We continue in that study this
morning. It's a study that's titled Simon
Peter, an Apostle of Christ. And we're in our fifth study.
In our previous studies of the Lord's Apostle Simon Peter, we
have been looking at the teachings, the doctrine that Peter was learning. He was learning of who this One
called Jesus is. He was learning that Jesus had
the power to fulfill what He said He would do. And to prove
that, he was healing people all around him. People that were
blind, people that had leprosy, people that couldn't walk. Bringing
people back to life after death, raising the dead. Our Lord did
so many, so many miracles that you couldn't, all the books that
we have, even in today's world could not hold them all. We have
been looking at the teachings, the doctrines of who this one
Jesus is, what He came to do. He came to save sinners. Peter
realized, Peter was given the realization, it was revealed
to Peter that he was a sinner. When Peter saw What the Lord
had done with the fish is filling up the boats with it. What did
Peter do? He went to his knees in front of the Lord and he said,
depart from me. Not because he didn't want God
with him as the Pharisees said, or as the men who lost all their
swine. They wanted our Lord Jesus to
depart because he was taken away from their pocketbook. But Peter's
words were this, depart from me for I am a sinner. Peter's
words were showing his reverence for God as being a sinner before
a holy God. He knew that he was unworthy
to be in the presence of this man called Jesus. So our Lord
was teaching in that. And then our Lord went on to
teach other things in part four and so on. He was teaching Peter what he
had came to do and where he would be after he accomplished his
task here on earth. He went about showing his power
openly, yet many would not see him for who he was. No, in fact,
many are blinded by self-righteousness, and most of all, by their own
pride. Peter was learning the things
of God because God the Father was revealing these things to
his heart by the works of the Holy Spirit. Many saw those very
same miracles. Many saw everything that was
going on, but our Lord said at one point in the book of John,
didn't He? He says, you don't hear Me because you're not My
sheep. Isn't that what He said? Peter heard. Just as you and
I hear God's Word. When we look into God's Word,
we see the truths in these very things, don't we? This is Christ,
God the Father, revealing his truths to our hearts. That's
the same thing he's doing with Peter. That's the same thing
he does with all of his people. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this, but my Father who art in heaven, our Lord said. All whom
the Father giveth him shall be taught of him and by him. I'd
like you to turn to Matthew chapter 9 again, please. And let's look
in on what our great God is teaching next. Matthew chapter 9. Let's begin at verse 35. And
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing
every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he
saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because
they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then said he unto his disciples,
here we go. Here's our Lord teaching to his
disciples. And Peter's right there along
with them. The harvest is truly plentious, but the laborers are
few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord
of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest. In our Friday night Bible study
of those of you who can attend on a regular basis, you'll know
that we have our prayer session. And in our prayer session, do
we not close with that prayer session? Mentioning that we wanna
continue to pray for all of God's preachers. Pray that the Lord
will continue to raise up ministers. Pastor Gene started saying this
about 10 or 15 years ago. I'm just not sure how long I'm
gonna be around. Pray that the Lord will raise
up ministers among us. I continue to pray that very
same prayer. I don't know how long the Lord
will have me here. We don't know how long the Lord will have Brother
Don Fortner going around. We know that Henry Mahan doesn't
have a lot of time left. He was, for those of you who
aren't aware, he fell and broke his hip last week, right after
Gene and Judy saw him. They had a really good visit
with him last Sunday after services. Brother David Edmondson called Pastor
Gene on Wednesday and mentioned that Henry Mahan had fallen and
they don't expect him to come back from this fall. It was a
pretty bad break and he's not gonna be able to heal from this.
So back to what I'm saying. We wanna continue to pray that
the Lord will raise up ministers. Whether it be here in rescue,
or in Sacramento, or in Marysville, or wherever. Wherever the Lord
will need somebody to preach His gospel, they will be brought
up. We can count on that. Let us continue to pray for the
men that are sent of God, and for now is the time of harvest.
Today is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Let's continue in chapter 10,
verse 1, shall we? And when he had called unto him
his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits
to cast them out and to heal all manner of sicknesses and
all manner of disease. Now the names of the 12 apostles
are these, the first is Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew,
his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother,
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the Publican, James
the son of Alphaeus and Leviticus, whose surname
was Thidus, Simon the Canaanite, Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed
him. These 12 Jesus sent forth and
he commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles
and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not. but go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go preaching,
saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out the devils, freely ye have
received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver,
nor brass in your purses, nor a script for your journey, neither
two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves, for the workman is
worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town
that ye shall enter, inquire who is it worthy, and there abide
till ye go thence. And when ye come into a house,
salute it. And if the house should be worthy, let your peace come
upon it. But if thou be not worthy, let
your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive
you nor hear your words when ye depart out of that house and
of the days, two pages, sorry, out of that
house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say
unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than it would be for that city. Don Fortner
wrote this, he says in Matthew 10, Matthew 10 is a chapter of
holy scripture that ought always to be read with a peculiar solemnity. In these 42 verses, we have the
first ordination sermon ever preached. Those being ordained
and set apart for the work of the gospel ministry are the 12
apostles. The ordination preacher is the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God. The solemn charge
here is given by Christ to the first gospel preachers of the
New Testament era. He says the charge he gives them
is to all who are sent of God to preach what? Preach the gospel. Preach the good news. Tell people
that Christ came to save sinners. These men were called by Christ
first. First they were called to follow
Him. Then they were called to be His messengers. And the call
of every disciple of Christ is exactly the same. The Holy Spirit
teaches us that our election is in Christ and our redemption
by Him is made manifest by His call. He saved us and called
us, as we read in 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, where it says, who have saved
us, speaking of Christ, and called us, speaking of Christ, with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. You see, all who are justified
by Christ's blood are called. Every single one of God's chosen
sinners are called out of darkness. When the Lord comes into the
hearts of one of His people, He shines His light and calls
us out of that darkness. And all who are sanctified by
God the Father and preserved in Christ are called of God by
the Holy Spirit. Gospel preachers are called and
sent forth by Christ, the Lord of harvest. Being called and
sent forth by him the fruit of their labors is sure. God's word
proclaimed by them is triumphant over unclean spirits. And in
the name of Christ, by the power of the gospel preached, diseases
and sicknesses of immortal souls are healed. When the Lord sends
one of his preachers to preach that wonderful gospel, that wonderful
news, he opens the deaf ears through the preaching of his
word. He unstops the closed mouth. He gives a
new heart to the soul. Notice that one of the chosen
apostles was a devil. Did you notice that? The scriptures
do not hide. They're very clear about it,
aren't they? It's not some little secret off over here that one
of God's preachers was a devil himself. They do not hide the fact that
Judas was among the original 12. What can we learn from this? We must never forget it. This
fact is prominently displayed by the word of God to teach us
never, ever pin our faith on the sleeve of a man. I want you to think about that.
I want that to resonate in you. I've seen people who have sat in this
very church, in these very pews, and they've set a man up on a
pedestal. Don't take me wrong, I love Pastor
Gene with all my heart. I can't wait to embrace him again,
but he's just a man. Sometimes we forget that. And
we do the same thing to our parents, don't we? How many of you have
placed your mother on a pedestal way up here? Catholics, how many Catholics
today in today's world have placed the mother of Christ on a pedestal
so high that they bow down to it? It's our nature. We're talking about just men
and women, saved by grace just as we are. Lord, help us not
to do that. Help us to remember that Judas
Iscariot was just right along with the twelve apostles. Never
take the man's word for it that stands before you. Look into
scripture like Brother Roger has his Bible open right here,
checking scripture. Is this what John's talking about?
Is this what Pastor Gene's talking about? Is this what Don Fortner
is talking about? Absolutely. Let the Spirit speak
to you through His Word, even though a man may be speaking
in guidance before you. This fact must be prominently
displayed in the Word of God to teach us that never to pin
our faith on the sleeve of a man, for not all preachers are believers. Even those who preach the truth
are not all genuine Christians. Yet the fact that one preacher
is a devil is no indication that all are. Faithful gospel preachers are
to be followed and obeyed, yes. Yet we must follow them only
as they follow Christ. May I remind you of a man who
preached Christ for several years, so much so So much so, preaching
the truth of the gospel that even Don Fortner thought he was
a man of God and sent him to San Diego to be their pastor. And he preached before those
people for many years, or not many years, but at least a couple
years, I believe, almost a year, before he started preaching about
something called flat earth, a ridiculous concept. And I'm
not trying to hold him out there and point my finger at him. I'm
trying to make a point of why we need to be very careful about
who it is. You don't know what I'm going to turn to. God could
turn my heart just like He did that man. You need to watch what
I'm saying all the time to be sure that it's true in Scripture. We can't trust the flesh, even
the flesh of others. Especially our own flesh, but
even the flesh of others. We must follow them only as they
follow Christ. These 12 men are called and commissioned
by Christ to do the very great work. And when he had called
unto his 12 disciples, as we read in Matthew 10, 1, and he
gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and
to heal all manner of sicknesses and all manner of disease, he
sent them forth saying, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, cast out devils. Why? Freely ye have received,
freely give. My best message to anyone that
God could stand and bring into this building is this. My Lord
saved me. My sovereign God dropped me. and saved me by His power, by
His will, by His might, by Him. That's the message following
Christ. The purpose of the gospel ministry
in healing the men's souls and the design of the gospel is to
conquer the world, to conquer flesh, to conquer the devil.
Christ gave these men power to cast out demons out of the men's
bodies, to show that Christ has come to destroy the power of
Satan and his works. He gave them power to heal all
manner of sickness and disease, to show that none are beyond
the reach of God's omnipotent grace, because the blood of Christ
effectually cleanses His chosen children from all their sin. The miracles that were performed
by Moses, who represented the law, were for destruction and
judgment. But these miracles, these miracles
that the apostles were all wrought for comfort, they were brought
for edification. They were brought to give life. Moses brought judgment. Thou
shalt not kill or thou shalt surely die. Thou shalt not do
this, or thou shalt surely die." Notice the change in the message.
Peter was a grown man, a Jew. Surely he had been to the synagogue
and heard. Surely he followed the ways of
the Jews of Israel. And here, Peter is learning mercy
and grace and the healing of the sick. The miracles of love. The miracles of mercy. These miracles were an affirmation
of Christ as the Messiah and these men His messengers. Now
that we have the full revelation of God in Holy Scripture, God's
servants need no miraculous signs to confirm their message. We
do have a miraculous sign. It's right here in God's Word. All these men who stand before
people and say, ah, come on up here, let me put my hands on
you. I can heal you. I can heal you. We all know that's
a bunch of, well, you know. Right? The miracles are performed by our Lord. Preaching
His gospel. Sharing with our loved ones. This is the miracle. I saw that
miracle. I've seen it one time. When the
Lord saved my wife. It brings a tear to my eye because
what grace and what mercy happened that very day when the Lord broke
through that heart. That heart that she had that
said, I will not have Jesus rule over me. And she turned from
that heart because the new heart said, I believe. What a miracle, huh? Miracles
still happen, signs still happen, but it happens in God's Word,
not through men. The miracles of that day were
an affirmation of Christ the Messiah and these men His messengers.
With the full revelation of God through the Holy Scriptures,
God's servants need no miraculous science to confirm their message.
Faithful men do not come with a new word, a new revelation,
one that's a new story from God, but simply declare the revelation
of God in Holy Scriptures and Holy Scriptures alone. That which is perfect has come.
We have a more sure word of prophecy. Those who pretend to work miracles
and speak in tongues and have a word of prophecy or revelation
from God, what they are saying is that Christ is not enough.
They're saying that the very Christ in these scriptures is
not enough for you. Here, let me show you something more. They're saying that the Bible
is not enough. They're saying that salvation is not enough.
That gospel is not enough. Scriptures tell us that the gospel
is the power of God. He gave them that power to do
the work that He sent them to do. The Lord Jesus Christ never
called anyone to do anything without giving them the power
to do it. I can attest from that on a personal
basis. I really had no thought that
this is where I would be doing. Not only did the Lord know what
I would be doing, He has given me everything since then to do
it. Truly, truly, He has. Many a times, I've come before
you not knowing what to say, not knowing what to look at.
And the Lord will give me exactly what He wants you to hear, sometimes
without me even knowing it. So next, let us consider what
this message was. What was their message? The message
of these apostles. The message that these apostles
were sent out to give. The things that Christ was teaching
them. God's messengers, like these
twelve apostles, are sent of God into this world to preach
the gospel of His sovereign, saving grace in His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the seventh verse, we read,
And as you go, Preach, saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
This was the Apostles' Commission. They were to preach the Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand, the near approach of Christ's Kingdom,
His work, and His salvation. God's messengers all have one
message to declare, that we have been sent of God to preach and
to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's exactly what our Lord
was teaching the apostles there that moment. He kept telling
them, I will go to Jerusalem, and I will die. And I will be
beaten. And I will be scourged. How many
times did the apostles turn to him and say, nay, Lord, we won't
let that happen. Peter did that once, and look,
our Lord is not, is he not teaching Peter? That's what we're looking
at here, right? He turned to Peter and says,
get thee behind me, devil. He called Peter himself a devil.
Because Peter was trying to rebuke God Almighty. Oh, we try to do that all the
time, don't we? No, Lord, I want to do it this
way. The Lord shows us, no, that's not the way I want you to do
it. Let every man sent of God preach
the Gospel of Christ and be ever mindful that he is to be turned
aside to no other message. It doesn't matter what Satan
gets you off on. If he gets you off Christ, he
has won the day. You see, our message is not prophecy,
it's not morality, it's not politics, it's not home, it's not any other
matter. Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And then in verse 11, we read,
and into whoever city or town that you shall enter, inquire
who it is that's worthy. And there abide till you go thence.
You see, the word worthy here obviously refers to a hospitable
people, those who are willing to receive God's messengers.
God's servants are not to be difficult. They're not to be
demanding, but content with such things as gracious people are
able and willing to provide for them. Charles Spurgeon wrote
this, he said, there abide. He wrote, keep to those good
people with whom your mission begins. It may be that richer
people will turn up, but never forget that the worthy men and
women who first entertained you. Never forget those who support
you, even in the smallest ways. Not many rich, not many power. Sometimes a few, but not many. Then in verse 12 we read, and
you came into our house and saluted it. And when you come into a
house, salute it. The presence of God's servants
in a home ought to be a great blessing to the household. We
should never enter a home without desiring to be a blessing to
it. When we leave it, the family
ought to be better off because of our influence. And that is
true with regard to all of God's people. How much more God's servants
ought to seek grace and to be a blessing to others wherever
they go. Did we not receive grace from
our Lord? This is the same reason why we're forgiving of people,
is it not? Have you ever thought about somebody
who's offended you and then all of a sudden the Lord brought
upon your mind? Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I forgave you.
Have you ever had that thought go through your mind? And then
you turn to that person, you know, and you may not say it,
but you think it. Oh, I'm so sorry for what I just
thought. My Lord was so much more gracious to me. The least
I can do is be gracious to you. And in verse 13, and if the house
be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy,
let your peace return to you. Wherever we go, we ought to think
well of men until their conduct forces us to do otherwise. When
we enter a home, let us enter it determined to bring good to
the house. And if the blessing we bring
by the gospel is despised, all right, let's not be discouraged
about it. See in verse 14, and whosoever
shall not receive you, nor hear your words when you depart of
the house or a city, shake off the dust of your feet. This is
not to be viewed as a matter of spite, or a mean-spirited
retaliation, or even a physical act to be performed. Our Lord
is simply telling us that when people refuse the gospel that
we preach, we're to leave them alone. Don't argue with them
about it. I have so many free will Christian
men who work in my workplace that when I declare that my God
is sovereign ruler of all things including man's will, they'll
come back and want to argue with me about it. I'm not going to
argue with you. That's what the Bible says. It's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And I'll walk away from it. That's
what that's saying. Shake the dust off. Don't worry
about it. Convincing men of the gospel is not your and my job. We just declare it. That's it. We're not going to argue about
it. We're not going to fight about it. And then in verse 15, and we'll
close with this. Remember, our Lord is teaching
His apostles. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for that city. Speaking of those that
we've just walked away from, those that we've shared our experience
with. Here our Savior shows us that
it is a very dangerous thing to despise and reject the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. You see, the Lord Jesus sends
forth his royal ambassadors to call sinners to repentance, calling
for rebels to bow to him, to bow to Jesus as Lord and King. But for those who will not bow
to him, who will not receive his gospel, nothing but judgments
awaits them. In the day of judgment, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than it
will be for those who hear but will not believe the gospel.
What solemn words of warning this is. The preaching of the
gospel is to all who hear it either a savior of life unto
life or it's a savior of death unto death. It's a two-edged
sword. May our God use us in any way
that he is pleased to do so in spreading his word. Amen.