Chapter 21, if you will, in your
Word of God. You know, this is the Word of
God that we have, right? It's not a book about God's Word,
although it is, talk about Jesus, right? But this is God's Word. This isn't a book that contains
God's Word, it is God's Word. From front to back. and we're blessed to have this
book. God has promised that he would preserve his word to every
generation, that it would continue on. Not one bit of it would be
removed. There are some men out there
that think that we don't have God's word, that they were only
in the autographs, that they were only in the original writings
of the original apostles, and that, and that only is the inspired,
infallible, Word of God and that everything after that that comes
from manuscripts and things such as that is not infallible and
inerrant and the full Word of God. Some even so far to say
that it is, we have maybe like 98% or 99% of God's Word. Well, if that's the case, then
God's Word has failed because God said he would preserve all
of his Word. Not one jot, not one tittle would
pass away. And so we trust, no matter what
scholars say, no matter what history says, no matter what
anybody else says, God's word says that his word is going to
be preserved and it's going to be preserved for every one of
his people for every generation until he comes again. And he
does that in a couple of different ways. One way he has done it
is he has preserved the manuscript writings of other men that have
translated this word. And I believe as long as they
have faithfully translated this word, then we have the preserved,
inerrant, infallible word of God. And so with that being said,
God's word has been preserved through men copying the Bible
over and over and over and time throughout centuries. But that's
not the primary place where God has preserved his word. The Bible
says that God has preserved his word through the New Testament
local, visible, gathered assembly. The church is the pillar and
the ground of the truth. And God has placed his spirit
within that local assembly whenever it's gathered. to testify of
the truth of the revelation that is found in this book. And in
that testimony, in that witness that is in this book, the church
with the Holy Spirit who is in them to lead them into all truth
and to teach them the things of God are confirmed of what
the Spirit has been teaching them. To know what the Word of
God says and what the Word of God doesn't say because the Spirit
is our teacher. Although I'm a pastor and a teacher,
If we're to know anything, it's going to be because the Holy
Spirit has led us into the revelation of what that Word says. And so
I believe that the Word of God has been preserved from every
generation because God's people have been given the testimony
of it through the work of the Holy Spirit. So He has preserved
His Word through His local church and through the writings as it's
been passed down. This morning, I would like to
talk about something. I'll be honest with everybody,
and my family knows this, and for those who are watching or
listening, it was a very, very busy week for me at work this
week, and then we also had my grandmother with us most of the
week, visiting, and so a lot of preparation time I didn't
get opportunity to do. And then yesterday was my birthday,
and we took a, quick road trip, well, not say quick, but a road
trip yesterday for my birthday. And so I probably don't have
a whole lot this morning. But as I was reading through some
scriptures and looking back at some things that I've preached
in the past and just kind of thinking on some things, reading,
you know, Facebook is always good about showing you the memories.
of things that you've done. Most of the time it's probably
stupid things that we've done, funny things that we've done.
But occasionally I can look back whenever Facebook throws up that
memory page and I can go back and I can see the things that
the Lord has been dealing with me on, teaching me, things that
I've posted in the past, some things that I no longer hold
to now. that the Lord has taught me otherwise,
and my viewpoints have changed, my understanding of the doctrines
have changed, and I have moved that. Now some guys will go and
they'll remove all that off their Facebook, and maybe I should,
I don't know, but I've left a lot of that up there. As bad as Facebook
is, one good thing about Facebook is, is it is a journal of our
lives. And if you look through olden
times, a lot of people, especially men, and especially preachers,
would keep journals, would keep, you know, a diary. I don't like
to use the word diary because I think of some teenage girl,
but keep, kept a journal of their life and what things had happened
in their life and as God led them here and led them there
and taught them things. And so I look at Facebook and I see,
you know, where God has brought me in my understanding of things. And so I could easily go back
and remove everything that I disagree with that I have said in the
past so that when people look at that, they won't see that
error. But I think that if I leave that
up, also people can go and see that the word of God is true
in the fact that he does continue to teach. We see in glass darkly,
dimly. We don't see perfectly in God's
word and understand it. And it is a lifelong learning,
growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so by leaving that there, I'm showing how that over time, we
can be deceived and not understand. And we may be puffed up and full
of pride in what we know, only to find out later that we were
wrong about some things. And I've definitely been in that
place many times. I've said it from this pulpit
countless numbers of times, and you guys have heard me. This
church has experienced and witnessed, as the Lord has taught me, fuller
and deeper into things and doctrines and how I had them wrong because
I was following after the traditions of men and the creeds and confessions
of men and not after the Word of God and the Spirit's teaching.
And so with that being said, there are a lot of things that
we look at as we look back in our past. And as I've looked
over this morning, some things that came up in my memories,
I found where there is a lot of contention that goes on in
discussing the things of God between God's people. And sometimes
that contention is good. There has to be contentions.
There has to be heresies. So it might show and approve
who the Lord's people are. And that is true. However, contention
for contention's sake, just to always be out headhunting people
and trying to point out their faults is not what God has called
us to do on a continual basis. And I would even say with the
advent of the internet and Facebook, and especially with people's
wrong understanding of what the term church means, thinking that
the church means all the elect of God, people all over everywhere
think it's their responsibility to correct and rebuke and to
chastise and to hold an account and to judge everybody everywhere. And so their duty is to fill
the internet full of, you know, headhunters. But the church is
a local, visible, gathered assembly of baptized believers that the
Lord has brought together into a congregation. And that congregation
is responsible among itself for the judgment, for the teaching,
for the correction, for the rebuking of one another because we know
each other. We know each other's lives. We know each other personally.
And God has given us to be one body here. And that one body
is fitly joined together. And so I found that there's a
fallacy that goes around Facebook and the internet in where that
everybody is worried about or concerned about or busybodies
about other people's business, what they do. And one thing over
the last few months that the Lord has really impressed upon
me is that I'm not responsible or accountable for what goes
on on the other side of the country, on the other side of the state,
on the other side of town even. The Lord has called me to pastor
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church and has brought me as the under
shepherd of Christ to this flock. And my responsibilities are here.
And God has raised up men in certain areas under certain ministries
in their local churches. And I do not believe there are
to be ministries outside the local church, by the way. I don't
think that's biblical. I don't think we can find that
anywhere. You can't find mission boards. You can't find mission
societies, tract societies, associations, all these things. You can't find
that outside of God's word. Men didn't have their own separate
ministries, and then they attend church somewhere. Now, every
ministry that came out and was done among God's people was through
the local church, and they're only. And so if that's not through
the local church, then it's not a sanctioned ministry of Christ,
because Christ has ordained that it is through the local church
that those gifts are made, that those ordinations are made, that
those servants are recognized and brought up and sent out.
Now, all that I'm saying for this purpose, There is often
too many times that we are concerned with what God is doing with other
people, and it's not the way that we think it ought to be
done, or the way it ought to be said, the way that we think
it ought to be carried out. And just to be frank, it's none
of our business. It's not your business what I
do here. It's not my business what you
do at, you know, First Baptist Church of, you know, wherever.
or whatever, okay? It's not my business, that's
not my business, okay? And so, we find in scripture
the Lord even taught this kind of thing. We're not to be concerned
over other people's service to God. Now, in the local church
there is a place for judgment. For those who are outside of
the doctrine of Christ, for those who are in sin, an unrepentant
sin, there is places for that. I am not saying that we don't
have a responsibility in those things. But it is not my responsibility
to make sure that you are serving in the capacity I think that
you should be serving. Nor you I, okay? That is up to
God. And we find this throughout the
Word of God. And this morning, as I was looking for what I would
preach, I come across these passages in John chapter 21, and began
to jot down a few notes this morning about it. John chapter
21, and I'm going to start reading in verse 18, and I want to read
down to verse 21. I'm sorry, I'm going to read down to verse
21. 24. It says, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest
whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, and I'll
go over what we're talking about here in just a minute. This spake
he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when
he had spoken this, he said unto him, follow me. Then Peter, turning
about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, what
shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou
me. Then went this saying abroad
among the brethren that that disciple should not die. Yet
Jesus said not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple
which testifieth of these things and wrote these things, And we
know that his testimony is true. Of course, who is the one that's
writing this? John, right? Who's the one who leaned his
head on Jesus' breast at the Lord's Supper? It was John. Who
is the one that Jesus loved? It was John, okay? And so John is the one that Peter
is talking about. So what's going on here? Now,
if you'll remember leading up to this, uh... this was uh... Jesus, and we'll see that in
this, matter of fact, turn over to Luke chapter nine, Luke chapter
nine. Luke chapter nine. And we're
gonna look at this here in just a second. But we'll see that this is where
Jesus was arrested, where Peter drew his sword and cut off Malchus's
ear and then put it back on. That this is where whenever the
soldiers were there, Jesus willingly give himself to and had them
let them go. And Jesus went willingly with
him. This is where right after that,
Jesus was taken to be judged in front of the religious leaders.
And Peter denied him three times. We see that Jesus was then, after
his trial was over, he was taken out. He was crucified on a tree.
After three days, he was resurrected from the tomb. He made several
appearances to Mary and Martha, the disciples, and then later
to Thomas. And now he has appeared unto
Peter to reinstate Peter because Peter has felt bad because he
denied Christ and not worthy to be Christ's disciple. And
Jesus is now appearing to Peter. And in this, Jesus is explaining
to Peter in verses, let me get back to, keep your finger there
in chapter nine, but let me, I'm gonna turn back to John 21
so I don't misquote anything. He turns to Peter, and he tells
Peter about how Peter is going to die. He said, this is going
to be your lot, Peter. This is about what's going to
happen. He said, you need to feed my sheep. Of course, that
was part of the reinstatement. He said, do you love me? And
Peter said, you know it's not that I love you. And he says,
feed my sheep. Then he asked him again, do you love me? And
he said, Lord, you know that I love you. He said, well, feed
my sheep. Then he asked him a third time, do you love me? And he
said, Lord, you know that I love you. feed my sheep. And then
Jesus said, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee.
And then he begins to tell him how he is going to die. And notice
if thou, if you would, verse 19. This spake he, Jesus, signifying
by what death he, Peter, should glorify God. So Jesus is telling Peter, You're
gonna bring glory to God, but it's gonna be by your death. Now how would you like that?
All right, God is calling you into the ministry to feed his
sheep, but he said the purpose of your ministry and its ultimate
end is that you're gonna die to bring glory to me. Now how
many of you gonna sign up for that? Okay. But immediately, the first thing
that came to Peter's mind when that was told to him is, well,
wait a minute. What about that guy? What about
him? What's he going to do? See, a lot of times whenever
we are in our place of service, we're more concerned about what's
going on over there than we are about what's going on here. and
we need to draw it back in and be concerned with what's going
on here and not what's going on over there. Whether it's negative
or whether it's positive. Whether that church is over there
and they've just baptized 755 people in two weeks and we've
not baptized anybody in seven years, 10 years, or however long. That's not our concern, what
God might be doing over there. Our concern is what God's doing
here. And so when Peter is looking over there, he hears what God
says about your, what God's doing to bring glory to himself through
you. And he doesn't like it. He's like, well, wait a minute.
What about this guy over here? What's he going to do? And Jesus
said, what's that to thee? What's it to thee about what
I want to do with him? You. follow me. Now this isn't the first time
that Jesus has said this or these disciples have encountered this
attitude by Jesus. Look there with me in Luke chapter
9, verse 49. As a matter of fact,
let's back up. Verse 46, then there arose reasoning
among them which of them should be greatest. Now here again,
they're arguing among themselves who's greater. James and John
is having this discussion. Who's greater? Who should sit
on his left hand? Who should sit on his right hand? Even his
mother came and contended with Jesus about, hey, who's gonna
get to sit on your left hand and your right hand? And so they were arguing about
who's going to be the grace. So they're concerned about, hey,
look at me, you know, look at me. And what about you? What
about this guy? How can he's going to get to
do that? How can he get to do that? All right. And Jesus, perceiving
the thought of their heart, took a child and set him by him. And he said to them, whosoever
shall receive this child in my name receive with me. and whosoever
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. For he that is least
among you, all the same shall be great. Okay, so the way God
judges greatness isn't about how big or how massive the ministry
is. The way that God judges greatness
or how we should perceive greatness is how Because that's what he's
getting here, is how a child is trusting, is looking to, okay,
you tell me what to do, that's what I'll do, okay? Is trusting
and faithful as a child to do what he's been told to do, okay? The ones who are great are the
ones who are trusting of the master, trusting of the ones.
Whenever you kids were small, I could tell you to do anything,
and you trusted me, okay? I could tell you to stick your
finger up your nose and run in a circle, and that you'd get
a cookie if you did that. You'd stick your finger in your
nose and run around in a circle, and we'd give you a cookie, okay?
You were trusting, why? Because you recognized as parents
that we were your authority and you trusted us as your authority
and figured the authority knows best, does best, knows what's
best, and you know, I'm gonna do what they say. Okay, now then
you got to the place where you began to really be disobedient,
and then the whipping's had to come, but anyway, the fact remains
that Jesus is trying to get a point across here. Verse 49, and John
answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in
thy name, And we forbade him because he followed with not
with us. So there was someone out there
that was doing something in Jesus's name, but wasn't particularly
following along in their little group of people at that point. And Jesus said unto him, forbid
him not, for he that is not against us is for us. Okay, so Jesus said, now listen,
just because they may not be in your group, Doesn't mean they're
against us. As long as they are not against
us, then they're for us. OK? So there may be somebody
who is ministering and not in your church. And they may be
ministering outside somewhere, you know, under their own thing.
And listen, they may not even be ministering in the gospel
order through a church. Now, as I said a while ago, I
believe that the Bible is very clear that all ministry is to
be done through the local church, through, sanctioned and through
the local church. Okay. But there are some people
that don't understand that truth and they may be out there and
they're ministering, they're wanting to preach or teach. to those
that are around them, maybe start the church. They may be out there
wanting to start a church somewhere. They live in a place and there's
no gospel witness there. There's no gospel church there.
And yet they believe these things. And so they begin kind of like
how our church did. You know, there wasn't a sovereign
grace preaching church here in Joplin. And so there were two
families that found out that they believed the same and they
met together and they began to pray and gather together and
to read God's word and to sing and to have church together.
And then a little bit after that, another family joined, and another
family joined, and another family joined. Before you knew it, here
they were together as a church. And so, there may be those that are out
there that are like that, and then there may be some that just,
you know, they don't care about a church, they're just gonna
be out there ministering. And I think that's wrong. But still
the fact remains, Jesus said here, if they're not against
us, they're for us. And don't worry about what's
going on with them, you worry about what's going on with you,
okay? And that's basically what Jesus
told them. Where's another example that
we've seen that? Well, turn over another chapter to Luke chapter
10. Look with me at verse 38, Luke
chapter 10, verse 38. It says, now it came to pass
as they went, that he entered into a certain village and a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had
a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she should help me. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her. Now we find ourselves
in this place very often. We're out there and we may be
out serving the Lord. We're busy, busy, busy, busy,
doing all these things. And then there's that one person
that's not doing anything. We perceive that they're not
doing anything. I'll be honest, I've said this, the Lord can
attest, I've complained about people that aren't doing stuff.
But what did Jesus say here? He said, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen
that good part which shall not be taken from her. See, the busyness
of service to the Lord, whether it be doing things around the
church or outside the church, whatever's going on, is not the
most needful thing. The most needful thing is what
Martha was doing, I mean Mary was doing, is to be sitting at
the Lord's feet and learning, listening, worshiping. That's
the most important thing. The most important thing for
us as a congregation is that we meet together and that we
sit at the feet of the Lord and to learn and to listen and to
worship and to hear Him. And then the service part, that's
going to find its way as God works in their heart, as God
works in your heart. I've made that here, and maybe
this is to my detriment, maybe this is a failure of mine as
a pastor here, but I have, since I've been here, I have not, as
a pastor, bothered myself with chasing after people, making
sure that they're always busy doing something. I haven't went
to people and asked them, how come you don't serve here? How
come you haven't been doing this? How come you never volunteer
for this or that? Now, granted, I'll be honest.
There's been times that I've complained in private about those
things, when there's a lot of stuff that does need to be done,
and nobody seems to be moved to do that. And that's wrong
of me to do that. I shouldn't do that. This sermon
here, like many sermons, is preached at me just as much as it is to
everybody else. But I've made it a point as a
pastor here that it is not my job to influence or to push people
into doing things of serving. Number one, if somebody does
it because I said it and not because they were moving God
and doing it, then that's just, they're just working and serving
out of rebellion, not out of, love for God, not out of a sense
of duty or responsibility or whatever the case might be, they're
serving because they don't want the pastor on their back. Okay? And if I have to coerce somebody
to do something, then all they're doing it is because of me. And
all that is is fleshly words. And the flesh profits nothing.
Do you want a bunch of people in the flesh doing things in
the flesh because somebody in the flesh had told them to do
something by the flesh? No. What do we want? We want
people to joyfully serve the Lord. That because of the love
shed abroad in their heart that they desire to serve the Lord
and be obedient to Him and to follow His commands and to serve
one another in love, not because of coercion. And so as a pastor
I've made that, that I'm not going to bird dog people about
that. Now maybe there should be some
discussion to them. I should have been doing some
of that over the years. But I still, I don't find that
it is right to be telling other people how they should be doing
their service to the Lord other than preaching God's Word, teaching
God's Word, and declaring God's Word on what it says about serving. Tell him what it says about the
effects of God's love shed abroad in our heart. And then the Holy
Spirit, that's who comes and brings the conviction of sin
and gives motivation for service. So it's not your place, it's
not my place to make sure someone's doing stuff. And here, Martha
wants Jesus to make Mary get up and get to helping. When all
along, Martha should have slowed herself down and started listening
to more for what Jesus was saying. So here again, Jesus is still
making the report. What's it to you what that person
does? You follow me. If I've called
you to do all this service and for this person to sit and listen,
what's it to you what I've called that person to do? It's none
of your business, all right? And then we find ourself back
into John 21, where Jesus is saying the same thing to Peter.
He's saying, listen, what's it to you, Peter, what I do with
John, you follow me. You follow me. Quit looking around
at everybody else and what they're doing. Don't let what they're
doing dictate what I've called you to do. And you don't dictate to them
what I've called you to do. That's for you to do. I've got
something for them. Right? Now, in Romans chapter
14, we find a verse of Scripture. Romans chapter 14, look with
me if you would. Starting in verse 1, it says,
Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye. And listen, there's
a lot of brethren that are weak in the faith, that many of the
quote-unquote mature brethren aren't receiving. They're castigating
them, they're ridiculing them, they're making fun of them, they're
delegating them as unregenerate. Instead of receiving them, they're
harming them. Look what it says, him that is
weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Receive him, but don't bring
him in just to argue with him. For one believeth that he may
eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. There we go. We're supposed to bear with our
vegetarian brothers and sisters. Some believe it's okay to eat
meat, eat all things. Another says, let's just eat
herbs. Let not him that eateth despiseth
him that eateth not, okay? And let not him that eateth not
judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Now here,
look at verse four. This is what I'm getting to.
Now that was an example, okay? This isn't just about eating
meat or not eating meat, right? He's saying this to prove a point. That was just an example of what
he's getting to say here. Verse four. Who art thou that
judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. So what's Paul saying here? He's
saying it's not our business to judge how another person is
serving the Lord. Declare the truth. Declare the
Word of God. What do we do? We believe that
the service to God is through the local church, right? So what
do I do? I preach it. I proclaim it. I declare it. And if I have opportunity
with a man without going into doubtful disputations, that man
who is weak, I bring him alongside with the Word of God, showing
that if he still has a doubtful disputation with that, I leave
him to the Lord. Let the Lord do the teaching
who is the only one who can teach him. I can take him and declare
the Word. If it isn't confirmed in his
heart, it's because he hasn't been taught of God. But there's another side to that.
I also can be deceived and be teaching him something wrong,
and the Holy Spirit is convicting him saying, hey, wait a minute.
So see, it works both ways. It works both ways. But we need to let God's word
be our final arbiter. Okay? It says, let not, or excuse
me, one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. Not let him be persuaded because
of the confessions or the creeds. Don't be persuaded because John
Gill said it or because, you know, R.C. Sproul or John Calvin or whoever
else, you know, that people want to put up on a pedestal. Say,
let every man be persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth
the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not
the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it. He that eateth,
eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth
not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. For none
of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For
whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. You're not mine, you're the Lord's.
If you're a servant of God, you're a servant of the Lord, not a
servant of the pastor. For to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived, that he might be the Lord both of
the dead and the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother
Or why dost thou say that not thy brother? For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written,
As I live, said the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give an account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge
one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him
that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Now, is it unclean? No, it's
not unclean. But to the man who has not been
taught of God that it's unclean, to him it's unclean. And as long
as it's unclean to him, we shouldn't push him to take of it. Now,
how does that work? What does that mean? Whenever
we are teaching the Word of God, there are some that may not understand
and may not believe what we are saying. But we continue to declare
the truth, but not to doubtful disputations. We treat them as
the weaker brother, knowing that God needs to teach them. And
so we trust that God will teach them, because He has promised
that He will lead them into truth. It might not be on your time
schedule. And as far as service, he's going to give them the gifts
as he desires in his will. Not the way that you think you
ought to. I know churches that they give out tests to people. People take these tests, and
at the end of that test, they run this thing through some psychological
analyst software or whatever, and it tells you what gift you're
best at. So here you go, here's your gift.
You fill out this thing and it'll tell you what your spiritual
gift is. Listen, the only one that can tell you what your spiritual
gift is is the Holy Spirit of God. He's the one that gives
out the gifts as He determines. He distributes them. He is the
one who decides who gets what. Not the pastor, not an elder
board, not your mama, not your daddy, not your grandpa. Okay? There's a lot of people who thought
I should have been a preacher because my grandpa was a preacher.
And I got cousins that are preachers and all kinds of families. That
ain't how it works. Now, the Lord was blessed to
do that. You know, was gracious enough to do that, but that ain't
how it works. I'm not a preacher because my
grandpa was. This isn't something that I passed down from person
to person. But it says here that no man
put a stumbling block or occasion to fall in his brother's way. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitable. Destroy not him
with thy meat for whom Christ died. Let not then your good
be evil spoken of. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. For he that is in these things, serveth Christ, is acceptable
to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after
the things which make for peace. Let's quit dwelling on the things
that cause division, but dwell on the things that make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another. Listen, there
are men on Facebook that I love dearly, that I consider brothers
in the Lord, but I disagree with some of their
doctrine. Not that I think that their doctrine
is completely and totally false, but it's not a, they see it in
a different way than I do, I should say. And what they see doesn't
necessarily destroy what I understand as the gospel. Or it doesn't
destroy that particular doctrine, but it just is different than
how I see it. Now, are there some things that
if you preach that is, if I preach that Jesus isn't God, that, yeah,
that's not true. That's a false doctrine. If I preach that Jesus didn't
come in the flesh, that's a false doctrine. The Bible clearly defines
that as a false doctrine. But if one man believes that
the Lord is going to come back at the end of a seven-year tribulation
and a thousand-year reign, and I believe that He's coming only
one time and that the tribulation and the thousand-year reign is
coincidental to all this time period, that doesn't destroy
anything. It doesn't destroy the fact that
Jesus is coming back. It doesn't destroy the fact that
we are living in an age that we are to wait upon the Lord
and look for His return. It doesn't destroy the gospel
and how Jesus saves anybody. And there are other things that
doesn't destroy that. And so I don't discount somebody
as a brother because they do not see things as I do. And so
what do I do? I don't put a stumbling block
there. I declare the truth. If they don't hear the truth,
don't understand the truth, I continue to speak the truth, but I speak
it in love. And I don't tell them, well, if you don't believe
it just the way that I believe it, then you should stop ministry
altogether. Don't say nothing. That's not
right. Number one, they don't have no
authority to say that anyway. Ain't nobody got any authority.
That's popish, isn't it? It's popish. I don't have any
authority to tell, if JC Fulton, my best friend, was preaching
something, and I go to him and I tell him, I said, I tell you
what, Quit preaching. You need to quit preaching until
you learn. You need to come to me and let
me teach you. And until you've learned what
I know, then you quit teaching. That's crazy. I don't have that
authority. Number one, to his own master,
he stands or falls, right? That's God's word. That's God's
place, not mine. That's this church's place. If
I'm preaching false doctrine, it's this church's place. to
correct and rebuke and, if necessary, remove me if they find that I'm
preaching contrary to the Word of God. It's not another preacher's
place. There ain't no preacher got any
authority over what I say or what I do or what this church
does. Christ is your authority. God's Word is your only rule
of faith. And so we should follow after
that. God's people are His, not yours. God's servants are His
and not yours. Look with me in just a couple
more things here and we'll be done. 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter four. I want to start reading in verse
1. I'm going to read down. It says, Furthermore, then, we
beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as
ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so
ye would abound more and more. Ye know what commandments we
gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of conspicuous
concupiscence. I never can say that word. Someone
can. Someone can correct me on that.
I never can say it. Even as the Gentiles, which know
not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any
matter. Wow. You think that he's talking
to lost people here or to reprobates, but he's talking to people who
are professing Jesus Christ in the church at Thessalonica. And he's saying here that no
man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. defraud, it means to oppress, because that the Lord is the
avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who
hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly
love, Ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are
taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all
the brethren which are in all of Macedonia. But we beseech
you, brethren, that you increase more and more, and that ye, here
it is, study to be quiet. and to do your own business and
to work with your own hands as we commanded you that ye may
walk honestly toward them that are without and that ye may have
lack of nothing. So here we are to study to be
quiet and to do our own business, to work with our own hands as
we are commanded. Again, don't be a busybody, worrying
about what everybody else is doing. Study for yourself. And be quiet. I pray that the
Lord teach me that. I used to be just all over Facebook,
trying to get in any debate that I could get into. And now I just,
I just want to withdraw. I don't want to be a part of
that. Why? Because the Lord, number one, tells us that we need to
be quiet. Every man is the Lord's servant, not mine. It's not my
responsibility to correct everybody. If I have opportunity and I can
to share the truth, I'll share the truth. If that doesn't seem
to be received after one or two times of doing that, then as
the Lord instructed the disciples, if they don't receive what you're
saying, shake the dust off your feet and go on. You're not going
to convince anybody. And that you study to be quiet
and do your own business. Worry about your own business.
If you spend too much time working up your own service, then you're
not going to be too worried about somebody else's. That we may walk honestly toward
them. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, and
concerned. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't want to go that far.
That's going into another subject. So whenever Peter, back in John
21, was given the instruction of
Jesus not to worry about the other person. Remember, why was
Peter even saying that? Because he was worried about
this guy. Was this guy going to get off easier than me? Well,
I've got to die. You mean I've got to glorify
God if I die? Well, how is he going to glorify God then? Is
he going to have to die too? Does he have to die? Or is he
going to get away with not doing anything? What happened with
John? How did John end up glorifying God? He got arrested for the
testimony and the witness of Jesus Christ and was thrown on
an island in Patmos. And there he was in exile for the glory of God. But that was none of Peter's
business, right? And what Peter was doing was none of John's
business. Now, what did we learn out of these things? Well, number
one, one of the things I've seen out of this, and the Lord has
taught me in this, is that, and look with me at the passage here.
It says, verse 19, this faith he's signifying by what death
he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he said unto him, follow me. Jesus had just told Peter that
he was going to serve him and then eventually he was going
to be led away and he's going to die, right? And he told Peter that he was
going to follow him and that whenever he dies, in that death,
he was going to be glorifying God in that death. What does
that mean? Well, that means that Jesus was
telling Peter, listen, by grace, I'm going to keep you faithful
until that end. Grace assures us no matter what
it looks like that everybody else is doing, we're to worry
about what Christ is doing with us and that he will give us grace
to be what he wants us to be. We don't have to worry about
what everybody else is doing. Okay? That's been one of the
only things that's really been a great encouragement besides
some brethren that has continued to pray and encourage me here,
is that, hey, it doesn't matter how big or small. This church
has gotten big, it's gotten small. We're down to small again. It
can grow to big again as the Lord sees fit. It's His church.
But the thing is, is that I'm just to be faithful in what I
do. And to look to that. And His grace has assured us
that He will keep us faithful until His desired end. Peter's
desired end was that he would eventually die for the sake of
Jesus Christ and His testimony. And in dying a certain way, stretch
forth with thy hands, and they shall gird thee, and others are
going to come and take you away. So, He's going to keep us faithful
until the end. He's going to give us grace for
that until the end. The other thing I see is that
our pride can cause us to be prideful in heart. See, Peter
didn't think that that was his, that should be his lot. He was
above dying in that way, or serving in that way. He wanted to know
how somebody else is gonna do it. Well, how come I can't do
it like they do? And so, We can become proud in our hearts,
but we are to follow Christ. In Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Start here in verse 11, we read this. It says, for the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Now, when
we say to all men, we're not talking about every person head
for head, man, woman, child that's ever existed. That the grace
of God that bringeth salvation is talking about those who have
received salvation by Christ. Teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world. looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous for good works. And so we are called to follow
Christ, and we will follow Him in good works as God has ordained
for us, and that that salvation that He brings to us teaches
us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and to live soberly and
righteously and godly in this present world. So I don't have
to worry about telling you how to do that because Christ has
promised that He would bring that in salvation to you. So we have faith that the people
of God are following in the capacity in which Christ has given them.
The Bible says that Jesus gives each man a measure of faith and
he determines that measure of faith. And so it's not for me
to determine how much faith that you're using or how much you
should be using. That's again God's place. So
we have faith that God is teaching each man in his appointed time
and they are following Christ in the way that God has and capacity
in the way that God has given to them. So we are to follow
Christ and we will follow Him. We will be trusting in Him. But
the key is trusting Him. It's to trust Him. That's the
problem is most men are not trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit
in the lives of the people of God. They're trusting in their
scholarship, They're trusting in their preachers. They're trusting
in their theologians. They're trusting in their seminaries.
They're trusting in the wisdom of the world. They're trusting
in these things to be the catalyst in which that child of grace
is going to become mature, is going to have knowledge, is going
to learn, is going to become obedient. Listen, we are never,
never going to become those things from outward conditions. whether it's conditions you keep
or conditions other men do to make you that. It's always going
to be from an inward work of God's Spirit. And so whenever
we talk about trusting Him, what does that mean? That means that
we are trusting in His sovereign work, His sovereign will. We claim to be sovereign grace
believers, right? We believe in the sovereignty
of God, the absolute sovereignty of God in all things. But you
know what I've found? That those who claim the absolute
sovereignty of God generally are the ones who are most worried
about what other men are doing, thinking, and how they're believing,
and in what time frame that they come to know something. They're
the ones most worried about that. They should be the ones most
understanding of God's sovereign work. Look at 1 Peter chapter
4 if you would. 1 Peter chapter 4 starting in verse 14. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse
14. If ye be reproached for the name
of Christ, happy are ye. For the Spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you. On their part He is evil spoken
of, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as
a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer. Those are pretty
bad things, aren't they? You don't want to be in that
group, but look at this. Or as a busybody in other men's
matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on his behalf. For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator." It's weird
that he used the word Creator, right? But I think it's pity
that he did. What does a Creator do? What does a Creator do? It's not hard. What does a Creator
do? Creates. Creator creates. Why does he
use the word creator? Because he's bringing forth the
image of the potter. The potter makes the pot the
way he wants it to be. In the fashion he wants it to
be. At the appointed time he wants it. Listen, a potter can
sit down and make a pot for noble use. He can make a pot for ignoble
use. He can make a pot that is beautiful,
he can make a pot that's not so beautiful. He can make a pot
today for this specific purpose, but not make a pot until tomorrow
for another purpose. It's at the potter's discretion.
The creator has created faithfully, if we are believers in the absolute
sovereignty of God, as we look upon men and women in their service
to God, we should understand that God is sovereignly bringing
them into their service as He sees fit. He is sovereignly bringing
them into the understanding of the truth as He sees fit. He is sovereignly bringing them
to the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ in His timeframe,
in His way. Not yours, not mine. And then lastly, 2 Timothy, once
again, 2 Timothy chapter two, 2 Timothy chapter two, I'm going to start at verse 15
and read down. It says, study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Now it says, study to show thyself
approved unto God, not study to show someone else approved
of God. The Lord has given us in the
local church, he's given us gifts of evangelists, of prophets,
evangelists, pastors, teachers, okay? to equip those for the
work of the ministry by the word of God. He's given us that, but
he has not given us to study to show someone else approved
of God. He's given us to prepare and
to equip folks for the work of the ministry, but how and when
and to what extent and quality of work, that's not ours. A workman need not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain
babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness." And that's
exactly what I see on Facebook. It's profane and vain babblings.
Guys are not on there trying to edify one another with the
word of God. They're in there trying to prove
the other person so wrong and name-calling. And that's exactly
what happens. It becomes more ungodly because
of their disdain for the other person's viewpoint, that they
begin to bash the brother instead of keeping it within the realm
of correction and reproof according to Scripture. It says, verse
17, And their word will eat and death a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Phileas, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that
the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity. The Lord knows those who are His. But in a great house,
verse 20, here it is, but in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth,
and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man, therefore,
purge himself from these things, he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto
every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but
follow righteousness. Faith, charity, that word charity
there means love, okay? Faith, love, peace, with them
that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, So we're to feel
youthful lust and follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace with them
that call upon the name of the Lord out of the pure heart. If
someone is professing to be a child of grace who is believing the
gospel, shows forth works of repentance from dead works, believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are to follow after righteousness,
faith, love, peace with them. But look at verse 23, but foolish
And unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men, act to teach, patient."
See, whenever we're dealing with people in their service to God,
or we're dealing with people in their understanding of doctrine
or the Word of God, The servant of the Lord must not strive,
but be gentle. Don't be harsh with them. Don't
just beat them over the head with it. We're to be gentle. Act to teach. That means ready
to teach, able to teach. Take them to God's Word. Show
them God's Word. Be patient. Boy, there is not
much of that in today's Christian circles. In meekness, there again,
that's not found in much Christian circles anymore. In meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, perventure,
will give them repentance. See, you can't make anybody repent. It's God who has to give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. What are you to
do? Just like what Jesus said to
Peter. What does it matter about that man? You follow me. How
are we to follow Jesus? We must not strive. We must be
gentle unto all men apt to teach. Be patient in meekness, instructing
them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will then give
them repentance to the knowledge of the truth. and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken
captive by him. So brethren, what is it to you
what that man or that woman is doing? You follow him. You follow
Christ, trusting that the Lord of all is governing all and bringing
everything to his desired end, that the sovereignty of God is
working itself out in the way that he handles his church and
the members thereof. Anybody got any questions? Comments? All right, let's now have a word
of prayer. Father, again, we're thankful
to be in your church this morning, gathered together. We thank you,
Father, for the opportunities that we have together around
your word to pray, to sing praises to you. We thank you for Jesus,
who died on a cross under the full wrath of God, bearing our
iniquities upon himself, so that we might be justified and reconciled,
that the wrath of God propitiated and that we might have full salvation. Father, we are undeserving people.
We know that we can't do anything of ourselves to attain that,
but Father, we are so grateful that by mercy and by grace that
we have received it. Father, we pray for what we have
seen this morning in your word that you might help us to be
more loving and kind and patient with our brothers and sisters
in Christ, especially when there are disputes about things in
the word. Father, help us to understand
that if somebody is truly believing the gospel of grace, that they
can only believe that by your quickening power and that your
faith that you have given them But while they may have the faith
to believe the gospel, their faith may be weak in other areas.
Their knowledge may be short in other areas, not yet learned. And so Father, may we be patient
with them. May they be patient with us in our areas of infirmity,
of our areas of weakness and of ignorance of your word. But Father, may we come together
in peace, and in harmony and love, edifying one another and
trusting you and your sovereignty that you are bringing about the
desired end of each one of your children. They are your children. They are your seed. They are
your workmanship. They are your generation. And
so we trust as you're the shepherd and we are the sheep that you
will do for each one of your sheep as they have need and as
you see fit. Father, so often we think we
know better for somebody else and we relegate the Holy Spirit
to an inactive participant in the work of God and think that we, by our human
wisdom, can take His place. But Father, may we Be convicted
of that. May we stop worrying about what
others do and be concerned about our following you. We thank you
again for all that you've done for us. We thank you for this
church. We pray for Brother Ed wherever he is today. Father,
we just pray for him. We pray for Sister Louetta down
in Tennessee and for Mindy and for Beth. Father, we pray for
them. Lift them up wherever they're
at. that you might continue to keep them, that you might preserve
them, Father. And we ask that you might do
the same for this church. We have many things ahead of
us, decisions to make about whether or not to stay here in this building
or to go back into homes. Father, we long to see more people
come and to join and worship here and in the ministry of the
gospel. But Father, you've seemed fit
in this time to keep us small and without very many people.
And Lord, we realize that and we trust you and what you're
doing. But Father, it could be your
will. We ask that you bring other laborers,
those who can help edify the brothers and sisters of the Lord
and share the gospel of grace in the ministry here. And Father, again, we ask you
to bless this time of fellowship and the food that we're about
to eat to the nourishment of our bodies. Go our ways that
you might keep us until we meet again or until your soon return.
Of course, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.