When heaven was filled with His
praises, one day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came
forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt amongst men, my example
is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Bearing he carried my sins far
away Rising he justified freely forever One day he's coming,
O glorious day One day they led him up Calvary's mountain One
day they nailed Him to die on the tree. Suffering, anguish,
despised and rejected, burying our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising he justified freely forever. One day he's coming, oh glorious
day. One day they left him alone in
the garden. One day he rested from suffering
free. Angels came down. Hope of the
helpless, my Savior is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He can save me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. One day the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day the stone rolled away
from the door. Then he arose, over death he
had conquered. Now he's ascended, my Lord evermore. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound
for His coming. One day the skies with His glory
will shine. One day my beloved wants me. Well, that's kind of hard. Glorious
Savior, this Jesus is mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. That was kind of odd timing on
the last verse. All right, turn over, if you
would, down into your Gatsby handbooks. No, Granny, I couldn't sing and
chew gum at the same time to answer your question. I about
choked on it once and about slobbered on myself another time. Hem number
520, if you would, in your Gatsby handbook. 520. The law is good if a man uses
it lawfully, or sings to tune of or worship the king. The law of the Lord is perfect
and good, but cannot afford nor comfort nor food. To sinners distressed or wound
with fear, But Jesus the blessed can yield them good cheer. The sinner may toil with care
and with pain, Some comfort to bring from Sinai's plain, Spend
long nights in sorrow and days in distress, yet find on the
morrow the love that's incurs. When then can he flee for help
or relief? A sinner is he, a rebel in chief,
He feels himself guilty, and what can he do? He's unsound and filthy, and
no good can show. Thanks be to the Lamb, the great
King of Kings, who comes just in time and glad tidings brings. Applies peace and pardon with
power from above. The poor soul is gladdened and
calls him his love. These tidings Christ brings and
they reach the heart. The Spirit he sends, his truth
to impart. The Sweet Spirit seals him, a
son and an heir. And comforts and cheers him,
and banishes fear. Then ravished with joy and o'ercome
with love, Of a father he'll cry, my Lord and my God, My friend
and my portion, my head and my all, Thou art my salvation, from
guilt, sin, and thrall. Amen. What a peace it brings
whenever the Spirit of God shows us grace in what the law couldn't
do, God has done, I'm sending the Son. Turn now, if you would,
back to hymn number 283 in that same hymnal. Hymn 283. Now if you guys have any pens, here's
some pens, you can pass some pens around. We'll make some
markings in our books so that we'll have them there from now
on if you don't mind. I think there's some other pens
on the other table down there if you need some pens. We're
going to sing this to the tune of Jesus, lover of my soul. uh due to the meter it will be
stanzas one and two will actually become one verse okay so it will
be to the point i long to know often causes anxious thought
do i love the lord or no am i his or am i not if i love why am
i thus why the stolen wife of spring hardly sure can they be
worse who have never heard his name that will be one verse okay
so we'll do two verses all the way down then when we get to
stanza nine We'll sing that just like the beginning, how the tune
goes. But at the very last verse, we
will hold that out. We'll drag that out. Help me
to begin today. We'll do, let me love thee more
and more. If I love at all, I pray. If
I have not loved before, help me to begin today. because there's not a tenth verse
to actually make it two, okay? So we'll do two verses as one
verse. Then when we get to the ninth
stanza there, we will drag that last line out as a ending. I'm sure there's musical terms
to that. I do not know those. All right. All right. Everybody got it? All right. Tis the point I long
to know Of it causes anxious thought Do I love the Lord or
no? Am I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
Who have never heard His name Could my heart so hard remain
Prayer a task and burden prove Every trifle give me pain If
I knew a Savior's love When I turn my eyes within, all is dark and
vain and wild. Filled with unbelief and sin,
can I deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is this thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I joy his saints to meet,
choose the ways I once abhorred? Find at times the promise sweet
if I did not love the Lord. Lord, beside the doubtful case,
Thou who art Thy people's Son, Shine upon Thy work of grace,
If it be indeed begun. Let me love Thee more and more. If I love at all, I pray. If I have not loved before, help
me to begin today. Man. That's... As that thing says,
if anybody up there in that... Fifth stanza there. Those who love the Lord tell
me, is this thus with you? That's kind of a question we
ought to ask. There are some people who think
that once they become saved, that they have this eternal security
and that they have assurance, which I believe we do have. But
that assurance is just 100% all the time that we never have doubts.
And that that assurance comes based on something that we see
outwardly. But if you're like me, and I'm
sure like everybody else who's born of God, There are a lot
of times whenever we still see that sin that's in our lives,
and we feel that struggle that we have, we see that all we,
even when we try to do what's right, we do wrong. And we begin
to have those doubts. Do we really love the Lord? Are we really his child? And
we have doubts like that. There's always those times that
the child of grace is gonna have doubts, but again, There are
those mixtures of things within that that brings us back to remember
Christ and to show us that we are His children. The assurance
doesn't come from our outward works. A lot of people preach
that and teach that. I also used to think that as
well, that, you know, I'd say, buy their fruits, you will know
them. Well, that's generally true,
but we can't say somebody is a child of God because of their
fruits, because there are people that can mimic those fruits for
a season. And so we don't know whether
or not those things are truly of God because the ones who are
born of God will persevere to the end. Christ will keep them
in that. As we've seen over the years,
we've seen people that have come to church and have served in
different capacities, have went out and preached or went out
and witnessed and held Class may have been teachers in classes
or done all kinds of things. They've prayed, they've give,
they've come to every service that's been done for 15, 20 years. And then all of a sudden, something
happens and they're gone. And next thing you know, they're
out completely. You never see them, they don't
ever knock on the door of the church anymore. desire for God or the people
of God or the Word of God anymore. And we know people like that.
And there is, whenever you look at
that, there doesn't seem to be any assurance that they are the
child of grace. But whenever we are given assurance,
it's not from the outside, it's from the inside. The assurance
comes from the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible says, that
he will give us, he will bring us to the understanding that
we are God's children. And so that is something that
the Holy Spirit does and does alone. And so we do not get our
assurance from outward things. And that's basically what this
hymn was all about, is we see and continue to wrestle with
sin, but that assurance comes within. that we are his people. And one of the things that says
that we will love our brothers, we'll love the brethren, we'll
love the word of God, we'll love the assembly of those together.
Those are some of the signs of those who are born again. And
so that's what that hymn was all about. Well, turn with me
now, if you would, to hymn number 136 in this hymn book. And after we sing this one, if
anybody has a request for a song out of any of the hymn books,
you can request your hymns. You know, you wonder why I always
do that, why I always ask that. Well, the Bible teaches us that
whenever the first church got together, they all came together
and they all had a song or a hymn or a song. I always want to make
that open that if anybody has a song that they would like to
sing, it's not up to me to pick out every song and everything. So as a congregation, we sing
together as a congregation, and the Lord brings those songs in
our heart. And that is not just a song leader.
Actually, the concept of a song leader is really not found in
the New Testament church. The congregation got together,
and when someone felt they had a hymn that they sang, they sang
the hymn. And that's kind of how it goes.
Today, we've kind of made it another position in the church.
There really isn't one in the New Testament church. So it isn't
up to one man to decide what we sing. It should be the church
together. So that's why I always give everybody
opportunity. And come prepared with your heart
to worship the Lord. Good morning. Good morning. How
are you today? I'm okay. Good to see you. Good to see you all. And especially
your grandmother. Yes. Can you walk? I think it's locked this time.
There it is. You got to pull it all the way
back, then lock it. OK. There we go. That's fine. Remember, 136 in
the Gadsby handbook, please. And then if you have a song you'd
like to sing, let me know. This hymn right here I heard
several years ago. There's a group called Indelible
Grace. It's a collection of different
musicians that was part of the RUF, I think that stands for
Reformed University Fellowship or something like that. Anyway,
there was a group of different musicians that got together and
they collaborated on putting a lot of the Gatsby hymns to
music. And there was a young lady that
was one of the singers and musicians on this album, and they redid
this song, and it was such a beautiful, beautiful song. And she did a
very beautiful job of bringing that song. But we'll sing this
to the tune of over 4,000 tongues to sing. But pay close attention
and really think about what is in this hymn
that we sing to the Lord here. Because we truly are singing
about God as our refuge and how he really is truly that to us. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
on thee when sorrows rise, on thee when waves of trouble roll,
my fainting hope relies. To thee I tell each rising grief,
for thou alone canst heal. Thy word can bring a sweet relief
for every pain I feel. But oh, when gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine. The springs of comfort seem to
fail, and all my hopes decline. Yet, gracious God, where shall
I flee? Thou art my only trust, and still
my soul would cling to Thee, though prostrate in the dust. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy
face, and shall I seek in vain? And can the ear of sovereign
grace be deaf when I complain? No, still the ear of sovereign
grace attends the mourner's prayer. Oh, may I ever find access to
breathe my sorrows there thy mercy seat is open still here
let my soul retreat with humble hope attend thy will and wait
beneath thy feet A lot of times in our life, there are a lot
of people that let us down. People that we can't count on,
people that we can't depend upon, even loved ones who, for the
most part, want the best for us, even they let us down. A job will let you down, your
family will let you down, money will let you down, the world
system will always let you down. A lot of times we put a lot of
hope in these things, and we come up disappointed a lot of
times. And there have been a lot of
times in our lives that we've really been hurt or discouraged
because of things that are around us. And whenever it all comes
down to it, as much as I love my wife, and my wife loves me,
and everything, at the end of the day, there's gonna be disappointment.
One of us will disappoint the other. let the other down, fail
each other. Matter of fact, there may be
times that we completely and totally, you know, would be against
each other. But yet, when it all is said
and done, after everybody has let us down and discouraged us,
the Lord is there. The Lord is always there. And,
you know, that verse there, It says, has thou not bid me seek
thy face, and shall I seek in vain? Can the ear of sovereign
grace be deaf when I complain? We're full of complaints, aren't
we? We are all full of complaints. I mean, I know that. You can
ask my wife. I haven't heard lately. I've
been just full of complaints about a lot of things. And you
sometimes ask, does the Lord hear those things? Does the Lord
care? You know, in that song we sang before, you get to the
point where you start feeling Well, am I even his? Because
he's not answering anymore. He's not answering me anymore.
But we read in the Psalms that although he might leave us there
for a while, he still gives us a song in the night. That in
the very depth and the heart of our despair and discouragement,
that we still seek the Lord for refuge. And one of these days
in his timing, he will bring light into the subject. He'll
let us know why it was thus. And we may not know it now, we
may not even know it in this lifetime. But yet we trust in
the Lord that all the things that he brings us through are
for his glory and for our good. And so that complaint goes on
in verse six to say, no, still the year of sovereign grace attends
the morning's prayer. I don't know why he does that
for us. and whatever we sin and don't
trust Him. In the song, it goes on to say,
may I ever find access to breathe my soul into the Lord. Don't
ever give up praying to the Lord. Even though He may not answer
right away, keep praying to Him. Maybe that it will be His will
that He give you the answer to your prayer. Does anybody else have a song
you'd like to sing? It's 125 in the song book. What is it? 125 in the old school
song. 125. I love the song. I love to tell the story. I don't know if he's ready. I'm
already crying. I love to tell the story. And I
share with him. You had to buy those dreams so
much, didn't you? I sure did. And this child here
was just a baby. And he lived in our house, bedded
beside our bed. And he would stick his hand out
through the rail. And he told me a time that I
had no thoughts then. And every night, I love to tell
the story of unseen things above. of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus
and His love. I love to tell the story because
I know it is true. It satisfies my longing as nothing
else can do. I love to tell the story. Twill be my theme in glory. to tell the old story of Jesus
and his love I love to tell the story more wonderful it seems
And all the golden fancies Of all our golden dreams I love
to tell the story It did so much for me And that is just the reason
I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story. Twill be my theme in glory. to tell the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, tis
pleasant to repeat. It was scenes each time I tell
it, more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story. For some have never heard the
message of salvation from God's own Holy Word. I love to tell the story It will
be my theme and glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and
His love. I love to tell the story ♪ For
those who know it best ♪ ♪ Seem hungering and thirsting ♪ ♪ To
hear it like the rest ♪ ♪ And when in scenes of glory ♪ I sing
the new, new song. Twill be the old, old story that
I have loved so long. I love to tell the story. will be my theme in glory to
tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. Anybody else have a song that
you'd like to sing? 110 in the blue book. 110 in the
blue book. God is love. It is so sweet to
trust in Jesus. God is love, He loves us freely
With an everlasting love In eternal love He chose us And ordained
our place above God is love, see how He shows it See His sight
upon the tree. God incarnate died for sinners
to forgive and set us free. God is love, in love He called
us. By His Spirit's grace and power,
By Almighty grace He saved us, At His own appointed hour. God is love, His love most tender,
Wisely rules this world below. For the good of all His people,
and all good He will bestow. God is love, He will preserve
us. He will keep us to the end. He will never, never leave us. nor will let her there leave
him God is love and if we know him we will love each other too
and in love we'll walk before him till our God makes all things
new Anybody else got one? Matthew chapter 28, please. Matthew 28. Verse 18. Matthew
28. It's bound to have a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank you today for your mercy and your grace. We thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this time of
worship already this morning. Father, we pray that the Spirit
has been here to help us. We will ask Lord now that the
Spirit would continue to work among us this time, helping me
to bring the words of God, to be truthful to what it says, to be faithful in the doctrine
that it teaches. Father, Lord, we pray that the
hearts of those who are here today will be touched by the
Spirit so that they might learn and they might know and understand. Lord, I pray for those today
that may not believe upon you. Father, I pray that you would
save them from error, that you might give them the Holy Spirit
to teach and to convict of sin and to bring to you. Father, we pray for our people
that are not here this morning. Father, I ask that you just be
within. Lord, I pray that there might
be conviction of their heart. I pray that they might be well,
they are sick, but Father, Lord, I pray that you would draw them
and bring them again to meet with us. Lord, I pray for this
assembly. I pray, Lord, that you would
bring others to meet with us, to labor in the gospel, to minister
and serve one another, to serve this town, to encourage and to
edify. Lord, I pray that you would use
us to stand for truth here in Joplin, that you might enable
us to be faithful to Your Word, to Your ordinances, to Your commands
that You've given us. Despite how we might get discouraged
at times, despite how small our numbers might be, we know that
the health of the church isn't derived from the numbers that
it has. But Father, we know that the
health of the church comes from its faithfulness that You've
given us by Your Spirit in the preaching the teaching and the
ministry of the word, keeping the commands of Christ. So, Father,
Lord, we pray that you continue to help us to be the light here
in Joplin. Lord, I pray that you might ever
remind us of what Christ has done for us and that we have
refuge in him or that we might continue to go to him for our
comfort and for our health. that we might look to Him for
all things that we need. May we be found ever extolling
His name. May our sermons, may our prayers,
may our singing, may our fellowship always be set upon Christ as
the centerpiece. That we might bring glory to
Him, that we might honor Him. Father Lord, we know that it's
all about Christ. It's not about us. the individual,
even salvation, the personal salvation that each one of your
people have experienced is not about them, but it's for your
glory. And so we ask, Lord, that you would glorify yourself today
in our worship, that we might worship in spirit and in truth,
that we might be a sweet-smelling savor unto you. Father, that
we might honor your son by perpetuating the faith once delivered to the
saints, that we might hold to the ordinances the two symbols
that you have given to us to remember what he has done for
his people. That efficacious work on the
cross that saved every soul that Christ died for. That efficacious
work that will not let one be lost. That efficacious work that
before your throne is deemed the righteous act that justified
the many. So Father Lord, we just praise
you today for the work that has been done
in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask, Lord, that You just be
mindful to us today. Help us today. And it's in Jesus'
name that we pray. Amen. Alright, Matthew 28, verse
18. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth. That pretty much covers everywhere,
right? Go ye, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. Now we've been looking
these last few weeks at the commission of the church. We're in a overall
study of the New Testament church or Christ Ekklesia. And we've
been looking at several subject matters. I don't want to take
the time to recap everything that we've talked about, but
we are in a subsection now of that study on the Ekklesia or
the Christ church. And we're talking about the commission
of the church. What is the commission? of the
church. And we've seen here so far in
Matthew 28, we've seen that the commission that Jesus gave here,
and then the parallel verse to this would be found in Mark chapter
16. If you want to put your finger
over in Mark chapter 16, you can, because we find there that
Jesus says, Mark chapter 16 verse 15, Jesus says, and he said unto
them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And so we see here that this
work of the commission was given to a specific group of people,
right? We learned that it wasn't just the 11 disciples who was
in the mountain, but we learned that the women and the brethren,
all the disciples, all of those who were assembling together,
who were accompanying with Jesus throughout the three years that
Jesus ministered among them, that it was this group of people
that was all together in the mountain. We've seen that by
going back in chapter 28, and finding that the angel instructed
the women to go tell the disciples that Jesus wanted to meet them
in the mountain. Then Jesus himself met the women,
told them to go tell his brethren. So it wasn't just the apostles,
it wasn't just the brethren, but it was the women, brethren,
all the apostles, or the apostles, all the brethren, was to meet
there. And we found out as we moved into Acts, we seen that
those people, as they left the mountain, Turn with me if you
would to Acts chapter 1. I will want to recap this because
it's very important that we understand the congruence of Scripture here. Matthew chapter 28 told us that
there were the disciples, the women, the brethren, all there,
not just the 11. But we see in Acts it says, Jesus still being assembled with
them together, verse four, and being assembled together with
them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise. So again, Jesus is speaking to
the them that was in the mountain, okay? The people who was in the
mountain that Jesus was speaking to, right? He says, but wait
for the promise of the Father, which you have heard of me, For
John truly baptized with water, but he shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. And when they therefore
were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said
unto them, it is not for you to know the times and seasons
which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive
power. So he's talking, remember the
ye. If you look at your sheets there that I passed out to you,
The ye is plural, it's not singular. He's not talking to an individual.
He's not speaking to people as individuals, okay? He's speaking
to a company of people, a group of people. It's the same people
who are the them that was assembled together. And then the same ones
in Matthew 28 who had come to the mountain, the women, the
brethren, the 11, okay? Those were the ones he was given
this commission to. So he was given it to them in
church capacity. in assembly congregational capacity. It wasn't to the 11 disciples.
If the 11 disciples was given that commission and died out
with the apostles. It wasn't given to the individual
because the overwhelming context of this is the whole group is
responsible or given this commission, okay? And so Jesus says here,
but ye, this group, this congregation, my church that I have built,
okay? Ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. So that's what happened
at Pentecost, right? The Holy Ghost didn't come and
indwell them at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came and empowered
them at Pentecost. See, there's a lot of misunderstanding
about the Holy Spirit and people getting the Holy Spirit. A lot
of people believe that the Old Testament saints didn't have
the Holy Spirit living in them. They believe that the Holy Spirit
came upon them for a certain amount of time and then went
away. But that's not true. The Holy Spirit has indwelled
every child of grace from Adam clear until Christ returns again.
Matter of fact, the Bible says that if you have not the Spirit
of Christ, you're none of His. So if any of those Old Testament
saints didn't have the Holy Spirit indwelling in them, then they
weren't Christ. It's only the Holy Spirit that
indwells us, that makes us the new creation. that is in Christ
Jesus, okay? So the Old Testament saints was
not saved in a different way than the New Testament saints.
The Old Testament saints was saved the exact same way they
were saved by the pure work of Jesus Christ alone. That's what
saved them. And they were given faith in
the new birth, just like we are, to see that gospel and to believe
that gospel. Even though it was in types and
foreshadows, and veiled for a time in the Old Testament and not
fully seen and understood, they did know that it was by the Redeemer
that they would be saved. They knew that the Messiah was
coming. They knew it would be by Him. And those who were given
faith in the Old Testament to see that, they understood that.
You talk about Job. Job knew that. I know that my
Redeemer liveth. He knew that the Redeemer wasn't
the law system. He knew it was a person. Isaiah
wrote down, the very fact that Christ would come and that son
that was given, that one that the Bible says, a son is given
to us. He is the great God, the everlasting
father. That Christ is coming and that
Christ by his death is going to justify the many, that by
his stripes we will be healed. And so they knew what was taking
place. And so whenever it talks here
about baptizing them with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. This is not talking about spiritual
baptism, okay? This is not talking about being
born again. This is not talking about some second work of grace
that you flop on the floor and speak in tongues, okay? This
is talking about the Holy Spirit coming and empowering the church,
the organization, the institution that Christ built, that as that
congregation of baptized believers comes into a gathering, there
is power there that isn't like everywhere else. There is a power
within the local church whenever it gathers that is not like you
at your house. Can we read and study the Bible
at home? Absolutely. Can we learn and grow a God at
home? Yes, but there is something different
about whenever the people of God congregate together into
an assembly as Christ commands, that there is a special power
that Christ has promised to them in gathered capacity. That's
why it's so important. That's why we preach the importance
of coming to church and being a member of the church and to
serve in your church. That's why we preach what Hebrew
says, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Why? Because
not only is it commanded of Christ, but there is benefit to coming
and gathering with the people of God. That's where the gifts
of God have been placed. That's where the service of God
has been placed. The ordinance of God has been
placed. And here we see the commission of God is in the local church. But ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be my
witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Now, I spoke about
that last week towards the end of the message, and I said, that's
exactly what happened, remember? First of all, they were witnesses
unto Jerusalem. That's where the church began.
It began in Jerusalem, and the ministry of the gospel church
started in Jerusalem, it was propagated from Jerusalem. And
we've seen that right after this, Peter stands up and gives that
great delivery of the gospel. And what happens? People were
pricked in their heart, they believed, they were baptized,
they were added to the church. They were gospelized, they were
baptized, and then they were congregationalized. Or they were,
and they did that, and they were gathered together for what? For
indoctrination, right? Of what Christ had taught. And
so we see here that it started in Jerusalem, but what happened?
The persecution came from Paul, breathing threats throughout
all the region, and they were dispersed from Jerusalem. And
what does the Bible say whenever they were dispersed? I believe
that's over in, I think that's an X. Is it seven? Let me see here. Well, I can't, I can't think
of it right off the top of my head. Someone might be able to
post it down below in chapter eight. Yes. And Saul was consenting
unto his death. And at that time there was a
great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. This wasn't the church in general,
people that, you know, the, what they, the, the heretical term
universal church. Okay. That is not what he was
after. He was after, and this right
here sets the context for everywhere else in Acts that it talks about
the church being persecuted, the church going out, blah, blah.
Who was it? It was the church at Jerusalem.
It was a local church. It was the church that began
with those 120 that was in the upper room. But he says, there
was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem,
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of where?
Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So the church that
was found in Acts chapter two, and I would say beginning in
Matthew 28 there, that 120, these are the ones, along with many
of the others that came after that, They were the ones that were
scattered. And where did they go? They went into Judea. It says, and devout men carried
Stephen to his barrel and made a great lamentation of it. As
we saw, he made havoc of the church, entered into every house,
and hailing men and women, committed to prison. Therefore, they that
were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. So this church
was dispersed or scattered whenever these threatenings were coming.
But whenever they scattered, they went from Jerusalem to Judea
and then to Samaria. And they went doing what? Preaching
the Gospel. Now isn't that what Mark 16 told
them to do? Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature. And then isn't that what Jesus
said the Holy Spirit was going to empower them to do in Acts? Whenever the Holy Ghost comes
upon you, You're going to be my witnesses both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and in Samaria. See the dispersion by Paul. Have
you ever thought of this? Now, listen, the dispersion that
came wasn't out of fear necessarily, although, yeah, they were they
were feared that they were going to be killed. But it came by
the sovereign will of God. God had designed beforehand that
the gospel leave Jerusalem and go into Judea and into Samaria
and ultimately into the uttermost parts of the world. And so that
commission that was given to the local church, those people
were already, and we're going to get into this here in just
a minute, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but those people were
prepared. And once they were prepared,
they were dispersed. And once they were dispersed,
they carried that gospel to all the world, Judea, Samaria, just
as Jesus said. And then it says unto the uttermost
parts of the world. Now at that time, the world in
their vernacular, in their understanding, the world consisted of that region,
that area. But there is outside of that
area, the uttermost parts of the world. And what happened
there? God called an apostle born out
of due season, right? Abnormally born is what Paul
said. Paul said, I come as one abnormally born. Everyone keeps
debating the fact that he was born with a bad eye or a humpback
or all this kind of stuff. He was abnormally born, meaning
that he came after the fact. He was an apostle that came after
the first apostles were laid as a foundation in the church.
Paul came after the fact, and God drew Paul for a special purpose. He was an apostle unto the Gentiles,
where the other 12 were apostles unto the church at Jerusalem,
and then from there unto all the Jews, wherever the Jews were
scattered. But Paul's primary place of preaching
the gospel was to the non-Jews. So see, there's always this Jew-Gentile
thing going on here. And the apostles that was given
was laid as a foundation in the church to preach primarily there
in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Why? Because that's primarily
where the Jews habitated. And they were to preach among
the Jews. And then as Paul went out, he went out and preached
unto the Gentiles. But along his journeys, he found
Jews also that were in other places that were scattered abroad. and he preached unto them. But see, we see exactly what
the Holy Spirit was telling here, is that this church, this local
church, would be empowered to follow what Christ has commanded. To go, to baptize, and to assemble
together together and teach all things. And we see that happen. Again, I brought up this last
week. If you look there in chapter two, And in verse 37, after Peter
had preached, the Bible says that when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? We know that
no man is pricked in the heart unless he is born of God. So
they were already born again, but yet they are being converted
to the gospel. See, the new birth comes before
repentance and faith. It's only because of the new
birth that we repent and believe. Those are spiritual acts that
come from spiritual life. And so we see these men were
pricked in their heart, and Peter said, repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And
it says, Then they that gladly, verse 41, then they that gladly
received his word, so that means that they were converted, right?
They received the gospel. They heard what the gospel really
was. The gospel wasn't the gospel of keeping the law. The gospel wasn't the gospel
of bringing your sacrifice to the priest to be slaughtered.
The gospel wasn't do good, do more good than bad. The gospel
wasn't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, say a thousand
prayers, you know, Hail Marys, rosary beads, come to church. No, that wasn't it. The gospel
was the work of Jesus Christ. Christ died for sin. He died
for his people. And whenever that gospel was
told that Jesus was that Messiah who was told of in the Old Testament,
foreshadowed in the Old Testament, Whenever those men were given
hearing ears, pricked in their heart, they were overcome with
the truth. And they said, this is the truth.
If this is the truth, then what should we do? What do we do about
this? And Peter told them just like what Jesus told them. Look
back at Matthew 28. What did Jesus tell them to do
once they had been gospelized? Once they received the word,
Once you have made disciples, what did Jesus tell them to do?
Baptizing them. What did He tell them to do in
verse 20? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you. What's Peter telling them to
do? 38, repent and be baptized. And then
in verse 41, they that gladly received his word were baptized.
And the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls. That means that those 3,000 souls
were added to the number of 120 that was in that upper room.
So that 3,120 began to congregate together. And those 120 began to teach the 3,000 all things whatsoever
Christ had commanded. Look at verse 42. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Verse 46, and they continuing
daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, did eat their meat with gladness, and sing
lust of heart, praising God, and having favor with all people.
And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. So he added to the church. They
were added to the church. But when were they added to the
church? After they were gospelized, after they were baptized, and
then they being both those, was now being doctrinized. And they
do that by congregating together. So the 120 became the ye, as
we've seen last week. The 120 was the ye, and the 3,000
was the then. And so the ye went to them, they
went, they baptized, and now there's an ongoing thing. So
that's kind of the recap of where we've been, what we've seen.
And so we saw that the ye was the congregated or the gathered
church. And a gathered church is a group
of people who are believers. They have to be believers first.
That's what the commission says. You have to make disciples. Second
of all, they have to be baptized. A church is made up of baptized
believers. That's what the Baptist have
taught for years and years and years. That's why they didn't
receive a lot of the Catholics and Protestants into their fellowship
because they had not been baptized. They didn't receive men into
their churches if they didn't believe the gospel. If they held
to another gospel, they didn't bring them into their number.
They have to believe the gospel and they have to be baptized.
If they don't believe and be baptized, they cannot be added
to the congregation, the gathered assembly. And so we found that
the ye here is a singular, is plural, and the them we see is
a term of singular, but we found that The them are the ones who
are made disciples. Now, I want you to look at a
few things here because we have to kind of dissect how this works. Jesus is saying, number one,
all power is given unto him. So he has the power. We've talked
about this before. What does the word power mean?
Well, for one, it means strength, right? He has the power to do
whatever he wants. God had the power to wipe out
a third of our city with a giant tornado that came through here.
The Bible says that out of his storehouse come the winds, right? So we know that that tornado
didn't have a mind of its own, that it ripped through Joplin
and did exactly what God had determined for it to do, okay? So he has power. He can raise
people from the dead, right? That's powerful. He can cause
blinded eyes to see. That's powerful. He can make
lame man to walk. That's powerful. He can take
a sea and divide it in two and cause dry land to appear that
a million people can walk across. That's pretty powerful. The Bible
says that He stopped the sun as the sun was traversing the
earth in its course. God stopped the sun. and moved
it backwards. That's pretty powerful. The Bible
says that God can shake the whole foundations of the earth. That's
pretty powerful. That one of these days, that heaven and earth is gonna
melt away. That's pretty powerful. So we know that he has that kind
of power, but the word power also means authority. He has
the authority. All authority has been given
unto me. See, Jesus was given power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as have been given
to him, right? That's what John says. He's been given power to
do that. That word power means he has
the power to give eternal life. I can give eternal life to whoever
I want to give it to. But that comes because of his
authority. He has the authority. And so Jesus here is saying,
all authority is given unto me. Now, you see the word therefore
in verse 19? Look at verse 19. It says, go
ye therefore. Now, my grandpa used to always
say this. The therefore, we need to find out what the therefore
is therefore. Okay? The therefore is saying, because
I have all authority, You can go do this. See, the very fact
that Jesus has all authority, the congregation, the local church,
the gathered believers of God have been given power to accomplish
this commission right here. See, it isn't about our programs.
The Lord knows that programs don't do nothing but cause more
numbers, and mostly bringing in tares among the wheat. I grew
up in the Southern Baptists. The Southern Baptists have their
share of programs. Thankfully, none of them work. All glory be given to Christ.
Programs are the schemes of men. I want to just make a side note
here. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. As a matter
of fact, Let's back up into chapter 1,
and I want to start with verse 18. 1 Corinthians 1, 18. It says, For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. OK, so
the preaching of the cross is foolishness to the non-elect.
Those who are perishing. OK, the child of grace have never
been perishing. The child of grace from all eternity
has been saved. But to us which are saved are
say that's past tense, right? It is the power of God. So the
preaching of the cross is the power of God to us who have already
been saved. It's not the power of God to
those who need to be saved. It's not the power of God to
them who are the reprobate, the non-elect. It's the power of
God to us who are saved. The gospel is only for those
who have been saved by Jesus. Those who have been saved by
Jesus, whether they be before the cross or whether they be
after the cross, the gospel is for them and it's their good
news. It's the power of God to convert them to the truth of
what salvation is all about. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring nothing, the understanding
of the prudent. See, there are men out there
that they think they're wise and prudent because they have
amassed a lot of knowledge, a lot of schooling, a lot of programs
and tactics and ways to do God's work. and everything, and God
says, here, I'm going to destroy the wisdom of the wise. People
are not going to understand. They're going to look at a little
tiny small church in Joplin, Missouri that only has a handful
of people there and say, how in the world? How in the world? There ain't no way. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now notice
here, preaching doesn't save anybody. Christ saves people. but it is by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe." These are people who
are already believing. What is preaching for? Preaching
is for those who have already been made believers. Now, am
I crazy? Is that not what that says? By
the foolishness of preaching to save them that already that
believe. Those people that believe are
the ones who are saved by the preaching of the gospel. Well,
that means that there is an application of the gospel that does what? That saves us. Well, what does
it save us from? Well, it saves us from ignorance of God's Word. It saves us from error. It saves
us from disobedience. Whenever we hear the Word of
God preached, we know what the Word of God says. And so it saves
us from illiteracy of God's Word, of ignorance of God's Word, of
transgressing God's Word. It tells us what God has said. And so the preaching of the cross
about how God saves is foolishness to everybody else. And listen,
I can tell you that as a preacher of sovereign grace, there are
many who do not believe sovereign grace that think what we believe
is utter foolishness and have rightly told me so. among other
hateful things like being a cult or whatever else you want to
call it. But to them that are perishing, it is foolishness.
But to them that believe, those who have been given faith in
Christ Jesus, it is the power. That's why we preach the gospel
all the time, over and over again. Why do I have to tell you who
have been saved about you being saved? Because it's the power
of God. to keep us and to preserve us
and to encourage us. That's why in the in the in the
commission, Jesus started with gospelization. Go make disciples
with the gospel. Why? Because I am going to with
the power invested in me of God who have given me power over
all flesh to give life to whoever I want to give life to that has
been given to me. I can make them spiritually born
again and thus they can hear your message. And so because
of my power, because of my authority, because of my doing, go. You can go. And don't think of
nothing. Don't think about it. Just go.
Don't worry about the results. Don't worry about the results
at all. You just go. but also inherent in what we
see here is the very fact that there's going to be disciples,
right? If he's telling his church and commissioning them to go
make disciples, then there's going to be disciples to be made.
Doesn't the Bible say that God has people in every city? We
learned that in Acts also, didn't we? That there are people in
every city. The Bible says that out of every
nation and tribe and kindred and tongue, there are going to
be people unto God, right? So we know that wherever we go,
there are going to be people. But matter of fact, what does
it say right here? Go therefore and teach all nations. So that
tells us that everywhere we go, no matter what language group,
no matter what ethnicity, no matter where they are, there's
going to be people that are going to be gospelized. We have the
assurance of success with the gospel. Whether we see the converts
or not, the gospel is going to go forward. The Bible says that
God's Word will not return void. That doesn't mean that it is
going to be successful in saving everybody that hears it. I used
to think that. In fact, I used to say that.
God's Word is not going to return void. If you preach to them,
they'll eventually come. That's not what that means. God's
word will not return void. There's two things that God's
word is going to do. It's either going to reap the
believer that Christ is born from above, or it's going to
harden the reprobate who reject Christ and do not know God. That's
the two edged sword of the gospel. And so the go ye therefore and
make disciples This is something that we do, but it's foolishness
whenever we preach, but to them that believe it's the power of
God. Look at verse 22, for the Jews require a sign, the Greeks
seek after wisdom, and that's the same today. We can even say
that today. The Pentecostals today, they
seek after a sign. The scholarly academics of today,
the seminaries Doctor so-and-so and doctor so-and-so, they seek
after wisdom. Some think it's in the signs,
some think it's in the smarts. But, verse 23, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness. To the Jews, they ain't gonna
listen to it because they believe that they're the thing. They're
Abraham's seed in the flesh. And the Greeks, they're not gonna
listen to that. Why? Because there ain't no wisdom
in that. It's foolishness. But look at verse 24. But unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
of God, and the wisdom of God. So the preaching of the gospel
is unto them that are the called, both Jews and Greeks, that is,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Who is the
gospel going to be successful with? Those who are called. Only the call. And if they're
not called, it will not be successful. But if they are called, it will
be successful. That's why we know and believe,
just like Jesus said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. And those that come to me, I will in no wise cast out. That's why Jesus said that that
no man can come unto me unless he is drawn or called of God. Drawn. So when we go with the
gospel in this commission, that very first part, we go with assurance
knowing that we will be successful wherever there is one who is
to be a believer, right? There is success in the gospel.
There is success in our commission. And we don't go And we don't
get discouraged when we don't see numbers come in, okay? We don't get discouraged that,
why? Because we've been called to go. Make disciples. When they are
made, then we move on to the next part, which we'll get to
in a minute, but continue on there in Corinthians. He said,
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. That's basically saying you don't
really know anything. God is all wise and all powerful. For
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. See, God
isn't looking on your exterior proficiencies. He's not looking
about how good of an orator you are. He's not looking about how
scholastic you are. You might know all the English
language and all the grammar and all the Greek language and
all the Hebrew language. You might know all of history.
You might be very well educated, but God isn't looking at that. Remember back in Acts, whenever
the apostles were going about preaching, these fishermen, they
were dumb fishermen. And what did the religious leaders
say? What did the people say? Man, these people, these men
are coming and they're preaching in the name of Jesus and they're
turning the whole world upside down. You know, if we don't stop them,
then everybody's going to follow them and listen to them and believe
them. I mean, they were so convincing. They came with authority in their
message. They came preaching the Word of God, and whenever
they preached the Word of God, it came upon ears, and people
were believing that and following after the Lord Jesus Christ,
where these religious leaders, all their messages were falling
on deaf ears, and they were not seeing that the work this is
doing, how it's spreading, and how it's gaining power, and people
are empowered by this thing. Why? Because there is true salvation. There's false salvation. There
is true religion and there's false religion. And false religion
will never do anything for anybody except cause them to fret. See, false religion teaches do
this and be rewarded. But what happens? At the end
of the day, we realize we don't do enough. And so what does it
do? It causes us to fret. I've not
done enough. Did I keep enough of the law
today? Did I keep enough of God's commands? Did I disobey God too
many times? And I'm worried all the time.
I'm worried back and forth. I told you about whenever I was
younger that I used to sit and lay in my bed at night and try
to think back and pray and ask forgiveness for every tiny minute
thing that I either thought or did because I was afraid that
if I didn't do that, then I would lose fellowship with God. And
it kept me in a constant state of fear and unrest. But whenever
I was taught the gospel, whenever I come to see that it doesn't
rest in my law-keeping or my upkeeping of religious things,
it isn't about how much I spend reading the Bible or praying
or coming to church or helping the poor. It isn't about that.
It's all about what Christ did. And that no matter how much I
fail, that's not telling me to go fail, that's just telling
the fact No matter how much I fail, it has been forgiven of God.
And that's not the criteria that God is working off of. And that's
what Paul is saying here. The criteria that God is working
with is not those on the exterior. It's what he puts in them that
makes them the ones who are powerful and effective in the kingdom.
And that's only because of his power. He says, for you see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
that are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which
are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not
to bring to naught things that are. Look at us, we're in an
old building here. Matter of fact, if you drive
down 32nd Street, there's a lot of nice buildings, and we're
probably one of the not nicer buildings on 32nd Street. And
it's not even our building. And here we are, a lot of times
on Sundays, we meet and what, there's only six, seven of us
here. Well, there's always seven of
us here, we might get there. Seven or eight of us here, 10
of us here, not very many here. And there's probably people all
the time, passing by here and they see one car, two cars out
there, and they're probably thinking, God bless them. Bust their heart,
at least they're staying in there. See, they think that because
of numbers, that makes the church healthy. But little do they know
that we can be as mighty in the gospel and be just as small as
a mustard seed. And besides, God has chosen the
base things. See, there's these churches that
build these great edifices, and I'm not down on big, nice buildings.
There's nothing wrong with that. I think sometimes I think we
put a lot of money in stuff that we don't need to put money in.
We could take a lot of that money and put it into the gospel. We
build a lot of stuff and buy a lot of stuff and make our place
so aesthetic that a lot of that money can be used for the gospel. But he uses the base names. I
don't know how many preachers is thinking off the top of my
head, you know, maybe five or six right now that I can just
name you, that right now they're standing in a pulpit in a little
tiny church that doesn't really amount much in their city. Maybe
not even a very popular church. Maybe most people in that town
don't even know that church is even there. But yet those men
who are preaching in those pulpits, are more mighty in the Word of
God than all these men you see on TV, hear on the radio, go
to these big, giant associational conferences and things like that. And they know this Word in the
more spiritual manner than all those men with their doctorates
and their degrees and their education. He says, the base things of the
world and the things which are despised have God chosen. Yea,
and things which are not to bring to naught things that are, why?
So that no flesh should glory in his presence. That is God's
design. God's design is that he be glorified. He will not share his glory with
another. And so anything that is gonna
bring glory to the flesh, he is gonna put it down. That's
why we need to be careful in our commission and not think
that we are better than we are. That is why we, whenever we preach
and teach and minister, we rely on, we go to, we fall before
God knowing that it is only by His power that anything is gonna
be done. It isn't by our smarts or our
good programs. It's by the power of God. And
so whenever we humble ourselves and see that, look to Him because
no flesh is gonna glory in His presence. He's going to do it
so that only He gets the glory. And by the way, that's why sovereign
grace is sovereign grace. That's why salvation doesn't
come by your choice or decision or your will. Because if that's
the case, then you can glory in your decision. I was smarter
than somebody else. I made the decision for Jesus.
Or I chose to come. Or I decided. Or I learned enough
that I figured that this was the best option. Now, glory. No, He's going to take you and
do something with you that you never would have done had it
not been for Him doing it to you to begin with. The only reason
you believed on Him was because He bore you from above. The only
reason you repented was because He bore you from above. The only
reason that you come to Him, believed on Him, received Him,
loved Him, is because He caused you to be born again before you
ever did any of those things. That's why you did those things.
Why? So that you would not glory.
There would be no glory given to you. Whenever it comes to
the end of the day, all we can say is we are unprofitable servants. There's a fellow on my Facebook
just this week had made mention, I made that comment, and he kind
of gave a little commentary on that about what in the accounting
world, when something is unprofitable, it means that it literally there
is Nothing there to begin with. If something has no profit, then
that means that there is nothing there. And it's only whenever
we realize there's nothing here to profit salvation. There's
nothing here to profit acceptance, keeping. There's nothing there
that we can give to God. We are unprofitable servants. And listen, God doesn't make
us worthy. That's another misconception
that we have. that whenever we become a child of God, we are
made worthy. No, we are not made worthy. The
Bible says that we are made accepted, not worthy. We're made accepted
in the beloved, and it's only him who is worthy, right? At the end of the day, who's
gonna be praised? We're gonna sing, worthy is the
lamb that was slain. So in our gospel presentation,
in our gospel that we are to go to all the nations, are going
with the gospel isn't a gospel of academic understanding. It
isn't the gospel of choice, free will, decisionism. It isn't the
gospel of do this, the law, and live. It's the gospel of what
Jesus Christ has done. He has completed a full salvation
for all of his people from Adam until wherever. And it's based
upon that that men are saved, not because of their understanding
of it, not because of their acceptance of it, not because of their tenacious
holding to it. It's all because Jesus did that.
Now, granted, will we come to believe it? Yes, we will. Will
we come to understand it? Yes, we will. Will we come to
hold to it? Yes, we will. And will we ever
fall away from it? No, we won't. That's the gospel we go with.
But look what he says there. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. See, it wasn't your will, it
wasn't your faith that put you in Christ Jesus. See, that's
one of the things that I have against Reformed theology. Reformed theology teaches that
we are united to Christ by our faith. Whenever we believe in
Christ Jesus, then we are united to Him. Brethren, we were united
to Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians tells
us. We were united to Him way before Adam ever came on the
scene. It says, but of Him are ye in
Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom? Where does our wisdom come from?
Spiritual wisdom, that is, not earthly wisdom, spiritual wisdom.
It comes from Christ. He is our wisdom. Where does
our righteousness come from? In our law keeping? No, sir.
It comes to us from Christ. Christ is our righteousness.
There is none righteous, no, not one. And our sanctification. Oh, wait
a minute, I thought sanctification was a synergistic thing, that
it is us and God. provides the means, and we do
the action, and whenever we do the action to the means that
God has provided, then we are sanctified more and more. Is
sanctification a progressive, ongoing thing that we continue
to experience more and more and more as we go along? No. Sanctification
was in Christ Jesus. It's a done thing. It's already
done. We have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus. Sanctification is wrongly taught
as a progressive thing. Sanctification was being set
apart for God's use. That's what sanctification means.
And if you look at almost every place in the scripture where
the word sanctified is used, that word sanctified means a
setting apart for God's use, not a making more holy. Because there is none righteous,
right? The flesh profits nothing. As long as we are in this tent,
the flesh will continue to be the flesh. and he cannot please
God. So why with our efforts do we
try to please God by our efforts? Now that doesn't mean, I'm not
saying don't obey the scriptures, okay? I'm not saying that. I'm
saying why do we think that we can gain acceptance or keep acceptance
with God by anything we do in our flesh when our flesh will
never profit God in the beginning, to begin with. But if him or ye in Christ Jesus
who of God has made into us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. So what does Paul say next? And
I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. When we go with the gospel, we
go with that message. It was He who was crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. Again, here it
is. We're not out there to sit and
entice men with wisdom. What is that going to do? It's
not going to do anything, right? The only thing that's going to
happen is a new life, a new creation. The only thing that counts is
a new creation. And we can't cause that. We can't cause the
new birth. The Spirit blows where it listed.
You cannot hear the sound or tell where it goes. You just see the effects of it,
right? He says, and my speech was not, and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. that your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The heretic
Billy Graham gathered a million people who followed after him.
And their hope was in the preaching of Billy Graham. Well, I know
that I'm saying why, because I went down under Billy Graham
crusade with enticing words. He was enticing them to Jesus.
Instead of just getting up there and preaching the gospel, the
true gospel, which he didn't preach, by the way. I know a
lot of people have a lot of higher thoughts than Billy Graham, but
he was an antichrist. And his gospel showed it, especially
towards the end of his life, whenever he said that you may
never ever know the name Jesus, but yet you may become saved
and be in heaven, being a Muslim, being a Hindu. That's Billy Graham,
the great crusader. He's a heretic. He didn't come with enticing
words, but He came in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He
came demonstrating the power of God. What is the power of
God unto salvation? The work of Jesus Christ. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but it should stand in the power of
God. Whenever it gets down, as we just sung in these hymns this
morning, whenever it gets down and you need a refuge, are you
going to go to that person who preached you the Gospel? Is that
going to be your refuge? Are you going to go to that church?
Is that going to be your refuge? Are you going to go to the televangelist
or the radio evangelist? Is that going to be your refuge? Is your tent peg, you know, is
it going to be the fact that you went down front of a church
and made a decision for Jesus? Is that where your refuge lies?
Because your name was written down in front of a Bible? Or
on a packet that was given to you with a bunch of material
to read? Where is your hope lying? It's
not in the wisdom of man. It's not in enticing words. But
it's in the demonstration of the power of Jesus Christ. The
power of God. Where do we go? Whenever all
hope is lost, I go to Christ. Nothing in my hands I bring,
only to the cross I cling. And so Paul writes, howbeit we
speak wisdom among them that are perfect. He's talking about
the people of God. That's the only people that are
perfect. Not perfect in deed, but perfect in position, right?
Unto them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor the princes of this world that come to nought. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory." So see, this
gospel is a hidden mystery. It's a hidden wisdom. Which God
ordained before unto our glory. Who's our glory? Well, it's the
ones all the way back up to chapter 1, verse 21. They're the believed. It's the believing ones. Those
who have been given faith. in the new birth. Those are the
ones who this gospel has been before the foundation of the
world ordained for. Which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have it entered in the heart
of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us What has He revealed unto
us? The things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him? But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. So whenever you understood the
Gospel, heard the Gospel, knew the Gospel, believed the Gospel,
received the Gospel, or in the words of Acts chapter 2 where
we were just at, pricked in your heart and gladly received the
Word, what was the cause of that? How did you become a disciple
of Jesus Christ? What made you a disciple of Jesus
Christ? God hath revealed them unto you
by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so, just
like that, the things of God knoweth no man. See, no man can
ever know the things of God. no matter how good your preacher
is. That person out there in the audience listening is not
going to know God unless God reveals by His Spirit to His
Spirit. He reveals by the Spirit to the
Spirit. And if you don't have the Spirit
of God in you, then the Spirit is not going to reveal anything
to you. You have to have the Spirit in
you before the Spirit can reveal to you. You understand what I'm
saying? Does that make sense? It kind
of sounded a little murky when I said it, but there has to be
a receiver for a signal to be heard, right? All you guys, well,
you kids don't know much about this, but whenever I grew up,
when I was younger, we had what was called a transistor radio. It was a little radio about yay
big that I used to have. And that radio had a little antenna
and I pulled it out and I'd turn it on, put some batteries in
it. Okay, it had to have batteries in it. Then I'd turn that on
and when those batteries were put in, then I was able to pick
up the signal. The signal was coming, it was
already there, but I couldn't hear that signal. I couldn't
hear what was coming over the airways until the battery was
put in. Whenever that battery was put
in, and that transistor radio came alive, became alive, then
I began to hear the signals that was already saying something.
That's how it is with us. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. We are void of the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God is like those batteries in that transistor
radio. It isn't until the Spirit comes
in that that transistor radio begins to be able to hear the
signals that has already been loudly proclaimed all around
them. But whenever I put those batteries
in, guess what? Now all of a sudden, there's
a bunch of stuff going on. There's a bunch of stuff being
told to me, sung to me, all these things that I didn't even know
was happening until the batteries came in. But once the batteries
came in, then I was able to pick up the signal, to hear the signal,
to enjoy the signal, to even repeat the signal. But I didn't
know what the signal said until the batteries were put in. That's
what Paul is saying right here. No man knows the things of the
Spirit of God. Why? Because those are those
airwaves that's coming through that the only receptor that can
pick it up is the Spirit of God that's in the man. See, the Spirit
of man can pick up the things of man, but it cannot pick up
the sound waves of God. The only thing that can pick
up the sound waves of God is whenever the Spirit of God is
in the man. And that's what Paul is saying. For what man knoweth
the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him, even
so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now, look at verse 12. Now, we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God. Okay, so we received the spirit
of God. So what does that tell me? The
spirit of God versus the spirit of man, or the spirit of the
world. That tells me that this spirit that receives the things
of God is not the spirit that we had when we were born of woman,
born of the flesh. Right? It's a different spirit. There is a different spirit that's
in us. You know, I've heard a lot of teaching in my life that talks
about that we are born, we have the spirit and we just, you know,
there has to be something that happens to that spirit. God doesn't
awaken a spirit that's already in there. He puts a new spirit
in us. Isn't that what it says in Ecclesiastes? A new heart will I give unto
you. I'll take out of the heart of stone and put in a heart of
flesh. My spirit will I give unto you. Doesn't that say that? Whenever it talks about that
we are a new creation, born from above, we're born from above.
See, it's not of this world. It's not a spirit of this world.
So the spirit of this world cannot receive the things of God. Look
at what it says there. But the spirit which is of God,
why? So that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. It takes someone who is
born again. So whenever the commission, whenever
Jesus, go back to Matthew 28 now. So whenever the commission
tells us that all power has been given unto him in heaven and
on earth, therefore, Go with this Gospel. That's telling
us that Christ has the power to prepare the way for this Gospel
message. There will be transistor radios
with batteries that will hear this message, but there's also
going to be transistor radios that don't have batteries that
won't hear this message. But you go with the Gospel. But
whenever you come across one that has those batteries and
they believe the Gospel, guess what? Baptize them. and then teach them all things
whatsoever Christ has commanded. The go is to the people who have
already been prepared. So it is an action that started
at some place in time, but it continues on. They are already
made disciples. They are already made believers
because of the Spirit of God. But yet they have yet to hear
that signal. Once they hear that signal, then
they begin to respond to the signal. And so they respond to
that signal. Well, whenever we see that they
respond to that signal, they believe that gospel, we say then
they have been born of God. And they are now qualified for
this part of the commission, baptized. And if they gladly
receive that word and they gladly have been baptized following
Christ's commands, Then we gladly add them to the church. We receive
them into our fellowship. We bring them into our number.
We count them as members of the church. And then we teach them
all things. There is three aspects to the
commission. If we don't do all three, we
are not doing the commission. So what are we to teach them? We are to teach them not only
the gospel, that's where it starts, right? But the commission goes
on to teach them to be baptized and to teach them to assemble
with us. And it's at that place that we
begin to teach them all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.
Now, we'll stop right there. There's some more that I wanna
say about that, but we're just about out of time. I didn't realize
that I'd gone as long as I'd gone, but anyway, we will pick
up with that, Lord willing, next Sunday. Now, just a few reminders
before we get off here. We will be having a meeting here
at our church on September the 14th and September the 15th. September the 14th and 15th,
Saturday and a Sunday. That Saturday we will begin at
nine o'clock and we will have preaching. We'll have three messages
that morning starting at nine o'clock and there'll be hymns
laced in between all that. Then we're going to have lunch
here at the church with everybody. And then after we have lunch
and a little bit of conversation, everyone kind of has time to
refresh themselves and whatever. We will have another three messages,
and after those three messages, then we will have dinner here
at the church, and you're welcome to stay and fellowship as long
as you want. Then on Sunday, we will meet again, and we will
have services at the regular times at 10 o'clock. We will
start, and we will have two messages that morning, And we won't have
a time frame like 10 to 11, 11 to 12. I want to give the preachers
freedom to preach however long the Lord leads them to preach.
And so the first preacher will preach. Whenever he's done, we'll
take a break, sing some hymns, then have the second preacher
preach, and then we'll have lunch at whatever time that we get
through. And then we'll eat lunch and
then have all afternoon to fellowship as long as anybody wants to fellowship.
We'll have Brother Tom Tanquary will be here to minister to us.
We'll have Brother Ray Hoggard here to minister to us. And Brother Tom Armstrong will
be here to minister to us. And if any other preachers show
up to fellowship here, I may ask them to share a message or
something. And I will relieve one of the
guys of one of their messages. But anyway, we'll see how that
goes. As of right now, just those three
ministers that I know of that's gonna be here. So be praying
for that, be looking forward to that. The ladies will be providing
all the meals. And by the way, on the 13th,
that's Friday night, for all those who are coming in early
for the meeting, we'll have dinner here at the church. that evening
at six o'clock, and we will eat, provide a meal for them, and
then we'll kick off the meeting on Saturday morning at nine o'clock. So anybody that's listening,
anybody watching that wants to be a part of that, you're welcome
to come. If you don't mind, let us know
if you're coming so that we can make preparations with the food,
and then we will Lord willing, have a good time of fellowship
and worship. Does anybody have anything they'd
like to add or any questions? Okay. All right, let's bow and we'll
have a word of prayer and we'll be dismissed. Our gracious Heavenly
Father, Lord, we thank you for the day and we thank you