Tonight what we're going to talk
about is the priority of the church. And let me begin just
by telling you a little bit about myself. I grew up in a church
that was a very liberal church. It was a church that didn't teach
the Bible, didn't preach the Bible. I can remember going to
Sunday school. I was there every week. My parents
brought me. I can remember going to Sunday
school, and we talked about prison reform. We talked about social
issues, things like that, but I never heard the Word of God
opened. I never heard people sing, and
it was just kind of the bland leading the bland, kind of a
service. I came to know the Lord when
I was a young boy. My parents led me to Christ,
but because I was not in a church that was all that God would want
a church to be. Now, no church is perfect. But
there are certain key factors that are absolutely necessary
for it to be a New Testament church and for the people in
that church to be able to spiritually explode and grow in the grace
and knowledge of Christ. Well, I wasn't in a church like
that. And so there was a very low ceiling for my spiritual
life. I came to know the Lord when
I was seven years old. I think it was a genuine conversion
experience, but there was very little growth because there was
very little input into my life spiritually. I then, when I was
in high school, was involved in a parachurch ministry. But any parachurch ministry,
no matter how great it is, can only be one-dimensional or two-dimensional. It can never be a full-orbed
ministry. And so it can only bring support
in a certain side, almost like cooking a hamburger where only
one side of the patty is grilled and the other side just is totally
uncooked. I went off to college. I played
football, and there were certain doors that were open to me for
ministry. And it was when I first began
to preach and to speak. But I wasn't in a church that
was feeding me the Word of God, ministering to me, and in all
of the elements of a church. And so, therefore, my Christian
ministry while I was in college, again, it had a very low ceiling. And whatever I had to give out
to others, I had to literally just dredge it up myself. I had
a little Bible called... Rick, you remember this, maybe,
a living Bible. You remember that? All right,
when I started, like, getting in my car and going to churches
to speak, I literally...I had a living Bible with pictures
in it, if you can believe that. And so that's just how dwarfed
I was in many ways spiritually. I graduated. I went to law school. And in law school, I realized
this really isn't what I wanted to do. And to make a long story
short, I worked for a man who became a very famous politician. And my political favor from him
was he was going to get me a job in Dallas. And so I was all ready
to go to Dallas and start a career. And I really had an entry level
that was an extraordinary entry level. And so I went home over
the weekend to Memphis, Tennessee, where I'm from, to tell my mom
and dad what I was going to do now that I'm out of school, out
of college, and I'm not going to finish law school. I'm just
going to head to Dallas and get a job. And I went to church that
Sunday. and it's the first time I've
ever been. I was ever in a church that was
really a church. I remember sitting there And
as soon as we began to sing, it was like I'd never been in
a church that had sung before. The people just sang out of their
hearts, and it was obvious to me as I was looking around, these
people believe this. These people love the Lord, and
the singing just gave me goosebumps, and it brought tears to my eyes,
and it was so moving just to be in a church like that. And then they had a baptismal
service during that church service. And I don't know that I've ever
seen someone in a service like that be baptized. And they gave
their testimony, and it was just thrilling. And everyone was saying,
amen, amen. And we were just being encouraged. It was contagious. And then the
preacher walked into the pulpit. And he said, take your Bibles
and turn with me. And we went to a passage of Scripture.
And He preached heaven down. And the Word of God came with
such power upon our hearts that there was deep conviction of
sin. There was edification. We were
built up. We were motivated. At the end
of the service, there were people who were concerned for their
souls and wanted to talk to someone about coming to know the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it was the most exciting
experience that I had ever known in my Christian life to at last
finally be in a church that was on fire for the Lord. Well, I went back later that
night and I moved up a little closer to the front and just
wanted to be closer to the action. And the sermon was even more
powerful. The singing was even more alive.
And after church was over, it was like nobody wanted to leave
and everyone was just staying and talking and fellowshipping. And it was just like an electrical
current was going through the sanctuary just in the power of
the Holy Spirit. and everything that was being
done. So I told my parents, I think I'm going to stay one more week.
So I went to church on Wednesday night, and I got a little bit
closer, and then I went to church the next Sunday, and it was just
unbelievable. I remember the preacher preached
on the day the sun stood still from the book of Joshua. It was
the most interesting sermon and the most life-changing sermon
for me, and what God was doing is God was laying hold of my
heart in such a way that there now was no longer a low ceiling
over my spiritual life. For the first time in my life,
I was in a place where the means of grace, theologians talk about
the means of grace, where the Word of God and worship and fellowship
and prayer and ministry, all of these things were happening
at one time in my life in the way that God had appointed it. This was over and above and beyond
just going to a Bible study, where it is somewhat one-dimensional,
or just going to a prayer group where it is somewhat one-dimensional,
fine as it is, but it was everything that God had for my spiritual
life. It was all taking place under
one roof, basically at one time, and that was the way that God
designed it for every one of us. to be in a church, in a New
Testament church, where we are nurtured and we're edified and
we're built up in our faith. The Christian life was never
intended to be a Lone Ranger religion. It was never intended
to be where you just are on your own. No one can grow on their
own unless providentially God has you in a particular place
at that time where you are disconnected from the means of grace in the
church. And so, the church is the place
where God wants us to be. And so I want to talk about that
tonight, the priority of the church. Let me tell you, let's
just begin what the church is not. The church is not a social
club. It's not a Christian Kiwanis
club. It's not a glorified country
club. It's not a spiritual fraternity
or sorority or just a place to hang out. The church, and I was
talking with Rick Holland about this before we walked in here,
and Rick said this. He said, really, the church is
the backbone of your spiritual life. You remember saying that,
Rick? And that every muscle and every sinew and every fleshed-out
part of our spiritual life is hung upon the skeleton of the
local church. And no one will ever be a strong
believer in the Lord who is not strongly rooted and grounded
in a local church. And so it's just the infinite
genius of God that has designed the church. In eternity past,
God chose the church and God ordained the church, and so we
tonight, right now, we are a part of something that God, before
the foundation of the world, created for His glory and for
our good. And so tonight, I want us to
look at one particular passage. I'm sure you have your Bibles.
Turn with me to the book of Acts, to Acts chapter 2, and I want
us to look tonight in verses 41 to 47. Acts 2, 41 to 47. And what I want to do is trace
this river back upstream to the very origin of the church. I want us to see what the church
looked like when the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost. Before there were pollutants
that began to flow into the stream, before man's traditions and man's
wisdom began to be interwoven into the church, back when it
was first begun, this is the first church. And so what we're
doing, really, is almost like looking in the rear-view mirror
and looking back to see from whence we've come, this is what
God has intended for our spiritual lives. And so I want to begin
reading in verse 41, and then I want to set in front of you
some core distinctives, and I want to challenge you tonight that
your life will be plugged in to every single dimension in
the life of the church that we see here, that you won't be one
who just sits on the back row, that you won't be one who just
is lost in the anonymity of the crowd. but that you will be so
committed to the Lord that you will want all that God has for
your spiritual life and to be plugged into the church such
that, verses 41 to 47, in its comprehensive fullness, will be your experience in your
own spiritual life. So let me begin just by reading
these verses, starting in verse 41. I'll set the scene. Peter
has just preached on the day of Pentecost. Our Lord has been
crucified seven weeks earlier. He has been raised from the dead.
He has ascended back to heaven 10 days before this. And on the
day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and preaches that powerful
gospel sermon, this Jesus whom you crucified, God raised from
the dead, and God has made him both Lord and Christ. And their
hearts were pierced, verse 37, and they cried out, what shall
we do? And Peter preaches the gospel even stronger to them.
And now beginning in verse 41, here is the birth of the church
at Pentecost. So then those who received his
word were baptized, and that day there were added about 3,000
souls. They were continually devoting
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking
of bread, and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense
of awe. And many wonders and signs were
taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed
were together and had all things in common, and they began selling
their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all
as anyone might have need, day by day, continuing with one mind
in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house. taking their
meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was
adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Now, before we look at the individual parts of this, I want to set
before you something that is very obvious, that as soon as
they were saved, they were integrated into the life of the church.
There was no such thing as someone who was a true Christian or a
true disciple who was not plugged in to the local church there
in Jerusalem. There were no disconnected believers
just wandering the streets of Jerusalem, bouncing around from
house to house. who were disconnected from the
local church here in Jerusalem. Every single believer was rooted
and grounded in the fertile soil of the church there in Jerusalem. Now, in God's genius, they were
not placed into a Christian school. A Christian school is a wonderful
thing. I have put all of my children in Christian schools. But a Christian
school can never do what a church can do. They were not placed
into a Christian concert. Christian concerts are great,
very one-dimensional. A concert can never do what the
church can do. They were not placed into a Christian
camp. They were not placed into a Christian
conference. I love conferences. I love for
Rick to invite me to preach in a conference. We live for that.
But a conference is not necessarily day-to-day reality. It's almost
like Christian Disneyland. I mean, it's fun for a while,
but then it's back to reality. And a conference can never do
what the local church can do. And they weren't placed into
a Christian coffee shop to, you know, Java and Jesus. And everybody
just sit in there and just muse and philosophize with one another
and just talk about things. Listen, it's great going to a
Christian coffee shop. I love going to coffee shops.
But it can never do for you what the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ can do. And so tonight, I want us to
just nail down the very basics. But before I do, I want to ask
you a couple of questions. Is the church primary in your
spiritual life? Are your best friends your associations
at the church? Does your best advice come from
your pastors and come from your shepherds? Do you find the greatest
excitement and enthusiasm in your spiritual life in the life
of the church? That is God's design for your
spiritual life. Well, let's look now at some
hallmarks of this early church. And I want you to measure up
your life with these distinctives and see how you're plugged in
to this church, or perhaps you're visiting here tonight from another
church. And is your church delivering
the goods? And are you plugged in to your
church in these ways? All right, let me lay these out.
Number one, as we look at verse 41, saving faith. Saving faith. We read in verse
41, so then those who had received his word. That's what a church
is. A church is not a group of seekers. A church is not a gathering of
spectators. A church is not a place where
people are merely interested in spiritual things. A church
is a place where people are sold out for Jesus Christ. It is a
place where they have received the word of the cross, and they
have received the Lord Jesus Christ. They have received the
gospel into their very lives, and that is what we see. A commitment
to the church begins with a commitment to Christ. If one is not committed
to the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never truly be committed to the
church, even if you play the piano, and you're the janitor
on Sunday night, and you answer the phone up at the church, and
you do everything that is needed, and you drive the bus to camp,
and you do 18 different ministries. If you're not committed to Jesus
Christ and to the lordship of Jesus Christ, then your commitment
to the church is a...is a hollow, empty commitment to the church. You have to be committed to the
head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be committed
to the one who died for the church and purchased the church with
His own blood, Jesus Christ. Now, what all is involved in
saving faith? We see in verse 41 here, it is...it
is called, those who received His Word, who welcomed the good
news of salvation into one's heart. Well, there are different
elements in this. Look at verse 38. There is the
element of repentance in true saving faith. Peter said to them,
repent. All true saving faith has repentance
in it, which is a conviction of sin, and a sorrow for sin,
and a godly sorrow for sin, and a turning away from a life pursuit
of sin. Now, we'll never be perfect in
this world, and to repent does not mean you'll never sin again. We're not talking about the perfection
of your life, we're talking about the direction of your life. And
repentance turns your life around, where once you were going according
to the course of this world, you were headed towards hell,
you were on the broad path headed for destruction, you were just
going along with everybody else in this world, and when you repent,
You do a 180, you stop in your tracks and the Spirit of God
turns you around and now you're headed in a brand new direction
on the narrow path. You are headed now towards glory
and to heaven. All true saving faith has repentance. And if you have not yet repented,
you have not yet believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, not unto
salvation. You may have intellectual facts
in your head, and you may have a surface confession of Christ,
but if it is true and real, it will have repentance in it. Look
at verse 39. This is brought about by a sovereign
work of God. In verse 39, he says, as many
as the Lord our God will call to himself. That is a sovereign
summons by Almighty God whereby He calls His elect, His chosen
ones to Himself, and it is an effectual call. It is what we
call an irresistible call in the sense that He makes us willing
in the day of His power. Salvation is of the Lord. And saving faith is of the Lord. It is a gift that God gives to
those whom he has called to himself. That is why from him and through
him and to him are all things." And then look at verse 40. With
many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting
them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. To believe
upon Christ is to be saved. And you say, to be saved from
what? Well, it's not to be saved from loneliness. It's not to
be saved from just living a mundane life. And if you give your life
to the Lord, then you'll finally have a better personality and
people will like you. To be saved means you're actually
saved from God Himself. You are delivered from the wrath
that will come. You are rescued and delivered
and saved from the final judgment. and being consigned in a place
called hell. The only way to be saved is to
receive the word of the gospel and to repent of your sins and
to respond to the call of God upon your life. Now, let me show
you. Look in chapter 3, verse 16,
just for a moment. I want to give you one more verse
on saving faith. This is a knockout punch of a
verse. Look at verse 16 in chapter 3.
Peter is preaching, and he says, on the basis of faith in His
name. All true saving faith is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, meaning He is the object of our faith. Believing in the church will
not save anyone. You must believe in the head
of the church, Jesus Christ. Now, continue to read with me,
and I want you to see where this faith comes from. If you have
believed in Christ already in your life, I want you to see
the origin of this faith. And on the basis of faith in
His name, it is the name of Jesus, which has strengthened this man
whom you see and know, and the faith which comes, watch this,
through Him. through Him. That's where saving
faith originates. It comes through Christ. Understand this. All faith that
is in Christ is a faith that has come from Christ and is through
Christ. In other words, Jesus gives the
gift of faith that enables our spiritually dead hearts to believe
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't muster up faith within
ourselves. Out of nothing comes nothing. God must give faith. And that is what chapter 3, verse
16 says. So, at the very outset, what
we're saying is that saving faith is the first mark of a true New
Testament church. If a church does not preach the
gospel, if the church does not make Christ known, then all you
have is a crowd. Then all you have is a meeting. Then all you have is a group. But a church is where a body
of believers have come together in the name of the Lord because
they have trusted in Him. So, I guess I need to ask you,
have you come to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you
repented of your sins? Have you confessed your sins
to God? Have you turned from your sins
and turned to Jesus Christ? Have you called upon His name
for salvation? Have you thrown yourself upon
His mercy? Have you surrendered your life
to Jesus Christ? Have you come to the end of yourself?
Have you come to see that you cannot save yourself? Have you
seen that all of your righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy
God in heaven? Have you come to see the infinite
chasm that separates holy God from sinful man? And the only
way that we as sinful people can come to a holy God is through
faith in the name of Jesus Christ. A church is a place where people
have banded together and have confessed their sin to God and
called upon the Lord for His mercy and for His grace. A church is not a place where
we gather together and we think that we're better than people
out in the world or that we're better than one another. No,
we are a place where we've come together and we realize we have
all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that there
is only one Savior who can rescue us from the wrath of God, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we hold Him in common tonight
in this room. Oh, I want you to note all those
who were saved, look, come back to chapter 2 and verse 41. So then those who had received
his word were baptized. Everyone who was saved was baptized. There was no such thing as an
unbaptized believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a total
contradiction in terms. For someone to be a believer
and not to be baptized is to be a walking question mark. is to be someone who is just
a contradiction of their own testimony. They say they believe
in Christ, but they have not yet been publicly baptized. And so a church is far more than
a place where people are saved. A church is a place where the
ordinance of baptism is practiced and people come to publicly confess
their faith in Jesus Christ. I heard the story of a little
boy who went to his pastor. He had just given his life to
the Lord and he wanted to be baptized. And he got it a little
mixed up and he said to the pastor, he said, pastor, I want to be
advertised. Well, that's what it means to
be baptized. You are advertising your commitment
to Jesus Christ. You are unashamed of Christ. You want the entire world to
know that He is my Savior. He is my Master. And if you have
not yet been baptized, I pray right now, this very moment,
the Spirit of God will convict your heart of the will of God
for your life that you must be baptized immediately, as soon
as it is possible. A church is a place where there
is saving faith and believer's baptism, and it is known to their
circle of relationships. I have stepped out of the world.
I have stepped out of the crowd. I have stepped out of the flow
of this world. I want everyone to know that
I am born again, and I stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Have
you been baptized? As a believer in Christ, if you
have not been baptized, I would urge you to find a shepherd here
tonight, a pastor here tonight, and say, I must act in obedience
as soon as it is possible and be baptized in this church. Well, I want you to note now
second, not only saving faith, but strong allegiance. I want you to notice at the end
of verse 41 and at the beginning of verse 42, the strong bond,
the strong allegiance, the strong connection to the local church. Notice at the end of verse 41,
and that day, not next week, not next month, Not next year. That day there were added about
3,000 souls. You know what's implied right
here? Church membership. That day there were added. I
want to ask you this question. Added to what? To thin air? And whatever they were added
to before that, they were not a part of it. And at that moment
when they believed upon Christ and they were subsequently baptized,
and let me give you a footnote here, you don't have to be baptized
to be saved. The thief on the cross was not
baptized. Only the blood of Jesus will
wash away sin. But you do need to be baptized
in order to be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that
day there were added about 3,000 souls. Down in verse 47, we read
much the same, and the Lord was adding to their number. They're
not being added to the Lamb's Book of Life. Our names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of
the world. Names are not being daily added
to the Lamb's Book of Life. That was all taken care of by
the sovereign election of God before time began. No, what they're
being added to here is to the church, to the 120 that we're
meeting in the upper room that we've read about. Previously,
they were not a part of this group, the church, and now they
were added to this group, the church. Previously, they were
outside of this group. Now, presently, they are on the
inside. There was no one who was saved
who was not added to their number. How strange that is today. There
are Christians, sad to say, who are...who have not been added
to a Bible-teaching, Christ-exalting, God-centered church. And they're
just like little clouds floating around the city, and they're
not anchored and tied down into a local church, and the New Testament
knows nothing of such a person. And we read in chapter 1 verse
14, they were of one mind. In chapter 2 verse 1, they were
in one place. We read that they were of one
heart and one spirit and one mission. There was this strong
allegiance to the local church. Now, look at the beginning of
verse 42. This is how strong their loyalty was to the local
church. And they...now, the they are
all who were saved, all who were baptized, and all who were added
to the church. That much we know. No one is
slipping through the cracks here. No one is saying, well, you know
what? That's fine for everybody else to join the church, but
I have my own category. I'm just going to do my own thing
in the spiritual life. There wasn't anyone so arrogant
as that. It says in verse 42, they were
continually devoting themselves to. I don't really have time
to go into a word study here on continually devoting themselves
to, but just to let you know, it is one word in the Greek language. It's an intensified verb. And
it is very emphatic and it means to do something persistently
and to aggressively pursue a desired object. They were continually,
that means week after week after week after week, devoting themselves
to the ministries and the fellowship of this local church. Hebrews
10 verse 25 says that we are to be not forsaking our own assembling
together as is the habit of some. A couple weeks ago, I spoke at
the Ligonier Conference, and there was a Q&A one night, and
Al Mohler was on the platform, R.C. Sproul was on the platform,
Alistair Begg was on the platform, Michael Horton was on the platform,
and I was trying to hide on the other end and let all the smart
guys answer the questions. I was CJ that night, Rick. or siege, as we call him at our
house. And so, there were all kinds
of philosophical questions, apologetic questions that were just, they
were playing above the rim. And they, one question finally
came up, R.C. was moderating the Q&A, and the
question that came in, there were like 3,000 or 4,000 people
at this conference, and the question came up, Why is it that some Christians
do not grow spiritually as they should? It's a good question. We ought to ask ourselves that
question. Why is it that some just blossom and grow and others
just languish? I was sitting next to Al Mohler
and he whispered in my ear in front of everyone, you need to
answer this question. So I said this, what immediately
comes to my mind is that many people do not grow spiritually
because they never commit themselves to a local church. They are never
week by week by week under the powerful preaching of the Word
of God. that brings you to an intersection
every week where you must decide which way you're going to live,
preaching that exposes sin, preaching that rebukes, preaching that
reproves, preaching that calls for commitment. If you're not
under preaching like that, if all you're doing is just having
headphones on and listening to music, you're never having your
cage rattled. and for the thunder of the Word
of God to pull you up close to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
said, if someone is not committed to the local church, they're
not coming to the Lord's table. They might go to the Lord's table
twice a year. Coming to the Lord's table is
like an audit for your soul. It's like having your oil checked,
and you are brought to the foot of the cross, and you are brought
to consider the death of Christ, and the sin that I must confess,
and to call out to the Lord in humble request a forgiveness
of my sins. If you're not coming to the Lord's
table on an ongoing, regular basis, of course, you're going
to be backsliding. Of course you're going to be
not growing as you should spiritually. And if you're not in the company
of other believers who are on fire for the Lord and their faith
is contagious and it's spreading like fire and you catch their
fire and you're stimulating one another to good deeds, but instead
you're just the lone ranger, you're just off by yourself,
you're going to be like that barbecue pit where one coal that
has been on fire, it rolls off and it's now by itself and it's
just a matter of time until it cools down and cools off while
the other coals continue to be red and are hot and they're on
fire. It's the one that is not in the
local church where the power of the Holy Spirit is at work.
No wonder this one is lukewarm in their faith. They're getting
their Christianity off of television. No, it's in the local church
where the electricity and the power of the Holy Spirit of God
is coursing through all of these means of grace. Let me give you
a third distinctive of this church, not only saving faith and strong
allegiance, But number three, sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. Notice verse 42 again. They were
continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching. They weren't sitting under sappy,
sentimental stories that were intended to just produce tears. They were sitting under doctrine.
That's what the word teaching means. It is sound. doctrine. It is sound theology. It is shaping your worldview. It is giving you a paradigm,
a prism through which you see all of life, that you have the
mind of Christ, that you see the world as God sees the world. Titus 2, verse 1 calls it sound
doctrine. Romans 6, 17 calls it that form
of teaching to which you were committed. 2 Timothy 1.13 calls
it the standard of sound words. Listen, apart from the apostles'
teaching, you'll never know who God is, who you are, why you
need Christ, where you've come from, where you're going, what
your purpose is on the earth. You'll be clueless apart from
the truth of the Word of God. James Montgomery Boyce makes
a very interesting observation at this point. He writes, it
could have been a temptation for the early believers to look
back to Pentecost and focus on the past. And he's talking about
the emotional experience of when the Spirit fell and they spoke
in tongues. They might have remembered the
way the Holy Spirit came and how He used them to speak to
those in Jerusalem so that each heard in his or her own language. They might have longed to experience
something like that again. They might have been praying,
please, Lord, do something miraculous again. This is not what we find. They are not reveling in their
past ecstatic experiences. Instead, we find them reveling
in the Word of God. Wherever a church is Spirit-filled,
it will always be Scripture-filled. The Holy Spirit is the author
of Scripture. And when the Holy Spirit, where
the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work, it will be the book
that He authored that will be in center stage. If you are saved,
you will be drawn to this book and the teaching of this book.
And if you are not drawn to the apostles' teaching, then you
ought to question whether you are really born again. And if
you are saved but not drawn to the teaching of this book, you
are clearly not filled with the Spirit and you are walking according
to the flesh. Sound doctrine. Let me just tell
you a little bit of the kind of sound doctrine they received. Earlier in this chapter, beginning
in verse 14, We have the record of Peter's sermon on the day
of Pentecost. And we get some idea of the kind
of preaching and teaching that they sat under week by week by
week. This was not sermonettes for
Christianettes. Look at verse 14. It was pretty
authoritative. Look at these little phrases.
Peter taking his stand, raised his voice, declared to them,
let this be known to you. Give heed to my words. You need
to be under that kind of authoritative, thunderous preaching of the Word
of God. It was Christ-centered, beginning
in verse 22 and running to verse 36. We read of the life of Christ,
the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the exaltation of
Christ, the coronation of Christ, the reign of Christ, the lordship
of Christ, the sovereignty of Christ. And it was biblical. Look beginning in verse 17. If
you have a New American Standard version, as I do, the Old Testament
quotations are all in capital letters. Notice how much of this
sermon is in capital letters. Notice how biblical this message
was. This is a true expository sermon. In verses 17 through 20, he quotes
Joel chapter 2. through verse 21. In verse 25
through 28, he quotes Psalm 16. In verse 30, he quotes Psalm 132. In 2
Samuel, verse 7. In verse 31, he circles back
to Psalm 16. In verse 34 and verse 35, he preaches Psalm 110. His message was, the Bible says,
the Bible says, the Bible says. The church is really the pulpit
of God. It is the place where the voice
of God is heard, where the word of God is preached and is explained,
and it is applied to your life. Also, it was heart-searching.
Look at verse 37. They were pierced to the heart.
The preaching had an edge to it. And it was cutting into their
heart, and it was also compelling to the point that they say at
the end of verse 37, brethren, what shall we do? The people
here are begging. Tell us how should we live. Tell
us what should we do. You need to be in a church just
like Grace Community Church. Most of you are. This is the
place where the truth of God is heard. I must hasten. Number four, sweet fellowship. What are you laughing at? I know
when you're laughing with me and when you're laughing at me,
all right? But there's a fourth mark here.
And look what it goes on to say in verse 42, and to fellowship. That word and is very important.
It inseparably connects the apostles' teaching with fellowship. This wasn't just a vertical thrust. The more they had fellowship
with God through the preaching of the Word, the more they had
horizontal fellowship, one with another. Their fellowship was
in the truth. Their fellowship was in the Word.
It was in the apostles' teaching. Now, this Greek word for fellowship
means to hold something in common. The word means a partnership.
It means a common participation. It means a sharing together. And the more we sit under the
teaching of the Word of God, the more we realize how much
we hold in common together. It was the same blood of Christ
that washed away my sins that has washed away your sins. It
is the same Father in eternity past that chose me that chose
you. It is the same Holy Spirit that
convicted me of my sin and drew me to Christ is the very same
one who has convicted you of sin and has drawn you to Christ.
It is the very same life of God in me that is in you. It's the same joy that's in me
that is in you. It is all our common possession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If not, then we're just a spiritual
supper club. If not, we're just a religious
club, a clique. But the reality of Christ is
what bonds us together. How else can you account for
the diversity of everyone in this room? There are people from
all walks of life. all ethnic backgrounds, all racial
backgrounds, all different IQ levels, all different social
strata, that the only way all of us could be in one room together
and to be excited together is the Lord Jesus Christ. And what
we have in Christ far transcends whatever differences there would
be between us. Listen, when I was in college,
when I was many of your age, I'm almost embarrassed to tell
you this, but I was in a fraternity, and we were the football fraternity.
And we thought we were pretty cool. And let me tell you, we
all dressed alike. We all dated blondes. We all
got our hair cut alike. We all drove cars alike. We all
talked alike. We all walked alike. I mean,
we were just a tiny little homogeneous unit. The church is not a tiny little
homogeneous unit. The church for whom Christ has
died is as high and as broad and as wide as the extent of
His death upon the cross. In fact, look, if you would,
just for a second, in chapter 2 and verse 9. I just want you
to see the diversity of their fellowship. Look who all got
saved. Parthians and Medes and Elamites
and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,
Phygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Jews, proselytes,
verse 11, Cretans, Arabs. How are you going to get all
those people in one building at one time without them killing
themselves? the sweet fellowship that we
have in our unity in the Lord Jesus Christ, and how it enriches
us, and how it deepens us to be brought into... It's like
a tapestry being woven in the church of so many different threads,
of so many different colors. And as it all comes together,
it forms the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. the sweet fellowship
that we have in Christ. Think of it this way. Think of
a triangle. And at the head of the triangle
is Christ, the head of the church. And the closer I draw close to
Christ and walk with Christ in the light of His holiness, and
the closer you draw near to Christ, means that we draw closer to
one another. But the further away I am from
Christ and the further away you are from Christ, the further
away we are from one another. But when we draw near to the
cross and when we proclaim the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the ground at the foot of the cross is level. And that is our
richest fellowship. And by the way, that is also
why you need to date a Christian and only a Christian. You need
to marry a Christian and only a Christian. Because if you really
want to love someone and be loved by another person, you need to
find someone who loves Christ more than you do, who is making
a race to the cross. You will never be intimate with
or close to anyone who is not drawing close to the cross as
you are drawing close to the cross. Well, in this church,
these early believers, they were so on fire for the Lord that
they were just welded together. They were fused together by the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you a fifth mark.
Spiritual worship. Continue to read in verse 42. They were continually devoting
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship. And I just
had a thought. Let me give you one more thought
about fellowship. I hear that. Look at it in verse 44 and 45,
this fellowship that they had. And all those who had believed
were together. Now, that says something. I mean,
you've got to be together to have fellowship. I mean, you
can't be disconnected and have fellowship. You've got to be
together in one place. And they had all things in common
and then began selling their property and possessions and
were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Now,
this is not teaching socialism. This is not teaching communism.
It's teaching the very opposite. But what this is teaching is
that we are to hold with an open hand what the Lord has entrusted
to us. And like the Good Samaritan,
as we see our neighbor in need, If our love and compassion is
genuine and real, there will be a desire to reach out to them
and to share with them what the Lord has put into my hand." Here,
they were all coming in from out of town, and they were here
for Pentecost, and it was a very unusual set of circumstances.
There wasn't a Hampton Inn, and there wasn't a Holiday Inn where
they could all put up for the night. And so it's kind of like
a Christian Woodstock, I guess, you know, they were just... kind
of all hanging out together. And so if you had a little bit
more salt and if someone else had an extra clean shirt, I mean,
you would just share things around so we can all stay here in town
together at this moment and sit under this teaching before we're
dispersed and have to return. But the point of verse 44 and
verse 45 is, is that there is an overflowing love in Christian
fellowship where we want to consider the interests of others as more
important than our own, and we want to sacrificially give of
ourselves to seek the highest good in another. All right, back
to spiritual worship. Look at verse 42, to the breaking of bread. Now, the breaking of bread refers
to the Lord's table where they were taking the bread and the
cup. which was a reminder of the Lord's death on the cross
that was just a little over seven weeks earlier had taken place
in this very town. And that they must always have
the death of Christ at the very forefront of their thoughts and
their mind. They must live a Christ-centered life, a cross-centered life. And in the genius of God, God
designed for the church that there would be only two ordinances,
not three, not 10, not 20, only two. One is baptism and the other
is the Lord's Supper. And baptism marks one's entrance
into the kingdom where you give your public testimony that I
have become a Christian and that should be a one-time event in
a believer's life. But the other ordinance is to
be participated in again and again and again. Now, sad to
say in most churches, they take out the Lord's Supper and they
put in a skit. They put in drama. They put in
entertainment. They put in just trivialities. And a cross-centered emphasis
is relegated to a side corner, that the cross would always be
shining before our very eyes. We are to be coming to the Lord's
table on an ongoing, regular basis. And this breaking of bread
was mandatory for all the Christians to observe. Whenever Grace Community
Church takes the Lord's Supper, of all Sundays, that is the Sunday
you must be here. If you need to go see your parents
and you have a choice in your schedule, don't go on the Sunday
when we're taking the Lord's Supper. This is where God wants
to meet you and where God wants to press to your heart the glories
and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He has done for
you. Here's what the Lord's Supper does. It is a look back to His
death. It is a look up to give thanks
to God for what He has provided in Christ. It's a look inward
to confess sin. And it is a look ahead to the
return of Christ when one day we will join Him in the marriage
supper of the Lamb. We must be coming to the cross
again and again and again. Let me give you number six, steadfast
prayer. Notice verse 42, it concludes,
and to prayer. Prayer is an essential part of
the local church. It is inseparably connected to
the Lord's Supper. In verse 42, it's interesting,
they were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and
a fellowship, those two coupled together, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer, those two coupled together. And so this
prayer is in conjunction with the public worship service. It's
not the prayer closet in your own home, and we need that. But
this is the gathering of the church and the public prayers
that would be offered to God. In fact, it's not in our translation,
but in the original Greek, there is the definite article the before
the word prayer. And to prayer, it's also in the
plural, and to the prayers. It's a special designation of
prayers that are offered to God as all of the people come together. F.F. Bruce says, it is their
own appointed seasons of united prayer. The key there is united
prayer. And I think that there is something
that is powerful, that there is something that is grace-giving,
it is a means of grace. when in the worship service of
the church and as times like this, even as we are the church
gathered on a Thursday night, as prayers are being offered
up to God and the hearts of God's people are drawn together, there
is extraordinary grace that is bestowed upon our spiritual lives. Later in Acts 4, verse 31, we
read, when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered
together was shaken. It's like God said, amen from
heaven with an earthquake. And as they were together in
prayer, there was so much power in their praying, it was as if
God responded by giving an earthquake to... underscore how much power
was being released from heaven in accordance to their prayers
and according to the will of God. Let me give you one last
heading. Number seven, spontaneous evangelism. At the end of verse 47, we read,
and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were
being saved. I picture verses 41 to 47 really
like a river. It's just a flow of grace that
is running through those verses And when you come to the end
of verse 47, the overflow of a church where people are saved,
where people are being baptized, where people have a strong commitment
to the local church, where there's sound doctrine, where there's
fellowship, where there's the Lord's Supper and worship, where
there's prayer, the inevitable overflow is people being won
to Christ. I say spontaneous evangelism,
meaning it's a lifestyle. It's not that Tuesday night at
8.30, we're going to do evangelism for 30 minutes. But 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, wherever they go, they are talking about
the Lord. They are sensitive to people
around them that don't know the Lord. They are looking for ways
to interject Christ into the conversation. They're inviting
people and bringing people where the Word is being preached. They're
taking the Word to people and they're bringing people to the
Word. They're just doing everything they can to connect people with
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And through it all, the
Lord was doing it. And the Lord was adding to their
number day by day those who were being saved. It was like this,
they were gathering for worship in the Word and they were scattering
to witness. They were gathering like being
filled up at a gas station and getting their tanks filled up.
with the Word of God and they were so on fire for the Lord
and as they would drive out into the city and into their communities,
they were just carrying the gospel with them and telling other people
about the Lord Jesus Christ and it was just happening and there
were divine appointments that were occurring throughout the
town. And it tells us later in chapter 4 and chapter 5 that
they filled all Jerusalem with their witness. And not just the
apostles, but everybody in the church, 3,000 evangelists, 3,000
soul winners turned loose on Jerusalem, the very city that
weeks earlier had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. how exciting
it is to be a part of a church like this where people, day by
day, are coming to faith in Christ and the new testimonies are just
invigorating your confidence in the Lord and your spiritual
energy. And every time you come to church,
God is just filling your cup, filled to overflowing, and the
joy of the Lord is just filling your heart. And no wonder we
read in verse 46 that they were together with gladness and sincerity
of heart and praising God and finding favor with all the people. This is God's design for every
one of our lives here tonight. According to the genius of God,
God planned not only your salvation, but God planned how you would
grow spiritually. And God determined that for you
to have maximum growth and fullest spiritual development, that you
would need to be in a body, a body of saved people, Not a body of
lost people. We want a witness to lost people.
But for me to grow spiritually, I've got to be plugged into a
church where there are regenerate people all around me. I can't
be a missionary to my own church. I need people who love the Lord
just like I do around me to support me and to encourage me. And then
to be under that powerful preaching of the Word of God, To hear,
thus says the Lord, the Bible says, and to shape my very thinking
for every area of my life, and to be coming to the Lord's table,
and to be living under the shadow of the cross, and to contemplate
the grace of God that has forgiven my sins through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. and the exposing of sin in my
life and confessing that sin and rejoicing in God's full and
free forgiveness, and to hear the prayers of my spiritual leaders
being offered up to God, pastoral prayers, just sanctifying me
and washing me and connecting me to the throne of grace, and
then to see people around me giving their lives to Christ.
Every testimony we hear just enthuses us even more for the
Lord, does it not? Are you in a church like this?
I believe if you're a part of Grace Community Church, you are
in a church like this. You are in a very privileged
place, and you need to jump into the deep end of the pool and
just immerse yourself fully, as fully as you can, in the life,
in the fellowship, in the ministries of this church that you might
minister to others, but so that you might grow and bear fruit. And to the extent that you would
pull back or go to a church where there's not sound doctrine, where
there's not authentic fellowship, where they're not taking the
Lord's Supper as they should, where there's not prayers being
offered to God, where people aren't really being saved, your
spiritual life is going to be stagnated. You're going to be
a spiritual pygmy. You're not going to be able to
develop. But to be in a place like this is to be planted in
some very special soil. Do not take this for granted.
Give to God much glory that you are in a church that takes serious
these priorities. I want to conclude by just simply
asking you this, do you know Jesus Christ? Have you been born
again? Have you come to Christ by faith?
Have you repented of your sins? Have you surrendered your life
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Tonight, the arms of Christ are
open wide to you. The gates of paradise are swung
wide open. That narrow gate through which
you must come by faith is open before you tonight. The Lord
Jesus would bid you come to Him. If you have never come to Christ
by faith, if you have never turned away from your sin and never
turned away from all of your efforts to try to commend yourself
to God, I call upon you tonight, this very moment, to say, Lord
Jesus, I am a sinner. I have fallen short of your perfect
glory. I am in need of forgiveness and
salvation. Tell Him what a great sinner
you are. Tell Him what a great Savior
He is. Call upon Him while He is near.
Seek the Lord while He may be found. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. I beg you, do not leave
this room tonight without Jesus Christ in your very soul. He offers himself to you this
very moment. You must act decisively. You
must take a decisive step of faith and break from the pack
and break from the world. and commit all that you are to
the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him to be your personal Lord
and Savior. And Him who comes unto me, He
said, I will in no wise cast out. You have a Savior who is
ready to receive you tonight if you will come to Him on His
terms by repentant faith. Believe upon Christ. and you
shall be saved and you shall be placed into the universal
church and you can come be a part of a local church like this as
a true member of the body of Christ. Let us pray. Father, who has known the mind
of the Lord or who has been His counselor? or who has given to Him that
it might be paid back to Him again. Father, none of us could
have ever counseled You to design the church the way that You have.
Lord, left to us, we would have designed a fraternity or a sorority
or a team or a committee. Who knows what we would have
come up with? but for our spiritual good, for
our growth and development, and for your own glory, you have
designed the church, the called-out ones. So, Lord, we pray that
tonight that you would give us a heightened sense of commitment
to this church or to whatever church those here tonight are
a member. We want to be loyal with unwavering
allegiance. We want to be resolved to the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deepen this in us tonight and
may we minister to one another in this body. Help us to encourage
one another, to strengthen one another when necessary to reprove
one another. Help us to weep with those who
weep. Help us to rejoice with those who rejoice. Help us to
confess our sins one to another. Help us to consider the interests
of others as more important than our own. Help us to truly love
our brothers and sisters in the church. Father, we ask that you
do all of this in our lives tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.