Well, as you're turning to 1
Corinthians 16, it's wonderful to be here again. It's wonderful
to see familiar faces. It's wonderful to be gathered
together to hear the gospel. I was talking to Brother Don
just a little while ago about that remarkable promise of God
in Isaiah 52 verse 8, thy watchman shall lift
up the voice with the voice together they shall sing for they shall
see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Brother Don spoke to us last
night and our message again and again isn't it is in the previous
verse, thy God reigneth. And it's remarkable to think,
isn't it, that with all the time differences, my friend and brother
Simon Bell has just finished preaching our Sunday morning
message to our congregation. And while I'm standing here,
they're enjoying coffee and fellowship together after the message. And
I was telling Don that it But there's not a hair's breadth
difference between the message that Brother Don preached about
the glories of the triune God in that extraordinary eternal
covenant that covers all things in time and all things to do
with all people and all for the glory of God and the good of
his chosen people. and Brother Simon was proclaiming
the same message in Australia. It's a long way away, 20 hours
flying at 500 miles an hour. How does this come to be? It
comes to be that the message preached there and the message
preached here and the message delighted in there and the message
delighted in here is a message that God superintends, a message
that God brings. They see eye to eye because God
promises to teach them and he teaches them well, I believe. Brothers and sisters, I just
have a simple and delightful exercise this morning. I just
want us to look in these closing verses of 1 Corinthians 16 and
so often we skip over these closing verses but my aim is a simple
one I want to encourage you in devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ
I want to encourage you in thankfulness for God sending you a pastor
for God giving you a church the house of God he calls it, the
house of God, the place where he dwells, the place where he
reveals himself, the place where he cares for his family. These
places are precious and special. I want to encourage you to be
thankful to your pastor. I want you to encourage you to
be thankful to each other. And as I said earlier, I want
for us to see that this gathering and the gatherings like it throughout
this world at this time are evidences, wonderful evidences, of the fulfilling
and the fulfillment of those great eternal promises that our
God made in eternity, made in eternity, and they must, they
must be fulfilled in time. I love what Brother Scott said
to Don some little time ago, we just haven't got over the
thrill of having a church. It's exactly the sentiment we
have in Australia. We have to pinch ourselves. How
did this come to be? What a great and sovereign God
we have in sending his messages and sending that gospel, that
gospel that we proclaim together. The gospel that's proclaimed
here for the encouragement of us in Australia, and I trust
there's mutual encouragement. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. We so often skip over the last
pieces of these letters, but there are some wonderful, wonderful
things for us to feast on here. Verse 13, watch ye stand fast
in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things
be done with charity. I beseech you, brethren, you
know the house of Stephanus, that is, the firstfruits of Achaia,
that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,
that you submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth
with us and laboureth. I am glad for the coming of Stephanus
and Fortunatus and Achaicus, for that which was lacking on
your part they have supplied. For they have refreshed my spirit
and yours. Therefore acknowledge ye them
that are such. The churches of Asia salute you.
Aquila and Priscilla salute you. Much in the Lord with the church
that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet
ye one another with a holy kiss. The salutation of me Paul with
mine own hand. If any man Love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha, the Lord is coming. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. My love be with you all in Christ
Jesus. Amen. Brother Don spoke about that
eternal covenant ordered and secure in every detail that has
brought us together, brought His churches together around
the gospel, caused us to look away from ourselves and feast
our eyes upon our triune God, to see God Almighty in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a God of purpose. And he's a God of zeal. In Isaiah 9, it says, the increase
of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the
throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish
it with judgment and justice from henceforth even And then he says, the zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this. I wanted to title my message,
A Blessed Addiction. I was captivated by that description
of the household of Stephanus in verse 15. The first fruits of Achaia, and
that have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. First fruits. When I was a young
fellow, I had all sorts of problems. I lived in a house of carnivores
on a dairy farm with chickens and all sorts of other things,
and I couldn't eat any of it. hated dairy products, couldn't
eat meat, despised eggs. But my dad came from a fruit
growing area, and we had a big orchard, a big, big orchard.
And I was devoted to that orchard. And I was down there all the
time, and I especially loved the springtime and the apricots
and the plums, the nectarines. And I'd be there testing them
all the time, and I'd be watching them I'll be watching when the
first fruits come where the sun shines brightest and they hang
there and I'll watch them. And I was the one. I watched
them all and I was devoted to them. I loved them. And when
the first fruits came, I was there to take them. The first
fruits, of course, are just a sign that all of those others that
are there are ripening fast and they'll be ready for me soon.
Paul was sent by the Holy Spirit across to what is now Greece. And he went first across towards
Philippi, Macedonia, and then he came down that peninsula and
he comes to Achaia, that region where Corinth and Athens are. And he came with a promise from
God. He came as a man on a mission,
a man who was devoted, a man addicted to the gospel, addicted
to the ministry of the saints. And wherever there is that addiction,
wherever there is that devotion and that consecration, it breeds
others like itself. It's a precious thing to have
a man, a shepherd watching over you who is consecrated and devoted
and addicted, addicted to the ministry of the saints. They have addicted themselves. Let's turn back and very briefly
look at Paul's activities He was a man of zeal. In chapter
18, we read of him departing Athens and coming to Corinth. And down in verse 6 of chapter
18, in verse 4, I beg your pardon, he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and Greeks. And when Silas
and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in
the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your
blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. Rejected by the Jews, look where
he goes, this man of zeal. And he departed hence and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshipped
God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. kicked out
of the synagogue, he dusted his clothes off, where does he go?
Next door. What a man of zeal, what a man
of zeal, what a man who must have rejoiced
in that region when this gospel took root, and God's chosen elect
child, Stephanus, and his family were the fruit of that ministry
of promise. But remember in Acts 18, there
is a remarkable verse, isn't it? Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city. God had those people. When did he have those people?
They were His in eternity. They were His as the Father's
precious gift, as a bride to His Son. They were the devoted
ones. God loved them with an everlasting
love. He loved them eternally. He loved them perfectly. They were God's sheep. God's sheep come and are revealed
by the proclamation of the gospel. And God's flock, God's sheep,
do two things I'd like you to take away from here today. Sheep
flock together and sheep follow. Australia has a huge population
of sheep. It used to be in excess of 100
million. and all of my experiences with sheep have been bad, but
several of my friends have large sheep properties out in Western
New South Wales where we live. And when you go out there and
spend time with them, what they do for most of their day is they
travel around the various paddocks they have and they check the
sheep. You know what they're looking
for. They're always looking. Where
they see a flock gathered together, flocked together, they don't
even have to go and check on them much. When they see a sheep
that is way away from the flock, they immediately go there. It
may be having problem lambing, it may be injured, it may have
been attacked, it may have been struck by flies that we have
badly in Australia. It's a great lesson, isn't it?
God created sheep so that we would know, we would know that
sheep flock and sheep follow and sheep that flock and sheep
that follow are sheep that are secure and sheep that are at
peace. They flock together because they
are, as these verses say, they are
devoted to one another. Stephanus was devoted. He was consecrated. He was appointed. He was stationed. It's a lovely
word our King James translators have used. to bring those words
together. I think it's an instructive word,
to be addicted, to be addicted. Some of you may know something
of addiction. Sadly, I've experienced it and
its impact from the inside. An addiction is something that
controls us. It controls, especially controls
the desires of the flesh. An addicted person is an obsessive
person. An addictive person is a compulsive
person. They are compelled. And that
compulsion would be as is often the case, is carried on even
to the destruction of the flesh. And nothing comes between the
addict and his drugs. In his thoughts, in his plans,
it's captivating. Captivates people from the moment
they wake up. They plan their day around getting
to their drug. In its desires, it's insatiable. And it overcomes all obstacles
to have that desire satisfied. And remarkably, every satisfying
moment brings with it a deep hunger and a burning thirst for
more. The addict cries out, more, more. To be an addict is to be one
who's imprisoned The drug owns you, it controls you, and it
demands, satisfy me. Does the gospel do any of those
things to you? Does seeing the Lord Jesus and
seeing your sins taken away and remembered no more? Is it a captivating thing? It is in the life of Stephanas. Captivated by the Lord Jesus. How do we describe salvation? I think in some sense the best
description I can think of is there you are on death row and
you hear the guillotine going and you hear the screams of the
worthy, the worthy people being executed. And there you are in
your cell and you see them walking by and you hear and you are aware
of the justice that causes that blade to fall. You are aware
that justice will not even take notice of their final pleas. And there you are, fully deserving,
fully deserving with perfect justice, the infinite wrath of
God. And someone comes along. God
himself, as Don showed us last night, God himself comes along
and for his own he bears that wrath. Remarkable substitution. Glorious redeemer. Wonderful
freedom. Wonderful liberty. And he does
it. He does it with holy justice,
perfect righteousness. And what's more than that, not
only are you released from that prison, you are robed in the
very righteousness of God. As holy as God is holy, as fit
for heaven, God himself we have boldness says John in 1st John
chapter 4 we have confidence on the day of judgment we are
all of God's people we are as righteous as holy as spotless
and blameless as our Lord Jesus Christ. We are one. We are one with Him. Addiction, consecration, devotion
is just a perfect and fit response to one who has done so much. And this addiction, this consecration,
is actually also a term that is a military type term. It's
not a disorganized thing. It can refer, as in Luke 7, to
a man set under authority. It's an ordered and arranged
consecration. It's not a haphazard thing. This
is the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, the
church of the living God. This addiction, this addiction
is not a selfish addiction. If you look in that same verse,
verse 15, what is their addiction to? Their addiction is to the
ministry of the saints. It's an addiction to caring for
others of God's people, to bring them the gospel, to remind them
again and again, to bring to remembrance who they are and
whose they are. and such. Such is that consecration. Such is that service that the
very next verse is something that the flocking and the following
sheep do with delight. That you submit yourselves unto
such. We are as sheep. We are dependent. Submission is a mark of dependency
and it's a mark of interdependency. We are not lone rangers. We are a company. We are a flock. And we are a flock that delights
to be under a shepherd. Under a shepherd whose shepherd
is the great shepherd. Isn't it remarkable in verse
13, they are instructed to watch. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Do not depart from the grace
of the faith. Do not depart from the gospel
for one inch, quit you like men, show courage, be strong. Strong men, strong Christian
men, submit yourselves. Isn't that remarkable? We think
of strength, being independent, God sees strength as being devoted,
standing fast, showing courage like men, and being in submission. Sheep, I remind you, they flock,
and they follow. If they don't flock and they
don't follow, they're unhealthy. Let's just look at some of the
things that these men who submit do. You submit yourselves unto
such, verse 16, and to everyone that helpeth with us. We labour together. We work together. It's to be
a partner in the labour. Paul describes the ministry of
the apostles. We then as workers together with
him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. Workers together. Your pastor,
brothers and sisters, is a worker together with God. Isn't that remarkable? To think
that the God of this universe, the triune, glorious God revealed
in the Lord Jesus, works together with your pastor ministering to the saints ministering
God's grace to the saints with the gifts that God's given him the church is a helping church
the church is a labouring together church. The church in verse 17
is a nourishing and sustaining church. Look what they've done.
I'm glad of the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus for
that which was lacking on your part they have supplied. Paul is in Ephesus This congregation
in Corinth has done what you people did a few years ago. You sent your pastor to us. You sent your shepherd to come
to us and to nourish us, to supply what was lacking. Paul was a man of passionate
love for the people that God had placed in his care. What
was lacking? What was lacking? The presence
of those he loved with him. To know how they're doing in
the Lord. To hear news. of the grace of
God active in their lives. They have supplied what was lacking. The church is a gathered church,
it's a helping church, it's a nourishing church. And verse 16, these beautiful words, for they
have refreshed my spirit and yours. What refreshes your spirits,
brothers and sisters? Were your spirits refreshed last
night? We come together to be refreshed. It's a wonderful word, isn't
it? Here is an apostle in need like all of God's children. We're
in need of refreshment. And that refreshment comes from
fellowship. They've refreshed my spirit. It means to rest up, to make,
to cease. It's the very same words that
is used in that famous passage in Matthew chapter 11 that you
all know so well. but it's lovely to hear again.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. Rest. Blessed gospel rest. There is nothing like that rest,
that peace. I love the description in Ezekiel
34. Just turn there very briefly
with me. Ezekiel 34. It's a great description. of the ongoing work of our covenant
surety. Ezekiel 34, we'll just read from
verse 11 on. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, even I, I, even I, will both search out my sheep and
seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day, that he is among his sheep that are scattered. So I will seek out my sheep and
will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
in the cloudy and dark day. What a cloudy and dark world
we live in because of the sin of our father Adam. How did God
describe the Gentiles? Aliens from the covenant of God. What else does he say? Without
God, without hope in the world. What darkness, what darkness
there is around. what darkness there is in the
hearts of unregenerate people. Verse 13, and I will bring them
out from the people and gather them from the countries and will
bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains
of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the
country. I will feed them in a good pasture. And upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be. There they shall lie in a good
fold. And in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock. And I will cause them to lie
down. What a blessed picture of a great
and glorious shepherd in his work of gathering his people
together. Rest, a place of peace, a place
of security, a place settled. You are settled. Turn again in
your scriptures. Just one book back or two books
back to Jeremiah. The feeding, of course, is the
feeding with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Feeding with
that declaration of salvation finished, accomplished. that
declaration of eternal and everlasting security for the children of
God. Feed them with the truth about
who God is. Feed them with the truth about
who they are. Jeremiah, I won't read the rest
of this chapter, but you can read it with a sense of wonder
and horror and thankfulness to God for bringing the gospel and
making it effective in your lives. But thus says the Lord, stand
ye in the ways, there are many ways, and see and ask for the
old paths. Where is the good way? and walk
therein, and ye shall find rest, rest, rest for your souls. We have that message, that gospel,
which is an old gospel. It's an old gospel. It's a gospel
sealed in eternity. Our gospel is so old that time
can't measure it, only God can. It's so sure a foundation, so
sure and settled, that it determines It determines, this everlasting
covenant determines all the times and events in all of creation. It's so secure, a place of rest. It's as sure as the very character
of God that our gospel reveals, a sovereign promise-making, promise-keeping
God. I'm sorry about all the turning,
but if you turn to Isaiah, we'll just have one more passage, and
then I'll just have a little bit to say, and then we're finished. A place of rest is an old path. 28 verse 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. This is a place
to rest, brothers and sisters. A foundation, a stone. a tried
stone, tested, tested through all of time and perfectly tested
and perfectly sound, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. he that believeth shall not make
haste." We preach with delight an old gospel laid on a sure
foundation tested by Satan and all the wickedness and evil of
men and it stands as sure as firm, as precious as it ever
did in old eternity. Our gospel is a foundation that
reaches back to the time before there was time. It reaches forward
to that time when time will be no more. That everlasting place
of bliss where the great shepherd We'll gather that flock together
and there will be real rest. What a remarkable foundation.
Eternity as far past as you can wish to go. Eternity as far future
as you can wish to go. Isn't it remarkable that modern
religion reduces that glorious foundation to the the most narrow
letter in the English language, the perpendicular pronoun, that
dangerous pronoun, I. Isn't that remarkable? What a shocking and dreadful
exchange. No wonder, God says, to you as
a group of people. Stand fast. Stand fast. Be courageous. Be as men. And the remarkable thing is that
if you look in the next verse, in the last part of that verse,
for they have, verse 16, verse 18, they have refreshed my spirit
and yours. The things that refresh the apostle
are things that refresh the saints. Therefore, acknowledge ye them that are such. Quite simply, brothers and sisters,
we have so much to be thankful for. What a remarkable thing. that in all of this world and
all of these continents, these billions of people, God has chosen
to send his messenger to gather his people together in a place
like this. In some sense, all of God's children
are first fruits in a way, aren't we? We are appointed by God for
this time and this place and these circumstances and no one
else in all of creation is so ordained and so blessed with
such a wonderful charge. Our great God, in our great,
great covenant-keeping God. You see, it's mutual, isn't it?
Fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ brings fellowship with
His people, brings thankfulness to the shepherds that He brings. And before I finish, there is
one thing that we so easily can overlook. In verse 15, he says,
you know the house of Stephanus. God has brought you a faithful
pastor. For the rest of his days, in
one way or another, his family is going to have a father who
has an addiction, Miss Emma, and a devotion. My prayer is
that in the times you miss him, in the times that he's taken
away, you and your mum and Will will be caused by God to be thankful
for the dad God has given you and for the great and amazing
responsibility that is entrusted into his hands. Honour him. Honour him, brothers and sisters.
Honour his family. Most of the struggles, speaking
as a pastor, most of the struggles that we have in our lives will
be hidden from all of you. But he, like Paul, like Don and
others, are people who need refreshing. How do sheep refresh the saints? They flock and they follow. Just from personal experience,
I cannot speak on behalf of anyone else here, 90-something percent
of my energies as a pastor back in Australia are spent on sheep
that are wandering. The sheep that flock and follow
and are gathered together are nurtured and nourished as God
has promised. the word of God that he burdens
our hearts with. We find in things that we read,
in prayers that we pray, in words that are said, the number of
times that people have come to me and said that the very thing
that has been troubling them that week is the very thing that
came out of the message or the Bible reading or something. Why is that? Because God has
promised to be here. This is the one place on all
of this planet where God the Father has promised to get glory
for his Son. It's the one place on all of
this planet in all of the time of your life where God promises
to be. It's his house. He reveals himself
here. He gathers his family together
in his arms and he gently leads them and he cares for them. I just want to encourage you
to be thankful, encourage you to be thankful for your pastor,
to be thankful for each other. You are necessary for him to
preach the gospel. It's mutual, isn't it? As we
finish, you've been working through Ephesians, and I just want to
read some verses about the glory of the church. in Ephesians chapter 1. Paul prays, doesn't he, in verse
17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and
the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us would who believe according to the working
of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the
heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all
things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things
to the church this is the description of the church which is his body
the fullness of him that filleth all in all chapter 3 verse 21 unto him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages what
is the church to him chapter 5 verse 21 I'm sorry I have the wrong verse
it's a glorious church you might have helped me find that it's
a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing
holy church and a blameless church Paul finishes this remarkable
letter by saying, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you. My love be with you all in Christ
Jesus. Amen.