In the Gospel of Mark, chapter
12, verse 37, is a short statement which reads, gladly. Common people, that is,
just ordinary people. Ordinary run-of-the-mill, you
might call them, people. They were the mill workers, perhaps. They weren't wise, they weren't
mighty, they weren't noble. These were people of no reputation,
no fame, no influence, no great power or wealth, but just common
people. Common, ordinary people. These
were the persons our Lord appealed to, and they heard him gladly. Not the high and the mighty,
not the self-righteous, not the overly pious, proud, intellectual,
greatly educated Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes, but just common
people. Common people. Paul writes to
the church in 1 Corinthians 1. He writes to believers in the
church there, and he says, you see your calling, brethren. how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty. Base
things of the world, things which are despised, hath God chosen. Yea, things which are not to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. So it was the common people whom
our Lord appealed to and who heard him gladly. The uncommon
ones, those who thought themselves above the commoners, those who
thought themselves to be something, to know something, to have more
wisdom and and more intellect and more talent and so forth. The Pharisees, Sadducees, they
hated Christ. They hated him, they hated the
truth, and they hated his people. They were know-it-alls, and they
came to Christ not to learn from him, but to try to put him to
the test. And they argued and debated with
him. But the common people, they heard
him gladly. Common. people. A common person
is someone who puts on no airs, no hypocrisy, no facade, no sham,
no put on, no show of religion, just a plain ordinary person,
not trying to impress anyone. That's a common person. It says
the common people heard him gladly. Well, this gospel, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is for common people. This gospel
is called glad tidings, good news. Glad tidings to sad sinners. The gospel is good news for bad
people. The gospel is real help for helpless
people. The gospel is of a strong God
for weak sinners. The gospel is a successful salvation
for religious failures. The gospel is sovereign mercy,
love, and grace of God for the helpless, the hopeless, the strengthless,
the no good, the unrighteous sinners. Yes, the common people. I hope there is someone out there
listening today who needs this gospel. Well, let me tell you
some things that these common people, common persons have in
common. This is a commonly used word
in the scripture. Over in the book of Jude, the
little book right before the revelation, the book of Jude,
you'll find it written there where it says in verse 3 of Jude,
Paul says, I gave diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation." Common salvation. So all common people have a common
salvation. They are saved, in other words,
the same way. This salvation of God, and salvation
is of the Lord, it's not of man. It's of the Lord completely.
It's not common in the sense that it's an ordinary thing or
a very simple thing, such as a simple decision a man or a
woman make. No, no. It's a very extraordinary
thing, a very supernatural occurrence. It's of the Lord. It's of His
power, of His Spirit. And it's really an uncommon thing. It doesn't happen as commonly
as men would like to think. But it is common in the sense
that all God's people are saved the same way. There in the book
of Jude, it says in verse 1, them that are sanctified by God
the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, called, mercy and peace
and love multiplied to them, that is this common salvation
which Paul is writing about. He said they'd been sanctified
by God the Father. The word sanctified, people,
the word sanctified very simply means set apart, to be set apart
for holy use. That is, God Almighty. And it
says they were sanctified by God the Father. God Almighty
is the one that does the sanctifying. He's the one that sets apart.
He's the one that chooses, that elects, that sets apart one from
another. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, Who
maketh thee to differ from another? God makes the difference. His
choice. He sanctifies. He sets apart
those whom He will. He sanctifies them, sets them
apart by His choice. All God's people are saved by
God Almighty choosing them and setting them apart. There's a
scripture in Amos that says, you were plucked as a brand from
the burning. Well, they're sanctified by God
and preserved in Jesus Christ, it says. Preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved. Did your grandmother
ever make old-fashioned preserves, or perhaps you do. Someone listening
still does that. Preserve. How do you do that?
How do you make preserves? Say, how do you make a fig preserve? Well, what you do is you go out
and pick the fruit. You choose the fruit. Fruit doesn't
choose itself to be made preserve. Neither do God's people choose
themselves. Choose God. He chooses them.
You pick the fruit. And you wash it. You take it
in, you wash it. It's exactly what God Almighty
does. He chooses His own and washes
them in the blood of Jesus Christ. And then after you choose that
fruit, whatever it is that you're making preserves of, and you
wash it, clean it up, and prepare it, and then you put it in a
jar and seal it up. Put it in a large pan in water
and boil it until the lid seals itself. Then that is made into
preserves. You have preserved it for a long
time. If it has been sealed well, then those preserves will be
kept for an indefinite period of time. This is exactly the
sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ saves His people. He shed
his blood for them. He established righteousness
and imputed it to them. And they are preserved in him. They are kept by the power of
God unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time,
Peter wrote. Kept by the power of God. They've
been preserved in Jesus Christ. They've been given to Christ
by the Father. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out." He said, I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish. They are kept by Christ. Kept by the Spirit. They are
preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved for all eternity. Someone
may argue, are you preaching once in grace, always in grace?
Well, people, let me change one word of that. Once in Christ. Yes, always in Christ. Paul said, I want to be found
in Him, in Christ. They are preserved in Jesus Christ. All those who Christ died for
will be saved finally. Read on. It says it is common
salvation. The way in which all the common
people are saved is they are sanctified, set apart by God,
preserved in Jesus Christ. and called. Every one of God's
people are called by God, called by the gospel. That's what Paul
wrote to the Thessalonians. You are called by our gospel. Christ called it his voice. He
said, My sheep hear my voice. All of God's people hear the
gospel call. They must. This is how Christ
calls them. They hear the gospel call and
they come to Christ. Every one of them, they come,
believing him, confessing him. This is a common confession.
In Acts chapter 2, it says, they that gladly received his word
were baptized. Every one of them. Oh, they weren't
christened when they were infants. That's not scriptural. That is
not scriptural. Nowhere in the Bible will you
find little babies being christened. Besides, that's not baptism,
sprinkling water. Baptism, the word means immerse. And it's for believers, those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, in act two,
all that gladly received the word that Peter had preached
were baptized. All of them were baptized, confessing
Christ. That's the common confession. of all these common believers
who have been saved the same way. Common. In Titus chapter
1, Paul writes to young Titus and he said in verse 4, to Titus
my own son after the common faith. The common faith. All believers,
all these people who have been saved the same way, They believe
the same thing. There aren't many different faiths. That's not right. Ephesians 4
says there's one Lord, one faith. One faith. All of God's people
believe the same way. People back in the old day, when
God Almighty established His church, There weren't denominations. They weren't Baptists and Methodists
and Episcopalians and Church of God and Church of Christ. The only church there was was
the Church of God. The only church there was was
the Church of Christ, but that's not a denomination. All that
believed were baptized, but they didn't start a denomination called
Baptists. Oh, no. The church back then
was simply called the church. And everyone in the church believed
the same thing. They had the common faith. They
believed God was sovereign. God chose them. They believed
that Christ was their only salvation, His blood, His righteousness. Not their righteousness, not
their works, but His work for them. They believed the Holy
Spirit was their teacher, their leader, their guide, not men. but the Holy Spirit. They all
believed the same thing. They believed salvation was of
the Lord. They believed sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, common
faith. And then they went through common
trials. Over in 1 Corinthians 10, it
says that there's no temptation taken you, but such as is common
to man, Paul writes. All of God's people go through
common trials. most common trial of all to true
believers is persecution. Christ said, You shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake. All true believers are hated
for the gospel sake, just simply for believing and repeating the
truth. And they're hated. They're in
the minority. But that's all right. That's
all right. Christ said, it's not you they
hate, it's me. Well, common people heard him
glad. I hope you've heard this and
heard it gladly and believe this faith of God's elect. Until next
Sunday, good day. uh... uh... Thank you.