Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our first reading, Romans
chapter 14, and reading for our text part of verse 5. The last part of verse 5, let
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. margin it says or fully assured
the whole verse reads one man esteemeth one day above another
another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. So our text is in a very specific
context. It is in the context where one
believer feels that it is right to observe a day as a holy day
and another does not. And they therefore act in different
ways and are prone to judge each other for what they are doing. The passage is dealing with things
that are of not importance. They are things that are put
in the description of being meats. In verse 20, for meat, destroy
not the work of God. And of course, he deals with
days, he deals with literal meats, things that some people feel
that they can eat and some that they can't eat. But it is these
things that are not important, they are not the essential, doctrines
of the gospel, they are things in which there is allowable that
difference. But the principle of the text
is what is much upon my spirit this evening, which applies to
many, many things. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. And what has made me feel that
I really wanted to address this and bring this this evening is
because of the virus, because of the differences that that
has brought, It is highlighted, this difference amongst brethren. And though we are praying much
that there will be the Lord's blessing on this time, Yet it
can also be very discouraging where it may be one church or
one minister says that it is not alright to use the means
that we are using on the internet. Another one says that it is alright
and uses it. One will say, well, it is all
right that we should sing in the Lord's house. Another says
it is not. And there's very many differences. And there are some that will
say, well, it is all right, we should obey the authorities,
but we will decide whether the laws that they make are right
or not, whether we obey them or not. And then there is differences
as to whether we actually should obey God rather than man, but
the differences arise in the things, whether it is something
that God has made a very clear command and direction to do,
or whether it is something that is not. whether it's something
that the church is being persecuted and singled out or whether it's
something that the whole community is being asked to make these
sacrifices and for the sake of one another so that other people
don't get the virus. And so it is, there isn't a lot
of things like this and it is not my purpose tonight into looking
at what is right or what is wrong. But the principle, the directive
that is in our texts, let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind. We are in some ways a bit like
sheep. And if one person goes one way
that we esteem, if it's a church leader, if it is someone we highly
esteem in the denomination or amongst our churches, then we'll
just go that way. And sometimes it can be just
really a blind following. Many, many years ago when I used
to read sermons and the church that I was a member of and reading
these sermons I found that some of them would like one particular
minister more than another and would turn off and not be really
attentive to that read sermon. So I felt, well, I would not
give out who that minister was. I would just read the sermon
and then afterwards I would tell them. And very often I forgot
afterwards and didn't tell them. But I had a lot of feedback,
a lot of comments. And one of them was, to this
end, that if I did not tell them what minister it was, then how
did they know whether I was reading them error, whether I was setting
forth error? And the idea was that if it was
a minister they knew, that was well respected, They would just
take his word for it and believe it to be right. If it wasn't
someone that they knew, then they didn't know whether they
could trust what they were being told or not. So they weren't
used to personally discerning and trying words. They hadn't
got a Berean spirit that the Bereans, even when the Apostle
Paul was alleging and setting forth the truths of God from
the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, they took home what
he had said and searched the Scriptures daily whether these
things were so, and therefore many of them believed. We need
that spirit, we need that, especially now, instead of just blindly
following someone else, then we should be persuaded in our
own mind. There will be cases, of course,
where a church leader will be requiring certain things of their
congregation, and some of the congregation would feel, well,
it is not necessary, we shouldn't need to do this. But then it
would be the question for the harmony, for the peace of the
church, should it not be then that we walk together as brothers
and do that which is right. And this is why it is said before
us here, a real love of the brethren, as being at the root of what
we do and what we don't do, a tenderness so that we try not to wound a
brother's conscience and not be a lord over a brother and
say, well, this is what I believe is right, this is what the word
says, so we are going to do it this way. Such times like this can be great
stumbling blocks for the Lord's dear people. We've always been
used to differences amongst our churches. We hear Baptist by
conviction, believers baptism, we administer that, we use that
as what we believe is the entrance into the church by confession,
and then baptism on confession of faith, and then the administering
of the Lord's Supper and joining that church. And that is the
scripture pattern, that is what we believe here. But we are very
aware, and we have some very dear brethren in the Presbyterian
churches and in the Dutch churches, that have infant baptism, they
are not baptised on profession of their faith, and yet they
have a different church order, and they observe that as something
that they are fully persuaded of in their own mind and in their
own churches, a consistency And we embrace such as the Lord's
people and realise those differences exist in the Church of God. We have others that, unlike us
here, that believe that the women, according to 1 Corinthians 11,
should cover their head. then have a head covering. There are other churches, dear
brethren, and they do not believe that that is necessary. From
our part, we cannot see how they cannot see that teaching in the
Word of God. But for one reason or another,
they cannot see that. We don't disallow them as the
people of God because of that. But we hold fast to a consistency
in our own assemblies. And so in one way, there are
things like baptism, like the head covering, we could go on,
we could say the version of the scriptures that we use, we hold
fast to the authorised version as being the most accurate in
the English language here. And our Dutch friends will have
their version most accurate in theirs, in their language, and
in other nations as well. And yet there are those in England,
in the English-speaking world, that feel that they can rightly
use another version of the scriptures. We cannot agree with them. but
we don't disallow them as being the Lord's people. And what I
want to kind of convey is that though this coming of the virus
has brought in a new set of differences amongst the people of God, The
people of God have always known differences. They've always known
things of which they've differed and yet they have got on one
with another and they love each other in the Lord. And yes, in
some ways we can't have the fellowship in one church together because
of those differences. The one church should be in complete
harmony in what it does on that one church. When it comes then to things
that we are trying to grapple with here, there does obviously,
when it affects the gathering together of the people of God,
need to be a consistency and a oneness. but there needs to
be real tenderness. And my fear is that the adversary
will try and get in in this. The old devil will try and set
brethren against each other unnecessarily. And may we seek, instead of just
listening to another or listening to the debates, one thing against
another, to seek, by the Lord's grace and help, to be fully persuaded
in our own mind what is right for us to do and how to walk
through this time to the Lord's honour and glory. It would be
a very sad thing if through this time that some of the Lord's
dear children were stumbled or they became offended And they
decided, well, they did not want to walk with the Lord or with
his people anymore because of that. And if anything, this chapter
that we've read here in Romans emphasizes this difference. amongst the people of God. The
Apostle Paul is able to really clearly say what his position
is. He says in verse 14, I know and
am persuaded by the Lord Jesus. that there is nothing unclean
of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him
it is unclean." Now, he doesn't say, I know it by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, anyone else that feels
different, they can't know it by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they are out of the secret. The Lord has revealed it to me,
but not to them. He's not speaking in this way. He is clearly saying he has been
shown what actually the truth is, but he knows that there are
those that were not persuaded of this. And of course, the Old
Testament with the Jews, they had had generations. And, well,
you could go right back, we're told, with Noah. that the things
that were clean went in in sevens and things that were unclean
they went in twos. So even at the flood there was
the teaching of the clean and unclean and this was very much
so with the children of Israel in all of their sacrifices and
all that they could do and could not do. And so Yet we come into
the Gospel days and it is very clearly now that, as the Apostle
says here, there is nothing unclean of itself. And those types, those
shadows, are done away. And that distinction is not required
anymore. But our text says, let every
man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So I want to just look then this
evening at the subject from three different ways, and particularly want to cover the issue I've
mentioned, but I do want to extend it out further. And so firstly,
fully persuaded how we should act, and that in various situations. And then secondly, fully persuaded
of the truths of the gospel. And then thirdly, fully persuaded
of God's work in us or of our own calling. But firstly, fully
persuaded of how we should act. The apostle in this passage lays
great weight on having a clear conscience. And when we
think of the ordinance of baptism, from a believer's baptism position,
that those that walk in the Lord's commands, they have the answer
of a good conscience. The command was to go He entered
all the world and preached the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. And it is that loving command
of the Lord that those that he has brought by his grace to believe
that they should be baptized. And when they walk in that way,
and yet they may have resisted it for a while, But when they
walk in that way, then they have the answer of a good conscience. And so it is in the situation
here. In verse 22, at the end of that
verse, we read, happy is he that condemneth not himself in that
thing which he alloweth, that which We have in verse 23, for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We should be able to give
a reason, not only of the hope that is within us, but as to
why we are doing something or why we are not doing something. It shouldn't just be a blind
following of man. Now maybe there are some times
that we say, I am not fully persuaded in my own mind, I am not sure,
I've read, I've prayed over the scriptures, I've heard the various
things and I don't really know which is the way to go. And then no doubt there'll be
other factors that may guide you, the brethren that you're
actually with, seeking to live in harmony and love and union
with. If there's a question, should
you take advice from them or someone from another cause of
truth, then it's obvious it should be of those you're actually walking
through that you tend to lean in their way, especially if you
are unsure. But how we should act. One of
the most beautiful things when the Lord does work in a sinner's
heart is when there is that response, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? How should I act? Now there are
things in the scriptures that we are told very, very clearly. The very situations are clearly
set forth and we know what we should do and what we should
not do. There are some things that are
told in specific by name. There are other things that we
can know just by using the analogy of scripture or the principles
that are in scripture. But there are other things and
especially with the inventions that man invents and uses, no
doubt at one time they raised suspicions on really everything
that has come up. You think of the many inventions
of the printing press, Think of the tape recorders, the microphones. Now, when I was first called
by Grace over in Australia, I had been a member of Welsh Male Voice
Choir, and we used to meet in a Baptist church in the local
town. This was before I was called
by Grace. And they had the drum kit in
one corner and they had microphones and amplifiers and everything
like that. And I associated that sort of
thing with a very worldly atmosphere and worldly church and resisted
very much or wouldn't have brought it in in Melbourne Chapel at
all where I was brought up. When I first then visited this
land in the UK and I found that Just about every single chapel
in the land had a microphone on the pulpit, and no one worried
about it at all. In fact, they needed it, used
it for the loop system. It was quite an eye-opener to
me. And we can have these reactions
sometimes where we have seen a technology misused or used
in wrong ways, and we just so react against it. and then don't
want to go in that way maybe for a long while. And certainly
we do need to be very careful in those things. But as the generations
have gone on, There's been many things that the Lord's dear people
have had to wrestle with as to whether they were good or right.
Should they be following the latest things that the world
did? Was it right to use them? And
it's a wonderful thing to even have a tender spirit, even to
desire to know what is right, not to just think, well, I can
just go through this world and anything will be right. The Lord
will accept anything. As if the devil never lay a snare,
never lay a trap, there is never a worldly path, there's never
a broad way and a narrow way. But when we know our own heart
and we know the world and we're in the world, then it's a good
thing to have a tender spirit and test with the Word of God
those things that we are doing and the way that we're going. And so, let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. And Lord help us then in, and
I can't help but mentioning the context here is on a day, every
man esteemeth a day above, one man esteemeth one day above another,
we wouldn't include with that with
the creation ordinance of one day in seven, that man is being
given six days and the Lord is the seventh, whether that day
is The Saturday or the Sunday again, there's differences among
some of the Lord's people. And then how that day is actually
kept. Many of us, we do as much as
we can preparing on the Saturday before the Lord's Day, so it's
absolute minimum on the Lord's Day. Some will cook things on
the Lord's Day, some will not. Some will use a car, some will
not use a car. There's many differences in how
the Lord's people interpret that. And again, we are not to follow
man, but seek that the Lord would guide us through his word so
that we personally have a clear conscience before the Lord that
we are not going against him in what we are actually doing.
And again, to use the example in this passage where the apostle,
he clearly sets forth what actually is the truth, but he's saying,
there are dear brethren, that can't see this liberty of being
able to eat anything and they lean back to the old dispensation
and to be on the safe side, they don't eat those things that I
feel I can eat. And so in one sense, they are
erring on the side of caution. rather than going in his way,
but the way that he goes, he has a clear conscience in the
matter. And so, very much to do with
what we are grappling with in many, many different things today. And the Lord help us to use the
principles in the word of God, to compare scripture with scripture,
but may we always realize that where there is not an express
command, then there's going to be differences among brethren. One brother will see it in a
different way than the other. And we are not to think, well,
there's one spirit, there's one truth, there's one way. Why is
it that there is differences? Well, the Lord knows. The Word's here. And in one way
there's a test, a test of brotherly love, a test of whether we are
tender towards a brother or one that differs with us in these
secondary things. And there's also a test. Are
we a person that just has a borrowed religion We just follow the strongest
voice. We just do what we do because
we've been brought up to do that. But if you ask, why do you do
it? Why do you use the authorised
version? Why do you wear a head covering?
Why do you gather together on the first day of the week and
not the last day of the week? Why do you do those things? How
many could, from the scriptures, clearly show why? And so, maybe tonight, in thinking of this,
how we should act, be fully persuaded, just look at those things in
our lives. And even if we don't change what
we do, may we change in that we know why we do. what we do
because we search the scriptures and we know from them what the
Lord would have us to do. One to look then secondly at
fully persuaded of the truths of the gospel. The apostle Paul when he himself
had been persuaded of the truths of the gospel He sought to bring
this before others and to persuade them that Jesus of Nazareth was
the Christ, the true, the living God. And we read in Acts 17 that
Paul, as his manner was in verse two, went in unto them, into
the synagogue of the Jews, Three Sabbath days, they are meeting
on the Sabbath. So he is meeting on the Sabbath
where they are gathered at that time to convince them of the
gospel and convince them of Christ. But he's reasoned with them out
of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered and risen again from the dead. and that this
Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Three, three Sabbath
days his reasoning in this way. Some of them believed and consorted
with Paul and Silas. Some believed not, moved with
envy. And the apostle then was clearly
setting forth before them the truths of the gospel. We think of how the gospel according
to Luke begins, and his desire is to convey those things that
he was assured of. He says, for as much as many
have taken in hand, to set forth in order a declaration of those
things which are most surely believed among us, even as they
delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word." So Luke is saying that there are
others and they were eyewitnesses, they are ministers of the word.
and they had delivered those things unto us. It seemed good
to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from
the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou hast been instructed." So it almost implied he didn't
know them, But Luke wants him to know the certainty of them,
or as in the words of our text, to be fully persuaded in his
own mind. What a solemn thing to believe
that we have a soul, an eternal soul, that this life is the day
of grace, And that when we come to die, then it is too late.
We launch into eternity and we must then either be eternally
in heaven, eternally in hell, appear before the judgment seat
of Christ. What if we've made a mistake?
What if we believed a lie? What if we've gone along a wrong
path, man's path? What if those things that we've
been taught as the truth were not the truth? And from our point
of view, we look at those that are indoctrinated with Jehovah's
Witness, or with the Mormons, or with some other cults, some
teachings that we view as so contrary to the scriptures. What if we are walking in a way
that we're looking for salvation? We want to be saved, but we're
actually holding a whole lot of beliefs that are not scriptural
at all. They're not God's way of saving
sinners. They're not the way. What if
we were to want to take a bus from one town to another. We wanted to go from Cranbrook
to Tenderton. And we thought, well, that's
the bus stop. We were told that's the bus stop.
And we go and wait at that bus stop. And we wait and we wait.
And it never comes. And someone comes to us and so
on. No, that's not used. You need to go up around the
corner. It goes along the top road. That's not the bus stop
you need to be on. But it's too late. You've missed
the bus. And just in simple things, you
can understand to have the wrong knowledge, to imply that wrong
knowledge. I was brought up or trained as
a design engineer. And we used formula. We used knowledge to design machines. One of the things in our training,
when we were looking at the deflection of a beam, supported at both
ends and a weight in the middle, and we had to have confidence
so that we could do our calculations and know that the theory of a
certain size beam, if it had that weight on it, then it would
deflect that mount. we'd have to really be confident
those calculations, those formulas were correct. So we did it in
the formula, we did the calculation, and then we went into the laboratory
and we set it up. We put the supports at that distance,
we put the weight measured exactly in the centre, and then we put
a dial gauge on it, and we could see that Amazingly, it did work. The calculations were right.
We could predict exactly how much that would bend. And as
a design engineer, that was vital for me, to have real confidence
in doing these calculations, where if it had failed, it could
have meant loss of life. And so there are many things
in our lives. We think of the doctors and the
nurses, the physicians, They need to be really persuaded that
what they are doing is life-saving and what they are doing is the
right procedure, the right way. And if you and I are seeking
salvation, that is not just for time, that's eternity. That's
not just for our bodies, that is for our soul forever and forever. And if then we are saying that
we Want to be saved, we're looking personally to be saved and blessed
and forgiven and saved from our sins, but we're going after a
completely wrong set of doctrines, teaching, and way of salvation. Then looking for it that way,
we shall never, never find it. The apostle Paul, when he writes
in the 10th chapter of Romans, And he says, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. That is what he wanted them to
be saved. But he views them that they're
looking for salvation in a completely wrong way. He says, they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Zeal itself will
not save us. zeal in itself will not bring
us to be saved before God. It wasn't to them because they
were looking to be saved by their own righteousness. They were
looking for their own good works. They were looking that they would
master sin themselves, they would overcome the sin themselves,
and when they were overcome so that they could look and they
say, now my life is upright, it is clear, then I can be saved. The apostle said no. If you're
looking for salvation in that way, you never will find it.
You're just wasting years, passing by this time, looking for something
you never will find. Maybe there are those that are
listening tonight and that you say, that is me. I've all the
time been trying to make myself holy, to obey the law, to make
myself acceptable to God, and God then will accept me, and
then I'll be saved. And I say to you, you never ever
will be saved that way. The truth of the gospel is that
man is so completely fallen and so corrupt that even his good
works are stained and dyed with sin. We cannot bring anything
up before God worthy of any praise at all. Yes, we may be good to
our neighbours, And as we have in Job, our goodness extendeth
not to thee, but unto the saints that are in the earth. It doesn't
extend unto God because everything is stained and died with sin. And so we must be very clear
that if our souls are to be saved, it must be saved some other way. Truths of the gospel, and this
is where we need to be so persuaded. The hymn writer says, if ever
my poor soul be saved, tis Christ must be the way. And the Lord says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And that then rules out all of
our own good works, which are nothing but filthy rags, It rules
out everything from self, and we must come before the Lord
on mercy's ground, having nothing in our hand to bring before God,
and solely pleading the work of Christ, solely trusting on
the blood he shed at Calvary, that that blood put away our
sin, that he bore our sins in his body on the tree, and that
there is no other sacrifice for sin, there's no other way of
escape but the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, if ye believe
not that I am he, ye shall perish in your sin. And it is to be
fully persuaded of that. So we're not looking to horoscopes
or to idols, or to our own good works and saying well I've got
charity works and I've done this and I've done that, that we are
not looking to any other but Christ alone and for what he
has done upon Calvary's cross and what our desire is that what
he has done is done for us because we know that the Lord Jesus Christ
did not die for every man, woman and child. He laid down his life
for the sheep. He laid it down for his people. He put away his people's sin. He put it away because he loved
them, everlastingly loved them. And our desire will be then that
we have a scriptural knowledge and warrant that we know he put
away our sin. We'll come to that in the third
point. But the important thing is to believe first that if ever
our poor soul is saved, it must be Christ. And that if our sins
are put away, it's because they were put away by Christ at Calvary. that he died on the cross and
that is where they were put away. That is where the justice of
God said, let the wrath of God fall on Christ and not on those
who he is bearing their sins for. It is also a precious truth
that not only did Christ put away sin on the cross, but he
also, in his holy, pure and perfect life, worked out a righteousness,
a life that was to be imputed to a believer or given to a believer
as if they had lived that perfect life, as if they had obeyed God
as he obeyed God. And that is their standing for
eternity. That is how a believer shall
stand before God, faultless and without shame because they stand
as if they lived the perfect life that Christ lived. And that is God's work, to give
that righteousness to a believer. It is also God's work to make
a believer. And it is through the preaching
of the gospel, through the preaching of the word, that men are brought
to believe. Men, women, and children to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and faith to trust him alone for
their soul's salvation. But we need to be fully persuaded
in our own mind of the truths of the gospel, that if we are
waiting for his salvation, we're waiting in the right place, at
the footstool of mercy, We're coming to the right place in
the right, where the truth is set forth. There's many gatherings
together in many countries where people will gather and they'll
hear a preacher, but that preacher is not telling them the truth.
If a preacher was telling them, you must do good works, you must
earn your way to salvation, you must do this and do that, the
scriptures say, not of works lest any man should boast that
is all of mercy. By grace you're saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And so
we want that we should be waiting where that truth is. One of the
great blessings of having your own Bible, if we have our own
Bible and we have a faithful translation of that Bible, Then
we can do what the Bereans did. They can test the preacher. They
can try the words and make sure that what they are hearing is
the truth. And you might say, how do you
know? that the Bible is the authority and the truth. Well, that, you
might say, is quite a separate subject, but when we think that
it is a, the Bible is not just one book, it is a collection
of 66 books, and it records the history of mankind, the history
of Israel, and the amount of names that are in that book,
they're real, men and women, and those that wrote it, over
40 authors, claim to be inspired by God. They were inspired, and
that it is God's book. They claim that, and they claim
the truths in it are the way of salvation. Those things that
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through
patience, and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And
so what we read there in the beginning of Luke, he's speaking
of witnesses. What is written in the Word of
God is those that really witnessed and spoke of what they had witnessed
and seen. And when we come to the Apostle
Paul in Corinthians, Well, in Corinthians chapter 15, he is
saying that the things that he's writing there, even at that day
when he is writing them, there is still some 500 brethren or
so alive at that time that could have challenged what he'd written
if it was not right. And it's very important for us
to be fully persuaded that the Word of God is the highest authority. We don't need to go anywhere
else. If you could, if there was anything that you could go
to and say, well, that thing or that person was to warrant
that the Bible was right, you'd be saying that is the higher
authority. Archaeological excavations, yes,
they have found that the scripture again and again is correct, but
they're not a higher authority than the scriptures. The scriptures
is the highest authority, and that the actual things that are
found, they bear witness to that. But we should never be ashamed
of appealing to scripture to prove that the scripture is the
highest authority, because it is. And if you could apply it
to anything higher, then the scriptures would not be what
they claim that they are. And so, let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind that the word of God is true, the
way of salvation is Christ alone, and the good news of salvation
that is the way of escape from the wrath to come, that it is
to be proclaimed through all the world, and that he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. The message of salvation, it
is to go to every nation and kindred and tongue, and that
where any poor sinner feels their need, then the gospel is to be
proclaimed and set before them. as to satisfy that need. It is
for sinners, Jesus Christ. His name was called Jesus for
he shall save his people from their sins. And it takes as much
the work of God to convince a sinner that he is a sinner as to save
that sinner and to convince that sinner that his sins are forgiven. And so if there's one that truly
is burdened and troubled over their sin, already they know
the power and the work of God. We are dead in trespasses and
sins, and the first thing when God quickens or makes a soul
alive is to make them feel that they are a sinner. We want to look then in the third
place of being fully persuaded of God's work in us. And that
is what we need. We need God's work in us. Those for whom Christ has died
at Calvary, it is those that in their lifetime, he will quicken
into life He will use the preaching of the gospel, he'll use the
word to bring them to a knowledge of themselves, to awaken them
to a state of their need before God, and to show them the precious
truths of the gospel. This is the work of God, that
ye believe in him whom God has sent. And so we must be clear
of that. Our election, our choice, and
Christ dying for us is made known by our calling. It is made known
by the blessing that the Lord blesses, the preaching of the
gospel, to bring us to believe. We read of the Apostle Paul how
that there was some believed the words spoken and some believed
not when he was opening and alleging that Christ must need suffer. And we're told in another place
that as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. That is why they believed. And
if we are to be fully persuaded of God's work in us and of our
calling, we do also need to know the scripture description of
being called as well. There are some of the Lord's
dear people that again, by going off other people's testimonies
or what they think is the way of salvation, they say they want
a word from the Lord. or they want to hear the Lord
tell them that their sins are forgiven. And they're asking
for things that, yes, they might have heard others say they've
had. But for things that are not specified
in the scriptures, are not said, that this is what you will have
so that you know that you're a child of God. You think of
some of the ways the scripture describes it, then they that
gladly received the word were baptized. Beautiful description
of those that are called, they gladly received the word of God,
embraced it, as that only hope and is a blessed token for good
in that way. The Lord said of his people,
I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them. Just
because they had the word of God. What a contrast you have
on the other side, where there's a people that are embracing and
loving the word of God, receiving it. You think of the passage
we read and there's the very verse we began in 1 John. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. Our subject this
evening is seeking to maintain that love and union amongst brethren. If we love them, we won't want
to wrongly wound them. We want to do that which is right
and is kind. And we love them for Christ's
sake. We love them because we see God's
mark in them. We see that same tenderness,
the fear of God, the conviction of sin, the love to the Lord
Jesus Christ is that which draws the people of God together. One
day they shall be forever with the Lord, together with the Lord.
And here below then they are gathered together and wrought
to walk in love and union, often like the beginning there in the
book of Ruth. Ruth, the male by death, she
said later to Boaz, though I be not like one of thine handmaidens,
but it began with a love to Naomi, and not just a love as a mother-in-law,
but loving her and her God and her people and wanting to be
with her. And she not like Orpah went back
to her people and her God, she claimed unto Naomi. And so may we be fully persuaded
that we are the people of God. The Lord does give his children
assurance. My sheep, there's another token,
my sheep, the Lord says in John 10, they hear my voice and they
follow me. Better thing to have our ear
opened to hear the word of the Lord. In all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself, as our heart ever reacted like
those two in the way to Emmaus, that our heart burned within
us while he talked with us by the way. And what was he preaching?
Christ. And the heart was joined to that.
and a poor sinner to hear the gospel tidings. Tis He instead
of me is seen when I approach to God. Tis Christ who has borne
my sin. Tis Christ who has ascended into
heaven. He appears at the right hand
of God in the presence of God for me. Tis He that has passed
by me and bid me live and quickened my soul and taught me and instructed
me. You have in Philippians, he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. So may we be persuaded in these
three points, fully persuaded in that which we do, that we
are persuaded that we are doing it in a clear conscience before
God, that we might be fully persuaded of the truths of the gospel,
the faith that we rest on, and fully persuaded of our own personal
interest in it by being taught by God ourselves and brought
to love the gospel and to love the Lord Jesus Christ and his
people. And the Lord give us the full
Persuasion in these things, let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. Amen.