You may be seated. The truth sets men free, and
that's what that song says. Shall all bondage cease, all
fetters fall as a result of preaching of this word. That's
how valuable what we're doing here this morning is. It's like
the people on the road, the men on the road to Emmaus, who had
their eyes open when the Lord broke the bread of life unto
them. And they knew him. All right, Acts chapter eleven.
Acts chapter eleven. I wanted to bring this message
for weeks now, had it prepared for some time, but various circumstances
have prevented it. I'm going to bring it now. I prepared it for a Sunday night
service originally. Sunday nights I generally direct
the messages to God's people. I have more to say. to God's
people, and I see this morning we don't have any brand new faces
here, no visitors, no one, no true visitors, people that are
not here regularly. So I'm, in a sense, I'm glad
about that, if you understand what I mean. All right, here
in Acts chapter eleven, let's read verses twenty-two 22 through the end of the chapter.
Then tidings of these things, or that is of God's outpouring
of the gospel on the Gentiles, came under the ears of the church
which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas,
that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he came and had seen
the grace of God, or that is the power of the gospel, what
it does to people, how it saved, transformed lives. He was glad. He was so happy. He rejoiced
in what the Lord had done, and he exhorted them all. So he preached
to them, Barnabas, that with purpose of heart and sincerity
in the heart, from the heart, that they would cleave unto the
Lord, that they would not look anywhere else, but they would
look to Christ and Him alone for their only hope, for their
only salvation. And he assured them it would
be well with their souls if they just look to Christ, just look
to him now, and keep cleaving to him. And he assured them,
I'm sure, that if they did, it's because he had a hold of them. He kept them by his power. And
the gospel is that power that keeps. And it says in verse 24
that Barnabas was a good man. He was a good man. Scripture
says that. He was a good man, or that is,
he was a decent man, an honorable man, a fine man, an honest man,
as far as men go, a good man, full of the Holy Ghost, or that
is, the fruit of the Spirit. He was a gentle man, kind, loving,
faithful, so-called, tender, moderate, compassionate, loving,
faithful, and full of the faith. He believed Christ. He knew Christ. He believed Christ. And he preached
Christ. And that's what the people heard
from the mouth of this man. And it says much people was added
unto the Lord through this man's preaching. Much people. Many
people were converted unto Barnabas's minister, his preaching. Then,
verse 25, departed Barnabas to Tarsus. He left to seek Saul. Barnabas was not an apostle.
Paul was. He had heard that Paul was, perhaps
he had heard this, that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And he went to seek Saul. He
went to find Saul. He wanted Saul to come down and
see the grace of God. Come on down and see what God
is doing in our midst. Saul, Paul, come down here and
be with us. And would you preach? He knew
where God's hand was and he asked this man to come down and preach
to these people. So Paul did. Saul did. Verse
26. And when he had found Saul, later
to be called Paul, he brought him to Antioch and it came to
pass that a whole year Barnabas and Saul assembled themselves
with the church a whole year and taught much people, and the
disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Notice that line there in the
middle. A whole year they assembled themselves
with the church. All right, now turn over to Hebrews
chapter ten with me. All right? Hebrews chapter ten. It says a whole year they assembled
themselves with the church. Now in Hebrew, the book of Hebrews. In chapters six through nine.
Chapter six through nine Paul talks about the promises of God
based on that covenant. His covenant is that word, and
I just like to say it. I don't ever recall enjoying
preaching anymore than when we studied the covenant a couple
of weeks ago. God's covenant ordered in all things. And sure,
in verse in chapter six through nine, Paul deals with that covenant. And he talks about it, he says
it's ratified by, or that agreement that God made with Christ concerning
the salvation of a certain people, that their salvation is absolutely,
positively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, certain, sure, secured,
ratified by the blood of Christ. Paul goes into detail, John,
about that in chapter 6 through 9. And made sure because we've
got a surety. Not based on the people at all.
Not at all. based on that surety, that head,
Christ himself being the mediator of that covenant, making sure. And then he sent his personal
comforter that Christ did all that was written in that covenant
to save a people. And after he left, Christ said,
I won't leave you alone. He said, I never would, and I
won't. I'll send my comforter. And that's
the Holy Spirit whom God, whom Christ sent down here to witness
in the hearts of his people through the preaching of the gospel that,
hey, that covenant is sure. Again, the Holy Spirit just keeps
repeating what Christ had already said and what Christ and the
Father and the Spirit agreed to before time began. Just keeps repeating the covenant.
And look here in chapter 10 of Hebrews. It says in chapter 10. Now, folks, this is a good message.
It's a good message. You're going to get some help
here. All right. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. And
this is his work right now. He won't keep you. He's the he's
the great accuser of the brethren must keep you from hearing the
gospel. Resisting. Say, Lord, This is your word
to me, and I'm here to hear from you. Don't let anything hinder
me. Don't let anyone hinder me. All
right? Even now. All right? Hebrews 10, the Holy
Spirit, verse 15, says as witness to us. For after he had said
before, verse 16, this is the covenant. And like I said, chapter
six through nine, he goes into detail about that work that Christ
did, his person. The whole book of Hebrews is
about the glorious person of Christ. His glorious majesty,
his person, better than the angels, better than Aaron, better than
the sacrifices. He's God's best, the only salvation. Son of God himself, come down
here to save a people, and this is the covenant that I will make
with them, or concerning them, after those days, saith the Lord."
After Christ comes and fulfills it. He says, I'm going to put
this in their hearts. My laws. Ten commandments? Well,
yes, surely, yeah, but more than that. That's talking about the
whole Word of God. I think it's chiefly talking
about just the whole counsel of God. This covenant. The gospel. Going to put the
gospel in their heart. Going to make it dear to their
hearts. Not just their head. Yeah, He will put it in their
mind. They'll understand it. But it'll be more than just the
understanding. It'll be in their hearts. To
love it. It'll be the truth to them. They'll
say, that's true. That's what God's Word said.
But they'll love it. You see, there's the difference. It'll be in their hearts first
and in their head, their understanding also. And they'll know it, they'll
understand it, they'll believe it, they'll receive it, they'll
love the truth. What truth? Who God is. Who God is in all his glory,
all his majesty, his attributes. There's another word I'd just
like to hear. God's attributes—holy, sovereign, just, merciful, gracious,
loving—His ways, everything He does to God's people is just
glorious. God's Son, the truth about God's
Son, who He is, His attributes, God's Christ, God's salvation
in Christ and Him alone. And you know, I've said this
before, the best description that you can give of a true child
of God. The best description you can
give of a truly saved person is a believer. A believer and
a lover of the truth. A believer and a lover. They
not only believe it, as I said, but they love it. They love the
truth of who God is, who Christ is, what he has done, and they
just don't want it any other way. And they're resting their
whole souls, mind, body, heart, soul, on this, on the truth,
on the gospel, on Christ himself. And this is what he says. He
says, I'm going to write this in their hearts, verse 17, grab
ahold of your seats, sinner. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That won't bring a smile to your
face, I seriously doubt if you know the gospel. Their sins and
their iniquities, which are more than the hairs of their head,
which are over their head, which are ever before them, are never
before God. They're ever before us, they
always haunt us, they always condemn us, but they will never
condemn us before God. God says, I don't remember. But
Lord, don't you remember when I, Lord please forgive me for
when I, what I did, what? What, what I, I don't remember. Why? Because of that covenant,
because of that blood, because of God's Son. Now, verse 18,
now he says where remission of these is, there's no more offering
for In other words, you don't need to try to find a way to
make yourself acceptable to God. Try to perfect yourself. Try
to enter into a little deeper repentance. Oh, don't get me
wrong. Repent of your sins. We repent
daily of our sins. But the good news is, like David,
remember when Nathan came to David? And Nathan demanded of
David that he repent of what he had done. He demanded him
of that. And David said, oh, I've sinned. What did Nathan
say to David? Does anybody remember? The Lord's
already forgiven you of that before you even repented of it.
It's the goodness of God that sent me to you, the goodness
of God that led you to repentance. But know this, David, for your
heart's rejoicing. God forgave you before you repented
of it. Now, that's love, isn't it? Kind
of like a parent, isn't it? Like a heavenly kind, heavenly
father. It's just like him. This is not the manner of men,
the psalmist said. This ain't the manner of men.
It's God's way. We demand repentance, don't we?
God does too, but he's already forgiven. He gives the repentance. He says, now, you don't need
to try to find the offering. You don't need to look somewhere
else for your acceptance. You don't need to look within.
Well, so, you know, you've sinned. You're a believer. You've fallen
into sin, OK? And we all do. We all will. And so we look within. We say,
well, something's wrong with me. And you look within. Yes,
something's wrong with you. You're a sinner. That's what
you were when God found you. Well, I thought he, you know,
I thought once I got saved that I wouldn't be a sinner anymore.
No, that's not so. No, it's not so. You'll still
be a sinner till the day you die. And Christ will still be
a Savior till the day you die. And the blood will ever be before
the Lord till the day you die. Is that, does that encourage
anybody here to go out and sin? Or does that just make you, make
you happy? Makes you ashamed of your sin,
really. It ought to. You think about
it. If you were unfaithful to a husband
or a wife or something bad happened, you were made ashamed of yourself.
And that loving, that person freely forgave you, said, I don't,
I don't. No, honey, don't worry about
it. I forgive you. Would that make you, hey, I got
by with that. I'll run out and do it again. Would that make
you want to do that? No, the goodness of God will
lead you to repent. Oh, Lord, don't. I don't want
to ever do that again. How could you forgive me, but
you have and don't. I don't want to do it again.
Right? All right, he says, no more offering.
There's no more offering. Don't need to look within to
try to find try to find something. That's not
very key to Christ. You've got you have an offering. Same one you had when you came
to him the first time you realize you're a sinner. Right. And the next time and the next
crisis to whom coming to whom coming. Those Israelites, when
they sinned in the wilderness, they didn't say, well, the blood's
not working. Let's find something else. Did
they? Let's look somewhere else. We're
still sinners. Keep bringing the blood. You
better keep bringing the blood, and you'll be accepted. Keep
repenting, yeah, but keep bringing the blood. You have a blood sacrifice. You have certain remission of
sin. I'm here to tell Everybody, under
the sound of my voice this morning, and whoever hears it on tape,
that if you come to God by Jesus Christ, trusting, looking, believing
Him, Him alone, you're a saved person. Or you will be. Keep coming. If He hasn't answered
you yet, He will. He will, and I'm here to tell
you that God loves you, and Christ died for you, and has a wonderful
plan for your life. Yes. I'm not here to say that
to every son of Adam, but I can say that with full confidence
to anybody that comes to God by Christ. Right? That's what
the Scripture said. And I say this, God is not angry
with you. John Davis, God is not angry
with you. He has a right to be, doesn't
he? He ought to be, shouldn't he? Steve Park, Ed Berry, if
you're a believer, God is not angry with you. He becomes grieved
at times, doesn't he? Just like we do with our children.
He becomes provoked at times, for lack of a better word, but
he's not angry. That's been appeased. That's
been satisfied. His justice has been poured out
against you. You're dead. You're dead. God is your Father,
and he'll never cast you out any more than you cast out your
own children. All right, let's read on here
now. Look at it. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter in
to the holiest. How? Because you're a good Christian. No, by the blood. By the blood, don't ever let
go of your only hope. Don't ever look anywhere, go
anywhere, appeal to anything or anyone but Christ crucified
before God. He'll accept you. I'm telling
you, no matter how bad you are, He'll accept you. He'll accept you. And you have
boldness to come before a thrice holy God. Christ said that to
his disciples. He said, God loves you like he
loves me. Come on in. Call him Betty. Just like I do. In the name of
Christ. Through the well-beloved son.
He loves you. He's your father. I said, come
on now, come on. We're not come to Mount Sinai
that burneth with fire. We've come to Mount Zion. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the presence of God himself,
by the blood of Christ Jesus, by a new and living way, a living
Lord, not a dead goat, but a living Lamb, which he hath consecrated
for us, accepted for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. Having a high priest, we have a high priest. He is
over you. He's making, even now, our high
priest is before God Almighty, pleading his work for you. See,
it's not you. You're out there. He's in there,
and he's pleading for you himself. He has sacrificed a high priest
over the house of God, so let's draw near. Come one, come all. With a true heart, that is, from
the heart. with a real need in full assurance
of faith, not doubting, but in full assurance. Can we do that? Why not? In full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, that is a conscience
that's convicted, a conscience full of dead work. You know what
dead works are? Thinking you can get to God by By your repentance,
by your faith, by your cleaning up, by your doing anything. That's
dead works. It won't, it won't save you. You need to have your conscience.
The only way to have a pure conscience is to have a pure sacrifice.
Old Scott Richardson says that all the time. The only way to
salve a guilty conscience, to have a pure conscience, is to
have a pure sacrifice. Huh? And have our bodies washed with
pure water? That's the Word of God. Justify
and sanctify. Now he says, verse 23, let us
hold fast. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. He's faithful at promise. He's
faithful. He's faithful. Let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works. What a good
work? Well, it's the works of God,
isn't it? What are the works of God? The
things of God. It's to be about the things of
God, right? Right now, this is a good work. Huh? This is the best work. It's
the best thing you can do, not only for yourself, Not only the
best thing I can do for you, not only the best thing you can
do for yourself, put yourself under, it's the best thing you
can do for one another. You are provoking one another
to good works. It encourages me, Nancy Parks,
that you're here this morning without your husband. He's far
away, but your true husband's not, and you've come to be with
him. And that encourages me. The faithfulness of people, we
encourage one another. And I'm telling you, let me say
it one more time, all right? Say it so much. This right here is all you really
have on planet Earth. This right here, right now, is
the only thing of any real and lasting value on this Earth. Huh? I see many of you shaking
your head like nodding your head. It's true. It's the only place
you're going to find true peace. true rest, true happiness. Some saw a man close his eyes
and smile. I see another one closing his
eyes. He's not smiling. He's really
resting. But some just rest in the thought
that happiness, rest, comfort, joy, which no man can take away
from you. When you go out in the work world,
come Monday morning, they're not going to take away from you
the joy that Christ gives you from here in the gospel. I want
to tell you why. They'll try their best, and you'll
think it's gone when you drag back in here Wednesday night.
It'll come back. It'll come back. This is a place
you can come and wash your dirty feet. John, I'm washing your
dirty feet this morning. Huh? They got dirty all week
long, didn't they? Dragging through the muck and
the mire and the quagmire of this evil world, get dirty, filthy.
Come in here filthy, sinful, rotten, wretched, don't you mind
your body. You come in here, wash me. Oh,
word of God, wash me. Well, you don't need washed,
save your feet. You are washed. The blood, the
blood. But you need your feet washed,
don't you? Need your feet to get hot and dirty and sweaty
and tired. You need them. Put them in a
nice cool basin of cold water. You know, they talk about so
many things coming through the feet. Talk about a few certain
pressure points and all that. Don't get into that. But anyway,
you rub your little toe, you know, it'll cure your sinuses
or something like that. Don't discount it unless you
tried it. But I tell you what. Through
the washing of your feet in here, it will cure a lot of maladies.
It will cure the common maladies. This is a place to come where
you can rest your weary soul, a haven for sinners. I'm not
talking about a building. That's the reason we make it
as plain as possible. We're talking about a place where
God's people meet, the church A people, the temple of God,
where Christ says, I'll be there. I'm going to be there. Christ
said, two or three are gathered in my name. I'm going to be there
at 11 a.m., 10, 15 a.m. You be there. I'm going to be
there. All right. Here I come. Here
I come, Lord. I'm coming. The place where Christ
meets with his people. Now, some people forsake this. And here's what I'm going to
dwell on. Are you glad you've been here
so far? Where would you want to be, Violet?
Where else would you want to be? Really, now search your heart. I have a true heart. I'm not
asking for the right answer. I'm asking us to search our hearts
this morning. If you're glad, if the things you've heard this
morning have made you truly glad, and this is the place you've
heard it, and it's a place where you're going to continue to hear
it. But some people forsake this. For what? For what? A mess of prodigy. In that, in fact, what people
are trading in this these unsearchable riches. Unspeakable things you've
heard the trading for a bowl of oatmeal. For a temporal pleasure
for a fleeting time of enjoyment and training, you can't put a
premium on what we're doing this morning. I cannot put it's of
inestimable value. what we're doing here this morning.
I can't put a premium on it. I can't even describe it to you
because we like little children, say little children don't realize
the value of three square meals a day, right? They don't realize
it. Don't realize the importance of breakfast in the morning,
a good lunch, hearty lunch in the afternoon and supper, say
it right, supper, Barbara, in the evening. Three square meals
a day. And we even don't realize spiritually
the value of four square meals a week. Can't put a premium on
that. Can't do it. I can't even impress
upon us the importance of this. But some forsake it for what?
Let's put it in perspective now. What we're doing here is of eternal
consequence. Isn't it? These are words of
life. Or is this just a sermon? I ain't
preaching no sermon. I didn't get this from John Gill,
John Calvin, the Sunday School Quarterly. We're just looking
at God's Word together. The Word of Life. And some forsake
it forever, don't they? Some people say, eventually they
say, well, no more of that. And they head
out. Never hear it again. What they
do when they went out from us, Charles. Why? Because they were
not of us. If they had been of us, they
no doubt would have remained with us. They had no doubt if
there was a real hunger and a real sight of Christ in His glory,
a real fulfillment of that, of their need, a real need for us,
Lord, for a Savior, for a sacrifice, for a real interest in these,
a real love for them, no doubt would have stayed with us, huh?
To whom shall we go? Where are we going to go? And
I'll remind you all, no one has ever left because of their sin.
I talk to people all the time about that. People say, well, I'm such a
sinner, I don't want to come down there and appear to be a
hypocrite. No one has ever left because
they're too sinful. I've never known it to happen,
and it won't happen either. The problem generally is that
they really aren't sinful enough. And they really never needed
Christ enough. And that's just a good excuse.
We can come up with all sorts of crazy excuses. And he says
in verse twenty five. This is now this is a good work
here, what we're doing, he says, now don't forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some of you don't do
it, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some of you, as some do. in various ways, and some
do forever, but exhorting one another, so much the more as
you see the day approaching. What day? I'm talking about the
day of the return of Jesus Christ when he walks this planet again. You know, just to say that ought
to make us perk up. I saw somebody yawn when I was
saying that. Jesus Christ is coming back. to planet Earth. He walked it.
You believe that? Amy, you believe he walked this
Earth? He said, surely. He said it two or three times
in Revelation. Surely, I come quickly. I'm coming. It's imminent. That is certain. It is soon. Many things point to that. We've
looked at it. We've studied it together. Many
things. I'm going to show you that right now, the most certain
sign of it is happening right now. Back to Acts eleven. Now it says
here that they assembled themselves together in Acts eleven. They assembled themselves together
with the church and taught much people. They assembled themselves
because they loved. Why are you here? I ask that all the time, don't
I? Remember when Peter came to the Gentiles and said, now what
do you want? What is it? And I want to ask that every
time. We need to ask ourselves that, don't we? Every time, Mary,
we need to ask ourselves every time we walk in, why am I here?
Because it's Sunday morning? God says he hates that. Huh? Didn't he? We were in Jeremiah.
He says, you're new moons, you're Sabbaths. That stinks to me.
Don't come because you're supposed to. He said, that stinks to me. Come because you want to. you
have something to thank God for. You want to hear about Him and
so forth. You want to worship Him. You want to learn about
Him. Well, the people back then, they came because they need...
Do you come because you need to hear the gospel? Because you
love it, you love Christ, you hear the gospel, because you
love and need each other? Because a terrible day was approaching. These people assembled themselves
together. Terrible day. Read it. Verse
27 and 28. In those days there came prophets
from Jerusalem to Antioch, and there stood up one of them named
Agabus. And he signified by the Spirit
that there should be great dearth or famine throughout all the
world. Great famine. And it came to
pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Not too many years later,
a great famine came into the land and all over the world. This prophet prophesied that
there was a famine coming, and it came. Now turn back to Jeremiah
14. Hurry. I've got to hurry. Israel
was no stranger to famine. They had experienced famine over
and over again. They sure didn't learn their
lesson from it, did they? And famine was the judgment of God,
always was, always is, always will be the judgment of God. And we're in the midst of famine,
Henry. Now, you say, well, the crops
this year have been greater than ever. That ain't what I'm talking
about. That's part of the problem. Famine,
you know, there was famine in Joseph's day. You remember the
famine that was in Joseph's day? Jacob and his sons were in famine
and had to go to, but there was plenty with Joseph. Everybody
was hungry, but those that were with Joseph, they had plenty
to eat. There was famine in Naomi's day. You remember Naomi and Ruth?
There was famine in that day. And finally, when they found
Boaz, or when he found them, They had plenty, didn't they?
Oh, my, everybody else was hungry. They had plenty. They sat at
the great Boaz's table, feasting in the midst of famine. He prepared
a table for them in the midst of the famine, and they were
eating. There was a famine in David's day. There's famine all
through the times of the Israelite. Famine in David's day, but not
with David. Anybody who was with David had
plenty. And here in Jeremiah, David said, I've been young and
I'm now old, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread. And here in Jeremiah, he talks
about another famine. We read it, verse 1, concerning
the dearth, that is famine, verse 7. And this is the reason. Lord, our iniquities testify
against us. Don't. Save us, he's saying. Do thou it, or save us for thy
name's sake. Our backsliding to men. We've
sinned against thee. And men's sins have separated
them from God. Verse ten. Thus saith the Lord
unto this people. Well, they love to wander, gone
after other gods. That's what he's saying there,
Rick. That's what happened to the Israelites. They'd gone after
other gods. You know, their sin, Their baser sins and all that.
What kept the Israelites out of the Canaan land? Was it their
adulteries, their fornication? No, I'm not lessening the seriousness
of that at all. Was it their base sin, their
drunkenness and so forth? Was that it? What was it? Unbelief. And, Terry, that takes
many forms. You know, the chief form that
it took? They went after other gods. That's
what the form of their unbelief took. We're tired of that old
manna. We're tired of God. We're tired
of this old-fashioned bloody worship. We'll make us a fancy
god and so forth. They went after other gods. Covetousness
is idolatry, he said. Look, read on. It says in verse
11, Then said the Lord, Don't pray for this people. When they
fast, I won't hear their cry. When they offer burnt offerings,
In oblation, I will not accept their silly little services.
I will consume them by the sword and by the famine." But you know,
Jeremiah was right in the midst of this. Look at chapter fifteen,
over a page of chapter fifteen. Jeremiah was right in the midst
of it. They were his people. But he found something to eat,
and that's it. It was famine. It says in verse sixteen, Jeremiah
found something. He said, Thy words were found,
and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the
joy and the rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name. And our Lord said this, didn't
he? He said, Man doth not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God." That's life. That's living. We think we get
our bellies full. People think they'll just get
their bellies full of food. If they can just get their day
full of pleasure and of mirth, they'll be happy. They won't
do it, will they? Their stomach will growl tonight, and they'll
be after that pleasure first thing in the morning. It won't
satisfy them. I'll tell you what, if you can get your soul full
Then you've got food. You won't even think about bread.
That's fasting. You won't even think about eating.
You won't even cross your mind. Let me tell you this now in warning.
Any man or woman who cares more for this earthly pleasures and
material things is carnally minded, and Romans 8 says carnal mind
is death. Their God is their They're like
Esau. You know, people don't see a
great sin in what Esau did. Oh, yeah. The root of unbelief
was in what Esau did. They say he was just hungry.
He wanted a belly full. No. This is what happened. Esau came
up to his brother and his brother said, now here's the birthright.
Here's all the blessings of God. Here's the things of God. It
was as much as saying, Here is salvation and acceptance with
God, and here's the gospel in modern, so we can understand. Here's the gospel. What do you
want to do, Esau? Fill your belly? Have you fill
a pleasure? Or want to hear the gospel? Is
that your pleasure? Which is your pleasure? Do as you please. What do you want, Esau? What
do you want? Good or mammon? What did Esau say? I'm going
to die if I don't get something to eat. You're going to die, even if
you do get something to eat. And now you're going to double
die. Right? You're going to die physically. You're going to die spiritually. And back to Acts 11, it says
now, in Acts 11, famine again came to the nation of Israel.
Judgment of God. Why? Unbelief. They rejected
God's Christ. They rejected his apostles. And
that's when Paul said, see, as you deem yourselves unworthy
of this, or just prove that they didn't need Christ, he said,
I'm going to the Gentiles. You'll read later on for yourself,
John, or some of you that do this when I tell you to. If you
go back and read through Jeremiah, Jeremiah 14, 15, 16, it talks
about the Gentiles. It says the Gentiles are going
to find something to eat. Even though it's worldwide famine,
there's a remnant, a little portion of the Gentiles, going to find
something to eat. And the Gentiles, well, they
had food. And here in chapter eleven of
Acts, verse twenty-nine, read it. Now this prophet said that
there was going to be dearth or famine, and there was. But
the disciples These people that were together at Antioch, disciples,
every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto
the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did, and they
sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. They
assembled themselves together, they worshipped, they ate, they
scraped together everything they could eat, and they didn't lack
for anything. They might not have had cheesecake,
but they had sponge cake or something like that. And they fellowshiped
together, truly their fellowship was with the Father and with
his Son, and they wanted for nothing. They wanted for nothing. Now, the key verse to all of
this. Amos. Turn to the book of Amos,
chapter 8. All right? Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. That's where it's at. The book
of Amos, chapter 8. And I'm here to tell you this
morning, I'm no prophet, but I'm just telling you from the
Word of God that we're living in a famine. The Word of God
here in Amos 8 says it was coming. Amos was the prophet, Dan, that
prophesied a famine that was to come throughout the world.
We're in it. We're in it. And it's not a famine of bread.
Look at it. Amos 8, verse 11. Days come, saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. America is the world's food supplier,
practically, isn't it? It is the world's food supplier. Yet there are people who are
starving to death on the streets of America. You explain that?
I can't explain that. Yeah, I can too, Henry. That
means our government is just as corrupt as Somalia. Huh? Just as corrupt. If we don't
feed our own, if we're in it for the money, send it over and
so forth, we're just as corrupt if we don't feed our own. Supply
the world with food and we've got people hungry on our street.
Well, here's another. Spiritually speaking, there are
more Bibles, there's more religion, there's more preachers on TV
and on radio and everywhere you turn, everybody and his brother
and his mother is a preacher now. Yet there's a famine of
the hearing of the word, isn't it? Got more food or that is
more Bible. Then we know what to do with
it. Nobody's hearing it. The word is being read, they
have ears to hear and the word is being read, at least some
of it, but not all of it. And they don't hear it when it's
read. That's the famine. They don't believe it. They don't
receive it. They don't love the truth. Few really hunger. Now you, you bless God if you
do. But there are few people who
really hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God. which
is Christ you. They don't need one do they're
good enough. That's reason Henry you can't find anybody wants
to hear this stuff. They don't need it they're fixed up there
is sure for heaven as if they're already there. They don't need it they're not
sinners for one thing. And God and they and they don't
want to hear about God's righteousness about Christ they don't want
to hear about God a holy God God's just not that holy to them
not their God No, their God isn't, is he? They don't want to hear
about sin because they are not sinners anymore. God's just not
that holy. They don't need a substitute.
They don't need a mediator. They don't need a surety. They
don't need a sovereign Lord. They don't want a sovereign Lord.
They don't need to hear sovereign grace. Don't need that. Don't
need that. Give me that health and wealth. Give me that old-time
religion. No, it's changed. The words have
changed, haven't they? Give me that health and wealth
religion. That's good enough for me. And they heap to themselves teachers
having itching ears, just like Jeremiah's day. He prophesied
of that. In Isaiah's day, it says when
the word of God was delivered to one that's supposed to be
learned, the doctors and lawyers of his day, it says the word
was delivered to them. They said, we don't understand it. In Jeremiah's
day, it said that men, certain men said they had a burden for
the word. And God said, don't you say you have a burden for
the word. You got a burden for money is what you got. That's
what God said to the prophets. You've got a burden for money.
You're getting fat off the people. You're not feeding my sheep.
You're filling your bank account. Don't say you've got a burden
for God's glory, for the good of the people, for the souls
of men. Don't you ever say that, God said. And I'm getting sick
of hearing it at the mouths of these prophets today, these P-R-O-F-I-T,
prophets. And we're in a famine. But those
who really hunger and thirst, do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness? I mean the righteousness of God.
What am I talking about? Christ. Is Christ bred to you? Is he made indeed? Is he the
water of life to you? Do you thirst for Christ? I took
a drink of that water just a few minutes ago, and I need it again. It won't meet my thirst, but
Christ will. He says, you'll never thirst
again for the water I give you. Are you really hungry and thirsting
for that? And in our midst, over in Revelation 3, my last point,
Revelation 3, turn there and I'll quit with this. Revelation
3, here's the sad thing, the thing that saddens me. Now perk
up your ears, listen to what I say. In our midst, even in this little
congregation, you with me? Huh? In the midst of our congregation,
we're in a famine. The Lord said it would happen
to the church, Vicki, didn't it? We looked at seven letters
to the churches, not unbelievers, not to the world, the church.
And it gave various problems and maladies and things that
crept up into the church. And we're in the midst of that,
this little congregation. That's what saddens me, that
even in the church there are people that are laboring for
that which is not bread, thirsting for that which satisfies not,
not hungering and thirsting for the gospel. I remember just ten or twenty
years ago. when there seemed like there
was a great outpouring of God's Spirit on the church. Some of you who may have been
in that or through that, the Lord revealed Himself to you
at the time. There was a great outpouring
of His Spirit. There was a real interest in the gospel, a hunger
and a thirsting after the things of God for the truth, for the
reading and the hearing of God's Word, fellowship and preaching.
In the church I went to, there were numbers of young people
the Lord was dealing with and just couldn't get enough of the
gospel. Couldn't get enough! Wherever there was a preaching
service, you'd find them. Wherever the pastor went, people
went. If they could all possibly be there, they'd be there. Go
sit at the TV station and listen to them. Go to a meeting somewhere. Have a conference. Be there every...
Sacrifice this or that and the other to be there. Young men
being raised up to preach the gospel. Fifteen and twenty young
men going out preaching the gospel. Gathering in one another's homes.
Having Bible study. I remember whenever I heard somebody
was opening a Bible, I wanted to go there. Young men. Man,
we'd hear somebody going to preach somewhere. Can I go? Can I go?
I'll drive you. Just want to be there. Let's talk. We talk
for two hours on the way and two hour and hear it while we're
there. Two hours on the way back. Insatiable desire to hear the
gospel. A hungry and thirsting after the gospel. When you schedule a meeting today
or a Bible study or something, you'll have a hard time getting
a hearing. Is that not right? Granted, there
are viable reasons. And here's the problem. In Revelation
3, don't get mad at me, please, but be forewarned. Revelation
3, verse 14, unto the angel of the church that liveth to see
you right, these things saith the amen, the faithful, the true
witness. Now, I'm not saying this, Jesus
Christ is. the beginning of the creation
of God. I know your works, and thou art
neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or
hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor
hot, and neither dead to the gospel nor alive on fire for
it, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of that my mouth.
Because thou sayest, here's the problem, here's the whole problem
in a nutshell. I'm rich and increased with goods.
and have need of nothing. And knoweth not that thou art
wretched, and you need this gospel more than ever, and miserable,
and you need to hear the Word of God. And poor, you don't have
a knowledge of it. You don't have the faith you
need to live by it. And blind, you don't have the
understanding to face the things you're going to face, the foresight
to deal with it. And naked, I counsel thee," you
see, I counsel thee, buy the truth, sell it not, not for a
mess of pottage, not for anything, not for a better job, not for
anything, not for a time of pleasure, not for anything. Buy the truth
and sell it not. And I see folks who are totally
or literally starving themselves and become weak and sick I told you about that man that
sat here for years, didn't I? As long as I've been here, sat
here for years and never once partook of the Lord's table.
I told you about him, didn't I? Everybody knows who I'm talking
about. I make no pretense. I told him
while he sat here, I said, we're going to partake of the Lord's
table tonight now. The Lord said he'd be there, and this is true
close communion. He said he'd sup with us. It's
an ordinance of Christ. He commends it. Be there. You're
under disobedience to Christ. You'll miss out if you're not
there. If you're not at this table, you'll not be at the Lamb's
Supper. Be there. Was he ever there? Never. Not
one time. Is he here this morning? No. He went out from us. Because
he was not of us. If he had been of us, he knew
that would have remained with us. But that it might be made
manifest to us, and that way we might tremble at God's Word. Let us not forsake the sealing
of ourselves together so much more as the day approaches. And I see people hurting, people
all the time, all the time come up to me asking me, wondering,
why don't I have peace? Why don't I have joy? Why don't
I have comfort? When we've got a Bible at our fingertips, we've
got drawers full of tapes. We've got services four times
a week. We've got a brother and a sister we can call at any time.
We've got a pastor sitting in a study waiting on the phone
to ring, waiting to be of some help. Why don't people hurting
all the time? Wanting answers, and I say, is
there no balm in Gilead? Huh? Is there no balm in Gilead? Is the gospel never meant a thing?
Do you ever hear it? And that's what this assembling
of ourselves together is for. And it says in our text that
he, that everybody, according to their ability, determined
to send relief unto the brethren, exhorting one another. You say,
I can't do much, preacher. What does God require of us?
Huh? What does he require of us? Well,
it is required of a steward that he be found what? Faithful. Faithful in what? Great things? Do you have to go to Africatarian?
A few things. This right here. Huh? We don't
make much of being just a church member. Somehow or another, we
got this thing all wrong. We're not up in the pulpit. We're
not doing anything for God, for God's people. Wrong. Wrong. We're exhorting one another. Every time you show up, you're
exhorting others, right? You ladies who are married to
unbelievers, every time you show up, you're exhorting people.
You're saying, see, Christ is my husband. He's the one I love
the most, and I'll come where he is, no matter the persecution
I'll receive at home. And some of our ladies who are
in that position are the most faithful members here. When you're
talking about a trial, that'd be the hardest trial a believer
would ever have to go through, to be married to an unbeliever,
wouldn't it? And what we're doing here, when
we come together like this, we're coming to worship. We need an
excuse for that. Dare we make an excuse not to?
But we're exhorting one another so much the more, as you say,
the day approaching. And every man has his ability
or her ability. Jenny, you've got three children.
It's hard to get all those girls ready and bring them here to
church. When you're here, you being here is such an encouragement
to me. I'm glad you're here. Were you
glad you were here? Did you get anything out of it? It was a
struggle to get here, but you're here. You're glad you came here.
You reaped something from it, I hope. And it's, it's, you can't
put a premium on it. And if you weren't here, you'd
have missed something. Huh? You say the preachers called
us this morning for not showing up to church. No, no. I could cry, you know it. No, this is this is eight. This
is life. There's nothing else. There's
nothing else. And like I said, I see people hurting. I see people
asking for answers. I see people. And this is where
the answers are. Every question you have to ask
will be answered at some point in time from this book, from
that book. Hasn't it? Haven't you found
it to be so? You'd think that you and I had talked beforehand.
Not so. God knows. And all he says is,
be faithful in a few things. I'll make you ruler over men.
I'll give you faith. Faith! What is it we need to live by?
We want by the just shall live by how? Faith in a sovereign
God. Nothing will trouble Him. Nothing
will bother Him. Perfect peace. Where does faith
come from? Hearing the Word of God. I rest my case. Huh? I rest my case. It's not my case. It's what God
says. And I'm not chewing you out,
really. I'm beseeching you. to let the pot sherds strive,
let the pot sherds have the pot sherds. And you come where water
is, you come where bread is. You can find, I tell you, there's
famine out there. Don't feed on, try to feed on
the husks when there's good food to be had. Now, let's sing that
again, Sherry. It's 176. 176. You know, we dealt first half of the message on
Christ and that covenant, the bread of life. And that's
what it says here. She says, this writer of this
hymn says concerning Christ in verse three. Stan will sing verse
three and four. And I hope the Lord be with you
tonight. Okay. Thou art the bread of life, O
Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saved me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above Teach me to love Thy truth for Thou art love Oh, send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, That He may touch my eyes and make me see. Show me the truth, conceal, You're
dismissed.