She has to stay off of it for
several weeks. So let's continue to pray for
Judy. I'll try to get to talk to her this week and see how
her recovery's going. Can you pray for Jim's sister,
Carolyn? And is there anybody else that
we need to specifically mention, anybody new? Okay, we're gonna
be looking at Matthew chapter 10, the first four verses concerning
the subject of Christ gathers his apostles. Christ gathering
his apostles together. And then the lesson that follows
this is Christ sending out his apostles to preach the kingdom
of heaven. So we'll be looking at that.
So, all right, let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
thankful for your mercies towards us in Christ Jesus, our Lord
and Savior, for all that he accomplished on our behalf as our surety our
substitute redeemer, and all that he now does as our preserver,
interceding on our behalf on the basis of the merits of his
obedience unto death, his shed blood that put away all our sins,
and his righteousness that's been imputed to us, and from
which we get spiritual and eternal life. Lord, thank you for bringing
us under the gospel, the true gospel. There's so much deception
in this world today. So many false gospels, false
ways. So many people are deceived.
And Lord, we know that if it weren't for your sovereign grace,
we too would be deceived and left to our own ways and our
own wills. But you have marked us out from
the beginning. We're your children. Our names
were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world. and he was slain for us. And
what an awesome thought it is to know that you revealed yourself
to us in Christ, the glorious person, the finished work of
Christ. We pray, dear Lord, for the opportunities that you've given
us to spread the gospel, not only in this area, but all throughout
the world through our missionary and through our fellowship with
other churches where the gospel is preached, and pray, dear Lord,
that you would give us more opportunity, open more doors for us to witness
Christ in this lost and dying world. And we know, dear Lord,
that you're calling out your sheep, bringing those lost sheep
into the fold. And we also pray, dear Lord,
that you would help us to grow in grace and in knowledge and
in love in obedience in every way to honor your lordship, to
honor your nature and glory, knowing, dear Lord, that our
only glory, our only boast is Jesus Christ crucified and risen
from the dead. We especially lift up our brothers
and sisters who are watching by live stream. Lord, let them
know that we're thinking about them, that they're with us in
heart and spirit, and that we love them, And then we pray for
those on our prayer list who are going through physical trials
and traumas and emotional, physical problems. For you've said, dear
Lord, that in this world we'll have tribulation, but you've
also said in those comforting, powerful words, be of good cheer,
for you have overcome the world. Guide us and direct us as we
worship this morning. We open your word. We pray this
in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Let's look at Matthew
chapter 10, verse 1. The Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
he had spoken to his disciples about the harvest. The harvest
is ready, he says. And he says, but the laborers
are few. And he says, so be prayerful. He says in verse 38 of chapter
nine, he says, pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest that
he will send forth laborers, witnesses, preachers of the gospel
into his harvest. And this word harvest, let me
say this before we get into chapter 10. And I've got this in your
lesson. This word harvest is a really
important word. It has a twofold implication. Number one, it announces that
the Lord is ready to call a people into the fold of salvation. And
especially what he's speaking of specifically is the harvest
that's going out through the world. You know, throughout much
of the Old Testament, from the giving of the law to Moses to
the first coming of Christ, the truth was pretty much confined
to the nation Israel under the old covenant. Now there were
Gentiles who heard the truth, but they were few. And most of
the Israelites under the old covenant missed the truth. I
mean, read the Bible, it tells you that. Hebrews chapter three
is a chapter I think about all the time where it talks about
those who wandered in the wilderness after having been delivered from
the bondage of Egypt. And it says how they perished
in unbelief. But in each generation, and that,
from the time of the law given on Mount Sinai to Moses and the
Hebrew people, to the coming of Christ and his death on the
cross, probably was about 1,500 years all total. But in each generation, the Bible
speaks of the glorious remnant. A remnant according to the election
of grace. But you know that's always been
throughout biblical history. That where the majority perish,
but there's always a remnant. a remnant of grace. And I'm gonna
talk about that in the message today in Revelation, because
we're gonna be talking about God's glorious multitude, a multitude
which no man can number. How do you reconcile that with
the fact that the Bible says that there be few that find it? Well, I'll tell you that, what
that really means. But here's the thing. There's
going to be a harvest. This is what Christ is talking
about here. He's talking about the initiation of the new covenant. And you remember what the new
covenant is. The new covenant is the establishment in time
of the workings, the truths, the conditions of the everlasting
covenant of grace that was made before the world began. There
was a covenant made, a covenant of redemption, of salvation.
a covenant of grace made before time between the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit, where God chose a people, gave them to
Christ, Christ voluntarily took them upon Himself to save them,
their debt was laid upon Him, imputed to Him, and He agreed
to come and do what was required to save His people from their
sins. And that was always testified
of in the Old Testament from Genesis all the way to Malachi.
That's why he had to become man, because there was a debt that
was charged to him. Hebrews chapter two speaks of
that. It behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. And who
are his brethren? Well, that's his sheep. That's
God's elect. And he had to be made like them
in his humanity without sin, because there was a debt laid
upon him. And so that covenant was made and that covenant was,
King David said that covenant was ordered in all things insure. But for God's purposes, in his
sovereign providence, the truth of that gospel was mainly given
to the nation Israel under that old covenant, even though the
majority of them missed it. But there was always a remnant.
Well, there came a time when the Messiah came into the world,
and that's the incarnation of Christ. That's when Isaiah spoke
of it in Isaiah 9. Under us a son is given, a child
is born. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And in his life
and his death, his burial, his resurrection was the establishment
of the new covenant. And then it was God's providential
wisdom and purpose and work to spread the gospel all over the
world, even to Gentiles. God has an elect people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. So when he speaks
of the harvest here, that's what he's talking about. It's already,
see. Christ has come, he said this
in John 12, he said, if I be lifted up, that is on the cross,
I'll draw all unto me, all of his people, Jew and Gentile. And God has determined this to
be so. Nothing's gonna stop it. Nothing
can hinder it. Man cannot hinder it with his
will or his ways. God's gonna save his people from
their sins. God's gonna bring his people
into the sheepfold. He's gonna give them life from
the dead. They've been justified. What does that mean? That means
their sins have been forgiven. On what ground does God forgive
sin? The blood of Jesus Christ. And
that's the only ground. There is no other. And they've
been declared righteous in God's sight. Even though in themselves
naturally, We're unrighteous. We're all born dead in trespasses
and sin. We fell and Adam into that state.
But in Christ Jesus, we have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice, and God has declared
us so even before we knew about it. But God sends forth his preachers,
his witnesses, to seek out his people. And so what the harvest
is here, God has determined all things to his own glory in the
salvation of his chosen people by his grace in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. God has, now listen to this,
God has also determined the means by which he will accomplish that
unchangeable purpose. And all the means that God has
provided to do that, you know what? They glorify Him. They're
not means that we come up with. You know, I see churches all
the time, you know, when they have what they call evangelical
programs or witnessing programs, and they come up with their own
ways to do things to get people into the church building. And
it's wrong. I've often said this, the moment
a preacher asks himself this question, what can I do to get
more people here? He's already left the Bible.
Now don't get me wrong, I wanna see more people here, and you
do too. I'd love to see this building full. And don't get
me wrong here, we're to invite people to come to church. There's
nothing wrong with that. Come hear the gospel. I do that
on television all the time. Come hear the gospel. If you're
not hearing it where you are, leave there and come here. It's
worth it. It's a matter of life and death. But if I start devising
ways, and I remember when I was a young teenager, and we had
youth groups and all that, and churches started getting what
they call bus ministries to bus people in. And they'd do things
like this. They'd put a clown on the bus.
And so what that means, they had a clown on the bus and a
clown in the pulpit. Or they'd say they'd put a $20
bill underneath one of the seats in the bus. That's not God's
way. That's evil. But here's the thing. God has determined the means,
and here's the means. The preaching of the gospel. Romans 1 16, the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And
God is going to, whatever means he uses in the scripture, it's
gonna glorify him, it's not gonna glorify us. All the means that
God has determined and provided for this glorify him in his power,
his goodness, his mercy to save sinners conditioned on Christ
in the glory of his person and the power of his finished work
of righteousness. And God has determined that they
should all come to repentance. So whatever means, it's gotta
be biblical and it's got to glorify God. It cannot be the foolishness
of men trying to just get people into the building. And again,
like I said, don't get me wrong, I want people in, I'm gonna invite
people to come in, but I'm not gonna go beyond the scriptures
to get people here. I'm not gonna do what appeals
to the flesh to get people here. We pray, Lord, bring them in. And when I say that God uses
means, And I put this in your lesson because I believe this
is important. It doesn't mean that God has to have us or needs
us to do his great work, nor that God will fail unless we
do our part. That's not what that means at
all. God's not gonna fail. God never fails. Christ said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. It doesn't mean, as
some say, we're the only arms that God has, we're the only
legs and the only eyes that God has, no. If I'm the only eyes
that God has, why am I wearing these, you know? And my legs
are pretty weak anymore, I've been having these back problems,
I'm trying to get it straightened up, my legs are pretty weak.
No, that's not what it means at all. It means this, it's God's
way of glorifying himself. in bringing his people to Christ
for salvation, forgiveness, for righteousness and eternal life.
So that's what the harvest means. That's what he's telling them.
The harvest is ready. The gospel's gonna go out. So
pray that God will send laborers. And of course God did. But here's
the second thing it means. Harvest means the end of the
world. Now you can read about this over in Matthew 13. You
remember he talked about the weed and the tares? And his disciples
said, well, let's go root up the tares. And Christ said, don't
you do it. You just preach the gospel. And
God will separate the wheat from the tares at the harvest. And
so what he's talking about there is the end of the world, and
he's talking about judgment. That's a harvest. And in that
time, some will be harvested as tares to be consigned to eternal
damnation and death. They'll be burned up. while others,
thank God Almighty, will be harvested as wheat to be glorified forever
with Christ. And so what does that tell us?
Well, both issues of this harvest tells us this. The only hope
for sinners like us is for God to bring us under the gospel
of his sovereign grace in Christ and reveal himself to us. That's
our only hope. And so what happens here, look
at Matthew 10 in verse one, it says, when he called unto him
his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits,
or power over them, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease. Now who's he talking about here?
Well, he's talking about his 12 disciples, what we normally
call the 12 apostles, and he mentions them as apostles
in other places. We know that 11 of these men
were true disciples, true apostles. One was a false disciple, and
that's Judas. People argue about the apostles
all the time. What is an apostle? Well, an
apostle, the word simply means one sent out from God. sent out with a message to spread
a message, and if that were the only thing that we knew about
apostles, we could say that any witness of God is an apostle,
but I don't believe we can do that scripturally. Some people
say, well, there were more than 12. I don't believe there were,
but I'm not gonna argue with people over things like that.
I believe the apostle Paul was the 12th apostle. That's what
I believe. And he was called out of due
time, that's what he says himself. And so, there were 12 apostles. It means one sent out with the
message of salvation. What is that message of salvation?
It's salvation by God's grace, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
the glorious person of Christ. That's the message, who Jesus
Christ is. You see, if you were an apostle,
The gospel is not about who you are. It's about who Christ is. God manifest in the flesh. And
it's about his finished work on the cross. What he accomplished
on Calvary and his death, burial, and resurrection as the surety,
substitute, redeemer of his people. These apostles, these disciples
here that he's mentioning, these 12 specific ones, excluding Judas. Now we know that from the preponderance
of scripture. Christ himself said Judas was
a false apostle. But there were 12, and 12 is
the number of completeness, as you know, the complete government
of God. The Bible says that the church was built upon the foundation
of the prophets and the apostles, talking about the gospel, talking
about the word of God that they were sent out to preach. But
these men were not called because they had any inherent or natural
qualifications or goodness within themselves. It wasn't like if
you were ever been an employer and you wanted to hire employees,
what did you look for? You look for people who were
qualified to do the work that you were hiring them to do. That's
not how the apostles were called. You see, God calls those who
the world would think are definitely unqualified. Think about that.
He called Matthew a publican to be an apostle. You think in
the natural realm of religion now, do you think that we would
think that a publican could be as qualified to be an apostle?
Well, no. He was hated of all people, the
Jews. So these men, it wasn't that
the Lord looked down and he said, well, let me just pick 12 guys
here who just seem to have, they're better than other people or they've
got more, no, no, no. Here's the point. God called
these men according to his sovereign grace and he gifted these men
in the same way. He gave them the gifts to be
an apostle. So it was all due to God's power
and grace. Paul said this, he said, by the
grace of God, I am what I am. And let me say this about these
men. They were not, nor did they ever become special saints to
whom other lesser believers should or could pray. You don't pray
to the apostles. You don't pray to the saints.
You don't pray to the Virgin Mary. You pray to God through
Jesus Christ on the ground of His blood and righteousness.
That's what the priesthood of the believer is all about. We
have a direct access and line to God our Father, not through
Mary or the apostles or any other saint, but through Christ who
passed through into the heavens Our access to God, our acceptance
with God, our whole salvation is upon the shoulders of Jesus
Christ crucified and risen from the dead, the Lord our righteousness. So when I pray, I don't say,
oh, Apostle Paul, get me to God, or oh, Mother Mary, get me. No, Mary was a sinner saved by
grace, just like you are if you're saved. So these men were not
special. saints who rose above the rest
of us. They were gifted. They were gifted. And I put in your lesson here,
Matthew 18. Remember when the apostles, Peter and all them,
they were arguing who would be the greatest in the kingdom?
Here's what Christ told them. Verily I say unto you, except
you be converted and become as little children, you shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. Think about that. Now it says here in verse one,
he gave them power against unclean spirits, that's to cast out demons.
Remember when he sent them out two by two, they came back and
they said, Lord, the devils, Obey us. They were amazed. To cast them out, heal all manner
of sickness, Peter and James and John and Paul, they had that
power. And all manner of disease. Now people, again, they argue
about, well, do we in the church have that power today? Some say
no, they call that the cessationist. You've heard that cessationist.
These gifts have stopped. And some say we still have that
power. I can only tell you this, I don't have it. I don't have
the power to heal you, I can pray for you. And I know God
has the power to heal you. And that's who healed anyway,
even with these men. When they healed sickness, it
wasn't their power, it was God's power. He gave them that power.
That was the power of God. And it wasn't to draw attention
to themselves. It was to glorify God and to
support the authenticity of the word they preached, to confirm
the word. Now I don't believe these spiritual
gifts are present today. Now that's not to say does God
still heal today, yes. Have you ever been sick? Did
you get healed? God did it. Now he may have done
it through a doctor, or through a pill, or through a shot, But
God did it. And I know there are false preachers
who claim they've raised people from the dead. They're lying.
They're lying to you. But these gifts were not gifts
in and of themselves to draw attention to the gift or the
power of the apostle. Back then, think about it. You
know, when I stand up here to preach to you or Jim or Randy
or Mark or Robert or any of the men, preach or teach, the first
thing I tell you to do is turn to Matthew chapter 10. You know
why I tell you to turn to Matthew chapter 10? Because the authority
and the confirmation of what I'm telling you, that's what
it is. How do you know I'm preaching
to you the word of God? Got it right here, in writing.
This book right here is the completed revelation of God to sinners.
From Matthew to Revelation. Well back then, James and John
and Peter, they didn't have that. Now they had some of the Old
Testament. But they didn't have the completed Word of God. They
were appointed to be those who would write the word of God,
Matthew writing Matthew, Mark writing Mark, the Apostle Paul
wrote over half of the New Testament. Now we know it was God who wrote
it, it was the Holy Spirit who inspired them. But he used these
men. So what happened? Well, when
they would go out and preach the gospel, the confirmation
of their authority and their power that it was from God was
the miracles that they performed. Oh, this is of God. Remember
what Nicodemus told Christ? He said, we know you're a prophet
sent from God, because nobody could do the things you're doing
unless he was sent of God. And that's what those miracles
were for. So we don't need them today to confirm the word of
God. We have the written word of God. Turn to Romans, turn
to Ephesians, turn to whatever book of the Bible. Our authority
is the written word of God, and that's already come together.
But here's my advice to you. When you talk to people who believe
that these gifts are still prevalent in today's preaching, the first
thing you need to talk to them about is not the gift. And you
know, listen, when these men healed the sick or raised the
dead, they didn't have to bring reporters in to prove it. They
didn't have to send them, everybody knew it was true. All right? But here's what you need to ask.
What are you preaching? I've never heard any preacher
who claims to have these special gifts, I've never heard one preach
the true gospel. Now, maybe there is one, I don't
know. But if they're not preaching the true gospel, their power
to do whatever they say they do is a lie. It could be a fake. It could be Satan's counterfeit. And I'll tell you this much too.
Satan has the power to do some marvelous things in the eyes
of men. Lying wonders, 2 Thessalonians,
that fool a lot of people. So how do I know that is this
from God or is it not? What are they preaching? If they're
preaching a false gospel, they're false preachers. I don't care
if they did raise the dead. I don't care if they did heal
the sick. If they're preaching a false gospel, what does the
Bible say? Let them be anathema, accursed. That's where we need
to be concerned. So what are these qualifications
of an apostle? And I don't believe there are
any apostles. I remember when I first moved to Albany, there was a
guy who preached down the road there, down Slabby, called himself
an apostle. I don't believe there are any apostles today. There
are disciples, there's preachers, there's pastors, there's elders,
offices in the church. But what was the first qualification
of an apostle? I'll tell you the first qualification.
It had to be a sinner saved by grace. If you're not saved by grace,
you're not an apostle, you're not a disciple, you're not anything
except a lost sinner. And then, that means you have
to know the gospel. You have to know what to preach,
you have to know the truth. The truth will set you free.
The next qualification, he had to have the gift of communication
to preach. To communicate with people. Communicating
the gospel and its doctrines. so as to identify and distinguish
the truth of Christ as opposed to the lies of false religion.
A true apostle, any true preacher, any true disciple preaches salvation
by the sovereign grace of God and not by the works of men.
He doesn't preach salvation conditioned on the sinner in any way, to
any degree, at any stage. It's all on Christ. And then
secondly, Another qualification, excuse
me, the apostles were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, and
they received their message directly from Christ. They were specifically
chosen by the Holy Spirit, and they did have the ability to
work signs and wonders. Now in the rest of this passage,
you can read this, I've got this all in your lesson. But he names
them, look at verse two. Now the names of the 12 apostles
are these, the first Simon, who's called Peter, Simon Peter. And remember now, Peter, his
name was Simon, but Christ gave him that name Peter, Petros,
which is a little rock. And remember when Peter made
that confession and Christ said, this is the rock upon which I
will build my church. He's not talking about Peter
there, he's talking about himself. Christ is the rock. Andrew, his
brother, James, the son of Zebedee, John, his brother. I didn't really
go into a big biography on these guys. You can look it up on the
internet, but I gave you some information there. Verse three,
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, the publican. Matthew,
make sure you understand that he's a sinner saved by grace,
doesn't he? Well, Matthew, why don't you just drop that name
publican? Well, I want you to know how Christ came to call
sinners to repentance. And that's how he identifies
himself. James, the son of Alphaeus, Labeus, whose surname was Thaddeus,
this Labeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, we don't know much
about him. He was also called Judas, the
brother of James, as to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. And
then verse four, Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, who also
betrayed the Lord. Let me say this in closing. Can we be fooled by people? Well,
yes. Judas walked with the other 11
disciples And they didn't notice anything necessarily negative
about him. He was the treasurer, and he
did steal money, but they didn't know it. He was in it for the
money. Did Judas preach the same message
as these other disciples? I believe he did. I believe a
false preacher can do that for a while. I don't think he can
stay with it, which that was proven in Judas. He was a son
of perdition, Christ said from the beginning. He was instrumental
in bringing about the sovereign purpose of God for Christ to
be arrested and go to the cross and die. That's what he was appointed
to. You say, well, I feel sorry for
him. Don't feel sorry for him. He was just as accountable as
the others. And Judas, did he have the power to do all that
the disciples were doing to heal the sick? I believe he did. I
believe Satan can counterfeit those things, but I believe God
can providentially give an unbeliever those powers. to be strong delusion
that they would believe a lie. Here's my point. When the disciples
went out and preached with Judas, there was nothing that was obvious
about Judas that would cause Peter or James to look at each
other and say, hey, what's wrong with him? Because when Christ
exposed him in the upper room, you remember what the disciples
said? They said, Lord, is it I? Could I be the one? They didn't
know that Judas, they didn't say, oh man, I knew it, I knew
Judas was the problem all along. No, they were shocked. But Christ exposed him. But in
all of this, I just wanna make sure that we understand. There
are places today, churches today, they call themselves apostolic,
or they'll call themselves holiness, Well, you know, we're an apostolic
church. You know why? Because we preach
the same gospel that the apostles did. So when you see that sign,
apostolic or, what do they preach? Do they preach the true gospel
or do they preach a false gospel? That's the key to all of this.
Okay.