Lord Jesus Christ guides his
people in word as he speaks. He is the living word and he
as the prophet in that prophetic capacity in which he was sent
to this world has brought a revelation of God, the fullness of the revelation
of God that was only ever partially obtained hitherto. The writer
to the Hebrews tells us that it is in these last days that
the fullness of the revelation of God has been seen in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Saviour guides His people,
directs His people, shows you and I how we should live by the
things that He has said and the things that He has done. Like all good leaders, the Lord
Jesus Christ leads from the front. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
captain of our salvation. He is the one who goes forth
in victory, and he leads his people by his example. Indeed, we're told very emphatically
that the Lord Jesus Christ said, as he was gathering and calling
his people to himself, follow me, follow me. And his disciples
followed him. As the Lord led, they followed. And so the same word goes forth
to his people today. Follow thou me. There are many
questions, many problems, many uncertainties, many doubts that
we have in our life's experience. And we raise those doubts so
often. The Lord says, what is that to
thee? Follow thou me. But what about
this? You follow me. But what about
this? You follow me. You let me worry
about these things. You let these things take care
of themselves. You don't have to answer for
all of these things. You follow me. And so we hear him saying in
that lovely passage in John chapter 10 and in verse 27, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So it is that the Lord's people,
his sheep, that flock of his redemption, that people that
he has called out from this world, whom he knows, whom he names,
whom he calls his own, his sheep hear his voice and they follow
him. And let me say this, that the
Lord's people follow him willingly. They are not constrained to follow
him. They are not forced. They are
not regimented in the way that some would seek to constrain
and make the Christian experience a bound up, tied up, serious,
solemn and cold experience. We do not come into the Lord's
house to worship under constraint. We come willingly. We come with
a desire in our heart. The Lord's people long to be
in the presence of the Lord. We've had occasion to think about
this recently, but if we are being told, even by our children,
that they don't want to be there, then the time comes when we have
to recognise that they have come to that age in their own experience
when it isn't up to mum and dad to dictate and direct anymore,
but the children must of their own will. At that point, if the
Lord confronts them, come into his place. When the Lord lays
it upon our hearts to be in his presence, to share together in
worship, we can't constrain one another. We come willingly, desiring
to be in the Lord's presence. The Lord's people desire to live
godly lives. The Lord's people desire that because they follow Him. My sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. The Lord says, follow me
and His people desire willingly to follow Him. They desire to
follow Him, seeking His honour, seeking to learn from Him, seeking
to emulate and copy and have Him as their example. And he
who is their saviour in word, in deed, and witness, as he witnesses
to us in his own life's example, he is our delight, and we want
to be like him. There are those, there are those
in our society today, in our churches today, and they constrain
men and women by law, and by regime, and by tradition, and
they say, no, this is how you've got to do it, and this is how
often you've got to be here, and this is how you've got to
act, and this is what you've got to say. Friends, if you don't
come into the Lord's house with a desire in your heart to be
there, don't come at all. Don't come at all. What fellowship
have you with those who come here eager to worship with the
Lord if you can't be bothered? Or if you don't care? Or if you
would rather be doing something else? If you'd rather be doing
something else, save yourself the trouble and go and do it.
The Lord's people follow him. They want to be under the sound
of the gospel. They want to be fed because they
know how important that is. And they don't need rules and
they don't need regulations and they don't need threats to tell
them how to act. Their hearts have been circumcised. They don't need the outward traditions
of men in order to say that they are acceptable or that they are
genuine or that they are true. Their hearts have been cut. We
read that in verse 37, when they heard this, the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ crucified, when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart. pricked in their heart. Now, if we took this anatomically
and thought about being pricked in the heart, anybody who gets
pricked in the heart, something very serious has happened to
them. These men were pricked in their heart. Their consciences
were struck that there was a radical effect of the gospel upon their
lives. They were circumcised in their
heart. That's what the apostle talks about later. Circumcised
in their heart, their spirits. had an inward witness to what
was right and what was true and they knew the need that they
had. They knew that there was a good
that was to be desired, a good that was to be pursued. They
knew that the honour of God was at stake and that their own lives
were such that they needed. They needed the help of God in
order to be blessed and to be helped. The people of God walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit. And that does not mean that they
are perfect, and it does not mean that they do not sin. On the contrary, They have never
been more sensitive to sin all of their lives than they are
now. They know that sin lurks in the
depths of their being and that at any opportunity and on any
occasion it can leap up. and it can take a hold of them
and it can bring them into despair and into hurt and hardship. But they gain no pleasure from
their sin. Oh, maybe momentarily. Maybe the pleasures of sin for
a season are just something that give them some sort of immediate
gratification, but it is short-lived. The people of God, they don't
enjoy their sin. Indeed, they hate their sin.
They hate what their sin does to them. They detest it. They
regret it. And when they stumble and when
they fall, Their failures scream at them. They see themselves as unprofitable. The spirit of life in their souls,
the principle of holiness in their hearts brings them to repentance
and brings them necessarily to a fresh view of the cleansing
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what happens when a saint
sins, when one of the Lord's people, when one of his sheep
sins. Nor is it that these people gain
comfort from their own godliness. That's not it either. They do
not honour themselves when they find that they are seeking to
honour the Lord. There's no kudos for them in
their obedience. There's no glory for them in
their good works. That's not how the Lord's people
regard these matters. In all things, as unprofitable
servants, they see themselves as being upheld only by grace. And anything that is commendable
at all in their lives, they regard it as being the handiwork of
God in their lives. And they praise Him that they
are His workmanship. They live by faith in the righteousness
of God alone. They live by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And thus as the Lord's people
see Christ, they seek to walk as Christ walked. As they see
him, as they follow him, they seek to walk like him. walk as he walked, speak as he
spoke, be like him in all their ways. What a better thing to
desire than to so be like the Lord Jesus Christ. And in so
doing, the Lord's people bear witness to the purpose of God
in election and in salvation. Because the whole purpose of
God in salvation is to make the church like Christ. In Romans 8, 29, the Apostle
Paul says, for whom he did foreknow, that's in the eternal purposes
of God, he foreknew a people, and whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Conformity
to Christ is what we are predestinated to. Just remember that, it's
worth remembering. Sometimes we get enthusiastic
when we are starting to contend for these great gospel truths
of the doctrines of grace and we say that men and women are
predestinated to heaven or predestinated to hell. No, that's not what
scripture says. Scripture says we are predestinated
to be conformed to Christ. Getting to heaven will be on
the way, that'll be part of the process, but our predestination
is to be made like Christ. And that is why we see the workmanship
of God in the life of the church. That we would be conformed to
the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. So those who are born again into
the family of God, they carry in themselves a family likeness
to the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord indwells us, when
God the Holy Spirit indwells us, there are There's literally
a patterning after the elder brother. That's what family is. Sometimes you can look at someone
and you can say, well, I know who you're from, I know who you're
off of, because you can see the family likeness. So it is when
the Lord God brings his people to himself, brings us by adoption
into his family, makes us anew, recreates us, We're never going
to be without sin this side of eternity. But yet the marks,
the characteristics, the evidence of the presence of the Lord is
in His people. They desire His glory. They desire to worship Him. They
have a burden upon their souls to be a people fit. for the service
of their King. They long to be ambassadors for
Him. Such is the transformation, the
conversion that has taken place in the life of a sinner. And here's a lovely characteristic
that we find in the Saviour. Just one, I'm only picking one
this evening, but here's a lovely characteristic that we find in
the character of the Saviour. that his people have a privilege
in emulating. In Luke 9, 51, we read this. It came to pass when the time
was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem. I was thinking about that verse
and I thought, it came to pass When the time was come that he
should be received up, that is, the time was come when he would
be crucified and when he would go to the cross and the redemptive
work would be accomplished, he steadfastly set his face to go
to Jerusalem. It could have said there that
when it came to pass, the time was come, he set his face to
go to Jerusalem and we would have read it just the same. but
it says he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Steadfastly. Now we know what it is when we
have a fastener, something that we fasten, we button our shirts
or we fasten. So that's the fast and steadfast
and to put it in place and to put our foot down, to stand firm
is the sense of steadfast. We are Committed. We are determined. We are dedicated. The Lord Jesus Christ was determined. He was dedicated. He was committed
to the salvation of his people. When Peter said to him, Lord,
Lord, don't talk about dying. Don't talk about these things
that are going to happen to you. We're not going to let that happen
to you, Lord. We'll hide away. We'll keep it
quiet. Get thee behind me, Satan. You
savour us not the things that be of God, but when we have a taste for
the things that are honouring to God, when we see those things
which the Lord delights in, we delight in them too. And as the
Lord Jesus Christ was steadfast in his commitment and determination
to redeem his people, so he calls his people to be committed, to
be dedicated, to be earnest, to be sincere, to be steadfast
in our testimony to his glory and his ways. Our Lord was steadfast in his
purpose. He set his face steadfastly. Nothing would prevent him, nothing
would hinder him from the work that he was given to do. And
I think he has a little lesson for his people. Let us, when
we set out to do something, be steadfast in doing that. Let us, as we've endeavoured
to serve Him, be steadfast in our labours for Him. Let us not
be blown off course by this little incident, or this wind of opposition,
or this trial that comes up, but let us rather regard these
challenges as evidence that the Lord is pleased to receive such
a service as this, and steadfastly and resolutely be determined
to see the task through. So there's a call for us this
evening. Let us be a steadfast people. For the Lord says in Luke 9,
62, Jesus says unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow
and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. As we have started
out in this pathway as we have been called to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ, we do so determinately. We do so recognising that the
Lord is pleased to bless us as we follow him. And let that be
our call and our charge. In the early days of the church,
there was a lovely testimony to the commitment and dedication
of the Lord's people and the dedication that they had to one
another. And I'm delighted, I reflect
upon it frequently, how this little congregation Those who
are here this evening and others who can't be with us tonight
have over years held together steadfastly. And I'm not telling
you to do something here that you don't know how to do. Rather,
I'm recognising and I'm applauding, in a sense, the way in which
the Lord has been pleased to preserve you and keep you and
you have been dedicated and committed and resolute to the maintaining
of a gospel witness here in this place. It is a testimony and
it is a witness. We see in Acts 2, verse 42, after
Peter had preached his sermon, that the Lord called a great
number to himself. Verse 41, he says, Then they
that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day
there were added unto them about three thousand souls. That must
have been a great day, right enough. 3,000 souls brought into
the experience of grace there and then that day. But here's
the verse that I want to just think about for a few minutes
with you this evening. Verse 42. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in
breaking bread and in prayers. You see, they had been called
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. They had been called out as his
sheep, as his flock. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. They're not whipped. They're
not chased. They're not forced. They're not
compelled. They do it gladly. They follow
Him. And here's what they do. They
continue following Him. They continue steadfastly following
Him. These people in Jerusalem, and
of course we read there that they were a people that was from
many, many different places that heard the gospel that day. But these people, as they had
been gathered of the Lord, called out by the Lord, they continued
steadfastly. They were living in the midst
of an unsympathetic community. They were being opposed in Jerusalem. They were being opposed wherever
they were because they had a new doctrine, they had a new focus,
they had a new way of understanding things. And there were times
of difficulty and challenges that they had to face. But against
that opposition and despite the threat that the church faced
in those early days, they stood fast. They were steadfast. They wouldn't be distracted,
diverted, detained, denied. They would follow him, they would
pursue him, and they would do so steadfastly. I believe that
as they were then, so we are now. We live in a society that
is unsympathetic with the things that we believe. And yet we are
called in the face of all the pressures that this modern world
throws upon us as far as time and advantage and the challenges
that we face and all of the pressures that we have, all of these things
that come upon us. We are called to be steadfast
in these truths which we have received. My sheep follow me. How do we follow him? We follow
him as these did, by hearing the apostles' doctrine. We follow
him steadfastly as they continued steadfastly in the apostles'
doctrine. Now we don't continue steadfastly
in Moses' doctrine. And we don't continue steadfastly
in the prophet's doctrine. Because that doctrine was never
complete. It was always just partial. There
was more to come. But now there has been a completeness,
there has been a comprehensive revelation of the will of God
in the person of Jesus Christ. What was once fragmentary and
dark and inadequate has been left behind because a fullness
has come. Not in the doctrine of the church
fathers, not in any particular denominations understanding of
doctrine. Not in any extra biblical revelation
or new light that has come to pass, but simply this, the Apostles'
Doctrine. Could it be easier? There are
so many churches today claim new revelations and new lights
and new ways of thinking. It's the apostles' doctrine that
makes the difference. It's the apostles' doctrine that
contains the truth, that is the truth. The apostles' doctrine
as it was preached by Peter, the apostles' doctrine as it
was preached by James and John, which is none other than the
doctrine of Christ. It was he who taught them their
doctrine. It is he who is the sum and substance
of that doctrine. It is he of whom the apostles
preached. He is the doctrine that they
delivered. In 2 John 1, verse 9, we read
these words. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. The apostles' doctrine is the
doctrine of Christ. It was the doctrine that they
preached. And here is how the Church reacts to that doctrine. It continues steadfastly in it,
committed to it, dedicated. The Apostles' Doctrine is the
doctrine of grace, so-called. It is the message of peace to
sinners that God has accomplished by the redemption of Christ's
blood from the curse of the law. That's the Apostles' Doctrine.
That's what they speak of. That they heard from the Lord
Jesus Christ That is what they preached boldly in Jerusalem
streets at Pentecost. And that is what was the occasion
for the 3,000 people that day to come into an experience of
God's grace. And we don't need to change it.
We don't need to alter it. We don't need to enhance it.
We don't need to modernize it or update it for a new generation
and a new age. It is the apostles doctrine.
It is the doctrine of Christ. It is the doctrine of grace.
And we will continue steadfastly in it. The message of salvation. The
message of justification by faith. Righteousness with God. and mercy
from above. The doctrine of Christ speaks
of a saviour who came, who is born, both God and man, who lived,
who died, who rose again, who ascended up into heaven. And then there he lives forevermore,
and who having ascended will come again and receive his people
to himself. And continuing in that doctrine
is continuing to hear it and to believe it and to promote
it. It is laying it to heart. It
is attending to it. It is supporting its proclamation. It is standing upon it for our
soul's well-being. It is trusting it as God's own
truth and seeing Christ in it as the only origin and source
of life and joy for us. It is the experience of liberty
and peace with God that comes in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I say this, that if the Apostles'
Doctrine is preached at your church, then you continue steadfastly
in it. And if it's not preached at your
church, then you find a place where it is preached and then
continue steadfastly in it. Because that's what it's all
about. That's what matters. The second thing that they continued
steadfastly in was that they followed the Lord steadfastly
in fellowship, in fellowship. They had fellowship, these people,
these 3,000 that were called in, fellowship with God, fellowship
with the apostles, and fellowship with each other. Let me say this,
that I believe that fellowship should never
be regarded as the poor relation in our beliefs and in our understanding. We don't say that fellowship
is something that we can take or leave. I fear that too much,
perhaps because of the ease with which we can have fellowship,
the cars that we have to drive that take us comfortably to church,
the lovely buildings that we have to enjoy, the warmth that
we have here, the recreational time that we have available,
the very commonplace aspect of going to church with some regularity. Wouldn't it be terrible if that
became a hurdle to us and we didn't value it because the Lord
made it easy for us to have it? Fellowship is of the utmost importance. And when we speak about fellowship
with God and fellowship with the body of Christ, with his
church, we should speak of it reverently. with value, understanding
how important it is. Don't ever imagine that as one
of the Lord's little ones, you have the strength to go it alone. Church fellowship is divinely
instituted by God because he knows how important it is for
us to gather together. He knows how important it is
for us to minister one to another in these gospel truths. Let us
not therefore neglect assembling ourselves together. And in the
days and weeks that lie ahead, let this be a mark of the fact
that we continue steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, that we are here together and we are worshipping
together and fellowshiping together in these great things of the
gospel. We fellowship with God. Primarily
we fellowship with God when we come into this place to hear
the gospel. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. We gather in spirit and in truth
to hear the gospel preached. And here we meditate upon the
blessings of the gospel. We receive tokens of the Father's
love towards us as the Spirit ministers to our spirit. We discern something of the Son's
grace towards his people and the Spirit's comfort to our hearts
and souls. And nor is it about our personal
preferences What it is, is about our soul's good. We continue in the Apostles'
doctrine and we continue in fellowship, steadfastly. And we follow the
Lord Jesus Christ steadfastly in breaking of bread. That's what the verse says. They
continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship
and in breaking bread. Now that's not the church lunch. What we're talking about here
is that service that we engaged upon last weekend. The Lord told
his disciples, this do in remembrance of me. What? Participation in
the Lord's Supper. And his flock, his people, those
who follow him, they take the Lord's Supper as an important
part of their understanding of the work of grace. and they together
consume the bread and the wine that speaks of the body and the
blood and the sacrifice of the Saviour upon the cross. Not only
are we blessed by communing together in this powerful sign that the
Lord Jesus Christ left with his people, but we commune with God
too. It's called a communion service.
And the blessings come to us through union, communion. And it is as we are united in
our minds, it is united in our hearts, fellowshipping together
upon the Apostle's doctrine, the message of redemption by
the blood of Jesus Christ, and taking these elements as a sign
and a symbol of that great work of gospel truth that we find
our hearts are knitted together. both with heaven and together
with the flock that is the Lord's people. Now let us be clear,
the breaking of bread service that we have as a commemoration
is a remembrance service. The elements are and remain only
bread and only wine. And yet blessings are conveyed
through these elements. There is a communication of spiritual
blessing to the Lord's people as we engage together in this
memorial to the death of our Saviour. Breaking bread is in
itself a picture of the gospel and in that picture of the gospel
we see Christ's body broken substitutionally for us He said, this is my body
which is broken for you. That's the substitutionary aspect. That's the personal aspect. His
blood was shed for the remission of sins, putting away of sins. And our atonement at one meant
brought into union with God is thereby secured. Wrath against
us and against our sin has been removed. and forgiveness has
been won and achieved by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what
the service of communion speaks to us about. When the Lord Jesus
Christ says, this is my blood of the New Testament, which he
said for many, the New Testament is the new covenant. And so we
are remembering that new or everlasting covenant, which speaks to us
of the eternal purpose of our sovereign God. And so even in
the very participation of the consumption of the bread and
the drinking of the wine, the eternal covenant of God's purpose,
and the agreement of the salvation of an elect people and that remnant
being called out from amongst the men and women of this world
is all spoken of in the simplicity of this feast that we share together. Peter says in 1 Peter 1, verse
2, that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And when we eat
the bread and when we drink the cup, we are preaching Christ. We are preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ in his death. We show forth his death and we
testify to our belief in his imminent return. Well might the
Lord's people steadfastly continue in breaking bread. And finally,
we're told here that the fourth thing that these new believers
continued steadfastly upon. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking bread and in
prayers. Prayers. Personal prayer. Private prayer. Public prayer. As the Lord had taught them how
to pray, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the
power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Such a pattern
of prayer was set before the disciples that his people might
follow him, might follow him in the way in which they were
taught how to pray, recognizing those things that we have considered
about the glory of God, his purpose being revealed, our personal
needs day by day, and how all these things come together in
the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ as he declares, it is
finished. Amen. We pray. We have a personal communion
with our God and we have a relationship with him that is us speaking
to the Lord in our prayers. And he's speaking to us in the
gospel of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is intimate and it
is immediate. It is prayer that the Lord's
people pray together. We labor together in our prayers. You know, it would be lovely
to think that as much prayer time from a congregation went
into the anticipation of the Lord's Day's service as goes
into the preparation of the sermon that will be preached. We come
to hear the Lord speaking to us, but have we spoken to him? Have we spoken to him as we wait
to hear him speaking to us? Is this not communication? No
one likes to communicate with someone who never speaks back.
You're writing a letter to someone or sending them an email. After
the first or second or third times you say, oh, forget it. We communicate by speaking one
to another. And so the Lord calls his people
to engage in prayer, to bring a request, to bring our desires,
to bring those petitions that we have, to intercede one for
another, to thank him, to let him know what our problems and
our trials and our difficulties are. And he ministers to us the
gospel of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, showing us wherein our
help and comfort is to be found. We speak to the Father in prayer
and the Father speaks to us through preaching. Many churches encourage
their people or their congregations to be busy. Busy, busy, busy. A job for everyone. And always to be doing as if
it's their efforts and their energies that somehow enable
God's purposes. Let me suggest to you where the
church's true labour is to be found. It is in worshipping God. It is in praying to him. It is in praising and thanking
him for all that he has so freely and liberally given to us in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is recognising the great plan
of salvation. And therefore Paul says in 1
Corinthians 15, verse 58, Let's pray. Lord, grant us, thy people, steadfastness
in doctrine, fellowship and communion, and let our prayers be a sweet
savour of worship in thy presence. Grant us union, love and single-mindedness
in the days ahead as we commit our needs into thy care and trust
thee for every blessing thou seest fit to bestow upon our
needy souls. In the name of Jesus Christ we
ask these things. Amen.