We're talking about how the theory
that the church began at Pentecost, how the Bible doesn't support
that theory at all. And we've seen so far that Jesus
began to call the apostles out right at the very beginning of
his ministry from the material, quote unquote material, that
John had began to prepare for Jesus to build a church. The coming of John six months before
Jesus wasn't by accident. God designed that for a reason. And John came and he was the
forerunner of Jesus Christ and he began to prepare people. And
then whenever Jesus was baptized and came up out of his temptation,
he began to call first the apostles and placed within the church
the apostles first. So we've seen that the church
was in existence from the time that Jesus began that, what we
call his earthly ministry, although I believe that the Lord Jesus
had been ministering within the earth for more times before that,
but what we quote and call his redemptive time of coming and
his purpose of coming in the flesh for us to die for us on
the cross, We also seen that the ordinances were already placed
within the church before Pentecost. Hebrews tells us that Jesus called
them brethren and sang in the church with them. And the only
record we have of that being done is whenever the Lord's Supper
was taking place. We seen that there was also baptism
that Jesus and the disciples was already preaching and performing
baptism. And then we just, before the
break, we just seen how the gospel had come before Pentecost. It was being preached before
Pentecost. Now, what about the Great Commission?
Was the Great Commission, was that before Pentecost? Well,
yeah, we know it was. Turn, if you would, over to Matthew
28, Matthew chapter 28. The Great Commission came before
Pentecost, but who was the commission given to? Well, some will go and say, in
verse 16, if you would, Matthew 28, 16, some will say, well,
the commission was given to the 11 disciples. Why was there only
11 there? Wasn't there 12 disciples? What happened to the 12th one?
He was found to be a child of perdition, right? He really wasn't a disciple.
He was an imposter, and he was raised up to be the betrayer
of Christ, so Judas wasn't there. So there was 11 disciples, and
so they'll look there in verse 16, and they'll say, well, the
commission was actually given to the 11 disciples. Well, that's
one theory, okay? And it sounds to be true, it
looks like, I mean, it says that, right? It says, then the 11 disciples
went away into Galilee to a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted, and Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, well, so it must be taught about
the disciples, right, the 11 disciples. Some say that this
is given to all men everywhere that are Christians. But let's look at a couple things. Go back into 28. Sorry, in verse one. In the end of the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And
behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning
and his raiment quite as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen
as he said. So that means that Jesus has
already told them, and we know that in different accounts of
the scripture, that Jesus had told them that he would be resurrected. Matter of fact, in Matthew 12,
verse 40, Matthew 16, 21, chapter 17, verse 23, chapter 20, Jesus
had told them that he was gonna die and be resurrected, okay?
So he said, for he is risen, as he said, come see the place
where he lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is
risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee There shall you see him, lo, I have told you. Okay, so Jesus had told them
to meet him in Galilee, right? The angel is reminding them of
the fact Jesus said he was gonna rise from the dead and he would
meet you in Galilee. And so he's telling the women
to go tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and that he was
going before them into Galilee and he would meet them there,
verse eight. And they departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples word. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. And they
came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then said
Jesus unto them, be not afraid, go tell my brethren. that they go into Galilee, and
there shall they see me. And when they were going, behold,
some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief
priests all things that were done. And when they were assembled
with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money
unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night
and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's
ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the
money and did as they were taught, and this saying is commonly reported
among the Jews until this day. Then the 11 disciples went away
into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them,
and when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted, and Jesus
came, speaking to them, saying," Now, let's just stop there before
we get to the commission. Who was there? Well, we see the women
were told to go. We were told the disciples were
told to go, and we were told in verse 16 it was the 11 disciples,
which are also known as the apostles, right? But who else was told
to go? Who did Jesus tell the women?
Not just the disciples, but who else? The brethren. So the women were present in
the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, the brethren,
were in the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and the disciples
were in the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And then he called, and when
they saw him, or excuse me, then the 11 disciples went away into
Galilee, into the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, so who he was speaking
to was the church there, the women, the brethren, and the
disciples. Now, why was the disciples specifically
talked about there in verse 16? Well, because there was that
little interlude talking about the elders and the soldiers there
in between, but the 11 disciples were the ones who were told to
come and meet him in the mountain along with the brethren and the
women. But another reason why the disciples, 11 disciples,
are pulled out made specific is because, remember, he set
first in the church apostles. And he appointed the apostles
to be the foundation of the church, with Jesus being the chief cornerstone,
right? The apostles were laid as the
foundation of the church. They were there first. Whenever
you start to build a house, what's the first thing you lay? You
lay the foundation, right? Well, he put the apostles in
first as the foundation. And then the apostles were given
the place to take what Jesus, because they were the ones who
traveled with Jesus intimately everywhere. The other brethren
wasn't with him all the time, okay? But yet the disciples,
the 12, were with him everywhere, and he taught them and instructed
them for three and a half years. And so all the doctrine of Christ
was taught to those apostles, and they were in turn, as the
foundation of the church, was to keep teaching that and to
keep indoctrinating those who came into the church, those things
of Christ. And so they were the ones, and
as we look into Acts, we find that to be true. First at Pentecost,
Peter stands up, preaches the message of Jesus Christ, instructs
them to be baptized, they're added to the church, and then
we see that they met on a regular basis and that was being done.
We see whenever that, the gospel went out to the Gentiles, the
same thing was being done, and Paul reiterates both to the Corinthians
and to the Galatians that Christ had told him everything that
was supposed to be taught to the churches and instructed to
them, and that he had given that to them, that he had laid that
down, that he didn't confer with any other man, but Christ had
taught him that, and had given that for him to say, and to teach
to the churches. So the apostles was laid as the
foundation. And so they specifically, when
that commission was being given, was given primarily to those
apostles so that they would take that doctrine and to preach that
and teach that continually within the church at Jerusalem there.
But all the brethren were present and received this commission
but the disciples specifically because they were the ones who
would be perpetuating this doctrine as they preached it as the gospel
was going out, as the ordained men of God were going and preaching.
And we've seen that in Acts. Those 12 men made up that ordained,
and then eventually Matthias was added a little bit later,
but those 12 men were in the church of Jerusalem, was preaching
that there, and then as the church was scattered, they were the
ones going out and preaching that. And we've seen that take
place. And then Paul, the Bible says,
was one born, one out of due time, right? That means that
he was an apostle who was made an apostle outside of the time
that the other apostles was, but it was because he was an
apostle called with a special commission than them other apostles. Them other apostles were sent
to the lost children, just like Jesus had said, to the lost children
of Israel, okay? So they would preach first in
Jerusalem, and then in Samaria, and then into the other parts
of the world. Well, Paul came in at just the right time, when
God was ready for Paul. He brought him into the faith,
and give him his direction, and he became the apostle to the
Gentiles. Where the other apostles, they were the apostles unto the
Israelites, primarily. And so we see that that's there.
But look what he says here. He says, all power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, that word ye there. What
does the word ye mean? You say, well, preacher, that's
pretty simple. Why are you asking such a simple
word? Why are you asking that? Well,
because there is a lot of confusion on the ye and the thee and the
thous in scripture. The King James translators were
very, very, very proficient in the Greek Hebrew languages. And
the Old English, which is not used anymore, is the only place
that actually has the words that keep, preserve the grammatical
Greek in the personal pronouns. whether they're plural or whether
they're singular. Ye does not equal you. If you look at all the modern
translations of the Bible, you'll see that all the places where
ye is in the King James, they have you. But ye in Old English,
and they use the term ye because in the Greek, that word that
is used there is plural. And ye is plural. The word ye
means is a plural. It isn't talking about a specific
one person, but a collective group of people. It sounds singular,
but it means a single group of people, a plurality of people,
but a specific group of people. So if I would say ye here, I
would say ye brethren, I would mean not you, Ed, or you, Zach,
I would mean ye as a gathered congregation here. We are one
congregation, singular, but we are made up of many members,
right? And so the word ye in Old English
is a plural, not a singular. And in the Greek, the word behind
that here is also plural, not singular. So that's why the King
James translators use that word, because it preserves that which
is found in the Greek, but if we didn't have that, we wouldn't
know that, because if you go to those new translations, it
says you, he's talking about you personally. You go personally. But he's not saying that, he's
telling the church, you're the ones who is to go. This congregation
is given the commission. That's who I'm talking to. The
commission is placed within you, the congregation, not one person. If it was given to the disciples
themselves, guess what? It died out when they died out. If the commission was given to
those 11 disciples only, then it died out. If it was given
to everybody in general, then that goes against the ye here.
It goes against who he was talking to and where he says that the
church is the pillar and the ground of truth. And everything
else that the Bible talks about, about the conducting of the church,
It goes against that. All right, he says, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even until the end of the world. So we see here that the commission
was given to the church. Those people that had already
been called out by Christ and gathered together, it was given
to them. And so the commission was before
Pentecost. And the calling of that and the
commanding of that was before Pentecost. Look with me at Luke
chapter six. Luke chapter six. Now, I've already
made mention about the apostles. He began to call the apostles
out, and they were laid first. But look at Luke chapter 6, in
case somebody might have been thinking that I was stretching
a little bit at the beginning. Luke chapter 6, Luke verse 13.
And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of
them he chose 12, whom he named apostles. Okay, so Luke kind of gives a
little fuller understanding of what we read earlier, right?
Whenever it said that he came up and he started calling Peter
and James and John. You know, he began to call those
men, but there was already disciples that were more than just those
men. But here we see, he says, and
when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them
he chose 12, whom also he named apostles. Simon, who he also
named Peter, Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called
Zealots, and Judas, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot,
which also was the traitor. Okay, the traitor. Not a traitor, but the traitor.
Why the traitor? Because he was appointed to be
that. He was appointed to be the traitor before the foundation
of the world. Okay, and so it says, and he
came down with them and stood in the plain and the company
of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all
Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon
which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.
And they that were vexed with unclean spirits and they were
healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him for there
went virtue out of him and he healed them all. Now, notice
there, he says, and he came down with them and stood in the plain,
and the company of his disciples and a great multitude of people
came out. So he's making a distinguishing
between his disciples and the rest of the multitude. Okay,
there's a lot of people that come in here, but there's only
the disciples are the ones who have believed and have been baptized
and have been gathered together into the church. Those are his
disciples, okay? And so we see that his disciples
were here, but we see that the apostles were made apostles not
after Pentecost, but before Pentecost. And the Bible says that he placed
in the church first apostles. So that has to tell me that the
church was already in existence before Pentecost. Otherwise,
those apostles couldn't have been placed yet. Look at Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18. Look with me if you would. Look at verse 15. It says, moreover, if thy brother,
now who is here? Let's kind of get our bearings
here. Let's get the context, okay? Look at the beginning of
verse 18. It says, at the same time came
the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in
the midst of them, okay? So who's he speaking to here?
Well, he's speaking to these disciples primarily, okay? There
seems to be other people here. To be honest, I don't know for
sure whether or not this child was a child of one of the disciples,
whether this child was just part of the multitudes that were following
him around. However, it says here that the
disciples were the ones who came and began to question him about
some of the things in the kingdom and different things. But Jesus
here in verse 15 is directing his talk to them. And he says,
moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between
thee and him alone, "'If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother.'" That's the biblical way that we ought to approach
our issues with each other, right? Not go to the internet and run
them down. Not go on an email chain and
run them down. Not go behind their backs to
everybody and talk about them and run them down, okay? If we have a problem, we ought
to go to the brother And if he shall hear thee, thou
hast gained thy brother. That's great. If he listens to
you and everything gets worked out, wonderful. We're still brothers,
we're still in fellowship with each other, wonderful. But if
he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in
the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.
And I find that true. Brother Royce kind of, kind of pointed me at this a
long time ago. He said, if you look through
scripture, you'll find that everything is established with two or three
witnesses. If you find a major doctrine
in the Bible, you'll find it in at least two or three places. If you can't find, if you think
you find something in scripture not something that you've ever
heard of, or somebody might not have ever taught it to you, but
you think it seems to be true, he says, you search that Bible,
he said, if it's truth, he said, there'll be two or three witnesses
in the scripture that talk about that. He said, if you don't find
two or three witnesses, be very leery of hanging onto that too
strongly and everything. But anyway, God had given that
to the Hebrews back in the Old Testament, that by two or three
witnesses, a thing would be established. And that's true. Why? Because
we're all wicked people, right? And we all can stretch the truth
or twist something, twist the truth and everything. But if you have someone else
there witnessing you, they can bear witness. Well, that's what
was said. That's what that guy did. That guy, he's the one that
flew off. This guy came in brotherly love
and went to scriptures and all like that. So there is a witness
there. And he says, and if he shall
neglect to hear them, meaning you and the witnesses, tell it
unto the church that I will begin to build at some time in the
future whenever that takes place. Is that what he's saying? No,
what did he say? He said, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily, verily I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I
say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done of them of my
Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst. So that verse in verse
20, where two or three are gathered in my name, isn't talking about
how to institute a church. It's talking about a church that's
already instituted, and that it's talking about where two
or three are gathered in my name who agree in discipline of this
man, then it's bound in heaven, it's bound in earth. If it's
loosed in heaven, it's loosed in earth. Why? Remember, who
did he give the keys to? He gave the keys to the church.
Who's the ones who you're supposed to bring before if all else fails
between personal reconciliation or with two or three witnesses,
you need to bring it to the church. So Jesus has given this command
to the disciples even before Pentecost, even before the Great
Commission was given to them. He gave them this, why? Because
the church was already in existence at this time. They were already
gathered and meeting together. They're already listening to
Christ preach and teach, and he's already had his church,
the bride, and so he said, bring it to the church. If you have
aught and something, can't get it straightened out, he said,
take somebody with you, try to get it worked out. And if you
can't get it worked out with two or three witnesses going with
you, then you're gonna bring that guy before the church. Well,
that don't happen hardly in churches anymore, you know it. Very few of our churches anymore
practicing this very thing. And especially this last part.
But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee
as a heathen man and a publican. Most churches today, they just
wanna say, oh, now we can't do that, we gotta just keep loving
on. You just don't worry about it, just keep loving on to Jesus.
We'll just love on to Jesus. Jesus didn't say, keep loving
on to me. He said, if they don't listen to the truth, as I've
commanded the truth, If they don't listen to that, and they
don't repent, then turn them out as a heathen and a publican. Don't keep them amongst your
membership. Don't keep them amongst your
congregation. Why? Because a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump. Why? Because you can't walk together
if you don't agree. There's always going to be a
pulling. You can't be unequally yoked. That doesn't, by the way,
that doesn't have anything to do primarily with marriage, by
the way, you know. I remember growing up hearing
people that would use that, especially people that were prejudiced.
They would say, oh, that guy's dating a black girl or that black
girl's dating a white guy. The Bible says you're not to
be unequally yoked. Well, that don't have nothing to do with
that whatsoever. Being unequally yoked has everything
to do with those who are of Christ and those who are not of Christ,
and that can venture into anything, really, to be honest, and everything. But the Bible says that within
the church, the church is made up, the congregation is to be
of those who are baptized believers. And if one shows themselves to
not be a believer, then they should not be a part of the congregation.
And I know people say, well, you mean you're just a big vein
and it's only to be for them? Aren't we supposed to open up
our doors to everybody? No. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that those
who are the gathered assembly are those who are baptized believers
who are following Christ, believing the doctrine of Christ, and is
following the ordinances and the commands of Christ. And if
they're not that, then they're not one of you. And they're not
supposed to be in that congregation. That's why you put them out.
See, the congregation, when we meet together, This isn't the
place of where evangelism of the lost sheep are at. The lost
sheep are out there that you go get to bring back here, the
disciples that we make. This here is for the brethren
to meet. And this is where we teach in
all things whatsoever Christ commanded. This is where we edify
one another. With our gifts, we build each
other up. And so we see here that the church was given as
a place of judgment also, and Christ gave that discipline within
that church before Pentecost. A couple more here that we find. Look in Matthew chapter 23, Matthew
chapter 23. Look with me down at verse, Now, again, the
context here is Jesus is speaking to the multitude and to his disciples. So his disciples are present
along with a lot of other people, including the Pharisees. And
it says, but be not ye called rabbi, for one is your master,
even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, For one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased. And he that humbled himself shall
be exalted." Okay, so we see here that we're not to hold people in too
high of esteem, that one is not more important than the other.
that those who are the greatest among you shall be your servants,
okay? And that we are to serve those
who are of the lowest esteem, we're to esteem them highly,
okay? They'll be esteemed more than
others. What is that teaching us? What
is that talking about? Well, that says that even though
I'm called to be the pastor, and it seems like to most people
that the pastor is the one who is the man in charge, he's the
one who is the authority, he's the one who is the, on the highest rung in the church. That's not true. That's the office
that I've been called to by God. But that doesn't make me any
different than anybody else. I'm not any more special than
anybody else. That's the office that I've been
called to God. By God, God has called you with
gifts to work within the body a certain way. And those are
just as equally important as those. Matter of fact, the pastor
is supposed to be the servant of the church. That's why whenever
you hear, especially the old school Baptist and stuff, they
don't say that I pastored this church or I pastored that church
or anything like that. They say, I served the church in such and
such. I served the church in Joplin. I served the church in
Coweta. I served the church in Choctaw, whatever. They say,
I served the church. Why? Because that's what we are.
A pastor is a servant. So even though we've been given
the oversight, which means that we make sure that everything
done is decently and in order, that doesn't make us the boss.
There's already a boss, and that's Christ. And he is given to the
congregation, the authority, not the pastor. Okay, the pastor
is to point and to teach what Christ has commanded about the
authority, but he's not the authority himself. I'm not the final authority. And guess what? Neither is a
small group of men who gathers into a room and decides all the
things for the church either. They're not the authority. The
church is what's been given. Here, all are called brethren.
All are the ones who are part of that government of the church. Look at chapter 18, back into
chapter 18, at verse 17 and 18. We just read it. Who is the one who is to make
judgment whenever there's discipline to be done? Is it the preacher?
Does the preacher decide who to kick out or who to let in?
No. Is the governing elders the ones
who make that decision? No. Is the deacons, the board
of deacons? There isn't such a board of,
you can't find a board of deacons, by the way, in the scriptures.
Deacons have no authority whatsoever. A deacon is also a servant. That's
their primary thing. They shouldn't be held up as
something, and boy, I tell you what, in a lot of Baptist churches,
man, the deacons rule the day. But they don't have any authority
over the church. The church is the authority. Committees, you
don't find committees anywhere in churches or in the New Testament. They didn't have a committee
for this or a committee for that. These are man-made institutions
that we've added to what Christ has commanded. So we gotta be
careful with what we're doing and what we're following. If
we're not following Christ, we're following man, okay? So we see
in Matthew 17 and 18 there, we see that it is the church that
is given the rule of judgment over the matters between brethren,
okay? So the government of the church
is the church, the congregation, not the pastor, not the deacons,
not elders, okay? Now, does that not mean that,
does that mean that the elders of the church, you know, if we
have a man who would call, if the Lord ever would raise up
a man and call him into the ministry to preach here and other aged
men who the Lord has given wisdom and discernment by, should we
not listen to advice and wisdom that comes by them? Well, absolutely,
that's fine, but they're not the authority of the church.
They're not to go behind the closed doors and make all the
decisions for the church. Can they bring thoughts, bring
things to the church to consider? Absolutely, bring stuff to the
church to consider, but it should all be dealt with by the church,
in the church, and all the decisions should be laid at the church's
discretion. And I would say that if there's
not unity in what happens, then you need to keep praying about
it and keep seeking the Lord in it because you don't wanna
have division in the church either. Now, okay, so we've seen that
there was people that was called out and brought into the church
before Pentecost, that the ordinances were placed before Pentecost,
that the gospel was preached before Pentecost, the commission
was given to the church before Pentecost, the apostles were
placed before Pentecost, that discipline was given to do within
the church before Pentecost, that the government of the church
was laid down as a democratic government. And when I say democratic,
I mean that everybody is involved in the governing of the church. And then look in Acts chapter
one. In Acts chapter one, look at, now we went through
this a while back, showing who was all present here, and I don't
wanna have to go through all this again, but I would say to
anybody that hadn't listened to the very first of our messages
back on Ecclesia whenever we talked about the church in Acts
here, who included, go back and listen to that, but if you don't
want to do that, I would pay close attention, starting in
verse one, as you go down and see the they, who was assembled,
who all was present, who all was part of this when we get
to this part. But it says in verse 12, then
return they unto Jerusalem from the Mount of Olivet, which is
from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey. Remember who they was? We just read it in Matthew 28.
It was the women, it was the brethren, it was the disciples.
It was the church of Jerusalem that was already gathered together
at that time. And while they, or excuse me,
verse 13. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James and
John and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James,
the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, Zealous, and Judas, the brother
of James. Who are those again? The apostles, right? Okay, so
the apostles were there. These all continued, the word
continued means that it's already been taking place beforehand,
right? So these have already been doing something with somebody
else. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus and with his brethren. So who all's there? The church is there. So the church
left the mountain where Jesus gave them the commission and
the church went back down to Jerusalem and they went into
an upper room and in this upper room, they gathered again as
the church the apostles, the brethren, who is everybody else,
and the women. The women, I think, are put out
specifically so that we might know that the women are considered
part of the membership of the church, not just the men. There
are some churches that believe only the men have membership,
and women don't have the right to vote within the church or
anything like that. The women were present also.
Look at the verse 15. And in those days, Peter stood
up in the midst of the disciples. This is talking about all of
them now, right? All of them were disciples. They are apostles
called out of the disciples. So the disciples were all of
them who had been brought to Jesus. And he said, and said
the number of names together were about 120. So there was
120. By the way, that's the they that
came down from Mount Olivet. So that was more than 11 people
there, right? There was 120 people up on Mount
Olivet. And by the way, they knew how
many were among them, considered among themselves, the disciples.
They considered the disciples a number of 120. Some people say, well, where
does church membership come in or church roles? Okay, I'm not
saying that church roles are necessarily biblical, but they
definitely knew who were members among them, they knew that this
person is part of our congregation. They're accompanying with us.
And they knew the names and number. The number of names together
were about 120. And Peter said this, men and
brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which
the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake concerning Judas,
which was God to them that took Jesus and for he was numbered
with us and obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased
the field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong,
he burst asunder in the midst, and all his boughs guessed out.
And it was known unto all the dwellers of Jerusalem, insomuch
that the field is called in the proper tongue, aklodama, that
is to say, the field of blood. For it is written in the book
of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, let no man dwell
therein, and his bishopric let another take. Side note here.
Is there any possibility, was there any way that Judas could
have done anything else than betray the Lord Jesus? Was it
left up to Judas' free will? Is there any way that Judas could
have changed his mind, repented of his direction, and went a
different way when the scriptures had already called it out that
it would be done, and the scriptures say that it had to, he said here,
that it had to be done. that the scriptures must need
have been fulfilled. Why? Why do the scriptures must
need have been fulfilled? Well, who's the one who said
the Old Testament scriptures? All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All those scriptures in the Old
Testament that were prophecies, it wasn't God foretelling the
future, looking down and seeing what man would do, and then saying,
okay, well, this is what's gonna happen. That's not what prophecy
is. Prophecy is forth telling. God
was telling them what he had already decided and declared
to be done. Remember, by wicked hands you
have taken and crucified this man, by the determined counsel
of God. God had already determined that
his wicked hands would do that. Okay? So Judas's destiny was
set before the foundation of the world. Judas' plight was
in God's plan. Verse 21, wherefore are these
men which have accompanied with us, there's that word accompanied,
it means a gathering, a congregation, congregated with us, all the
time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, so that
tells us that it wasn't just Jesus, it was the congregation.
Jesus was the head of that congregation, but it was those, Those people
were the ones who were gathering together. Even when Jesus wasn't
with them, they were accompanied together. Beginning from the
baptism of John. So it goes all the way back.
They had to be one of the ones who was from the baptism of John. So that tells us that the church
that these 120 people are members of started with John. From the preparation that John
made, Jesus built them from those people. And so Jesus built his
church, starting with the preparation of John, unto the same day that
he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness
with us of his resurrection. And they, who's the they again? Well, that's the women, the apostles,
and the brethren appointed to. Joseph called Barsabbas, who
was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. And they, who is they again,
and they prayed and said, thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts
of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen. So how
did God choose the man that he wanted replaced? He did it through the church,
didn't he? He did it through the hearts of the church. See,
brethren, so often we do not give the Holy Spirit
the place that it has within the New Testament church. Some
say, well, you're talking mysticism. You're just talking about some
sort of, you mean God just mystically put it in their minds who to
vote for? It says right here that God knows
the hearts of all men. He knows the hearts of all men.
He can turn them. The Bible says in the Old Testament
that the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand, and he turns
it whithersoever he wills. He can turn the heart however
he wants to turn it. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, how
he turned Nebuchadnezzar's heart. Nebuchadnezzar was a proud man,
and then God struck him down and threw all that. What happened
at the end of that? He said, hey, I know that God can do all
things. and nobody can stay his hand.
If he wants to do something, he's to do it. Then nothing thwarts
him. Well, here we see that God knows
the hearts of all men. Show whether these two, they
were praying, show us, direct us, lead us, guide us. We want to pick the man that
you want picked. And so do that. So what did they
do? They prayed about it. They prayed about it. And what
did the Holy Spirit do? And they gave forth their lots,
and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the
11 apostles. What is giving lots? It's not
rolling dice. Giving lots is voting. When they
gave their lot, the lot fell on Matthias. What did that mean? That mean that God had moved
within the hearts of the church to pick Matthias, and that's
who was picked. Now, can a church make mistakes?
Absolutely they can, especially if they don't seek the Lord in
prayer and fasting and really desire that, or if they have
ulterior motives on why they wanna put somebody somewhere,
you know? I know my grandma loves me very much, and she probably
wanted to see me to be a preacher just like my grandpa, but listen,
grandmas don't call people to preach as much as they want them
to be that, okay? Just because my grandpa was a
preacher doesn't mean that that's what God's called. It's not a
family business. And that doesn't mean that any of his family is
called that. Now, we have a lot of guys in
our family that are preachers, but that doesn't mean necessarily
that all of them may be called to preach. Matter of fact, there
was a time that I felt Early on, and I've told you guys this
story before, where I sit in the office with my grandpa, and
I told him, I said, you know, I like to preach. I want to preach,
but I don't want to be a pastor. I don't feel that I have the
temperament for that. I don't want to mess with people's
problems. I don't want to be bothered with, you know, people
like how they come and knock on your door in the middle of
the night and wake you up to whining about your toenails being,
you know, cutting into their feet, you know? Tiny things that
people get so wound up about, I said, I don't wanna do that,
I wanna preach. And he said that if God has called
you to do this, he'll give you what you need to do it. And for
a long time, I didn't want to pastor, I just wanted to go out
and preach. And I even, I thought, well, this is what my grandpa
does, this is what my uncle does, this is what some of my cousins
do, and everything, this is what I oughta do, and everything.
But then, I didn't want to be follow it just because my grandpa
and I even tried to get away from it. That's when I told him,
I said, I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna follow just because
you've done it, just because anybody else has done it. But
whenever God calls you, that call is, you can't get away from
the call that God calls you. No matter whether it's being
a pastor, whether it's being whatever God has called you and
given you gifts to do, you can't get away from that. You can neglect
them. You can neglect them, but you're
not gonna get away from them. He's gonna give you what he's
gonna give you. And these people, they have prayed and sought earnestly,
who do you want to replace? Who is the one who made the choice?
Was it the disciples? Or the apostles? Was it Peter? How about Peter, James, and John?
They were the elite among even the apostles. Which also goes
back to what we were saying about God being able to elect within
the elect, okay? Well, Jesus chose Peter, James,
and John above all the other disciples to go with him and
do a lot of things that he didn't let the other apostles in on.
Now, who is the one here that made the decision? It was the
church, okay? So that tells me, number one,
that the government of the church is governed by the church, not
by any particular man or board or committee or anything else.
It's by the church. The second of all is, is they
came together and they did this, they made this decision together.
Now, if you wanna call it a business meeting, you can call it a business
meeting, whatever you wanna call it. I don't like to call it a
business meeting. We don't hardly even have business meetings around
here. There isn't a whole lot of business to talk about for
one, but it is what it is. The church comes together. If
there's a problem that needs to, that's arisen, what do we
do? We come together as a church
and we talk about it. If there's a financial need, what do we
do? We talk about it. If there's a spiritual need,
what do we do? We talk about it. If there's a physical need,
we talk about it. If someone's out of line, what
do we need to do? We need to talk about it. And it isn't just
me, it isn't just you, it's everybody. It's all the members of the church
being part of that thing. And so that, Jesus, we see, or
not Jesus, the church here acting in capacity as the church before
Pentecost. Here they have called and ordained
a man into the ministry before Pentecost. Here they have a group
of people whose name in numbers was 120, who had already gathered
from the time of John's baptism until the time Jesus was taken
up from them, which was just a day or so before that. So here
we see that there is this decisions of the church governing the kingdom
of God before the day of Pentecost. John chapter four, verse one.
We see John chapter four, verse one.
We've already read this before. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John. So we see here that there were
already people who were qualified to be in the church. before Pentecost,
they didn't have to wait till after Pentecost to be qualified,
that Jesus had preached, or John had preached, and then they were
baptized. That is how you become a member of the church. If it's
what the universal church people say, that it's the universal
invisible church, then that is by when you get born again, or
when you get elected before the foundation of the world. But
the Bible says that the ones who were added to the church
which also is a, which we'll get to here in just
a second, that is something that was a prerequisite. They had
to repent, and the only way that you can repent is if you've been
given faith to believe that what you believed before was wrong
and what you've been told in the gospel is correct, and then
to be baptized. Then they were added, right?
Okay, so these people were already qualified. The names and numbers
were 120. That was before Pentecost. But look there in Acts, back
in Acts chapter two. I wanna make this very clear
because this is, you know, this is the place where they said
it began. But in Acts chapter two, we find
that Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and he begins to
preach this message to all those who have come into Jerusalem. And he says, it says in verse
37, after he preached about Christ being crucified by their wicked
hands, that God had determined that from the foundation of the
world, and that they had done that and participated in that,
but that he was the one that David spoke of. So anyway, he
preached this gospel message. And in verse 37, he says this,
Now, when they heard this, who? Well, all the people that were
there that was gathered during this thing. He said, they were
pricked in their heart, okay? So when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. Well, that tells me there that
the Holy Ghost has already begun and done the work in them, okay? Otherwise, they wouldn't have
been pricked in the heart. And now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Notice he said
men and brethren. They were speaking to the apostles,
but they were also recognizing the church. Because who was in
the upper room when all this started to take place? It was
the 120, right? The 120 were in the upper room
whenever the Holy Spirit fell upon them has tongues of fire
and they begin to speak in other languages that these people down
here could hear them in. Not gibberish, not Bible, they
weren't speaking in charismatic. Okay, they weren't doing that.
They were speaking in actual languages of the people that
were there and they were hearing them in their own language. And whenever that happened, Peter
stood up in the midst of all that And to all those people
that was out there that was hearing them in the upper room doing
that, that's when he preached this gospel message. And they
said, men, you apostles and brethren, the rest of you 120, what must
we do? Then Peter said unto them, 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. Now, we've talked about this
here before. For remission of sin doesn't mean to get it, right? It's because you've already got
it. Okay? For the promise is unto you and
to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as,
who's the promise to? To as many as the Lord shall
call. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they, here it is, then they
that gladly received his word. Okay, so they were pricked in
their heart and they received the word. Now remember, let's
not forget, let's not get the cart before the horse as the
Armenians do. Okay, they didn't believe to
get they got because they believed because they already had. Those who believed have everlasting
life, right? 1 Corinthians says, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolish unto him, neither can he, for they are spiritually
discerned. Okay, so if they received the
Word of God, then how did they receive that? because they'd
been pricked in the heart, because they had already been born again,
and the Spirit of God had quickened them, made them alive spiritually,
so that they can understand spiritual things. But the natural man receives
not things of the Spirit of God, but ye who are spiritual. You
can discern those things. Why? Because you're spiritual.
So they that gladly received his word were baptized, so they,
accepted whatever Peter said, you must repent and be baptized,
guess what they said? Well, okay, that's what we have
to do. That's what Christ commanded, that's what we ought to do. They
followed Christ in his command. And the same day, there were
added unto them, now you can't add something to something unless
that something is already there, right? I made me a cup of coffee this
morning. and I poured that coffee in there, and I added sugar,
and I added some cream. You can't add unless there's
something already there. If not, I would have said, I
put sugar in my cup. I didn't add sugar to my coffee.
I put sugar in my cup, okay? Well, if they were added, those
2,000 souls, 3,000 souls were added to them that day. So there must have been something
already in existence for them to be added to. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in
breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon the soul and
many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Many signs and
wonders were done by who? The apostles, not everybody in
the church, but by the apostles. And all that believed were together
and had all things in common, sold their possessions and goods
and parted them to all men as every man had need. And they
continued daily with one accord in the temple and in breaking
bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness
and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all
people. And the Lord added to the, what? The church daily,
such as should be said. Now, it's not talking about eternal
salvation there, though. It's talking about experiential
salvation. That's what he was saying when
he said, save yourselves from this untoward generation. We
don't save ourselves as far as eternal things are concerned,
as far as justification and sanctification. We save ourselves in the fact
that whenever we come into the church, what do we do? We're
taught truth from error. We're taught what we should do.
And we follow the commands of Christ. And so there was added
to the church daily such as those who should save themselves from
this untoward generation, to come out from them and be separate
and to be doctrinated by the doctrines of Christ. And so that's
what coming into the church is all about. It isn't coming into
the church to get saved. It isn't coming into the church
because you just got saved. It's coming into the church because
God has called those who have repented and believed in the
commission, remember, make disciples and baptize. That's what happened,
right? They were pricked in their heart
and they received the word that they were made disciples. And
what did Peter tell them to do? Be baptized. And then once they
did that, then what? Then they were added to the church.
Go ye therefore, teach all nations, make disciples. We found that
out. Matter of fact, that's not in Matthew, but in, I think it's
in Mark. It's in Mark where it says, go
with the gospel making disciples. That's the other account of the
commission. So we're to make disciples, baptize them, and
then teach them all things whatsoever Christ, teach who? The ones that
we make disciples and the ones that we baptize. So this whole
notion of, like we've said before, of going out and sharing Christ,
and if somebody believes, just like, well, let's pray a prayer
of repentance here and then find the church of your choice If
you wanna get baptized, get baptized, whatever, that's up to you, but
find the church of your choice. No, the instruction is that you
bring them back and you baptize them in the church, and you instruct
them in the doctrine and teach them all things whatsoever Christ
commanded. And there's a lot of churches out there that is
gung-ho about the commission. We're a Greek commission church,
but they fail to do the third thing of the commission. They
never do the third thing. They go out to make disciples,
they go out and try to baptize, Especially a lot of modern-day
Baptist churches today, that's all they ever talk about is how
many baptisms we've had. We've got our tote boards with
baptisms, we've got our papers that's filled with how many baptisms
we did. They throw out awards. Granny
can attest to this, the lousy conventions that they have. They
give awards away for how many baptisms you did, as if you did
something great. The only reason anybody can baptize
anybody truly is if God has given them to understand and to come.
So it's not our work, it's His work. And so, anyway, we're to
make disciples and baptize, but the completion of that is to
incorporate them, add them to the church, and teach them all
things whatsoever Christ has commanded. So there isn't this
theory that, oh, there are just people out there that's not part,
that doesn't have a New Testament church or that, there isn't that,
okay? That was never understood. What
was understood is if you become a believer, you're baptized and
you're brought back into the church and being taught all things,
that was the normal. What's abnormal is not being
that. That's what's abnormal, okay? And so that's why we encourage
those who are listening and those who are watching, Now you need
to get to a New Testament church. If you're in a town and there
isn't one, and you can't make your way to one, find some people. Put out ads. Tell them what you
believe. Do out a statement of faith.
This is what we believe, and we're meeting in this house.
If you want to come and meet with us, you're welcome. No telling
where. The Bible says the Lord has people
in every city. And so you never know what you
might find. you may have to meet at some
church somewhere else and find out that y'all live in the same
town. Like the Dovers and the Carlsons did. So anyway, okay,
well let's stop right there. I think that that pretty much,
I think, blows the Pentecostal theory out of the water, that
the church did not start at Pentecost, that there was a church already
in existence those people of Pentecost was added too. And
so anyway, the origin of the church is Jesus Christ, his earthly
ministry at the start. And we're gonna talk a little
bit more about John the Baptist next week, Lord willing. All
right, anybody have any comments or questions or any statements
that you'd like to make of any kind? Corrections or rebukes from any
of the men? Anybody want to arm wrestle?
All right, let's have a word prayer
and be dismissed for lunch.