That Thy truth shall last, to
Zion shall we give The brightest glory, earth and heaven, and
higher with success. I love that hymn. I love all
those hymns that we've sung concerning God's church, God's kingdom,
church's one foundation, Jesus Christ her Lord. One Lord, one
faith, one birth, one holy name. She blesses. And in this one,
I love thy church, O God. Taken from Psalm 26, David loved
God's church. He said, Lord, I have loved the
habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. That's where this is taken from.
I love her sweet communion, her hymns of love and praise. I love that hymn. I love it. Go with me now to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. The last line of the last verse
says, The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved
or were expected to be, ordained to be saved. The Lord added to
the church. Now the message which Peter preached
at Pentecost which you heard Sunday. Same message, wasn't
it? The message. He is the message
that God the Holy Spirit used then and uses now to save sinners. That's the message, the one and
only message. And that's the message which
he uses to add to the church. It's the message And I never
tire of saying this or hearing this. It's the message of a crucified,
buried, risen, exalted, seated, enthroned, sovereign, successful,
satisfied Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is His name. That's the
message that God uses. That is the message. which all
of the elect of God hear and believe and receive by God's
grace, by His Spirit, and are added to the church. the church. That's what God used then and
what God uses now. Nothing more is needed and nothing
less than Christ, the message of Christ. And the church then
and the church now worships the same way. We worship The same
Lord in the exact same way that they did 2,000 years ago. No different. Absolutely no different. We're going to see that in these
verses. Look at verse 41. It says, Then they that gladly
received His Word, that is, God's Word through Peter, I remember Paul one time thanked
God that the Thessalonians received the Word, not as the words of
men, but as it was in truth, the Word of the living God. And
these people all received the Word which came through Peter,
the preached Word. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believed. And they received it
through a man, but not as the words of a man, but as the words
of God. Remember, that's what old Cornelius
said when Peter was sent to preach to his household. He said, we're
here to hear what God has commanded you. And they received the word,
the word of truth, the gospel of Christ. They received it.
The word received is not accepted. I do not use that word. I do
not like that word. It is not number one. It's not
in the Bible. Okay? The word receive means
take fully. In the same sense as embrace. Embrace. One of the old writers
said, if you say, tell men to accept something, will you accept
them? That implies that they have the
ability to do so. So it's not in the Bible. But
as many as received Him, that is, embrace Him and receive a
gift bestowed, they are given the right, the power to become
the sons of God. Receive Him. That means wholeheartedly
embraced. Like the people in Hebrews 11,
it says they embraced. They were persuaded of these
things and embraced them. That means to lay hold of. It
says they gladly received. Gladly received that gospel with
great joy. They gladly received it. They
were so glad to hear what they heard. mercy for sinners, grace,
forgiveness of sin, grace, a substitute, Christ, for them. They were so
glad to hear that. And when they heard it, and Peter
said, the promise is unto you, they laid hold of the promise,
didn't they? They embraced Christ by faith. And it says, every
one of them, they that gladly received his word were baptized. You see that? Baptized. The word itself implies being
immersed in water. And it is a symbol of Christ
being buried. Right? Being buried with Christ
and raised. When you're baptized, someone
buries you under the water as Christ was put under the earth. And then someone raises you out
of the water. Baptism means immersed. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said this to his disciples. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who instituted this baptism. He said, Go into
all the world and baptize. He said, He that
believeth and is baptized. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. Now this is not for infants. There were no infants in all
God's Word who were so-called christened. That is not in the
Bible. Okay? You know that. But some
may not. Baptism was not for infants,
but for those who believe. He that believeth and is baptized. It's not baptized infants and
then later on they believe. No. He that believeth and is
baptized. It's not believe another gospel
and be baptized and then come to a knowledge of the doctrine
of grace. That's not it either. Believe Christ. The true Christ. He that believeth, there's a
time when you didn't believe this gospel. And there's a time
when you do. That's the time to be baptized.
Baptism. And you know, baptism is as much
a renunciation of your past as a profession of faith and Christ.
As we said Sunday, it's like they say, bury me. I want me
and my past and everything about me buried. And I want to rise
to walk, be raised to walk in newness of life. I thought about
all our brothers and sisters in Mexico. That is a Catholic
country, isn't it? Every one of them who hears the
gospel, the message, every one of them confesses Christ in believer's
baptism. Now, every one of them was so-called
christened as a baby. But every one of them who gladly
receives the Word of God are baptized. And they do it gladly. And you know, every one of them
suffers persecution because of it. Many of them are literally
cast out of their family. Disowned. Because they have denounced. Like Noah, remember when he prepared
an ark? Condemned the world. And when
you go into that pool, you're condemning everyone and everything
but Christ, those in Christ. So it's as much a denunciation
as it is a confession. And so it's the same with us.
Baptism is a confession of Christ, the true Christ. There's but
one. Baptism is a public identification with Christ and his people. And baptism doesn't wash away
one sin, nor does it make one change in another. But it's this
way. Peter said it's the answer of
a good conscience. A good conscience. Christ said,
He that believeth and is baptized. He said, He that confesseth Me
not before men. I'll deny." So this is the confession. This is the way we confess Christ
before all by saying, this is the Christ I believe. Christ
said, do it. A good conscience said, I'll
do it. Peter here and the apostles all said, be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Every
one of you. And so 3,000 people said, okay,
baptize me. I want to confess Christ. 3,000.
Wouldn't you have liked to have been there and witnessed that? Is a baptismal service a great
blessing to you? It really is, isn't it? Just
when one person Confesses Christ is a great, great blessing of
the Lord. It's a privilege to be in on
it. Three thousand husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons,
daughters, brothers, sisters, neighbors, fellow workmen. Nancy,
can you imagine? Half of Rocky Mount. Wouldn't
that be something? Wouldn't that be something? We'll
settle for one. Settle for one. What a blessing. Well, verse 42. Verse 42. It says, And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. Steadfastly. They continued.
It means they kept doing what they started. They continued.
Whatever they started, whatever they had begun doing right then
and there. I was reminded of the children
of the Exodus. where he said in chapter 12,
this is the first day. Today is the beginning for you.
This is just the beginning. All things new. This is the very
beginning for you. And so they began right there
doing some things. And what they began doing, the
work that God began in them, they continued doing from then
on. What was that? what you're doing
right now. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine. They kept hearing the gospel. What was the apostles' doctrine?
Well, what did John say? If any man abide not in the doctrine
of Christ, that sums it up, doesn't it? The apostles' doctrine, the
sum, the substance of their preaching. Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything else. But Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Every message pointed to Him. Faith in Him. Him. He is the
Lord and Savior of His people. Every message pointed to them.
So they kept preaching Christ and the people kept hearing.
They continued. They held the beginning of their
confidence steadfast. They continued steadfast. What
was the apostles doctrine? Listen to them. Paul wrote to
Titus, speak the things which become sound doctrine. And they went on to talk about
the doctrine which is according to godliness, which Christ who
died to redeem a people unto Himself, zealous of good works,
and he goes on to say, this doctrine, the grace of God that brings
salvation, the doctrine of God our Savior, teaches us, and you
know those verses, to deny ungodliness and so forth. The doctrine of
Christ, the doctrine according to God, the whole counsel of
God. Everything that was necessary
for life and for godliness, that's what they prayed. And the people
heard it and received it gladly. And so they continued. Look on. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. That's close communion. Fellowship. What did John say our fellowship
is? You know, I like to socialize as much as anybody. I like, you
know, that. But what is this all about? The
church is not just a social club where people get together and
just socialize. But John said our fellowship,
the fellowship of believers, It was with the Father and with
His Son. It's the fellowship of the mystery.
The fellowship of the gospel. We come to the table. This is
the family. This is the supper where all
the family sits at the table and partakes of one bread and
one wine. And that's the gospel of Christ.
That's what it says they did. They broke bread. Verse 42. Fellowship,
breaking of bread. The Lord's table. They continued
taking it. The Lord's Table. The Lord's Table is a very special
thing. And it too is a commandment.
You know that? Like baptism. The Lord only gave
two ordinances for us to observe. The Lord's Table and baptism.
Baptism and the Lord's Table in that order. Baptism and then
the Lord's Table. It's a command. He said, this
do in remembrance of me. I knew a man who was a member
of this congregation for years. And when we used to have Sunday
night services, sometimes we would have the Lord's Table on
Sunday night. Remember that? I just don't like to have it
on Sunday morning because of visitors and so forth. I like
to have it back then, Sunday night. Now,
Wednesday night. And anyway, this man who attended
here for a long time never would come on Sunday night or Wednesday
night. He was never here. And he never, one time, partook
of the Lord's table. That's serious. And Brother John,
he's gone. I think you know who I'm talking
about. He's gone. This is a command too, breaking
of bread, the Lord's table, this do in remembrance of me. His yoke is easy. It's a privilege,
isn't it? Like baptism. Baptism is a privilege. How many of you, when somebody
is baptized, want to stand up and say, let me do that again? The Lord's table, breaking of
bread, is a great privilege and a special time for God's people
to gather together in communion around the table. And prayers,
it says. They continued in fellowship,
breaking of bread, and in prayers. This is what the church does.
This is all the church does. Right? Prayers. What did our
Lord say? He said, My house shall be called
what? A house of prayer. House of worship, house of praise,
house of prayers. That's it. House of prayer. And
they prayed, not out of a book, but from the heart. Prayer by
the people. Verse 43, And fear, fear came. upon every soul. If you would ask me what best
describes or what characteristic best describes a true God worshiper,
I would say fear. If you would ask me what best
describes a true believer, true worshipper of the living and
true God, I would say, fear. Fear came on every soul. Every
single person was a God-fearing man, a God-fearing woman, a God-fearing
young person. That means they reverenced. They
trembled at His Word. They did not treat They did not
approach God in a careless, indifferent, flippant, or casual, or irreverent
way, but fear tempered all that they did, all that they said.
From the songs they sang, the preacher feared not preaching
God's Word in its verity, in its truth, the whole counsel.
He feared doing that. They feared not preaching Christ.
They feared preaching works. They feared not pointing men
to Christ. They feared it. Paul said, Woe
is unto me if I preach not to God. Fear. Fear regulated all
they said and did. They were fearful of using his
name. They didn't want to use God's name. in any way but a
fearful way. They were fearful in everything
they did. They feared sharing His glory. When someone got up to sing a
special, they feared being in the flesh. You know what I mean? Some of
you used to sing in a public way before a crowd. When the
Lord put His fear in you, you came up here and here's... How
many people are in here right now? And yet you fear. You fear people looking at you. You fear
sharing the glory. You fear. And so this fear fell
on Paul. All that Peter wrote in his first
epistle, he wrote to the people, he said in his first epistle,
pass the time of your sojourning here in death. And you can tell. This is how you can tell the
people of God. Not only by love, but fear. And read on. It says,
"...and wonders and signs." Wonders and signs were done by the Apostle. Now, there are no more Apostles.
And therefore, there are no more of these signs and wonders and
miracles. Not in the same way. You know
this. You know why that is. God gave
these men special powers to prove their calling. Nobody had one of these. If you
sat in the congregation and I was Peter preaching to you, you did
not have a Bible. How do you know what Peter is
saying is from God? Peter says, God sent me, I'm
one of his apostles. How do you know? Signs and wonders. That's how. God gave them these
signs and wonders which no man Had ever or could do. Impossible. So that the people would say,
these men are sent from God. So we're listening to what they
have to say. And there are no more of these
powers in men now. No more. They're not needed.
We don't need these things to do it. Why? We've got a book. We've got the Bible. And he shows
us signs and wonders from this, doesn't he? And we have his book. However, we have seen signs and wonders
from these very apostles. We've seen the blind see through
the preaching of Peter. We've seen the deaf hear through
the preaching of Paul, haven't we? We've seen the dead raised
through the preaching of Jude, haven't we? Yeah, he's still
doing signs and wonders through those men. This is what our Lord
said to the apostles when he said, greater things in these
will you do. Not greater in the sense that
they're more wonderful, but in a broader way. Three thousand souls. Peter got up, preached one message. 3,000 people. My, my. That's something. And we heard
the same message. We were saved by the same preaching
of Peter, weren't we, Sherry? We sure were. So, yes, we've
seen signs and wonders. Verse 44, And all that believed
were together. They forsook not the assembly
of themselves together, as a matter of some years, but they were
all together. That's what loving family members
do, don't they? They're together. And they had
all things common, it said. They believed they had all things
common in a spiritual sense and in a material sense, a literal
sense. They had all things common. Literal
sense, they said. Here's what they all said. What's
mine? My house is your house. My car
is your car. Right? What I have is yours. In a spiritual sense, they had
all things common, didn't they? Common faith, John. Common faith that was once delivered
to the saints. It's delivered to all the saints.
It's the faith of God's elect, isn't it? It's common. They all
believe the same thing, don't they, John? One Lord, one faith.
One Father, one God, one Father, one hope of their calling. Common
faith. All who have this common faith
go through common trials. If you have faith, it will be
tried. Common trial. There hath no temptation
or trial taken you, but such is common. Amen. Common trial. Common temptations. Common comforts. Where did they
all get their comfort? Same place. Comfort. The God of all comfort. Common
likes? They all liked the same thing.
Do you know they all liked the same exact food? They loved this
light bread. They all had the same dislikes.
Distaste for anything that doesn't have salt in it. Do you know
what I mean? Distaste for anything that doesn't
have Christ in it. Had a dislike for it. That's
right. Same. Common. Faith, common trials,
common temptations, common comfort, common likes, common dislikes,
common possession. And verse 45 says, "...they sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to all as every man
had need." It's not saying, it did not say that they sold everything
they owned and lived in a commune. It does not say that. It does
not even imply that. Alright? It says they parted
to all what? As every man had need. If there was a need, somebody
going without, then someone who had an abundance would sell it
and give it to them who had need. Right? That's what that means.
They sold and parted these things. I thought about this. This is
real proof of love. You know, the love of money is
the root of all evil, our Lord said. The love of money. Then what would be the willingness
to part with money? If you were willing and just
loved to part with it, what would that prove? If love is the root
of all evil, of money, what would be the opposite of that? Isn't
that the root of goodness? Didn't Christ, who is rich, for
our sake did what? Became poor. Gave what? All. Gave it all. Gave himself. That's
the proof. Good evidence. Love for his people,
not money. It says they parted as had need. I've told you before, you know,
many people come by the study here and ask him for money. All the time. All the time. And
I almost always ask them the same things. I first ask them,
do you attend a church anywhere? Do you think there's been one
heathen to ever show up? Do you think there's one person
who's ever showed up here that didn't go to church somewhere?
No. I haven't yet to find one. Oh,
I'm a member down at so-and-so place. I said, you are? And I say to them, you mean to
tell me you're a member of a local congregation, a church, and they're
letting you go hungry? I say this, it says in the scriptures,
God's seed will never be baking bread. There's never been one
member in this congregation baking bread. If one member of this
congregation ever has a need, we're going to meet it. Right? As every man had need. That's proof. That's proof. And I tell them all the same
thing, too. I say, well, I'll tell you what.
The thing you need more than anything else is to hear this
gospel we preach here. I say, you come. Sometimes they'll
come on a Wednesday morning. I say, you come tonight. We're
going to meet tonight. You come here and you hear this gospel.
Silver and gold have I none. I might have a little bit. And I say, boy, what you need
is to hear this. So you come tonight, and I guarantee
you, when these people find out you have a need, they'll just,
they'll meet it. Have you ever seen anybody show
up? No. Well, here in our text, it
says if there was a need, anybody had a need, the people would
meet it. They would meet. James said, How dwelleth the
love of God in us, to see a brother have me? And we don't meet. So
they did. And verse 46. This is good. It says, They continuing daily
with one accord. They continuing. There it is
again. Continuing. The Lord said, If you continue
in my word, then you're my disciples in me. It's not how you start. It's not how you spring up like
that grass that's stony ground. It's whether or not you wither
away. If you continue, he said, you're my disciples indeed. If you continue laying hold of
Christ to the end, you must have loved it in the beginning. God
must have begun that work in you in the beginning. If you
die in this faith, laying hold to Christ, then God began a good
work in you and He perfected it. Continuing. They continued
daily. Hearing it, loving it, holding
to it, walking. Paul wrote this, He will present us holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight if ye continue in the faith. Grounded and settled and be not
moved away. How will we continue? The same
way we began, by grace, right? Well, keep yourselves in the
love of God, he said, though, how's that? Continue to hear
this gospel of grace. It's what will cause you to continue. Continuing daily, it said, daily.
It wasn't a part-time thing with them. Christ was their life.
Daily, they continuing daily with one accord. They were in
harmony. They were in union. Is it unreasonable to expect
believers to get along, not have fights and fusses and not be
divisions and all of that? Is that unreasonable? Why? Why should they fuss and fight? They were with one accord. If
you have all things common, if you have the common faith and
common likes, common dislikes, and one accord and one faith,
why should you fight? It shouldn't be one. It shouldn't.
It had to be self, wouldn't it? Somebody being selfish. Well,
they continued with one accord. They were in harmony and union,
and they were in the temple. Look at this. They were in the
temple. You know, God ordained that building. God ordained that building, that
temple, didn't He? He told Solomon to build that
building. And He did. It was just a building. It wasn't
a holy place. It was just a building. Our Lord
said, not one stone is going to be left standing on it. This
is not the true temple. Nevertheless, it was a public
place to meet, and though there was much bad going on there. There was,
wasn't it? Later on, it became the abomination
of desolation in that time. As it is now. All these so-called
churches, places, aren't they? Abomination, desolate, Christ
is not there, it's an abomination to God. Yet, God Almighty still
ordains a place for God's people to meet, a local church, His
people to meet as a church called the Church House. That's what
I like to refer to this building as. I've begun to train myself
to say, I'm going to the Church House. The Church House. And
it's called where God's people meet, the House of God, a public
meeting place. And it's still a place where
we go, in spite of all the abuse, in spite of all the misuse, in
spite of all the things that go on, we still unashamedly,
unabashedly say, I'm going to the church. I'm going to God's
house on the Lord's day, to God's house with God's people. That's
where we worship God. And I'm not ashamed of it. These
people did too. Went to the temple. Even the
Lord went there. In spite of all that went on
there, He went. So that's a good thing. And it says they'd break
Him bread from house to house. They got together in each other's
home. They invited one another over for dinner and fellowship. And they ate, it says, their
bread, their meat with gladness. Gladness. Saints were glad. Singleness of heart. Saints are
a people filled with gladness, aren't they? Remember this? The
lions have fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have
a goodly heritage. The Lord is at my right hand,
and I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad. Glad. I was glad, David said,
when they said unto me, Let's go to the house of the Lord.
Well, I'd just be glad too, David. They that fear thee, David said,
will be glad when they see me. Oh, I'm glad to see you, David.
Glad to see you, John Sheasley. Glad to see you, Henry Soar.
Glad. In this glad hour. Gladness. They did it gladly. Thankfully. gratefully, and singleness of
heart." What did they all have on their heart? What was all
of their one desire? When they met together, when
they all gathered together, what was the one thing that they all
desired? Or singleness of heart. Here
it is, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that's what I'm
going to do. That will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life." He's not just talking
about the spiritual one. He had a life to live down here,
didn't he? Where did he want to be? In the house of the Lord
with God's people and in the end be in His eternal house.
All the days of my life here and all the days of my eternal
life there to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in
His temple. glad, and singleness of heart. One desire. Praising God. What did they do? Why did they
meet? What was it all about? Praising God. Everything they
did was to the praise of the glory of His grace. When we get
that new sign up out here, that's going on it. Ephesians 1.6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. That sums up why we were saved. That sums up what we do here
and our purpose for existing. Meaning, to the praise of the
glory of His grace. Praising God and having favor
with all the people. Y'all are my favorites, you know
that? I favor you. Sammy, I favor you. You're my
favorite. One of my favorites. One of my
favorites. I've got a bunch of them. You're one of my best friends. Favor. God favors His people,
doesn't He? He favored us in His sovereign
electing grade. We favor one another and the
Egyptians. Just like the Israelites of old,
there is a favor which God chose His people in the eyes of the
Egyptians. My, my, that's amazing, isn't it? They hate you, yet
you find faith. Explain that. Anyway, he says,
and the Lord added to the church. You know what the Lord adds can't
be removed. What the Lord adds can't be taken
away. whom the Lord begins a good work in, it will be perfected,
it will be finished. If the Lord makes you one of
His family, boy, this is good news. You can't be unfamilied. You can't be forsaken. He said,
I give unto them eternal life. This is what we believe and this
is our hope. That once in the love and grace and mercy of God
in Christ, always in the love and mercy and grace of God. And
I don't apologize for that. That gives God all the glory,
doesn't it? Whoever the Lord adds to the church, oh, they
may drop off. You know, that's prone to wander,
Lord, I feel it. Every one of us would, you know,
have a falling out at once. If you haven't yet, you will.
And it's generally our own fault, but He'll bring you back. Added
to the church daily, such as should be said. What do you mean,
should be said? Well, it doesn't mean deserve
to be saved. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. Is that Acts 13, 48? As many
as were ordained to eternal life, believed, received, were baptized,
continued, steadfast, had all things common, worshiped together,
fellowshiped together, and all continued. such as should be
saved, the elect of God, my little boy, are kept by the power of
God unto salvation, ready to be revealed. Okay. Stand with
me. Our Lord, thank You so much for
this Word that gives us great hope and great comfort. Thank
You for preaching the Gospel to us Let us hear the Master's
voice, the Shepherd's voice, and the gospel of our salvation. Thank you, Lord. And thank you
for putting us in your body. I ask that you would sustain
us, restrain us, constrain us, provide for us, keep us, By Your
grace, Lord, we depend completely, 100% upon Your grace. We know that Thou art faithful.
This is our hope. Thou art our hope. Lord, keep
Thy fear. Unite our hearts to fear Thee,
to love one another, to love this gospel and continue in it.
Thank You for these people. I ask Your blessings upon them. Again, we ask for your healing
hand on our brother and your comfort for our sister. Thank
you for this blessed and glad hour that you've given us tonight.
Let not the foul of the air take it away or the thorns choke it
out. Let it fall on good ground, the heart that you've prepared.
It's in Christ we pray. Amen. Oh.