that every one of your sins can be forgiven through this man? That’s what Paul is saying. Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe, not most that believe, all that believe are justified from all things, are made right with God in every way from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Here’s what I want you to think about.
[7:24] The greatest three years in human history, the darkest three hours of any day in history, and the longest three days of any time in history.
[7:40] The greatest three years in human history, I don’t know if you’re a student of history, I can’t say that I really was, and I can’t say that I am, but I guess it depends on where your interests there and how you define the best three years in human history. In the empire-building age, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, some may think the British Victorian period was the greatest age when England expanded its empire. Some are very opposed to that thought as well. Or it could be when it comes to intellectual ingenuity, it could be all the inventions, you know the early civilizations, they were really advanced. Sometimes we portray them as just somewhat inferior intellectually than we are ourselves in 2022. Like we are head and shoulders above them we sometimes think, but those ancient civilizations were extremely advanced.
[9:01] Maybe you think it’s, if you’re into culture, maybe you think it’s a renaissance period, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th century, art, music, literature, all of those things, the Industrial Revolution. But I want you to think about this. The greatest three years in human history, a Roman emperor was ruling, Tiberius Caesar, he was reigning, and late in the summer of AD 26, A young man, 30 years of age, stepped out onto the stage in the public limelight at a river called Jordan. I was telling somebody the other day, my wife and I visited the Jordan River. We felt the wetness of that river and the muddiness of that river. This young man was about 30 years old, and he emerged on the public stage.
[9:54] His name was Jesus, and from his baptism in the River Jordan until his ascension back into heaven, I don’t think anyone could dispute the fact those were the three most momentous years in human history. Just think of his ways, that young man, Jesus, so different from all the significant religious leaders that you’ve seen some today, and they dressed in robes. Now, we’re sort of not dressed up in a hot summer evening, but we know how to dress up, too. We can get our big, heavy-duty suit coats on and—but back in the day, the religious leaders, they were dressed in their robes and their sashes and their turbans and their scarves and their colors—nothing wrong with a little bit of ritual. But out onto the stage emerges this 30-year-old man wearing sandals. Just the way the commoners would be dressed. No special clothes. No halo around his head.
[11:00] He wasn’t carried in a little special eunuch designed just for a significant religious leader. He didn’t have an entourage of people running before him, playing the trumpets and going like this. No, just up and down the dusty roads of Israel.
[11:19] This lovely man, Jesus, went. His ways were so different. He reached out to the people. He shunned no one. If someone was feeling introverted or isolated or marginalized by society, there was something about his holy heart, compassion, and heart, and he gravitated to that. He reached him out in the audience, and he crossed him, and he changed their lives. He put a smiling face on them and gave them peace in their heart. The ones who were written off by others, oh, his ways were absolutely unique. His wonders and his works. He was able to heal what no doctor could heal. He proved that he was God in human flesh. He turned water to wine. He calmed the angry seas. He fed thousands from a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Absolutely amazing. I think people had a jaw-dropping experience, a whoa experience every day they followed him.
[12:32] I thought yesterday, nothing could be better than yesterday. But then today, they’re back out in the fields and up on the mountainside because they’ve traveled all over the countryside just to see him. They closed their shops, they brought their children and they held their children up. They said, can you hold my child? and he would lift them out of his arms and hold them, sit them on their knees. Years ago, President Putin of Russia, you perhaps recognize that name, he was the photo op, and he was trying to show that he’s just a lovely ruler over there and everybody loves him. And perhaps you saw the picture circulating where he was just going to pick up a child and he sort of picked up the child and the child was terrifyingly frightened. It was a really lousy photo of someone reaching out to a child, but the Lord Jesus, for some reason, parents brought their kids to him. And he turned them not away, not one. And my friend, he wouldn’t turn you in. You prayed to come. Maybe you’ve been disappointed by others. Maybe some have let you down. You’ve had a good friendship, and then you all of a sudden were rejected for some reason. Let me commend the Lord Jesus Christ to you. His ways, his works, his wonders, absolutely amazing. You know, Einstein.
[14:00] He was asked if she accepted the historical existence of Jesus. You know what Einstein said? Now I got this out of his very recognized thick biography of the life of Albert Einstein. So this is not out of People magazine, some hearsay or something like that. This is an authoritative summary of Albert Einstein’s life.
[14:35] On page 386 of that book, New York Times bestseller, when they asked him, do you believe in the existence of Jesus, his response couldn’t be clearer. He said unquestionably, exclamation mark. He said no one can read the four Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. He said his personality pulsates in every word. Have you read the Gospels lately? Have you opened your Bible and read the Gospel of John? I know people who didn’t know much about the Bible and they were reading the Gospel of John. We have the Gospel of John at the back table. I’ll take one home with you. It’s powerful. It’s the Word of God. It’s a portion of the Word of God. And people were reading that, trust to Christ, their lives were transformed. He said, his personality pulsates in every word. He said, no myth is filled with such a life. Not a myth, he said. But with all his brains, he was not ready to accept Him. There’s no record of him accepting Christ as his Lord. And his savior, but he didn’t deny that Jesus existed.
[15:55] I don’t know what he had against that man, Jesus. What do you have against him? Why are you not just rejoicing tonight in Christ? Why are you keeping him out of your life? You know about him? Perhaps you went to catechism or Sunday school and you read about him, you heard about him. Maybe you did a Christmas play at Christmas time and maybe you were Mary or maybe you were Joseph in the play. You know all those facts, and yet, on this night in July, you’ve never accepted him as your savior. What’s wrong with Jesus? Why not? His words, oh, if you look at his words, truth and grace. John 7, verse 37 says, here’s what Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, maybe you’re thirsty tonight, you’ve tried this. You ever get one of those smoothies or a fresh cold, drink or a milkshake, and it’s so good you’ve got the straw I’ll point it right to the bottom.
[17:06] And you’re sucking it up, and you get right down to the last thing, and then you tilt the little glass cup right to that corner. There’s a little bit more left. Then it’s empty. Look, there are Christians here older than me, and they have never thirsted. Once Christ, they met Christ, they have never thirsted again. There’s no emptiness with Christ. He keeps you, your thirst quenched. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. John 8 and 36, Jesus said, think of these are his words. If the Son shall make you free, that’s the Son of God shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Well, there are a lot of words and I’m not gonna go over them, but those, I believe those three years were the most outstanding years in human history. His ways, his works, his wonders. What touched me last night as I was thinking about this, His world was so big.
[18:16] Look, you have your little family and your extended family, and like around Wyckoff and Midland Park, and all the world that the Lord Jesus came to save. He embraces every culture, every nationality, every type and stripe of sin. His world is so large, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”.
[18:50] The greatest three years in human history. What were the darkest hours, the three darkest hours of any day in history? Well, this entire day was dark. Jesus had been arrested. In Matthew chapter 27, we read these words. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. From twelve o’clock noon to three o’clock, pitch black over Jerusalem. So physically it was dark, but oh spiritually it was dark. You know what was happening when the Lord Jesus hung on that cross? I can’t explain in my simple little mind, but all I know is that the vast load of all all sins of all people of all ages. Now God had a way, of accumulating all the load.
[19:54] And Jesus, I love Him, He was my substitute. He died for my place. I was the one who committed sin. I was the one who should have been punished for my sin. But when I look to the cross, I think of that lovely one in those hours upon the cross. Oh, the darkness of that experience. God punished Jesus.
[20:22] Punished, judged, whatever word you want to use, Christ Jesus paid the penalty in full for all our sins. And he dealt with the sin problem on the cross, those hours of darkness. Corinthians 5 says, God made him, Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. I don’t know how people can use Jesus’ name in blasphemy. I don’t know when they’re in a rage why they say, Jesus Christ. He’s the one who loved you and went to the cross and shed his precious blood, died for your sins and for my sins. How can anyone ever shake a fist at God and say he’s not a loving God, he’s a cruel monster? Oh, the cruel monster is Thank you.
[21:32] Thank you. God wants to save you out of that sin, and He wants you to be with Him forever. That’s a wonderful message that you’re going to hear more about as Joseph comes up. But here’s how Isaiah puts it. 750 years before Jesus Christ actually came and before He died, here’s what Isaiah wrote. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him, that’s Jesus, the iniquity or the sin of us all. Righteous? See why we love him? Why we sing? You say, well, the singing wasn’t your, you sort of exaggerated the quality of the singing. Maybe. It’s not to say it was hard to go, right?
[22:26] But you see why we sing, love lifted me. But at the end, I get my wife, I don’t go to the dollar store to buy a Valentine’s card. You know, like you can get them quite reasonably priced there. Oh, I invested all in our card. And if the local grocery store has red roses or pink roses marked down, I’ll get a whole dozen. And then she’ll say, you shouldn’t have wasted our money on them. That’s my big statement of love, right?
[23:00] God didn’t send a Hallmark card and say, I love you folks down there in Whitehawk, Midland Park. God said, I’m going beyond the Hallmark card. I’m going to give my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on a cross. He’ll be your savior if you’ll trust him. What do you have against this man that tonight, while Joseph speaks, why you wouldn’t trust him, that I will have this man to be my savior. But what were the three longest days of any time in history? The people who loved the Lord Jesus, when they saw him take his last breath and he was dead on the cross, they thought it’s all over. All over. They went home weeping, sad, brokenhearted. All the rest of Friday, all of Saturday, and they woke up Sunday morning the third day and they were just all so blue. What will our life be like without Christ? We loved Him. And they went to the tomb that morning.
[24:11] And the stone was rolled away and they looked in and someone says, He’s not here. He is And tonight, as you listen to the gospel, we’re not talking about a defeated Lord Jesus Christ. We’re not talking about a one that went down to defeat on the cross. We present to you one who accomplished exactly what he came to do. Christ died for our sins. He was buried and he was raised again the third day, according to the scriptures. It through this man preached unto you the forgiveness of all your sins. I’d like to read in the book of Hebrews, please. Hebrews in chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And we’ll just read at verse 11.
[25:10] Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, is what you have just heard. And the verses I want to read tonight say something else about this man. Hebrews 10 and verse 11, every priest stands daily ministering and offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down, right hand of God. I just noticed what it says about the same man, the Lord Jesus that you’ve already heard about tonight. It says in contrast to others who have tried to do something for sin. That could never, it says they could never do it, never take away sin. In contrast, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down, right hand of God. And we’re gonna talk about that verse tonight, but one other verse in the book of Romans, book of Romans in chapter three. Romans chapter 3, and we’ll break in at verse 22.
[26:17] At the end of verse 22. Romans 3 at the end of verse 22 says, for there is no difference, for all have sinned. Short. Glory. Yeah. Last night I said, for those of you who are here, and if you haven’t been here, I’ll just take a second to repeat it, that I’ve been looking at the word awesome. Used sometimes to describe how somebody’s feeling, or how they did on a test, or how good a sandwich was, I said last night. But really the word means something that provokes awe, or inspires awe. Something truly awe-causing, awe-inspiring. And I was making the point that the gospel is awesome, And for this reason, the reason the gospel causes awe, number one, we learned last night, is because when you listen to the gospel, not just here, not just under this tent, not just necessarily put on by this church, anytime anyone stands up and opens the Bible and clearly faithfully preaches what the Bible says, you’re hearing the voice of God. God is speaking through that person. You are hearing God speak. And that in itself, you just take a moment. We’re all together, I know, and thinking about a million different things. But you take a moment to think about that. But as I sit in this tent, listening to God, that is awesome.
[27:40] But today, I want to look at another thing, and something I was thinking about back home, where I come from, and that’s that when you listen to the gospel specifically, you’re faced with a standard that you don’t really think about out in the world. You think about different kinds of standards that you use maybe for hanging something up or certain standards to get into a specific university, maybe you need a 3.8 or something like that, test score standards. But there’s a standard that you hear about when you come to listen to the gospel. It’s described in this verse in Romans chapter three. It doesn’t just say that all have sinned. Sometimes that’s where we stop and we point the finger and we say, listen, all of us are in the same boat and the verse does say that. We’re gonna talk about that. But it gives us amazing standards. Something we don’t really think about in our lives. It says all have sinned. There’s no difference. of sin, and come short.
[28:35] The glory of God. The glory of God. Awesome. It is a standard that the Bible says we’ve all missed. And as you just start to think, what does that mean? If I asked you after this meeting, and I won’t, so don’t worry, but if I asked you, what is the glory of God? Describe it for me. I don’t know what that is. What would you say? How would you describe the glory of God? How would you describe, like you and I, on a bright sunny day, we can hardly even look straight at the sun. Imagine looking at the one who gave the sun its life. Imagine the glory of God and what that must be like. And the Bible says and gives us this standard that truly is awe-inspiring, that this is the standard for heaven. This is the standard for how you and I were intended to function as human beings. That we were made by God in His image and we were intended to function in and for the glory of God. What does that mean and what does that look like? And I wanna try to explain it here tonight in just a few simple ways for the next 20 minutes.
[29:56] I want to talk, first of all, about the standard that has been missed. Standard that has been missed. Secondly, about the sin that must be punished, according to these verses. Thirdly, satisfaction that has been made. That’s what we read in Hebrews chapter 10. But this man. My dude, work for that verse or work for that concept in the Bible. There’ll be no meeting here tonight. Listen, if it weren’t for this man, there’d be no gospel meeting. No good news meeting. There’s no gospel without Christ. Satisfaction that has been made. And we’ll close the meeting just with those three points.
[30:34] A standard that has been missed. The word sin, if you’re not familiar with it, we’ve used it already in this meeting. The word sin simply, in its original language, the Greek word, as the Bible was originally put it, the word means to miss the mark. It was used sometimes in other situations outside of the Bible, when, say, they would go and they would try to recruit people into the army, and it was back in the days of hand-to-hand combat. So you know what all the people wanted to do when you’d go into the city and enlist people, and say you were drafted to fight for whichever empire, say the Roman Empire. All of a sudden, everyone would volunteer to be an archer. Why? Because no hand-to-hand combat. To get to stand far back and pull back the bow and strike people from a distance, less risk. It was amazing how many archers were in every city. And so what the generals decided to do with all this plethora of skilled archers and no one who could use a sword.
[31:35] The general decided to have triumph. They put a target out and one by one all the skilled archers who are very good at using the bow but couldn’t use a sword, they were asked to draw back the bow and fire. And if they missed the target, this Greek word would be called out, hamarkano, the little lieutenant would say, which means, sin, miss, miss the target. And you know what the Apostle Paul is doing here in Romans chapter 3? He’s saying there was a target for how every single one of us were as intended to live. The glory of God!
[32:15] Without exception in this temple, all of them, every girl, every boy, every man and woman, has missed the mark. All have sinned, according to the Bible, and fallen short. Glory of God. That’s the standard. Again, I will echo what you’ve already heard tonight. Sometimes when you come to a meeting like this, I know there are people and they leave very upset because they, they think, well, those people in that particular church, they think everyone else is sinners except them. Now, listen, I’m just a sinner saved by grace. Understand that? It’s all I am. More than that, when we talk about the standard of God, it’s not the standard of any church. It’s not the standard of any creed. It’s not the standard of any influential person in history, any normal person. This is the standard of God. Steve, I were to take somebody, I were to find, if I could, the most admirable person in this tent and bring them up, and I’m not gonna do this, but if I were to ask you all to stand, and I were to list the admirable characteristics and the things this person does and doesn’t do, likely a number of us would be left standing. We haven’t missed his mark or her mark. We’ve lived life about the same!
[33:42] All of us have missed the glory of God. There’s not one person left standing. The Apostle Paul, you’ve already heard a little bit about him. The Osama bin Laden as he was described of that day. Saul of Tarsus. You know, he lived such a righteous life that he said, I wouldn’t even know I had sin. Thus the Bible says, Thou shalt not covet.
[34:09] Covetousness, wanting something that’s not yours. lusting after something that you don’t have. That made Paul, Saul, sit down, it crushed him, the law. And if you were to go to the 10 commandments today and read them, all of us have missed that mark. Whether it’s thou shalt not lie, swearing, lusting, coveting, theft, missed the mark. I should just say, it’s not my subject tonight, But the law, the Bible, the law in the Bible, it’s like a thermometer. When you stick it in and you find out whether you’re doing well or not doing so well. Have you kept them all or have you not? Every one of us, if we stick the 10 commandments in, we’ll all find out we come out the same. We’re sick, sick of sin. You know what you don’t do? You don’t swallow the thermometer to get better. Nobody does that. Nobody got better from COVID by swallowing a thermometer. It’s not better. I’ve heard some strange ideas, but I’ve never heard that one. No, the thermometer tells you you’re sick, but you don’t swallow it to get better. And you don’t try to follow the law to get better. All it does is tell you, I’m sick of this sinner.
[35:25] So the law is a standard for the glory of God, but more than that, you know what the Bible says about Jesus Christ that you’ve already heard about? It says this. It’s a different expression, we might not fully understand it, but this is what the Bible says about it. He is the brightness, God’s glory. He is the outshining of God’s glory. You know what that means? You want to know what the standard of the glory of God is? Look at Jesus Christ. This is the glory of God. This man, watch him as a boy, as a teenager, as a young man. Watch him move with every motive pure, with never doing anything out of selfish ambition, or never seeking his own praises. Every motive, every action, perfect. This is the standard of the glory of God. I would say this, I would say it authoritatively, not dogmatically or rudely, but I would say it authoritatively. Listen, if Jesus Christ, if this standard was here, there’s not one of us in this town, there’s not one of us in this city or in this world who’s left standing compared to him. Every one of us, according to the Bible, there is no difference. All have sinned. For sure. Glory of God. And so we’re all in the same lot. We’ve all missed the mark. God’s standard.
[36:50] So the standard has been missed. That’s what it means to sin. There’s a must with sin. I want you just to remember that. The must. Not what could happen with sin, or what should happen. It’s what must happen. Sin must be punished. Must be. And this is the must that we find in the Bible. I didn’t read the verse tonight, But it says in the Bible, the soul that sins dies. The wages, what a person has earned for serving sin, death. This is the must. This is what God requires for missing that mark. And sometimes people think, that’s so extreme. But remember, it’s God who he’s sinned against, and it’s God who’s been offended. Let me just give you an illustration. I hope it won’t take away from what we’re saying here tonight, but I want you to imagine this. It, it, it helped me just to think about, imagine if you’re out driving, whether you’re driving or in the car, you’re stopped at a stop sign somewhere in the city and somebody comes up, they’re texting or doing something on their phone and they run through the other stop sign and hit you.
[38:15] And there’s major damage in the vehicle. Thankfully, nobody’s hurt. That made your damage to the vehicle and the guy gets out he’s very apologetic for what he did look at my phone I wasn’t and he agrees to pay all the damages so you take it to your mechanic or your auto body shop and you get a quote and out comes the quote for how much it’s gonna be for everything you, and to get it all back to how it was.
[38:41] There you have that quote, and you take it to the man. Let’s just, for example, let’s just say it’s pretty major damage. Let’s call it six grand, $6,000 to get your car back to how it was, to get the paint and everything back to how it is. Then you take the quote of the expenses and you go to this individual who’s hit you. Just before you tell them how much they’re going to owe to fix everything, imagine if I stepped in and I said to this individual hit you, now listen, I know you meant it, you didn’t mean to do that. I know it was an honest mistake. 200 bucks, say you’re sorry, promise never to text and drive and all’s good. Once you came to your senses of what I had just done, once you understood that this is real life and not Peter Pan, that this guy is just interfering And mentally, in my situation, even if you were the sweetest soul on earth, you know what you would say nicely to me? Sir, mind your business.
[39:52] Quit my car. He’s offended me. He hasn’t offended you. What business do you have interfering as to what would settle and satisfy you? You know who that rude person is? Thank you.
[40:12] God has been offended by sin, and religion says, just confess. Just say you’re sorry. Just pay a little bit. Just pray a little bit. Just promise you’ll never do those things again. Just change your life around, and everything will be fine. God hates religion. I’m talking about religion as I’ve just described it. Religion is meddling. For God is the one who has been offended. God is the one who has been wronged. God is the one who must be satisfied. So it doesn’t really matter what I think about sin. Doesn’t really matter if I think that lying is big or small. What does God think about it? You know what God says about lying? Because it’s an abomination. The lying lip, the lying tongue is an abomination in the sight of God.
[41:06] So to use the little car example, I might think that, yeah, running to somebody, distracted driving is a big offense, but maybe keying somebody’s car, I mean, they could still drive it. Hey, if it was your car, if it was your car that I keyed, it wouldn’t be as simple as, yeah, I could still drive it, no problem, carry on. No, you’ve been offended, you’ve been wronged. And there’s a just requirement that must be met. And so I want you to remember that about sin’s must. We don’t have to wonder what God will do to sin. There’s no such thing as, I know I’ve done some mistakes. I know I’ve messed up, who hasn’t? But I’ve also done a lot of these good things. And I wonder when I get before God, when he weighs the scales out of the sins I’ve done, but all the good things I’ve done, I wonder what the verdict will be. You don’t have to wonder.
[41:58] The sentence has already been leveled for every sinner. It was leveled for me as well. I just found a man who took the sentence. That’s the only difference. But it was leveled for me as well. Do you know what the Bible says about the sentence? It’s death. No one has to wonder, what the verdict will be at final justice. The Bible describes us as condemned already.
[42:20] No mystery. No vagueness. All clear. And the one thing God won’t do, He won’t pass over sin. He won’t just pretend like it didn’t happen. He can’t do that. If He did, that, He would cease to be God. God is holy and just and pure. He won’t pass over any, sin. He just lets certain ones into heaven. Listen, you know how many sins it took to make Earth the way it is today? This one. One sin in a perfect garden. It plunged Earth to where we’re at today. Wars and diseases and inciting, shootings. The list could go on. One sin got into heaven, heaven would cease to be heaven. God will not let that happen. It’s a perfect standard. So the standard has been missed by all of us, every one of us in this tent. I hope there’s no one here who would doubt that. Now I talked to a lady not too long ago in Ontario. She’s a Christian now, a dear believer. Her husband was a bit of a hardy animal and he liked to do all the things, but he had no trouble admitting he was a sinner. Listening to the gospel one day when he learned that sinners actually don’t just die like dogs, but after they die, there’s judgment.
[43:37] He literally shook in the meeting and was saved before the night was over. This lady, religious, good, came to meetings far before her husband did, friendly, couldn’t get past this thing that I am a sinner like him. There’s really no difference, that I’m in the same boat, that God doesn’t have a special class for me. Took her a long time. She was telling me the story of when a preacher came to her home and was talking with her, and he asked her to read this verse. That I want you to read this verse. There is none righteous, no not one. So there is none righteous. Stop. So I just can’t agree that there’s no one who is trying the best they can. There’s no one who is, I’m trying the best I can. They went back and forth for a while, and I guess in a moment of inspiration, the preacher said this, OK, I want you to read it like this. There is none righteous. No, not one. Except Dawn.
[44:48] You read it. There is none righteous, but not one. Dawn. And she was gripped with how proud she had been. That the whole Bible puts everybody in the same boat, but she says, except Dawn. And she couldn’t believe it. And the tears flowed down her face. The sin of pride. That she was exempt from what God said had leveled everyone. I wonder if there’s someone like that here tonight. You say, I’m not a sinner. I hope not. No, the Bible says that compared with the glory of God, we’ve all missed the mark. But thankfully, my last point here is just a few minutes. You’ve already heard about it. Yes, the standard has been missed to the glory of God. Yes, sin must be judged. And if that was the end of the message, that would leave us in an awful situation. We’re just sinners that have missed God’s standard and we all should be judged. And the punishment is death.
[45:45] But, this man, I love that word, that three letter word in the Bible. But, maybe it’s because when I was saved, lying across my bed in an upstairs room, not quite the attic, didn’t make it that far, but upstairs anyway, I didn’t know how to get saved. I put my name in a million verses, it felt like, and nothing didn’t do anything. I was on my knees, and I fell across the bed in my sins. No hope, no way of knowing how it could ever be dealt with. And a verse came into my mind I learned in Sunday school. But he, who did for my sins, but he was trust. And I didn’t have my name in any verse all the time I saw my name in them all. You know what I mean? Maybe you don’t. I opened John 3 16 and I tried to put my name that verse like 10 times that night. I opened it the next morning I didn’t have to put my name. See it. Who’s Joe Hubbard? That’s me. He died for me. Oh, my friend, the gospel is all about this man, and this is what the verse says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever. You know, the Lord Jesus, He was God Himself. He came into our world. He became a man. As you’ve heard, He lived an impeccable, perfect, spotless life. But He did not just come to do miracles. He did not come to start a religion.
[47:14] He did not come to teach just a number of people, although He did many of those things. According to the verse, He came for one specific mission, but this man, when He had offered one sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus came from heaven to go to a cross, deal with sin. That’s why He came. And the standard that we had all missed, when He went to that cross and they nailed Him there. He’s hanging there between two other criminals, but he has no crimes on his record. This brings me great peace, you know, to think of it. The standard that the Lord Jesus was held to was not the standard of any church.
[48:00] It wasn’t the standard of the holiest person who has ever lived on earth. He was held accountable for sin according to the standard of God. That brings me great peace, you know why? Because in my Christian life, when I was saved, there were certain things that I thought were sins. And as I’ve grown in understanding the Bible, I’ve learned that there’s a whole lot more things that are actually sinful.
[48:24] And I wonder to myself, Well, if Christ was held accountable on that cross by what I think is sin, I may wake up one day and realize he wasn’t held accountable to God’s standard. And it brings me great peace, the verse you already heard tonight. The Lord laid on him. The Lord laid on him. It was God who did it. The standard of God. And the Lord laid on him the sin of us all. Wonder of all wonders. Awesome. It pleased the Lord. crushing. And that’s what happened on the cross. Sin, placed on Christ. According to the Bible, God crushed him for sin. He’s there as a sacrifice. It says here, one, sacrifice for sin’s sin. One sacrifice. It’s all that God required. One payment. Sin question had been settled. Claims of sin had been met. What was the claims? The soul that sins must die. Eternal death. Eternal death. That’s what the standard or the claims are. Eternal death. And here he is on the cross as an eternal, infinite being. God himself. He’s taking the full weight of sin on himself. Dies on that cross. And as the verse goes on to say, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Where is he today?
[49:53] He did it at the right hand of God. Again, it’s not complicated. I hope I haven’t made it complicated. It’s God that we have offended. It’s God that has been offended. It’s God that must be satisfied. Christ was held accountable on that cross according to God’s standard. Christ is back in heaven with God because Christ has satisfied God. And do you know what the Bible says, if we were to keep reading in Romans chapter 3? It says that this is what God has done. Taking his own son and everything he did that satisfied him, it says these words, as a propitiation. Whether it’s a whole list of sins, or just a few that have offended your God, take my slide. These are done, not because of anything you’ve done, but what He’s done. See, sin must be judged. I didn’t do any special dance. I didn’t say any special prayer.
[51:07] The reason my sins, I will never be judged for my sins is because Christ was judged for them. That’s the message of the gospel through this man. And so in these two messages tonight, you’ve heard about this man. I will just close with the same question that you were faced with just up here. If he’s done everything for sin, what’s wrong with him? Why not trust him for long? That’ll be great.
Gospel tent meeting with Eugene Higgins. Quality of this recording is poor, and for Joseph Baker who spoke first, it was unusable. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Alcimedes Velasco delivered on May 2, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from John Dennison delivered on April 25, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Andrew Zuidema delivered on April 25, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Dr Bernardo Chirinos and Tom Baker delivered April 11, 2021. SDH-captioned
Jack Jurgens went home to be with his Lord April 7, 2021, after long illness. Jack began recording meetings of the assembly in the cassette tape era. Tapes recorded only a half hour, so a tape had to be flipped mid-message to record an entire hour meeting. Tapes had to be copied, lent out, and […]
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Anderson Hernandez delivered on April 4, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Miguel Castro and Sidney Turkington delivered on March 28, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Daniel Vargas and Alcimedes Velasco, delivered on March 21, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from José Gregorio Yepez and William Turkington, delivered on March 14, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from José Luis Batioja and Jose Brizuela, delivered February 28, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from David T Zuidema, translated by Isaac Harvey, and Samuel Rojas delivered February 21, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from William Turkington and Paul Thiessen delivered February 14, 2021. SDH-captioned
First of three nights of ministry from Dr Sandy Higgins, on the believer and politics and the pandemic, delivered in Midland Park on February 11, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Gilberto Torrens and David Perez delivered on February 7, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Hanan Sequera and Glen Baker delivered on January 31, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Daniel Vargas and Andrew Turkington delivered on January 24, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Ruben Mendoza and Eduardo Thomson delivered January 17, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Héctor Polanco and Willians Alcalá delivered January 10, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Andrew Zuidema and Dr Bernardo Chirinos delivered January 3, 2021. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Stephen Redpath and Samuel Rojas delivered on December 27, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel delivered by Dan Harvey on December 27, 2020. One-and-a-half minutes missing at the seven-and-a-half minute mark. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Larry Sanchez and John Dennison delivered December 20, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Daniel Gonzalez and Kory Crawford delivered December 13, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Thomas and Norman Turkington delivered December 6, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Sidney Turkington and Rubén Mendoza delivered November 29, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Daniel Vargas and Samuel Rojas delivered November 22, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Andrew Zuidema and Andrew Turkington delivered November 15, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from William Ussher and Dr Bernardo Chirinos delivered November 8, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Ryan and Joseph Turkington delivered November 1, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Peter Higgins and Kenneth Turkington delivered October 25, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Isaac Harvey and Adin Sequera delivered October 18, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Daniel Gonzalez and Marcos Sequera delivered October 11, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Andrew Zuidema delivered October 4, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel in Spanish from David Cadenas delivered Sunday, September 6, 2020. SDH-captioned
Online gospel (in Spanish) from Harrys Rodriguez delivered Sunday, August 30, 2020. SDH-captioned
Gospel in Spanish delivered by Anderson Hernandez on Sunday, August 23, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Willians Alcala delivered online on August 16, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Miguel Angel Castro delivered online on August 9, 2020. Closed-captioned
Online gospel from David T Zuidema and Matt Hebert, delivered August 9, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Gregorio Yépez delivered online on August 2, 2020. Closed-captioned
Online gospel from David T Zuidema and Matt Hebert, delivered August 2, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from José Luis Batioja delivered online on July 26, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Glen Baker delivered online on July 18, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Peter Higgins delivered online on July 11, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Andrew Zuidema delivered online on July 4, 2020. Closed-captioned
Some of our listeners may have difficulty hearing or comprehending the messages posted. We are now posting new messages to YouTube, as well as the usual podcast channels. In YouTube they can be listened to with Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH). Those messages with available SDH display a ink to the […]
Gospel message from David Patterson delivered online on June 28, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from Marcus Cain delivered online on June 27, 2020. Closed-captioned
Gospel message (in Spanish) from William Turkington, of Venezuela delivered online on May 23, 2020.
Ministry from Marcus Cain at the midweek meeting on the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17.
David T Zuidema and Eugene Higgins. Download Note, no recording of the eleventh tent meeting.
Panel discussion with Dan Harvey, Dan Shutt, and Clive Barber on spiritual discipline with respect to technology on Sunday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Clive Barber on Sunday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Dan Harvey on Sunday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Sunday School with Dan Harvey on Sunday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Gospel by Clive Barber on Saturday evening of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Panel discussion with Dan Harvey, Dan Shutt, and Clive Barber on the assembly as viewed by the community on Saturday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Dan Shutt on Saturday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Report of service from Clive Barber on Saturday afternoon of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Dan Harvey on Saturday morning of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Dan Shutt on Saturday morning of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Clive Barber on Saturday morning of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Ministry from Dan Shutt on Friday evening of the 2017 Midland Park Conference. Download
Gospel by David T Zuidema and Matt Hebert. (Note, there was no gospel meeting Monday, July 17, as a result of bad weather.) Download
Last of five messages from Phil Coulson on Christ and his church as seen in creation. Download
Fourth of five messages from Phil Coulson on Christ and his church as seen in creation. Download
Third of five messages from Phil Coulson on Christ and his church as seen in creation. Download
Second of five messages from Phil Coulson on Christ and his church as seen in creation. Download
First of five messages from Phil Coulson on Christ and his church as seen in creation. Download
Gospel by John See on Sunday evening of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry from Stephan Grant on Sunday afternoon of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Lindsay Parks on Sunday afternoon of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Sunday afternoon of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Sunday School by Stephan Grant on Sunday morning of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Sunday School
Ministry from John See after the Breaking of Bread on Sunday morning of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Breaking of Bread
Gospel by Lindsay Parks on Saturday evening of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry from Stephan Grant on Saturday afternoon of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Saturday afternoon of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Lindsay Parks on Saturday morning of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Saturday morning of the 2016 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Eugene Higgins on Saturday evening of the 2015 Midland Park Conference on The Crux of the Matter. Download: Gospel
Ministry from Frank Sona on Saturday afternoon of the 2015 Midland Park Conference on Elijah to Elisha – the Transition of Testimony. Download: Ministry
Ministry from David McAllister on Saturday afternoon of the 2015 Midland Park Conference on Hebrews 2. Download: Ministry
Ministry from David McAllister on Saturday morning of the 2015 Midland Park Conference on Hebrews 1. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Eugene Higgins at the opening of the 2015 Midland Park Conference on Serving Our Generation. Download: Ministry
Gospel by David Gilliland at the close of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on The son of God. Download: Ministry
Ministry by Brian Howden on Saturday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on A living sacrifice. Download: Ministry
Ministry by AJ Higgins on Sunday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on Small Hinges: the life of Joseph. Download: Ministry
Ministry by David Gilliland on Sunday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on Opportunity. Download: Ministry
Ministry by Donald Armstrong after the breaking of break at the 2014 Midland Park Conference on The arrest. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Donald Armstrong on Saturday evening of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on The dying thief. Download: Gospel
Ministry by AJ Higgins on Saturday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on The wisdom of God seen in Paul’s prayer life. Download: Ministry
Ministry by David Gilliland on Saturday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on Building blocks of the assembly seen it its pluralities. Download: Ministry
Missionary report on Angola by Brian Howden on Saturday afternoon of the 2014 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry by David Gilliland on Saturday morning of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on Sources of spiritual joy: savior and scripture. Download: Ministry
Ministry by AJ Higgins on Saturday morning of the 2014 Midland Park Conference on God Feeds Faith. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Robin McKeown on Sunday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry by Earl Ritchie on Sunday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry by Robin McKeown on Sunday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference on Psalm 35. Download: Ministry
Ministry by John Stubbs on Sunday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference: his head, feet, body, and heart. Download: Ministry
Ministry by Andrew Ussher on Sunday after the breaking of bread of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Andrew Ussher on Saturday evening of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry from Robin McKeown on Saturday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from John Stubbs on Saturday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Ministry
Missionary report on North and South Korea and China on Saturday afternoon of the 2013 Midland Park Conference. Download: Missionary
Ministry from Earl Ritchie to open the 2013 Midland Park Conference, on Friday evening. This recording was made from the audience. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Alvin Cook after the breaking of bread. Recorded from the audience. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Walter Gustafson on the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ: in his pre-existence, incarnation, boyhood, growth, and public ministry; at Gethsemane, Gabatha, and Golgotha; and in his resurrection and ascension. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Phil Coulson on Sunday afternoon of the Midland Park 2012 Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry from William Seale on Sunday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from David Petterson on Gideon on Sunday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Hebrews on Sunday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Gospel by Shad Kember on Saturday evening of the Midland Park 2012 Conference. Download: Gospel
Ministry from William Seale on Saturday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Ephesians on Saturday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Report from Shad Kember on the work in Mexico on Saturday afternoon at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from William Seale on Saturday morning at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Phil Coulson on Daniel 9 on Saturday morning at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from David Petterson on Psalm 23 on Friday evening at the Midland Park 2012 conference. Download: Ministry
Ministry from Eugene Higgins on Commitment. Delivered at the Thursday evening meeting. Download: Ministry
Ministry on Gideon after the Breaking of Bread from Frank Sona. Recorded from the audience. Download: Ministry
Message on baptism from David Hamilton before the baptisms of Kalib and Seth Zuidema. Download: Gospel
Ministry on bondservice to Christ, from Alvin Cook on a Thursday evening. Download: Ministry