Amen. All right. I'm going to
ask chapter 11. I'm going to start at verse.
I'll start back at verse 15, go through verse 17. I'm going
to pick up on my last point and then we'll work through our new
outline today. As you guys know, we are at that
point. I call it a pivotal point with regards to Peter. We'll
have one more segment with him in chapter 12. And then things
radically change in terms of the focus of ministry. We will
return again to the ministry of the apostle Paul. Acts chapter
13, but Peter is in what we have discovered over the last couple
of weeks a precarious state because he is Having to give an account
to the Jewish leaders the Apostles among them for having gone to
the Gentiles and preached the gospel to the Gentiles and entered
into the house of the Gentiles and the the verses subsequent
to verse 17 and 18 will also give us some insight into the
just how difficult it was for the Jewish leadership to submit
to what God was doing as he was bringing Gentiles into the kingdom.
So as Peter is closing out his argument, his defense of what
he was doing, he says in verse 15 through 17 of Acts 11, and
as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at
the beginning. Then remembered I the word of
the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but
you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then
as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us, who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand
God? This is his argument, and this
is the last point in our outline under that statement where I
said, I could not withstand God. That was in our previous outline.
This is the point. I could not withstand God. Why
would Peter say that? Because he knew that the thinking
of his Jewish brethren was operating on a horizontal plane instead
of a vertical plane. I use this term before, I'll
share it with you just to draw your thoughts as we are getting
the cobwebs out of our head. How many of you remember me using
the term the horizontal dilemma? How many of you remember that
term, the horizontal dilemma? Now, the horizontal dilemma is
that faulty thinking into which we enter when we fail to recognize
that God is in control of what's taking place. The horizontal
dilemma is when you and I are looking at things from a human
standpoint only. We have failed to realize that
God is sovereign and that the events that are occurring, God
has allowed in his own inscrutable way. And if we don't first acknowledge
that God is in control of the events, the dilemma that occurs
is we will respond, draw conclusions, generally wrongly based upon
some human or personal interest that has nothing to do with God.
The horizontal dilemma is what Israel constantly fell into when
they were being led out of the land of Egypt into the promised
land and they were going through the wilderness, remember? And
the evidence that they had fallen prey to a horizontal dilemma
is that they were complaining. Complaining is an evidence that
we have fallen prey to a horizontal dilemma. When you and I are not
praying but complaining, when we have views that are rooted
in merely what we see, what's taking place in front of us,
and particularly if they grade us against the way we want things
to be, you and I have fallen prey to the horizontal dilemma. Israel constantly failed to realize
that God was leading them through the wilderness. And so every
stop over the 42 encampments that they had engaged in. Remember
what the basic tenor of their words were? And they murmured
against the Lord. They murmured, they murmured,
they murmured against the Lord. And in fact, it became one of
those sort of fixed models of a relationship between the Lord
and his people, of which the psalmist says it, and Jesus even
says it, with whom was the Lord grieved? Was it not with Israel
in the wilderness? Because of their constant complaining,
they grieved the Lord over that 40-year period. They grieved
Him because they would not believe Him. They grieved Him because
they would not trust Him. They grieved Him because they
failed to see the workings of God. in their life as they were
going through the wilderness. Can God provide a table for us
in the wilderness? Can he give us bread? Can he
give us wine? Can he give us food? Can he get
us through this wilderness? Did God bring us out here to
kill us? These were the things they were
saying. Now, have you ever fallen prey to the horizontal dilemma?
And what's fascinating is that where you and I are in the book
of Acts, which is about the year AD 40, six to seven years after the
resurrection of Christ is that the same people I believe are
still stuck on the horizontal dilemma. They're still struggling
with being in control. The leadership in Israel is struggling
with how is it that Peter is going somewhere of which they
have not approved or God has not talked to them first and
God didn't let them in on what he was doing and now all of a
sudden Peter is explaining how the Gentiles are coming into
the kingdom and the leadership in Israel is really looking at
Peter With a very narrow eye and Peter is closing out his
argument as we had stated last week with this language How could
I withstand God? How could I stop God now? Why
would he say that other than to be appealing to the backwards
thinking of his Jewish brethren? Why would he say how could I
who am I that I should have withstood God? I He's saying that because
he knows right now in the thinking of the leadership in Israel including
some of the apostles They don't quite like what's going on and
all Peter is saying is hey, I couldn't stop it Who am I and actually
in the the literal? In the literal Greek language
it was who am I to stop what God is doing? I couldn't stop
it then I can't stop it now I will never be able to stop what God
is doing. That's the language that So what Peter was doing
was resigning to the sovereignty of God for himself, willing to
let the chips fall where they may. It's amazing. So under that
particular rubric, I could not withstand God. We have two things
to consider. The whole experience overcame
his prejudice and ultimately theirs. Remember, we contemplated
how he struggled with the vision. We contemplated how he struggled
with going to Cornelius' house. We contemplated how Peter struggled
when he got there. Hey, hey, you know us Jews, we
don't do this. He struggled with the whole process
and all the way through the Spirit of God was giving him revelation
that this is exactly what I want you to do. And in fact, if you
look back at verse... 16 this is interesting He had
said in verse 15 as I began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on
them as on us at the beginning Then he says in verse 16 then
remembered I the what the Word of the Lord Interesting because
now what he's saying to his Jewish brethren is the Spirit of God
is doing exactly what Jesus said he would do And that is bring
the word of God back to remembrance concerning the things that Christ
had taught them. Here's what Peter is saying.
Not only is the spirit of God doing his own thing with the
Gentiles in Cornelius's house, but the spirit of God is bringing
me into remembrance of what Jesus said he would do to affirm that
this work very much was the work of the spirit of God. Is it the
work of the Spirit of God to bring scripture back to our memory,
particularly in the context of situations wherein that word
is appropriate to the need? Peter was saying, and as I'm
observing all this, guess what the Holy Ghost is doing? Reminding
me that Jesus said this would occur. He's strengthening his
argument for himself against his Jewish brethren. And when
he closed out with those words, look at verse 18. Here's what
it says. Now, when they heard these things,
They held their peace. You see that? They held their
peace. So for a moment, they were checked.
They were restrained for a moment. And I say that advisedly and
they glorify God saying this, then have God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life. My goodness, you see all the
work that Peter put in, how it ultimately caused them to capitulate.
and agree with Peter, then God is working. But I would submit
to you that even though they are articulating the God honest
truth, deep down in their heart, there's still reservations. Because
in two chapters from now, when we get to chapter 15, they're
going to be back at it again, which shows that virulent strain
of unbelief that can drape anyone who thinks somehow that salvation
can be obtained by something you do or by who you are. The Jewish people thought that
just because they were Abraham seed, they had the right of entrance
into the kingdom of God and no one else could enter in except
they entered in through them. So they gave Peter kudos. And
then we begin to work through the subsequent verses of 19 through
30. And I'm going to read here verses
19. I think I'll read all the way through verse 24 and then
we'll work with our new outline now. They, which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled
as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none only but the Jews. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. The hand of the
Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to
the Lord." Now watch this, watch this. Then tidings of these things
came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem. Aha.
They heard it again. God's working somewhere else.
Then tidings came to the church in Jerusalem, and they sent forth
Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, when he
came and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them
all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord.
For he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith much
people was added unto the Lord then departed Barnabas to Tarsus
for to seek Saul and when he had found him he brought him
to Antioch and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled
themselves with the church in as much and taught much people
and the disciples were called Christians first and Antioch
all right this is where we are in our new outline I want to
start with my first point under getting our priority straight
in the gospel that's your new outline getting our priority
straight in the gospel and so the first point under that is
to the Jew first to the Jew first so we're in our new PowerPoint
you guys we're in our new PowerPoint getting the gospel getting the
priority of the gospel straight now when I make that statement
I'm actually talking about to the Jewish leaders. I'm talking
to Peter, I'm talking to James, I'm talking to John, I'm talking
to Andrew Bartholomew, all of the brothers that are in Jerusalem.
I'm saying to them, you got to get your priorities straight
when it comes to the gospel. You guys got to understand that
God is the one that's actually doing the saving. So you can
pull it back up and let's just do the Bible verses. Everybody
has your outline. So under the first one, we're
dealing with to the Jew first. And my point is, as I am talking
about getting our priorities straight in the gospel, is that
God has a method by which he is saving people. He's always
had a method. He knows whom he's going to go
to first, and then subsequent to them, to other people. This
rule then that I want to call your attention to has to do with
the way the gospel had come to the Jewish people first, and
then it would go to the Gentiles. So we read in verse 19 through
21 that during the persecution, remember in Acts chapter 7, Stephen
was put to death. And at that point in Acts chapter
8, the church has started receiving persecution. They were scattered
abroad all the way through Rome. This is where Luke is picking
up again in verse 19 and then in verse 20. And some of them
were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to
Antioch, watch this now, spake unto the Grecians, preaching
the Lord Jesus. the hand of the Lord was with
them and a great number of them believed and turned to the Lord
now what what what verse 19 and 20 is talking about is the priority
of the Disciples to go to Jews first and share the gospel to
go to the Jews first. And that was a legitimate rule.
And it was a pattern that was set up by Jesus. Um, in fact,
in the gospel of Matthew chapter 10, verse six, let's go there
briefly. You'll see this pattern laid down in another place in
the gospel of Matthews and Luke, Jesus says, I am sent not, but
to the lost sheep of the house of what Israel. So even in his
own earthly ministry, Jesus did not go to the Gentiles primarily,
and nor did he go to them first. And I just want you to be able
to see these principles laid down. In Matthew chapter 10,
we're gonna read verse five and six. This is where our Lord Jesus
Christ is sending out his disciples. Here's what he says in chapter
10 of Matthew, verse five and six. These 12 Jesus sent forth
and commanded them saying, now watch this, here it is. Do not
go in the way of the Gentiles. and to into any city of the Samaritans
do not enter but go rather to what the lost sheep of the house
of Israel and as you go go preaching saying the kingdom of God is
at hand so the disciples had received from the Lord this priority
of first sharing the gospel with his own kinsmen go to chapter
15 and look at verse 24 of Matthew's gospel as well and there's a
reason for which They would have had the privilege of the gospel
being preached to them first Matthew chapter 15 and this is
where our Lord actually makes mention himself of his own priority
in Matthew 15 verse 24 Matthew 15 24 Uh, let me start back at verse
21. Then Jesus went this and departed into the coast of Tyrese.
I don't. And behold, a woman of, of Canaan
came out the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy on
me. Oh Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil, but he answered her, not a word. And his disciples
came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth
after us. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but unto the what? Lost sheep of the house of Israel.
So he uttered this principle that his primary objective was
first to bring the gospel to the Jewish people. Now, Paul
picked that ethic up all through the New Testament. You guys heard
this when we were in the book of Romans. How would Paul put
it? To the Jew first, and then what? Also to the Gentile. Paul
understood that ethic. Christ understood that ethic.
Paul said in Romans chapter 9, Jesus came in the flesh to the
nation of Israel because the promises and the covenants and
the adoption all pertain to them. His physical human nature was
a byproduct of Israel being a conduit by which Christ came into the
world. And why then would Christ come to the Jews with the gospel
first? Because they had actually, by the grace of God, successfully
done 1500 years. of obedience slash disobedience
by which the Messiah came into the world. I say obedience slash
disobedience because they were really messed up, weren't they?
But enough of them had believed the gospel where God could work
in the life of Israel to bring them through out that period
of time until what Paul called in Galatians 4, the fullness
of time had come. In Galatians chapter 4, what
did he say? Christ came in the fullness of time, born of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the curse
of the law. What's the point? The point is
God is patient with us. And God is patient with us even
in our laps, in our sinfulness, in our weakness. As much as Israel
had rebelled against God, remember what Paul had said in Romans
chapter 9? This was an ethic of God too.
The reason why Israel wasn't destroyed was because God said,
except I had saved a remnant, Israel would have been all together
like Sodom and like unto Gomorrah. So from 1500 BC all the way up
to the first century BC, yes, God punished Israel. Yes, he
disciplined them. Yes, he destroyed many of the
children of Israel, but he always saved the remnant. In fact, the
first century church, Mary, Martha, Mary Magdalene, Hannah the prophetess
Simon all of those believers were a nucleus of those who actually
waited on the constellation of Israel and God often preserves
the whole because of the faithfulness of a few and that was the case
with Christ coming into the world, but it's also that because they
had done that and He was obligated to share the gospel with them.
Now, under that particular rubric, point number one, to the Jew
first, there are three things that I want to call your attention
to. First, the blessing of it. You guys see that in your outline?
The blessing of it. What is the blessing of it? Well,
when the gospel comes to you, there's an opportunity for salvation.
That's Romans 1, 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes. To the Jew first, then also to
the Gentile, right? For the scripture says, as it
is written, the just shall live by faith. As it is written, as
it says, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And
so the gospel comes to them because they are the ones that bore the
history of God's providence and God's purpose. Go to Romans chapter
2 now. I'll show you a couple more verses
along those lines before we move forward. This is how Paul was
arguing about Israel being recipients of the Gospel first. In Romans
2, we have been going through the study in Romans chapter 1
and 2 where Paul is now chiding Israel. for they're presuming that because
they had the law, they were good. Remember in Romans 2 verse 1,
therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever you are that
judges. For wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself.
For thou that judges doest the same thing. He's talking to the
Jews now. And then he says, but we are sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth against them which commit such
things. And do you think, O man, that judges them which do these
things, and you do the same thing, that you will escape the judgment
of God? And then he says in verse four, or do you despise the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God is designed to do what leads you to repentance? What Paul says now in verses
five through seven are very interesting. Listen to this. It's actually
verses five. Through nine he says but after
the hardness and impending impenitence of your heart You are treasuring
up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every
man according to his what? now here's what he says in verses
seven through nine, which is quite instructive to all of us
and to those who by patient continuance and well-doing, seeking for glory
and honor, they will receive immortality and eternal life.
Do you see that? This is the way Paul is explaining
how men and women respond to the gospel by faith. When the
gospel comes to us by faith, this is how we respond. We live
a life of patient continuance and well-doing because we are
seeking glory. And what we will receive in time
is honor. I mean, immortality and eternal
life. We are seeking glory and honor
and immortality and eternal life will be the result of those who
are patiently waiting on the Lord. Verse eight, but unto them
that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Here's the reward. Are you ready?
Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. upon every soul
of man that doeth evil." Now watch this, of the Jew first
and also of the Gentile. Do you see that? So this is what
I meant by getting the priority of our gospel straight. When
it says to the Jew first, that is a blessing, but it's also,
as you see in your outline, a responsibility. It's a blessing for sure to hear
the gospel first, but it's also a responsibility. It comes with
consequences. Notice, if the gospel comes to
the Jew first, guess what else comes to the Jew first? Judgment. If the gospel comes to you and
me first, then you and I are culpable for that message. If
the gospel comes to me before it comes to another person, then
I know more about the nature and character of God and his
will than that other person does. I am more responsible to God.
So when they say to the Jew first, it's speaking to a number of
things. They have the blessing of hearing the word of God. Paul
argues that in Romans chapter three, verse one, what advantage
then has the Jew or what profit is there in circumcision much
in every way chiefly because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God. They have the word of God, which
is able to save your soul. But as Paul says here in verse
nine to the Jew first and also to the Gentile verse 10, watch
this, but glory and honor and peace to every man that does
what works good. Ah, to the Jew first and also
to the Gentile. I wanted to drive that point
home because History has affirmed this principle to the Jew first.
God chose the children of Israel 1,500 years before Jesus came. Christ comes into the world.
He himself, humanly speaking, is a Jew. The gospel starts where? In Jerusalem. So in Jerusalem,
the gospel is being preached. Even right now, they are hearing
the gospel. I'm talking about in our context, not right now
in the year 2015. In our context, they are hearing
the gospel. They've been hearing the gospel
in the book of Acts now for about seven years. And if you notice
again in our text, what the ethic was, was to go to the Jew first. And in fact, go back to our text
now. I'll move to our next point here in a second. I just want
to reiterate this. before we move forward, because this transition
is going to be important. So the text tells us in verse
19. Now, when they were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stefan, they traveled
as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none, but unto the what? Jews only. That was the ethic
that they were committed to. That was the ethic that they
were committed. And on a practical level, that makes a lot of sense.
Let's work with this for a second. First of all, the Jerusalem church
is being persecuted. And as they're being scattered
abroad, wouldn't it make sense that you would go to people who
are of like mind with you first? Wouldn't you go to neighborhoods
or to conclaves where people understood your culture, understood
the way you thought? Yes, you would. You would go
to them because it would be easier to communicate this gospel, which
is offensive by nature, because they would have already been
pedagogued in the law of God. You would have went to them because
they would have had some Bible knowledge. So let's make this
practical for a moment. It's easier to witness to someone
who has some Bible knowledge than it is to people who know
nothing about God whatsoever. It's easier to share the word
of God with people who have grown up in church but may not be solid
in the word than it is with a person that is purely ignorant of any
scriptural truth. You have to be really gifted
as an evangelist to be able to start with a person outside of
the scriptures and lead them into the scriptures. That's why
very few people do it. because they don't have the ability
to start with people outside of the scriptures and lead them
into the scriptures. But you meet church folk, religious
folk, where everybody got Bible verses on their lips. Oh, it's
easy to talk to them. And so it was for the Jews, because
they had a whole 1500 years of practicing Judaism. So the only
thing they had to do was say, hey, you know, that book you
have called the Torah, the Tanah, that book is about Jesus. and
then they would begin sharing and the Spirit of God would take
the witnesses, those who are preaching the word, and help
them open the scriptures to these saints that were spread abroad. And remember the diaspora, the
spreading abroad of the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, wasn't a problem
because Jews have been scattered abroad for the longest already.
They were in all regions of Rome, all regions of Asia Minor, all
regions of Palestine. Everywhere you went, there were
Jewish conclaves for the disciples to reach. So the Jew first, there's
a blessing when you are first, but then there's also the responsibility.
So in Luke 12, 48, do you know what it says? To whom much is
given, much is what? That's exactly right. And this
is gonna be the pivotal point of change in our text. To whom
much is given, much is required. Jesus speaking in Luke's gospel
chapter 23 through verse 28 through 31 as he's being driven to Calvary
and the women are weeping and crying in Luke's gospel. Jesus
turns to them and says, do not weep for me, weep for yourselves. because what you see happening
to me is a consequence of you rejecting the gospel. And there
are woeful consequences that come when the gospel is rejected.
So to whom much is given, much is required. That's what we mean
by the responsibility. And the third point is the consequence
of rejecting that gospel. What is the consequence of rejecting
the gospel? It's the heartening of the heart.
Which blinds one to the benefits of biblical truth, both intellectually
as well as spiritually. When the heart is hardened from
a perpetual rejection of the word of God, reasoning with hardened
people is futile. When the heart is hardened, reasoning
with hardened people is futile. Now, it's one thing, ladies and
gentlemen, to reason with an unbeliever whose heart is hardened,
but their intellect is uninformed because you can inform them about
truth that they don't know. And now their conscience can
struggle with that truth while their heart is still trying to
push back on it. Am I making some sense? But when
you come across a religious person who thinks they know enough Bible
to be able to reject what you're saying, it's almost futile to
try to reason with them. It's almost futile. So we hear
the words in Hebrews chapter 3 where plainly says, do not
harden your heart. Be careful of the deceitfulness
of sin, which ultimately hardens the heart. And I'm saying all
this to say this right now, even though in Luke's narrative of
chapter 11, as we're getting ready to follow it all the way
through, while there are some Jews who are about to receive
the gospel, the vast majority of the Jews are hardening. In
fact, the persecution that starts in chapter eight is the persecution
that came from the non-believing Jews against the Christians.
It was headed up by the apostle Paul. So right now what you see
is old Jerusalem battling new Jerusalem. The unbelieving Jews
are coming after the believing Jews and the believing Jews are
scattered abroad, still talking to the unbelieving Jews because
we share the gospel in order that God's elect might be saved
out of it all. Whether believer or non-believer,
we share the gospel because God has an election according to
grace who will ultimately hear that gospel as Paul did, right?
But what you're gonna see in a short while, by the time we
get to Acts chapter 13, and that's just two chapters over, primarily
the Jews will be through hearing the gospel. Paul and Barnabas,
and particularly Paul, will make a decisive break We're trying
to share the gospel with the Jews. And he will know that the
Spirit of God has said, okay, spend the majority of your energy
preaching to the Gentiles. And all that means is this, while
the message of the gospel is to the Jew first, it doesn't
mean that they're going to hear the gospel just because it's
to them. And so Jesus makes mention of
a principle in the gospel of Matthews, chapter 20 verse 16. I want to just share this one
with you before we go on. He says these words and they'll
make sense now that you and I have just thought through a little
bit of the blessing, the responsibility and the consequences of hearing
the gospel in Matthew chapter 20 verse 16. Here's what our
master says as he was speaking to the Jewish leaders. He just gave a parable and in
that parable, They the parable once again is a parable where
Christ is rebuking Israel for not doing the right thing in
their stewardship And he says over in verse 16 watches. So
the last shall be what and the first shall be what? Here it
is for many are called but few are chosen Do you see that? So even though the Jews were
first what Jesus prophesied is you would be last and Those whom
the Jews thought were last Jesus had prophesied they will be first
And he explains the first, last, last, first this way, that while
virtually everyone will be under the hearing of the gospel, only
the elect will be saved. Now that prophecy that Jesus
gave in Matthew chapter 20, verse 16, the Jews would not have understood
that. Not even the disciples would
have understood this. Jesus said this several times
throughout the gospels. The first shall be last and the
last shall be first he attached that to a number of the parables
that he gave And every one of the parables were parables where
in israel were given commodities. They were given privileges They
were given stewardship and they spurned every one of them and
what jesus said at the end of the parable is okay The first
shall be last the last shall be first and it's interesting.
I think it's in this same parable I want to unpack it where he
had given out the talents some early in the morning, some at
noon, some in the evening, and some at the last hour of the
day. And watch this, as that parable closed out, you know
what he said? Start paying those who came at
the last hour of the day. Don't pay those first who started
in the morning. Pay those first who came at the
last hour of the day. See, the economy of the kingdom
of God is radically different than what we think. See, you
and I operate on a performance-based mentality. God operates on a
principle of grace and sovereign choice, but he also operates
on the principle of reciprocity. Because inherent in that parable,
what he would have been teaching is those who were serving at
the last hour were serving during the most intense period of the
gospel where Christ himself would be crucified and the people of
God would be scattered abroad. His resurrection would occur.
Then the Holy Ghost would be sent out. And that's a kind of
a type of the payment where they would receive the third person
and be brought into the kingdom and be blessed to be part of
the New Testament ministry. All this to say that when we
talk about the Jews being first to whom the gospel is given,
it's a blessing, but it's also a responsibility that comes with
what? Consequences for rejecting that. And so now go with me in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 13. I want to show you this before
we go back to our text and deal with the latter points that I
think are germane as well. If I were to extract an application
to that, I will simply say to you and me every day that you
and I live, and as we grow in the knowledge of God, you and
I are culpable for that knowledge. And the thing that you and I
want to make sure that we do is that we are not coupling the
knowledge of God with a continual, gradual, imperceptible, or maybe
perceptible, hardening of our heart. What you and I don't want
to do is go to our grave with a hardened heart, having grown
up and gotten old in the church, and never really be connected
to Christ. Because that's what happens to people. They get old,
they die, and they never really actually get rooted and grounded
in Jesus and bear any fruit. Nothing is more ominous than
to be able to sit under the preaching of the Word and it does not move
you. Nothing is more ominous than
to look up and go, you know what? I've been under this preaching
for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. And today my
heart is just as hard to the truth. I have no sense of response
to it. It's not doing anything for me.
That's a dangerous place to be. You and I never want to hear
preaching and teaching that's biblically accurate and did not
move our hearts. You never want to sit there and
go laissez-faire, so what, whoop-dee-doo, I got other things to do. At
that point, you are sticking your fist in God's face. Because
God does not speak any clearer to us than He does in the preaching
and exposition of His Word. He speaks only with that kind
of clarity in that context. So every opportunity you hear
the word you want to exercise the humility the humility of
saying Lord Soften my heart so I can hear you when you teach
you are not on judgment by my conscience I'm not sitting here
critiquing you God. I'm not determining whether or
not you are worthy to speak to me but that's where a lot of
people are a Lot of people come in judging God That's right. Rather than coming in humbly
to hear the word of the Lord. I think it was our men's meeting
I talked about this last Friday in the book of Ecclesiastes.
In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 1 pull that up Ecclesiastes
5 1 show you this the book of Ecclesiastes 5 1 this is a very
good principle for you whenever you step foot in the doors of
the church where the word of God is honored and the word of
God is preached. so that you and I don't fail
to benefit from it. In Ecclesiastes chapter 5, 1,
are you there? Here's what Solomon says, keep your foot when you
go to the house of God. Do you see that? Let me help
you with that. When you go to the house of God,
don't act like you're in a social club. Remember, that's the horizontal
dilemma I was talking about, where your head is stuck on stupid. Like you, you can't look up and
realize God is looking down. God is listening. God is observing. And so you deal with everybody
on a human level. We walk in and somebody don't
say something to you. You all pissed off, right? Carnal. So when the word of God
says, keep your foot, when you go to the house of God, that
means you come in with a real sense of reverence. I'm in the
presence of God. It's called Coram Dale. Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? Watch what it says. It says,
keep your foot when you go to the house of God and be more
ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. You know
what that is? Running off at the mouth, having
a thousand opinions about things that sometimes just don't matter.
Like the proverb says, in the multitude of our words, all we're
going to be doing is sinning. Haven't you noticed that if you
don't have a bridle on your tongue, a governor on that heart of yours,
that you can let foolish things come out of your mouth. And it
amazes you how stupid you can be and irreverent you can be
and how carnal you can be and how selfish you can be, even
in the presence of God. It's important then to understand
how to position yourself to be ready to receive from God when
you come into the midst of God's people, because it's possible
to come and to go and never hear from God. to come and go and
get nothing out of the Word. You have to prepare your heart
to hear the Word of God. You have to prepare your heart.
He says, Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifices of
fools, for they do not consider that they are doing what? That's
right. And so sometimes when you come
in, brothers and sisters who already have the ethic of Coram
Dale, they will be people who won't be doing a whole lot of
talking. And you'll think that they're being unkind or indifferent. No, what they're doing is preparing
to hear from God. They're preparing to hear from
God. See, we can chatter and we can
talk all that's good, but you got to be careful to sanctify
your heart so that when we go into prayer, we're not playing
because we want to hear from God. Otherwise we can live, get
old, die, go to hell. I can take you to other passages
where the wicked, came and went from the place of the holy and
they died and perished and nobody even regarded them because they
allowed their heart to continue to gradually harden under the
preaching of the word of God. Give you another verse to underscore
my point. Go with me in your Bible to Proverbs chapter 4.
Proverbs 4. Now I'm saying all this because
it's an application first contextually to national Israel. Jesus came
unto his own and his own received him not. He was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world what? Received
him not. It knew him not. And so what's fascinating is
that God came to the very people that he made and their hearts
were not ready for him. Because over the 1500 year period
of their being called out of Egypt, the vast majority of them
were apostate. I'm in Proverbs chapter 4. This
is probably probably Proverbs chapter 5. Yeah, it's in Proverbs
5. I haven't been here for a while Let me see how this goes. Are
you there? In Proverbs 5, it opens up, my
son, attend unto my wisdom and bow your ear to my understanding.
This is the father-son paradigm. In the book of Proverbs, it does
a father-son paradigm, a king-servant paradigm between Proverbs 1 and
Proverbs 31. Then it closes out with an exhortation
to the mothers and the women. But this one is, my son, attend
unto my wisdom and bow your ear to my understanding. Now drop
all the way down to verse 7. Hear me now, therefore, O ye
children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove
your way far from her, and come not near the door of her house.
What is he talking about? The harlot. Lest you give your
honor unto others, and your years unto the cruel. Lest strangers
be filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the house of
a stranger, and you mourn at last when your flesh and your
body are what? And what he's painting the picture
of is a man or a woman that's giving themselves over to the
lust of the flesh. Consumed by the materialism of
the world, the carnality of this life, the Bible speaks of this
world system as a great whore, the Babylonian whore, Revelation
17, Isaiah chapter 48, and other passages. And in this context,
Solomon is saying to his son, son, do not give yourself over
to the whore. Now the whore is the false church.
It's the church that caters to the flesh. It promotes carnality,
sensuality. It promotes earthliness. And
what Solomon says is if you give yourself... Now Solomon knew
something about it, didn't he? If you give yourself over to
this, your life will be wasted. And here's the interesting thing.
He's talking to a man who's religious. He goes to church. He says in
verse 11 and you mourn at the last when your flesh and your
body are consumed verse 12 and you say How have I what hated
instructions and my heart despised reproof? Got it. I Hated instruction
My heart despised reproof Anytime the Word of God came to correct
me. I pushed it off. I rejected it. I was oppositional
to it I don't like God telling me what to do. I don't like him
cutting the lights on. But see, at this point, he's
mourning because his life is wasted away. And he's reflecting
now on how he spent all this time rejecting God's word, even
though he was in the church. How do I know? Verse 13. And
you have not obeyed the voice of your what? Nor inclined your
ear to them that what? So see, he was under teaching.
The teacher was teaching, he was being instructed, but he
didn't obey, neither did he humble himself. That's what it means
to incline the ear, humble yourself. Here's what he says, are you
ready? I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation
and the assembly. Do you see it? He's confessing
how that he was completely hardened, just hardened in the midst of
the church. This is confession. I was almost
in all evil in the midst of the congregation and the assembly. What I love about this, this
here is the loving admonition of a father to his son. This
is the loving admonition of a father to his son saying, son, don't
be a hypocrite. Don't love the world and still
play church because you'll be saying this one day. And interestingly
enough, by way of application, This is what's happening to national
Israel. Let's go back now. We got 30 minutes to work through
our outline. So I say that because I'm already ahead of you guys
in my development of the book of Acts, and I can see the trajectory
of events occurring. Peter has spent a lengthy period
of time explaining to his Jewish brethren that God is at work
saving the Gentiles. They yield to him in verse 18. As we said, they held their peace.
They glorified God saying on the Gentiles, he's granted repentance.
But that yielding was not a complete submission with joy that God
is sovereign in what he's doing because they're going to still
come back and try to control the work of the spirit of God
to their own detriment. And here's what it looks like
in chapter 13, Acts chapter 13. I want you to read with me verse
46 and we'll be able to unpack this more fully when the time
comes. I'm going to start back at verse
42 and go through 46. The apostle Paul has already
warned his Jewish brethren. Verse 40. This is what he said
be weird door for less that come upon you which is spoken of in
the prophets Behold you what despisers isn't that what the
proverb said I despise instruction behold you despisers and wonder
and what perish For I work a work in your days a work in which
you shall and no wise what though a man declare it to you Isn't
that explicit? God has told the Jews, I'm gonna
work a work in your day, you're not gonna believe it, even though
my servants tell it to you. Paul is saying to the Jews right
now, don't you despise what's going on. Then he goes on in
verse 42, and when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them
the next day. What words? Well, if you read
back, starting at around verse 34, it's the gospel. And when
the Jews were going out to the synagogue, Gentiles thought that
these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now,
when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them
persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next
Sabbath came almost the whole city together. I can't wait to
deal with this portion of the scripture, to hear the word of
God. The whole city came together
to hear the word of what a movement of the Spirit of God, but watch
this but We got a contrasting conjunction When the Jews Saw
the multitude they were filled with envy see the problem see
the problem see their problem was They thought that the only
way people could actually receive the grace of God was through
their authority and their control. Their hearts are so hardened,
they can't even rejoice in God sovereignly saving people outside
of the scope and sphere of their control. This is what we call
legalism. This is the height of legalism
when you got to control people and be a part of their salvation.
And if you are not part of it, you denounce it as having no
significance whatsoever. Let me go on and show you something. It says over in verse 42, and
when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, the Gentiles
besought that these words might be. Now, when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and reluctant like I read that
part. Verse 45, but when the Jews saw the multitude, they
were filled with envy and spake against those things which were
spoken by Paul, contradicting and what? Then Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold. See, this is old Jerusalem fighting
against new Jerusalem. This is the spirit against the
flesh. This is the gospel against the law. This is grace against
legalism. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This is the power of the gospel against the demonic
powers of organized religion that has already been condemned
by Christ and is falling apart as we speak. Although the demons
are yelling and screaming as they go down. Now watch this. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold. They didn't retreat, they waxed bold and said, hear this
saints, it was necessary that the word of God should what first
have been spoken to you see it Paul said it was necessary this
is why I told you in the earlier studies when we built the framework
around the book of Acts I said that Israel was under a probation
period remember that I said the nation of Israel is under a probation
period. From the time that Christ rose
again from the dead, sent the Holy Ghost, and the apostles
are preaching from Acts 1 to Acts 13, Israel is under a probation
period. That probation ends right here.
Right here it ends. See, Paul now is going to take
over from here, and you're going to see his missionary journey
To the Gentiles, a handful of Jews will believe, but the vast
majority of the commentary in the book of Acts now about the
Jews will be their persecution of the gospel. Their persecution
of the gospel. What's that about? That's about
a truth that sometimes we don't really like to accept. And that's
this. The notion that God has always
got his hand stretched out to receive you and he'll receive
you even to the last hour, your breathing breath is not a biblical
doctrine at all. The notion that you can just
live like hell, oppose God, resist God, deny God, blaspheme God,
and God won't at some point cut you off is an unbiblical doctrine. God will cut men and women off.
He will cut nations off. He will cut people off at the
appointed time. He gives all of us a probation
period to hear the gospel. This is why we are earnestly
warned not to harden our hearts because God does not all day
long appeal to you. That's Proverbs chapter one,
isn't it? Proverbs one. I stretched out my hand. I called
you, but you would not come. Therefore when you call on me,
I will not hear you And and this is why Jesus said when he was
preaching he said listen Listen, you better hear the gospel now
because the hour is coming when there will be no more daylight.
I Am the light of the world if any men follow me he will not
walk in darkness But once I walk out of this place and it's dark,
there's no hope that's exactly right And that's true for Israel,
and that's true for churches today. I've seen it over the
course of my life in the ministry, these ominous truths of God's
Word. I've seen it, and so I can speak
with some authority, where people have been under probation periods,
where they are tottering on the fence of believing. And those
of us who know what it means to be true believers in Christ,
we see that there's an ambivalence a lack of commitment, a sort
of vacillating on the part of persons as to whether or not
they're going to actually commit to Christ. And over time, they
just drift away. Drift away. You see the drifting. You see them go. You see them
go. And they don't come back. That's
God's word. That's God's word. Dealing with
people. See, everyone is being dealt with individually. Everyone. Everyone and then overall collectively
we get to hear the word of God and hopefully we hear the kind
of preaching and exposition that covers the whole gamut that does
not allow us to sit comfortably with hardened hearts in the church
of the living God See because it sometimes takes the firm Preaching
poignant teaching to break up the follow ground to get a man
to come to a point of repentance and acknowledge that he needs
the Lord to soften his heart her heart their heart in order
that they might hear from God again and Nothing is more grievous
to the true believer, especially when we do not feel God speaking
to us. Nothing is more grievous to us.
We know that we are in a dangerous place when the word of God does
not move us. When we are casual about God,
and particularly when it's truth that's being set forth and our
hearts are not humbled and receptive to that truth, we know we are
in danger with our God. These jews did not know but what
paul was about to do was jewish He was about to turn his back
And shake the dust off of his feet and leave these jews forever
Listen to the language verse 46 Then paul and barnabas waxed
bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should first
have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you And judge
yourselves unworthy everlasting life lo we turn to the Gentiles
and then he affirms his decisive and conclusive judgment by verse
47 here it is for so hath the Lord commanded us saying I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that you should be salvation
should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth and when
the Gentiles heard this they were Now watch this, are you ready?
And they glorified the word of the Lord. You know what that
means? They bowed to it. They received it as the truth.
See, the only way you can glorify the word of the Lord is to receive
it for what it is, the word of the Lord. Now watch the doctrine
of election. Here it is. Here it is, the doctrine
of election. Here it is. And as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. Got it? See what the Holy Ghost
does the Holy Ghost tells you and me that God's not hoping
that people get saved He's not trying to save people. He's saving
his people As many as are ordained to eternal life believed So what
he does for you and me and let us know that it wasn't a great
tragedy that Israel rejected the gospel Because God knew they
were gonna reject it And he turns to the gentile because he has
a whole host of gentile sinners that he plans on saving till
the end of time So we are not to be moved by god's judgment
to cut some off and to embrace others God is sovereign in his
salvation It's very important for you and me to know that.
This is how we can keep our sanity too. All right, let's go to our
second point in our outline. The role of leadership confirming
the word. I got 20 minutes. The role of
leadership confirming the word, going back to Acts 11. Now, this
is a noble and this is a virtuous thing. This is a protocol that
is worthy of attention. It tells us in verse 22 through
24, Acts 11 then tidings of these
things came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem
and They sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch
who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and
Exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto
the Lord. You see that I with purpose of
heart that they would cleave unto the Lord for he was a good
man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and many people were
added unto the Lord." I love it. I love it. Here's what he
did. Here's what the church did. Being responsible leaders in
the church, they had heard that there was a movement that had
taken place where the gospel was being preached. Now, someone
has sown the gospel and there's evidence that there's fruit.
What do you do when there's a new crop of believers that have just
come to faith in Christ? You nurture that seed. You strengthen
that seed. You help the roots go deep so
that they can handle the winds and the storms that are going
to come into their life. When you see that God has created
a new crop of true believers, those believers are babies. They're
infants. their weak little stems and stalks
that are bearing a little fruit, and they need to be protected,
nurtured, they need to be cultivated, strengthened. And so you send
strong men into their midst to help grow them up in the faith.
Because as you guys know, you know this, that none of the work
of the kingdom of God is done in a vacuum. It's not done in
a void, meaning that God's not saving people in a kind of nursery
where you got this big old shield over the plants and you got your
people in there kind of manicuring the plants and they can kind
of manage the storms. No, you and I are growing up
in the world. God's planting seeds in the world. Not only are there winds that
are versed to those plants that are coming up, but there are
all kind of alien agents that would consume God's property,
God's vineyard, God's cultivated field, if they could, or just
ravage it as wild beast would. So you have to protect that which
is God's through solid teaching, solid preaching, consistent care,
consistent labor, So under the role of leadership confirming
the word there are three things bearing witness to the work bearing
witness to the work secondly confirming the soul through exhortation
and Then thirdly God has his people. I Say that because in
verses 22 through 24, this is what occurs They send Barnabas
down now you and I know that Barnabas is a solid brother,
isn't he? He's solid He's faithful, he's already demonstrated to
be a mature man of character and sound in theology. We met
him back in Acts chapter 4, didn't we? Where Barnabas was willing
to give up his resources to establish the Jerusalem church. It was
upon Barnabas' example of giving up his resources that you had
Ananias and Sapphira coming along wanting to play the hypocrite.
and pretend that they were willing to give of their resources to
advance the cause of the gospel. But Barnabas was one of those
men who put his money where his mouth was, because the gospel
meant something to him. He wasn't just one of these cats
that was along for the ride. And among the brethren, he was
noted to be deeply committed to the cause of Christ. and so
they could send him. That's why the language says
he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And
as a consequence of Barnabas' labor, watch this, much people
were added to the Lord. What a blessing! When a man or
a woman, our people can be used not only to strengthen that which
is born, but to see more added to it. I covet that. I covet
that. Because I still think that God
is saving people today. He ain't saving people as easy
as some folks are saying he's saving them. But I still believe
he's saving people today. But I believe he's saving people
contingent upon the methods that he uses to say, first of all,
he saves people only through the truth. God does not save
through lies. God does not have to compromise
his truth in order to save people. He does not have to let unprincipled
men and women teach lies in order to bring his people in. So when
we use phrases like God can do anything, no, he can't. God can't
lie. He's not going to tell us salvation
is one way and then open the door for all kinds of other ways.
God can't lie. He's not going to tell us salvation
comes through the preaching of the word of God. And then folks
can get saved through music and through dreams and through visions
and through clubbing and partying and taking mescaline and methamphetamine. No, you're not going to get saved.
But one way, the preaching of the word. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Yeah. Only one way. Now it's
a narrow way and so carnal man does not like the fact that God
uses a narrow means but God can save a multitude of people through
that narrow means See God's never limited So even though he limits
his methodology his methodology does not hinder him from saving
a multitude of which no man can number And you and I cannot compromise
God's methodology by which he saves, he sanctifies, he grows
up, he strengthens, he bears fruit, and he uses just because
in our own mind it seemed like it can't be done. That's a Charlie
Hart between our two ears. That ain't got nothing to do
with what God is up to. Once again, notice the methodology.
They hear that men and women are hearing the word. What happens?
Faithful men are being sent to that place. So those people can
be taught. And again, this affirms a number
of truths. So bearing witness to the work,
you always want to bear record to the work. If you're a faithful
congregation or faithful leadership, you want to go and see that if
what people have said about that group that appears to be zealous
and on fire for God are really true believers. I hear often,
you know, the Lord is doing the work over here. As soon as I
find out what kind of preaching is going on there, I can determine
whether or not God's actually doing a work. When I hear a whole
bunch of chicanery and false doctrine and false teaching,
signs and wonders and spurious this and spurious that, I know
God's not working. Because God does not use lies
to save souls. So that's false advertisement.
And by the way, don't you hear this stuff all the time? God's
doing a great work over here. You never hear, you know what?
God's not doing much over here. It's always God's doing a great
work. Then when you find out that these crooks don't know
anything about the gospel, you go, no, this is false advertisement. God's not working where the enemy
is working. God doesn't have to use devils.
to save souls when he's raising up saints? Why would he do that? Help me understand that logic
that God would use the devil to save people because God can't
find believers. If you have that view of God,
you have an idol. Do you understand that? See,
again, a charley horse is between your head. You don't understand
how sovereign God is. You don't understand how God
is able to raise up stones to praise him and exalt him. As
Jesus said, God's not going to compromise his principles just
because he's in a hurry to get a whole bunch of people into
the kingdom. So never let yourself fall prey to these sort of irrational
abandonment of ideas that make no sense and that contradict
the word of God. So what we do when we hear about
places where allegedly there's a work taking place and people
are being saved What we want to do is not only we want to
see whether it's true on two criteria Is the gospel being
preached? And is there authentic saving
fruit in the life of those people? Is the gospel being preached
and is there authentic saving proof? Why do I say that because
it's not always so that wherever the gospels preach god is actually
saving people Sometimes all God is doing is bearing record to
their hard hearts Is that true Jesus went all up and down Capernaum
Caesarea Galilee and in many cases all he was doing was bearing
record against their hard hearts He said now what I preached here
would have been preached over there. They would have believed
it long ago. I So, you know, just because the gospel is preached,
it is not sort of like a post de facto, people actually have
to be saved. Sometimes it's just bearing record
against the hard hearts of those people. So then not only do we
want to see, we want to know what kind of message is being
preached. We want to see if there's authentic saving faith, where
people have come to a true saving knowledge of God, where there's
humility, where there's a hunger for the word, where there's a
desire for the truth of the gospel, and where discernment is quickly
quickly developing in the life of Christians. See, true Christians,
listen ladies and gentlemen, have discernment. True Christians
have discernment. They may not always know how
to use it, but they have discernment. And what that means is early
on in their Christian life, if it's a matter of a lack of information
and data, if it's a matter of a lack of knowledge, in their
zeal, they will open themselves up to a lot of things. but over
time they will begin to be concerned with what they are hearing that
is actually not lining up or bearing record with their soul
as to be the God-honest truth. And so now they're operating
out of what we call reservations. They're in the midst of a crooked
generation. They're in the midst of false
prophets and false teachers. They're being tossed to and fro.
They're open to hear, but they're not committing themselves to
much of anything because they know something is wrong, something
is not right. Some of this stuff these folks
is doing I saw in the club. How can they be doing in the
church what they were doing in the club? Techniques and methodologies
and behavior patterns and attitudes and and personality types in
the slick type in the subtle type in the mischievous type
in the temptation types and you begin to say you know what this
is not right and Then God in his mercy when you hunger for
it Allows you to hear the truth of the gospel and gives you a
way out of false religion, and you begin to make a beeline to
the truth of the gospel. Am I telling the truth? You make
a... See, in Acts 13, what's wonderful
is those Gentiles heard the Jews, and they heard Paul, and they
heard the Jews, and they heard Paul, and they heard the Jews,
and they heard Paul, and when they heard Paul, they were glad. And that's why the Spirit of
God gave us verse 48, and as many as were ordained unto eternal
life believe. Because the only way you can
believe this gospel in a saving way is for God to have touched
you by his Spirit, because he chose you in Christ, because
you were one of his lost sheep that he was bringing back to
himself through the truth of the Word of God. That's the only
way you can believe the true gospel. Otherwise, anything goes. And so under that second rubric,
bearing witness to the work, to send Barnabas down is a virtuous
act. And then we talk about confirming
the souls through exhortation. That's exactly what he does over
in Acts chapter 11, verse 23, who when he had came, he had
seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them with purpose
of heart that they would what? Cleave unto the Lord. You know
what we call that? Marital language. So let me just be quick with
this terse so I can deal with one more point. And that is when
you're a brand new believer, you need to be told that you
got to make your calling in election sure. Because a brand new believer
does not know that there's a warfare raging, that if it could successfully
take you out, it would. that it would cause you to deviate
from the path of righteousness and cause you to be distracted
by false religion and false teaching and so not grant you that straight
path to Jesus by which you are anchored in your soul to Him
as a man is anchored to his wife. See, that's marital language.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and
cleave unto his wife and the twain become what? One flesh.
See, what we're talking about is full devotion to Jesus. Now,
full devotion to Jesus requires you and I making our calling
and election sure. Because not only do we, as we're
going to learn on Sunday, not only do you and I have to fight
with the world. Remember your early days of zeal for Christ?
You were in the honeymoon phase, and it was wonderful. You were
on cloud nine. It was a wonderful event. But
over a couple of months, maybe even a year, your zeal for Christ
began to wane. And you were really struggling,
you know why? Because some of the carnal things that you had
put aside in your zeal for Jesus, now starting to emerge again.
Attracting you, drawing you back in the patterns of behavior that
you really know are wasting your time. And so now what you're
doing with your 24-hour period is, you're giving Jesus a little
bit, But the vast majority of your time, you're back to your
old ways. This is causing you to struggle. Because you know
this is not right. How can you grow in a relationship
with someone with whom you don't spend time? And then when it
goes 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 years, you are really in a mess. Because
you are so retarded in your growth, so low in your zeal for God,
your heart is convicted. because you wasted your time.
And so the best thing a new believer can be told to do is to run to
Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength from
the moment of your conversion. Can I use the language of John
Bunyan for a second? Run, sinner, run! That's not Pilgrim's Progress. That's the message of running
from hell to Christ and get to him as quick as you can. Run,
sinner, run. Run, sinner, run. If I can expand on that while
I've got your attention for those who are listening, it's like
the man who inadvertently killed his neighbor and God had given
a provision to run to a city of refuge. And he says you better
get going now because the Redeemer, the avenger of blood is after
you. And don't stop for hot dogs and don't stop for hamburgers.
No in and out, no McDonald's, no pause, no hesitate. Get to
the city of refuge as soon as you can and stay there until
the death of the high priest. Until you know for sure that
Christ, your high priest, has put away all of your sins. See,
it requires getting deeply rooted. And see, there's a lot of people
who start well, but don't finish. So every one of the epistles
from Romans all the way through to the book of Hebrews and even
the pastoral epistles, but certainly the epistles to the churches,
Paul is constantly warning the church, stay committed, run,
run, run. Don't be distracted. The goal
of the devil is to distract you. So he can keep you from your
inheritance and cause you to fall short of the glory of God
It's an amazing an amazing thing for us to contemplate because
you and I right now are in the middle of that very Exhortation
because most of us are still living most of us are still healthy.
Most of us are still relatively young a Few of us might have
a few years to go and those of you who have a few years to go
you are in the most danger You're in the most danger You and I
are to run until we see him face to face. That really is the way
it's supposed to be. Really, there is no ground for
casualty with Jesus. Really, there's not. Because
every day you and I are being tempted. And the temptations
of the devil, the adversary, so multitudinous the the variableness
all of the things that are going on in this world and the power
of them to get a hold of the soul and Keep you from looking
up are bowing your knees to Jesus are so Forceful that you can
go a whole week easy without spending any time in your work
Weeks Months No time with Christ. I'm telling the truth. Am I telling
the truth? See, that's the danger we are in. And sometimes with
people who presume upon God and are operating out of that kind
of delinquent cycle, there's a wind that blows and they are
uprooted and they're gone. And they never make it back because
they did not make their calling and election sure. The one thing
that you and I are to do is to make our calling and election
sure. There's nothing more important,
eternity bound soul, than to make sure you actually know Jesus. Be careful that you are not substituting
biblical faith for presumption. How many times do I have to say
that? Presumption is the false notion that you're secure, though
there's no evidence that suggests that you're secure. Cause you're
so lazy fair and so casual about your walk with Jesus that it
does not evidence true saving faith. Am I making some sense?
Very important. Very important. Listen, let people
call you crazy. Let them call you crazy for,
for having your eyes and your heart and your mind fixed on
Jesus. Let them call you crazy because
you aren't going to acquiesce to every invitation here and
every invitation there and to do this and to go here and to
go yonder and waste your time with the harlot world system
of Proverbs 5. So at the end of your life, you
got nothing to show for your walk with Jesus. Let them think
you're crazy because you're making your calling and election sure.
Nail that verse to your heart, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. Why you always committed to these
things? Because I'm trying to anchor
my soul in eternity. You want to join me? See what
I'm saying? Very important. I don't know
about you, but I'm getting more gray hairs every day. Right? Getting old, aren't we?
Getting old. Getting old. And before I slow
down permanently, I want to make sure that I'm anchored. Because once you slow down, that's
it. Once that old age sets in and you can't go any faster,
you'll know it because I won't be walking down these stairs,
I'll walk around. And I won't be standing up anymore.
I already said in a few years, I'm going to be sitting down
when I preach and teach. Like the Middle Eastern brethren.
You know, Jesus and them sat down when they talk. I thought
that was very economical to sit down with you. In the West, we
stand up when we talk. I burn a lot of energy on Sunday
when I preach. Because I'm walking hither and
yon and all that. You can do that when you're young. 20 years
from now, I won't be doing that. But I hope that 20 years from
now, I'm still doing this. I hope 20 years from now, I'm
still preaching the gospel. But it's not guaranteed. It's
not guaranteed. It is not guaranteed you'll be
here. Not guaranteed. I've seen many come and many
go in this short life that we're living. So under the role of
leadership, confirming the word of the Lord, bearing witness
to the work, Confirming the soul through exhortation. Let me just
read one more verse with that and then we'll close in prayer
We'll pick up the last two points next week Acts chapter 14 verse
21 and 22 Acts 14 The Apostle Paul is speaking
to the churches having also gone through For a second time him
and Barnabas to exhort the brethren and here's what we read over
in verse 19 And there came, I'm sorry, chapter 14, verse 22. So let me start at verse 20. Howbeit as the disciples stood
round about him, he rose up and came into the city of Lydda.
The next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they
had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they
returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, where
we are in chapter 11, verse 22. Listen to these words, confirming
the souls of the disciples. Do you see that? Confirming the
souls of the disciples. What a word. Confirming the souls
of the disciples. So you saved in the year 1975. Five years later, you're still
hearing good preaching. Your soul is being confirmed.
Ten years later, you're still hearing good preaching. Your
soul is being confirmed. Twenty years later, in God's
mercy, you're still hearing good preaching and teaching. Your
soul is being confirmed. Your soul is being confirmed.
What's happening? Faithful ministers of the gospel
are still speaking into your souls the Word of God. You now
are being confirmed as you get older and older. You're being
confirmed. You're being confirmed that you still know the gospel.
You're being confirmed that you still believe it. You're being
confirmed that you're still a child of God and you love the Word
of God. You're being confirmed that you're still on your way
to glory. And the only way you and I can be confirmed is as
the Word of God is preached and taught, and our heart bears record.
Yes, this is the very truth that saved me a hundred years ago,
that's saving me now, and will save me till the day I die. Confirming
the souls of the believers, exhorting them to continue in the what? And that we must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. He's right. He is so
right. He's so right. So right again
for you babies, I'll stop here When uh, when god in his mercy
revealed his glory to you and you came into the kingdom of
god You thought it was all roses and an easy path You come to
understand you're fighting against hell You are fighting against
hell Am I telling the truth? difficulties along the way, trials
along the way, struggles along the way, enormous temptations
along the way. You wonder sometimes, will you
make it? It is so bad sometimes. I'm telling
you the truth. I am not exaggerating. I wish
I could exaggerate, but I can't because the fierceness with which
hell comes after the eternity bound soul is worth us being
honest about it. It's worth us being honest about
it. Some days the warfare is so intense. So intense. So intense. We wonder if we're gonna make
it. That's true. We wonder if we're gonna make
it. Because we're so weak and so carnal and so sinful. So simple. We need to be exhorted. We need to be exhorted. Don't
harden your heart in the church. Don't give yourself over to the
lust of the flesh Don't let the world drag you away from jesus
cleave to the lord Cleave to the lord With all of your heart
soul mind and strength. It's worth it to make your calling
and election sure it's worth it For him to look upon your
face on that day and say well done My good and faithful servant. It's worth it not to have him
say to you. I don't know you at all. It's
worth it It's worth it Let's pray. Father, thank you for this
time. Thank you for my brothers and sisters as we go our way.
Let your word sink deep down into our soul. Keep us. Keep
us. Jesus, keep me near the cross.
Keep me near the cross. Keep me humble enough to know
I need your atoning blood, your perfect righteousness. I need
you. I need you every hour. I need
you. And we pray it in Jesus name.
Amen. God bless you.