Alrighty, I'm going to ask you
to open your Bibles to the 10th chapter of Matthew. And we're
going to look at verses 16 through the end of the chapter. And in
your handouts, You'll notice, and just open your Bibles up
and set it there beside you, because we're going to look at
those verses a little bit at a time as we're going through
the handout. And I want to change the title, as I was expressing
to James what he was unable to hear last week. I thought to
myself, I think a better title for this would be Expectations.
In the last chapter, this is the top part of our handout,
in the last verse of chapter 9, Our Lord urged his disciples
to pray that the Lord God would send forth laborers into his
field to gather in his harvest. Here in chapter 10, the Lord
Jesus demonstrates that He is the Lord of the harvest by sending
forth His laborers into the field to reap His harvest. Now, I want
to stop there in the handout for a moment and give you some
more information about that. We took a look at the first 15
verses last week, but we only considered in those verses really
two points. We considered what it was the
Lord was sending them out. And I remember his instructions
were, in sending them out, was to go without coin, go without
cloak, go out into the world and preach the gospel. And let
me just read it correctly, make sure I'm saying it right. As
you go, go and preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And that was the main part of our study last week, is what
the message was. But there was all these verses,
1 through 15, tell us all these different instructions, provide
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, or your purse of verse
9, nor script for your journey, and so on, and so on, and so
on. It was vital that we spend our time on what the message
is, because the message is the gospel. And without the gospel,
everything else just works. So we spend our time, that's
why Paul encourages us over and over again, preach the gospel.
Preach Christ and Him crucified. That's the story from the beginning
of the Bible all the way through it. I didn't want to disregard
the instructions. We don't disregard God's Word.
All of God's Word is important. All of His Word is for our learning
and for the edification of the saints. There are certain times
when we just got to concentrate on that one thing and that's
what we did. And then we looked at one other point there in verse
8 where it says, freely ye have received freely give, and we
close with those thoughts about what is it that we have freely
received. It was free to us. It's grace. It's the grace of
God. But it cost him his son. And we talked about that a little
bit last week. I don't want to go over that again. In the second
half of Matthew chapter 10, we're going to see what God's servants
can expect. That's why I thought expectations
would have been a better title for me to use. Now, back in our
handout again, you'll see I have a quotation from Don Fortner.
He wrote, Matthew 10 is a chapter of Holy Scripture that ought
always to be read with a peculiar solemnity. In these 42 verses
we have the first ordination sermon ever preached. Those being
ordained and set apart for the work of the gospel ministry are
the 12 apostles, and we also saw how the Lord gave us the
12 names. The ordination preacher is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself. The solemn charge
here given by Christ to the first gospel preachers of the New Testament
era is the charge he gives to all who are sent of God to preach
the gospel. In last week's study, our focus
was in the first 15 instructional verses, and it was the message
in verse 7. Then we close with a look at
freely received, freely give. God's servants in this world
are sheep in the midst of wolves. And as sheep, we look to our
all-wise Shepherd for needed wisdom. We look to Him for grace
and strength that only the Lord our Shepherd can give us to do
His will. In these verses of Scripture,
the Lord Jesus gives His servants words of instruction to sustain
and to comfort us. Words of expectation, as we endeavor
to serve the interest of His kingdom in the souls of men.
Now I want to stop there again, and I want to be very clear.
You folks know me. I'm no Don Fortner, and I spent
much of my week up in Oregon this week. So I've taken these
10 points that we're going to be looking at directly from Don's
book, Seeing Christ in the Book of Matthew. I always refer much
to Don's book as it is anyway, but I try to rewrite the statements
and stuff in my own words to give you my expressions of them,
and when I quote Don from his Book as I just did a moment ago. I very clearly when I quote it
word for word I try to put in there Don Fortner wrote this
or John Gill wrote this or Charles Spurgeon wrote this or Robert
Hawker wrote this So I wanted to be clear with you folks on
where this study is coming from tonight. I'm leaning harder on
Don tonight than I normally do. Last week was all about what
I had put together in the study of what the Word that was preached.
But this week I'm leaning heavier on Don. And I just wanted you
folks who didn't know that to hear that from me and understand
that I don't hide that from anyone. And just to be clear about that,
there's nothing new in Scripture. Believe it or not. If you go
and read Don's work or anyone's, Charles Spurgeon, if you read
Charles Spurgeon's work and then you go back to some of the writers
before him that were published well, you'll find that it was
almost word for word there as well. Don told me one time that
most of what he wrote was word for word what J.C. Ryle wrote.
He leaned heavily on J.C. Ryle, and then he looked at the
commentary from John Gill to get his own points on things.
It was his own words that he wrote, but it was still heavily
leaned on there. There was nothing new for Don
to tell you, and he was the first one to tell you that. There's
nothing new. These are words from people that
have been quoting from scriptures for a long, long, long, long
time. So, with that in mind, let's
move forward, shall we? Consider with me, this is the
bottom of page one of your handout, consider with me, if you will,
ten points in these last verses of Matthew chapter 10. And the
first point we want to look at is we must be modest in our expectations. Now look at verses 16 through
23 of Matthew chapter 10. Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves. Remember, our Lord was instructioning
them on what to take with them and what to do in the first 15.
Now He's giving them an idea of what to expect. He says, Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore
wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men,
for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will
scourge you in the synagogues, and ye shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake. for a testimony against them
and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be
given you in the same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not
ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh
in you. And the brother shall deliver
up the brother to death, and the father of the child and the
children shall rise up against their parents and cause them
to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall
be saved. But when they persecute you in
this city, flee ye into one to another. For verily I say unto
you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the
Son of Man be come. Now, page two of our handout.
If we serve God, if our object is the glory of God, if our object
is the glory of God, we must not make success our goal. I want to stop there for just
a moment. You know how many churches base their success on the size
of their churches? the very one that my mom attended
up there in Pollock Pines, what was on the lips of everyone's
mouth when they left that church. We brought 17 souls to the Lord
Jesus Christ today. It was all about what we had
done. It was all about the size of... There's 2,000 people attending
our services. You can't tell me that that's
not the right gospel. It was all about their success.
And that's what the Lord is warning us of here. Beware of men, back
in our handout. We are a sheep in the midst of
wolves. If you set your heart to serve
God, you must make up your mind to be hated, abused, misunderstood,
slandered, and persecuted by men. Even your nearest relations
will oppose you if they do not know God. Whether you preach,
or teach, or visit, or pass out tracts, or write, or give witness
to others, whatever you do for Christ, you must expect nothing
from the world, but opposition. Now, I want to stop there again.
It's interesting. Turn in your Bibles back to the
ninth chapter, if you would, there for just a moment. I want
you to see something. And I brought this out when we
looked at this the other day. In verse 34, it says, but the
Pharisee said, he casteth out devils through the prince of
devils. And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages teaching in their synagogues. preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. Did you notice something there?
Our Lord, the one who knows all things, did not rebuke those
men for what they said at all. They spoke out against him right
there and all he did was walk away and continue preaching the
gospel. Now, between that time, go back
to your text there in Matthew 10. Between that time and now,
a friend of mine's wife, that I've known for over 30 years,
has reached out publicly. Some of you who know me on Facebook,
who follow my account on Facebook, know that I like to take really
good articles. They're written by other men,
because I don't write very much. But I like to pass them on. I have family members who attend
free will churches. I want them to see what other
men think, that it's not just John who declares these truths
of God. God has other preachers, other
men who could declare the same truths. So she attacked me. I don't understand why she attacked
me, because the article that she attacked me on had nothing
to do with this, but she said she's tired of me judging men
and women of their religion. which had nothing to do with,
again, the article that I posted. But she just come unglued on
me. And this is an example of this. Here we are tonight, and
we're looking into this very thing. I should have expected
this from her. As I thought about this more
and more, I'm surprised that my sister Ann doesn't beat me
up harder than she does. I'm surprised my sister Doreen
is a Methodist, doesn't, she actually amened the article.
Susie's comments made no sense to me at all, but here we are
in the middle of the exact thing that we're studying tonight.
I don't know how many of you may be in that same boat. Maybe
some of you as well have been attacked by your family in such
a way. If you haven't, you should expect it. Because our Lord tells
us to have these expectations right here and there. I'll tell
you, Mike Loveless, when he was putting out things on the internet
quite a bit about his statements and his articles with Free Willard,
he was attacked all the time. He'd roll right off of his back
eventually. He got to the point where he
was used to it, and just the Lord helped him and gave him
strength for it to roll right off of his back. And he just,
he kept right on with it. I had thought about this. I thought,
oh man, that's why I shouldn't be on Facebook. Wrong. I need
to be on Facebook for that very thing. I was out there looking
for articles today that I could post on there, and maybe she'd
read something and the Lord will do a work in her heart. I don't
know. This is what this is talking about right here. We must expect
nothing from the world but opposition. Folks, the world hates God as
much as we did before the Lord called it. Many, let's go on,
second paragraph, page two, many who once seemed full of zeal
have turned back because they had extravagant expectations.
Many a preacher has been taken in Satan's snare of success and
have compromised the gospel to get it. Our only ambition ought
to be the glory of God. Our only duty is the will of
God. Our only guide is the Word of
God. The only success we should desire
is the approval of God. We must endure the hatred and
opposition of men throughout the days of our lives. It says
in verse 22, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Second thing, if we would serve
God in this world, We must be wise as serpents and harmless
as doves. That's what we read there in
verse 16. Simply put, we must pray for God to give us wisdom. We must pray for God to give
us good sense. Folks, these are deep things
with John Reed. I need good sense. I need wisdom. We should pray for God for a
sound mind, a sincerity of heart, The word harmless means simple.
We are to be simple, honest, sincere as God's servants, yet
we must have wisdom and good sense. We must never avoid persecution
by compromise or by intimidation. The Lord allows his servants
to flee, as we read there in verse 23, from one city to another,
but he does not tell us to hold our tongues. We need to be bold. We come to the throne of grace
boldly. We boldly come to the throne
of grace. Why shouldn't we be boldly telling people about that
grace? J.C. Rowell, he wrote this. He said, we must never foolishly
court persecution by being obnoxious, arrogant, or even out of order
and place. There is a proper time and a
place for witnessing and bearing testimony to the gospel, but
there are times when it is out of place to do so as well. When someone is praying or is
paying you to work, for example, it's evil, it's not spiritual,
to rob him of the labor for which you are being paid. Discussing
religious matters with your co-workers is to be done on your own time.
To state a matter simply, our God does not require us to throw
out common sense when we are engaged in doing His will. Page 3. The offense of the cross
we must bear, but we're not to be offensive. Let us strive to
walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. That's what we read
in Ephesians 5.15. Thirdly, we must never expect
to be treated better or to receive better in this world than our
Savior did. Look at verses 17 through 25
of our text. Verse 17 through 25. I'm sorry. 23 through 25. But when they persecute
you in this city, this is verse 23 of Matthew chapter 10, flee
ye into another, for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone
over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. Then verse 24, the disciple is
not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is
enough for the disciple that he is to be as his master and
the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master
of the house, Bezalel, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call
them of his household? Now, in our handout again, right
underneath that third point there at the top page, if we leave
men alone, they'll probably leave us alone. That's true, huh? If we don't bother anybody with
who we are and what we believe, they won't bother us back, will
they? But dare we? Dare we not speak of who our
Lord and Savior is? I'm going to stop there for just
a moment. I don't know of any Christian, any true believer,
any one of the sovereign grace people that I know throughout
this country who holds anything back about what they believe
about God. Some of us are very bold and will speak about how
Lord rules our lives, even while we're hammering into the roof,
working in our daily work. Some of us, it just comes out. Praise the Lord. That just comes
out sometimes. Amen. That just comes out sometimes. You know what I mean by that?
Yeah, so I don't know anybody who holds back. Dare we, though? Folks, back in our handout. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, does not give the
saints of God reason to sit on our hands and wait on God. We must, as our Savior did, expose
man's sin, proclaim God's righteousness in and by Christ Jesus the Lord,
and call sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. And I'll
tell you, if God has done that for you, you will walk about
this world sharing it with others. You can't help it. It's like
the man who was lame from birth. What did he do? He got up and
jumped around and danced and praised the Lord and told, Look
what God has done for me. You can't help. But tell them,
once I was blind. Once I was blind, but now I see. It's a good news that boils over
in the saints of God. If we follow our Master, We will,
in the ordinary course of events, experience what He has experienced. That's the hatred. The hatred
for the gospel. The hatred for a sovereign God.
When He declared His sovereignty, He was slandered and rejected
by those among whom He ministered. Men called Him Beelzebub, a devil,
a glutton, a wine-bibber, a sinner. Few believed his message. Let
us not be surprised if we experience the same. Oh, you folks, like
myself, who have a member of your family who knows the Lord,
oh, how much we have to be thankful for. There are many who have
big families who have no desire at all to hear what the Lord
has to say. Charles Spurgeon wrote this back
in our handout here, bottom of page 3. If the master of the
family is likened unto Beelzebub, the devil, the fly god of the
Philistines, and named after the prince of demons, by what
names will they call us? Doubtless malice will quicken
wit. And sarcasm will invent words
which pierce as daggers and cut like knives. God was slandered
in paradise and Christ on Calvary. How can we hope to escape? Instead
of wishing to avoid bearing the cross, let us be content to endure
dishonor for our king's sake. Fourthly, the fourth point we
want to consider here We must be content to wait for Him whom
we serve to vindicate us in the day of judgment. When those who
raise up their ugly heads against us and call us the names and
speak about us in public places like Susie had done to me. Well,
let's look at verse 26. What does it say there? It says,
fear them not. Therefore, fear them not, for
there is nothing covered. I'll tell you something, folks.
This is what helped me walk away and not make another comment.
I could have lashed back. Actually, I almost did. I sat
down, and Kathy goes, you better have somebody read it before
you post it out there. She was right. I was going to actually
have her read it. And I wrote about half a page
in respect to what she was addressing. And then after a day's thought
about it, driving up to Oregon, I said, no, you know what, let's
just erase that and do what the Lord did, walk away, preach the
gospel, and keep on doing it. It says here, fear them not,
therefore there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and
hid that shall not be known. Back in our handout at the bottom
of page 3, vengeance, folks, belongs to the Lord. I was on
the verge of being vengeful. I'm so thankful the Lord turned
me. And I'm telling you right now,
it was God who turned me. John would have foolishly gone
out and put up the barricades and blocked and fought back,
but God turned me to walk away from that. Vengeance belongs
to the Lord. If we are His servants, He will
both vindicate and avenge our names and our work in the last
day. Either here or there, God will
vindicate His servants. And He'll do it by judgment.
Listen to these words. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Page 4. And
He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyselves because of
Him who is prospereth in His way, because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake
wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers
shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall
inherit the earth. That's in Psalms 37, 5-9. Listen to these words in 1 Corinthians
4, verses 1-5, also in our handout. Let a man so account unto us
as the ministers of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries
of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found
faithful. But with me it is very small
thing that I should be judged of you, or of a man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self,
for I know nothing by myself, yet I am not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore judge nothing before
the time. until the Lord come, who both
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise
of God." Wicked men, under cover of religion and devotion, may
cover their hatred for a time, but it will be revealed at God's
appointed time, in God's appointed way, to their everlasting shame. Fifthly, we see here if we would
serve God, we must fear God rather than man. You can expect men
to raise up against you for sure, but God is the One that we should
fear. Look over at verses 26-28, Fear then not therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that should not be known. Verse 27, What I tell you in
the darkness, that I speak ye in light, and what ye hear in
the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops, and fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but
rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body
in hell." Back in our handout, bottom of page 4. Like Daniel
and his friends, we must be willing to surrender anything and everything,
even life itself. Rather than compromise the glory
of God, or to violate the truth of God, or go against the word
of God, the wrath of man may be hard to bear, but it is infinitely
easier to bear than the wrath of God. So let us ever be faithful
to our God. Our Master here tells us to blow
the trumpet of the everlasting gospel, to loudly and publicly
proclaim to all the truths and the mysteries of God's free grace,
which He has made known unto us. In quiet meditation and prayer
and study, let every servant of Christ seek and receive God's
message, page five. Let none speak until spoken to
of God through His word, but once God speaks, We are to proclaim
his message everywhere. But again, I quote word for word
what our brother Don wrote. And he said, receive the message
like a whisper in your ear. Then sound it forth from the
housetops like the town criers of old. Get to the highest point
possible and sound out the word of God. Spurgeon puts it this
way, he says, keep the study and the closet out of sight and
there in secret meet with Jesus and then set the pulpit of testimony
in as a conspicuous a place as you can possibly find. Folks,
we are responsible to preach the gospel of Christ as fully
and as widely as possible by every means at our disposal.
In a generation in which we live. Lord, help us to do just that. Our sixth point tonight is we
must trust the providential care of our God. Look at verses 29-31. In verse 29 of Matthew chapter
10, we read, And not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one
of them shall not fall in the ground without our Father? But
the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore,
ye are of more value than many sparrows. Back again in our handout. The path of duty may lead us
into danger. See, that's the way I feel about
those articles. At first, I thought I should,
you know, this is why friends of mine say, oh, I'm out of Facebook.
I'm not getting on Facebook anymore. But folks, that's part of the
duty the Lord has given us, to declare His gospel. And these
articles that wonderful pastors write regarding the Scriptures
bring out such wonderful truths of our Lord and Savior's salvation
for His saints. That's part of our duty. If it
brings on the wrath of men and women like it did Susie, well,
so be it. The path of duty may lead us
into danger. Our lives may seem to be in peril
if we go forward. But we must realize that everything
is in God's hands. Whatever fearful thing we meet
as we serve our God, we may say to it, as our Lord did to Pilate,
thou couldest have no power at all against me. except it were
given thee from above. That's what the Lord said to
the devil, you know that? He had to give the devil permission
to attack Job. He gave those demons permission
whom he cast out of that man who tore himself and just lived
in the tombs of dead people. He had to give the permission
for those devils to go out into the world, to go off into their
own, to go off over the cliff and the swine. If our Heavenly
Father, this is the last paragraph of verse 5, if our Heavenly Father
observes the death of a sparrow, should we not also be confident
that He will take care of us in the most minute concerns of
our lives? Folks, our God is a God of detail.
That's the picture that He gives us when He gives us the detail
of the temple. You know how in the Old Testament,
He'd write down to the little scrolls that they were supposed
to put in the temple and in the mercy seat? Those little details,
that's the details. He's a man of details. He's a
God of details. He knows every detail about you,
Diane. He knows every hair on your head.
We may think it's some awful stuff to know, but He loves us.
And He looks at us in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Oh, this is great
news. This is wonderful news. He cares
for us. His care for us extends even
beyond the numbering of our hairs on our heads. Every circumstance
of our lives is controlled by the arrangement of our Heavenly
Father's eternal love and His grace towards us. Let us never
look upon anything as a matter of chance. That which we experience
day by day is but the fulfilling of our God's eternal purpose
of grace for our everlasting good. Is that not what Scripture
Is that not what a scripture we quote often says? We know
that all things work together for the good of them that love
God, to them who are called according to His purpose, Romans 8, 28.
Or how about these words over in verse 32 of that same chapter?
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also? freely, give us all things, page
6, Pastor Gene. You know, I get so much encouragement
from speaking to him in these trials of his age, of the body
not working as well as it used to, and I know a little bit about
that, I'm not a young man either, but he's experienced in that
even way deeper than I am, and his words are this, this is what
God has purposed for me. Praise the Lord, I'm waiting
patiently for Him. I love to hear Him say that.
I'm waiting patiently, the day's coming. He'll take me home when
it's His good will and His purpose. Top of page six, we have here
the seventh point we want to look at. If we would serve God
in this world, we must constantly live in anticipation of judgment
and eternity. Look at verses 32 through 33.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall
deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father
which is in heaven, back in our handout. It may bring sneers
of men to confess Christ in this world, and I'll tell you, it
does. You've heard the story of my aunt, how she poked me
in the chest and told me, you will not take my free will away
from me, when I tried to speak to her about a sovereign God.
But to deny Him is a cost much worse than that. Without question,
these words extend to the whole of our lives. We must never blush
to confess Christ and His gospel before the world that hates Him.
But the confession of Christ before men begins in baptism,
does it not? Believers confess Christ before
men in a believer's baptism. In baptism, we confess our union
with Christ and our confidence in Him as our representative
before God. Listen to Galatians 3, 27. For
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Being buried with Christ symbolically
in the waters of baptism, we acknowledge our sin, and it's
just punishment. Folks, sin, the punishment for
sin is death, and that's what being dipped into the waters
of baptism is. It's being killed. Buried. And we testify of our faith in
Christ's substitutionary death for the satisfaction of justice,
by which our sins have been put away. As we read in Romans 6,
3, know ye not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus,
were baptized into his death? Rising up from the watery grave,
we confess our faith in the resurrection of Christ our Savior. our representative
resurrection in Christ, our spiritual resurrection by Christ, and our
bodily resurrection in the likeness of Christ. Listen to these words,
Romans 6, 4, Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into
death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk. in the newness of life. And then
we read this over in Colossians 2.12, buried with him in baptism. wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
him from the dead. Being raised up from spiritual
death by the grace of God and regeneration through the merits
of Christ's obedience, we confess to God and all the world that
we will henceforth walk in the newness of life for the glory
of our God. Our confession of faith is a
confession of Christ. What an honor it is to confess
Him before men. What a reward it shall be to
be confessed by Him before His Father's throne in the last day. Baptism has nothing whatsoever
to do with the accomplishment of our salvation, yet it is a
matter of obedience to our God and Savior. Many ask, can a person
be saved without baptism? The answer is obvious, of course. All of God's people are saved
without baptism. Salvation is by grace alone,
as we read in Ephesians 2, verses 8-9. But refusal to be baptized
is rebellion against the plain command of God. In the New Testament,
all who were received as brethren and regarded as believers were
those who had been baptized. Can you cite one person regarded
as a believer in the New Testament who refused it? Here our Lord
warns us that those who refuse to confess to Him before men,
He will refuse to confess before His Father's throne in heaven. What a solemn warning to be disowned
by the Son of God before His Father who is in heaven is to
perish forever in hell. This is grace. This is the grace
of God that his people, all of his people, you and I who he
shed his blood for on that cross 2,000 years ago. We will confess
Him as our Savior, just like I mentioned a moment ago about
those two men, or the woman with an issue, or Lazarus. Do you think Lazarus wasn't joyful
about who his Lord was when he called Him forth? He knew what
was going on. He may have been wrapped in his
burial clothes and not able to move and floated to the Lord
Jesus. We know that because the Lord
set loose him of his clothing, his binding. But he saw what
was going on. He saw the Lord Jesus standing
before him, calling him to Him, and coming to the Lord. As I
look back on the way the Lord called me out of darkness, I
can see clearly how it was going. I was in my death clothes. I was wrapped up in the death
of sin, hating God. And if you're a member of the
family of God as well, one for whom He laid down His life for,
you have seen it as well. You know what you were before
the Lord regenerated you and gave you a new heart. The eighth
thing we see here, about midway, page seven, if we would serve
our God in the souls of men, we must understand the gospel
of Christ is the cause of constant, irreconcilable divisions among
men. That's a pretty tough one to
bite into, isn't it? You would think there's peace between all
of God's saints, wouldn't you? Folks, I'm telling you, look
at verse 34 through 36. Think not. that I am come to
send peace on earth. I am come not to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Wherever
Christ comes, There is a division because of him. The gospel of
Christ divides men and often divides family. Unity and peace
and harmony are great blessings. We ought to earnestly seek them.
We ought to earnestly pray for them. And we ought to sacrifice
anything to obtain them. Sacrifice anything except the
truth of God, that is. Peace that is purchased at the
expense of truth is no peace at all. Our ninth point at the
bottom of page 7 there, it says, if you and I would serve Christ,
if we would do the will of God, we must take up our cross and
follow Him every day. And this goes right in line with
what we just read there in that verse 34-36. Look at verse 37-39
now. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me either. or is not
worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross,
and follow after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life
shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find
it. Back in our handout at the very
bottom of page 7 we read, Faith in the obedience of Christ is
nothing less than the surrender of my life to His rule. I pause there. I want you to
absorb that. Faith and obedience to Christ
is nothing less than the surrender of my life to His rule as my
Lord, my Savior, my King. Page 8. Christ will not have
me without having all of me. Listen to the words of Luke 14.33,
so likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that
he hath, He cannot be my disciple. If we would have Christ, we must
surrender all to Him. Spurgeon wrote this, he said,
no man has truly given himself to Christ unless he has said,
my Lord, I give Thee this day my body, my soul, my powers,
my talents, my goods, my house, my children, and all that I have. Henceforth, I hold them at Thy
will. as a steward under thee. Thine
they are. As for me, I have nothing. I
surrender all to thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is the pearl of
great price. If we would have Him, we must
sell all to get Him. That's what Matthew 13, 45-46
is talking about where we read again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. who when
he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that
he had and bought it. Christianity, true Christianity,
true saving faith, involves a total surrender to Christ the Lord. Either you will be a servant
under the dominion of King Jesus, voluntarily giving up all to
his claims, or you will receive your just reward, which is eternal
damnation. You may not have to give up anything
at all, actually, but surrender to Christ you must. And it must
be just as real and complete in your heart as if you had actually
given up everything to Him. Even down to life itself. Our Lord Jesus Christ requires
total and unreserved surrender to Himself. Turn us, O Lord,
and we shall be turned. Christ will be Lord of all, or
He will not be Lord at all. Lastly, if we would be the servants
of God in this world, we must never expect our reward in this
world, but only in the world to come. Look at verses 40 through
42. He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him. That sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in
the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that
receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall
receive the righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the
name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise
lose his reward." What a blessed word this is. God's people are
so thoroughly and completely one with Christ that to receive
one of His is to receive Him. There is a special word of encouragement
here to those who are sent by Christ to preach His gospel. Gospel preachers are God's ambassadors
to men. To receive Christ's messengers
is to receive the Lord Jesus Himself, and to receive the Lord
Jesus is to receive God Himself. Page 9. That which is done to
God's servants in this world, good or evil, is treated by our
Lord as being done to Himself, and that which is done to Christ's
redeemed ones, good or evil, is considered by our Redeemer
as being done to him as well. Listen to these words from Matthew
25, 32 through 46. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was in hunger, and ye gave
me to eat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink. I was a stranger, ye took me
in, naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a-hungered? and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee as a
stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when
saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, In as
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these brethren,
ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say unto them on
the left hand, depart from me, he cursed into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in hunger,
and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me not in, naked, and ye clothed me not, sick, and in prison,
and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, and are thirst, and
a stranger, or naked, or sick, and in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, insomuch as ye did it not to Did it not
to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And thee
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life. That's Matthew 25, 32-46. Last paragraph of page 9. The
eyes of our God and Savior are always upon those who serve Him. We may be unnoticed by others,
but we are not insignificant in the eyes of our God. He observes
those who oppose and oppress us, and he takes notice of those
who help. He took notice of Diotrephes,
who opposed John. He took notice of Lydia, who
assisted Paul. All these things are written
down in the great book of his remembrance and will be brought
to light at the last day." Page 10. The chief butler forgot Joseph
when he restored him to his place. But the Lord Jesus never forgets
any of His people, and He counts the least most insignificant
service done for His honor and in His name as the greatest."
Listen to these words from Mark. Chapter 14, verse 3-9, where
our Lord gives us an example of one who serves Him. And being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious,
and she broke the box and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was
this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than three hundred pence, and had been given to the poor.
And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone.
Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whatsoever ye
will may do to them good, but me ye have not always. She hath
done what she could. She is come aforehand to anoint
my body to the bearing. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her." See how the Lord honors His people? It matters not whether
we preach the gospel to great multitudes, or open our homes
to his children, or give a cup of cold water in his name, all
are the same in his sight. We are responsible only to do
that which he gives us an opportunity and ability to do, but we do
have a responsibility. And all that is done for Him
is accepted and honored by Him. In 1 Samuel 2, verse 30, the
Lord gives us an example of one of His own who turns a deaf ear
to the Lord's warnings. It says there, Wherefore the
Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the
house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now, saith
the Lord, but now the Lord saith, be it far from me. For them that
honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed." Now I want to express what that means for a moment.
We're talking about the house of Levi. Levi was a priest in
the Old Testament. He had two sons. Those two sons
became evil. Well, they didn't become evil.
They were born evil. But the Lord had not regenerated
their hearts. And Levi allowed his sons to
go into the synagogue and preach and teach. And in doing so, they
went in and took advantage of widows and poor folks. And they spoke of God with lasciviousness. That means they turned the Word
of God into wicked. These two young men, their father
Levi, knew what they were doing. Now, Levi never lost his salvation. The world would like us to take
this lightly esteemed word here and say, that's what God thought. That is blasphemy. That is not
what God is talking about. He never loved any of His people
less. He has always loved His people
through the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has always loved His people
with an eternal love, a love that will be everlasting. There
is no way that this is talking about being less loved. Lightly
esteemed means you're not esteemed as high as someone else. Paul
was much esteemed. We don't hear about some of the
other apostles, so they're not esteemed as much as Paul was.
We should esteem those who are out preaching the gospel, those
who are leaders over us. That's what this is talking about.
Levi never lost his salvation, but he lost the ministry that
he was given to have. That's what this is talking about.
Are we helpers or hinderers? Back in our handout, bottom paragraph,
page 10. Are we helpers or hinderers in
the cause of Christ? Do we assist God's servants or
do we impede the laborers? Do we aid His little ones or
do we stand in their way? These are serious questions that
ought to be considered by each and every one of us. God, give
us grace. As often as we have the opportunity
to give a cup of cold water or receive a prophet or receive
a righteous man, in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, laboring together in the Lord's vineyard to gather
in His harvest. Amen.