The following sermon was delivered
on Sunday morning, February 13, 2005, at Trinity Baptist Church
in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn
with me in your Bibles to the twelfth chapter of the Gospel
of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew and the twelfth chapter. And
I shall read in your hearing verses twenty-two through thirty. Matthew 12, 22. Then was brought unto him one
possessed with a demon, blind and unable to speak. And he healed
him, insomuch that the man unable to speak both spoke and saw. And all the multitude were amazed,
and said, Can this be the Son of David? But when the Pharisees
heard it, they said, This man does not cast out demons, but
beels above the prince of the demons. And knowing their thoughts,
he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself
shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan,
He is divided against himself. How then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out
demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall
they be your judges. But if I by the Spirit of God
cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. Or how can one enter into the
house of the strong man and spoil his goods, except he first bind
the strong man, and then he will spoil his house? He that is not
with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters. Let us pray and ask the help
of God's Holy Spirit as we come to this portion of the Word. Our Father, we bow again in Your
presence. We trust not as an empty ritual,
but out of the present felt awareness of how much we need Your help
when we take the Holy Scriptures into our hands, when Your servants
seek to stand and instruct others in the knowledge of Your blessed
Word. And we come to you as the Father
who delights to give good gifts to your children, and we ask
for that one great gift. In this hour, the gift of the
Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding,
the spirit of power, the spirit of conviction, the spirit who
testifies of Jesus, the spirit who convinces of sin and of righteousness
and judgment. O God, send your Spirit upon
us in copious measures that He may do all of those things that
He alone can do. and which we so desperately need
Him to do. Come then, help us, and by Your
grace we will be jealous to praise You and to acknowledge that every
bit of help came from Your gracious hand. Hear us then, we plead,
in Jesus' name. Amen. He that is not with me is against
me. He who does not gather with me
scatters. These words were spoken by our
Lord Jesus into the ears of multitudes while he was ministering in the
upper regions of Palestine more than two thousand years ago. Yet by the timeless authority
and the transcultural relevance of his words, he speaks these
words to us today, to you and to me. He says, as surely as
he said to those gathered about him in the upper regions of Palestine,
he that is not with me is against me. He who gathers not with me
scatters. Sitting here this morning, standing
in this pulpit, every one of us is either with him or against
him. We gather or we scatter. If that's not true, then Jesus
has got to come down from heaven and wipe out these words. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me scatters."
And by these words, Jesus is declaring in the most plain and
unambiguous way that with respect to our relationship to Him and
to His work, there is no neutral ground. with him or against him,
gathering or scattering. And with God's help, I want to
impress those words upon your minds and your hearts in our
study of the Word of God this morning. And I want you to note
with me, first of all, the circumstances in which our Lord spoke these
words. They were not spoken in a historical
or circumstantial vacuum. It is not as though we have some
very innocuous description of Jesus sitting somewhere on a
hillside up in Galilee, and all of a sudden he says to his disciples,
Oh, by the way, fellas, did you know that he that is not with
me is against me, and he that doesn't gather with me scatters?
Now, had the Lord said that in such a setting, they would be
true words. For he said, I speak only the
words that my Father gives me to speak. And if he had spoken
them in what we might call a historical or circumstantial vacuum and
we knew nothing of what precipitated them, they would be true if he
spoke them. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me scatters. But we do have a record of the
circumstances in which he spoke those words. Look at verse 22. then was brought unto him one
possessed with the demon, blind and unable to speak." In this
particular incident, this incident, this man's malady was attributed
to demonic influence. Not all blindness and dumbness
is attributed to demonic influences in the scripture. But in this
particular instance, when this man was brought to him who could
neither see nor speak, the scripture is explicit, it was to be attributed
to the influence of a demon. And Jesus casts out the demon. In this case, it is called healing
him. He casts out the demon insomuch
that the man unable to speak now speaks, and the man unable
to see now sees. Now, we read these things in
the gospel records which are condensed accounts and we pass
over them so quickly, but can you imagine the stir this would
have created? One moment a man is groping about,
maybe he has a white stick with which he taps his way, maybe
he's led by the hand of a loved one, he cannot see. He must use
various signals, hand signals by which to make known his desires. He cannot speak and suddenly
the man sees images strike his retina and go by the optic nerve
to his brain and the world of reality suddenly breaks in upon
this man. Can you imagine what it would
have been like for him? How he would have responded to
this ability to see, and now all of a sudden to begin to be
able to frame words and make sounds with his mouth. No wonder
the multitude becomes aware of it, because we read that there
was a two-fold reaction to this healing, verse 23, and all the
multitudes were amazed. Well, how did they become amazed?
Well, obviously, this man's healing did not remain secretive. Now
whether he went jumping around and hollering and using his newfound
faculty, I don't know. But the multitudes became aware
of what Jesus did to this man. And when they did become aware
of it, there was this very marked twofold reaction. On the reaction
of some, notice, and they said, can this be the son of David? There were some who, with their
messianic hopes, began to think, could it be that this is indeed
the Messiah, the long-promised Son of David? Surely a miracle
like this attests to something far more than ordinary prophetic
identity. Can this be? Now notice they
were not affirming, surely this is the Son of David. But they
are in the place of what we might call honest inquiry, honest consideration
and contemplation. Could this be the son of David? That's the reaction of some in
the multitudes. But then there is the reaction
of the Pharisees, verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard
it, They said, this man does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub,
the prince of the demons. These religious leaders who are
becoming increasingly hostile to the Lord Jesus, increasingly
manifesting their hatred toward him, they said, no, no, no, this
is no indication of messianic identity. This is an indication
that he's in cahoots with the devil himself. The answer to
the question, how does he have this power to cast out the demon
that made this man both dumb and blind, is that he is actually
in such cahoots with the devil that the demons respect their
master. He's in connection somehow with
the master, so this whole thing grows out of a union of demonic
and devilish powers. Jesus then responds to that in
verse 25. He reads their minds, and knowing
their thoughts, he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided
against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan,
he is divided against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand? What our Lord does is He exposes
the absurdity of their position. He said, if I'm in cahoots with
the devil, and this has been an instance where the devil's
power has been broken, then the devil's working against himself,
and the devil's got more sense than to do that. He shows that
their position was absolutely ludicrous. And then he affirms
the true explanation of what has happened, verses 28 and 29. But if I, by the Spirit of God,
cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. Or how can one enter into the
house of the strong man and spoil his goods, except he first bind
the strong one, and then he will spoil his goods? He affirms the
true explanation of this miracle. God's rule is being manifested
in Jesus Christ, the King of God's kingdom of grace. God's champion who will defeat
the powers of the devil is present. He is the stronger than the strong
man. This is not a matter of being
in cahoots with the devil, but in mastering and overpowering
the devil. The devil has held this man in
his grip. I, God's champion, have come
and I have broken his grip. And after affirming the true
explanation in which our Lord brings into sharp focus this
cosmic warfare between the devil and the host of darkness, and
God's rule and God's kingdom and God's champion in the person
of Jesus, it is in that particular setting that Jesus then utters
the words of our text in verse 30. He that is not with me is
against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters." The setting
of these words is a setting in which our Lord highlights the
reality of this cosmic warfare between God and His champion,
and the devil and his minions. This warfare that God himself
announced in Genesis 3 and verse 15, when he comes in grace and
judgment to our first parents after they had sinned, God says,
I will put enmity between the devil and the woman between his
seed and her seed, and God announces that there will be an absolute
crushing of the head of the serpent, though in the process there will
be a bruising of the heel of the seed of the woman. And that
cosmic warfare comes to its great focus during the ministry of
the Lord Jesus, and He declares in John 12, 31, now is the prince
of this world cast out. Our Lord Jesus was very conscious
that in those events surrounding His cross and resurrection, there
would be this defeat of the devil and the powers of darkness. This
is underscored again in Hebrews 2, 13 and 14, 1 John 3 and verse
9, for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might
destroy the works of the devil, and it is in the context of highlighting
this great cosmic warfare that goes way back to the Garden of
Eden, that our Lord makes this statement, that in this cosmic
warfare between God, His kingdom, His champion, the devil, His
minions, and His work in men, He that is not with me is against
me. and he that gathers not with
me scatters." So much then for the circumstances in which these
words were spoken. Let's look secondly at the meaning
of these words of our Lord. In the most reduced explanation
I can give, Jesus is saying this, All of you who hear my voice
are involved in this cosmic conflict in which there is absolutely
no neutral ground. All of you are involved in this
great cosmic conflict in which there is no neutral ground. You are either with me, God's
champion who defeats the strong man, or you're against me. You are either gathering with
me in my work of bringing people under my rule, under my gracious
sovereignty and blessing, or you are scattering. There is
no neutrality. Now, from the context, it might
appear that there is. You have the committed disciples. Look at chapter 12 in verse 1. At that season, Jesus went on
the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples were
hungry. Most likely referring to those
twelve disciples who had left all to follow him. They are attached
to him. They follow him wherever he goes.
When multitudes turn away, you remember in John 6, many of his
disciples go back and follow him no more. He turns to the
twelve and says, will you also go away? And Peter, speaking
for them, says, Lord, to whom else can we go? You have the
words of eternal life. Here are those, obviously, who
are with him, who are gathering with him, one group. There's
a second group, the antagonistic Pharisees in verse 24. But when
the Pharisees heard it, they said, this man does not cast
out demons, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, they
are obviously against him, seeking to scatter from him. But then
it would appear there's another group, the mixed but uncommitted
multitude. They are amazed, verse 23. The multitudes were amazed. They are tentative and open to
considering whether or not He might be Messiah. And in the
parallel passage in Luke 11, 27, some in that group are even
enthusiastic. For we read in the parallel passage
in Luke 11 and verse 27, And it came to pass, That's right after this same
incident. It came to pass, as he said these
things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice
and said, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts
at which you nursed. Here is someone enthusiastic
about Jesus, cries out, Blessed is the womb that bore you. It
would seem that there are three groups of people. the committed,
sold-out disciples attached to him, the antagonistic enemies,
the Pharisees, and in the middle, a group that's neither really
for him nor against him. Could he be son of David, blessed
as the womb? In that context, Jesus says,
there ain't no third category. In that context, Jesus says,
no, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers
not with me scatters. Now notice how clearly he asserts
this as he breaks it down into two categories. One with reference
to his person, he that is not with me, and the other to his
work, he that gathers not with me. The one who is not with him
is against him. There is no neutrality to his
person. Sitting here this morning, from
the youngest to the oldest, I want to state it as bluntly as I know
how. You cannot be neutral to the
person of Christ. It's impossible. Jesus said it.
To be with Christ is to be attached to Him in faith and love and
obedience. That's what it means to be with
Christ. To be attached to Him in the
bond of faith. Going out of yourself and all
trust in yourself and relying solely upon Him for forgiveness
and pardon and acceptance with God. To be with Him is to be
attached to Him in love, which is always the fruit of true faith. Faith works by love, Galatians
5, 6. This is why the apostle can say,
if anyone loves not the Lord, let him be anathema. Why? Because
if one does not love him, it's because one does not truly believe
on him. To believe on him is then inevitably
to love him. And to believe on him and to
love him is inevitably to obey him. For if you love me, you
will keep my commandments. To be with him means to have
this positive attachment to Jesus as he is revealed in the scriptures,
an attachment in faith, in love, and obedience. And Jesus said,
the one who is not with him, Sitting here this morning, young
or old, it matters not your age, it matters not where you are
on the spectrum of what you think is tentative consideration. Could he be? I'm weighing the
issue, my friend. To weigh the issue is not to
be with him, but against him. Unless you are with Him in the
attachment of faith and love and obedience, Jesus said, not
this preacher, Jesus said, you are against Him. Because you
can't be neutral before incarnate deity. You can't be neutral. before one who makes such claims
upon you and upon me, demanding unrivaled trust, unrivaled affection. He that comes to me and hates
not father, mother, brother, sister, and his own life also
cannot be my disciple." You can't be neutral before such claims.
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. To see Him for who
He is is to fall before Him with promise and say, My Lord and
My God. Not, Could He be Lord? Could He be God? No. It's to fall before Him and say,
My Lord and My God. And in these words, Jesus is
saying, If you're not with Him in that attachment of faith,
of love and obedience, you're against Him. But you say, Pastor,
I'm not against Him. I've got no grudge against Jesus. Yes, you do. Because He's making
claims upon you right now this morning that you don't want to
get to Him. Why are you being tentative?
I'll tell you why. You've got plans of your own.
You've got desires of your own. You've got standards of your
own that you don't want to utterly relinquish and say, Lord Jesus,
I'm yours, lock, stock and barrel. Every standard you give is mine
from here on in. Every direction you give is mine
from here on in. Your people will be my people.
your will will be my will without question." You know what? Could he be? He that is not with
me is against me. And then he says, he who gathers
not with me scatters. No neutrality to his person,
no neutrality to his work. Most likely the gathering is
a veiled reference to sheep. And I want you to look at two
passages that persuade my judgment that that's what the Lord has
in mind. Look at John 11 and verse 52. Letting scripture throw
light upon scripture. John 11 and verse 52. We can
back up to verse 51. The prophecy that Caiaphas makes.
Now this he said, Not of himself, but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for
the nation only, but that he might gather together into one
the children of God that are scattered abroad. And you have
two words that in their root are exactly the same. Gathering,
scattering. Jesus is going to die. Caiaphas
makes a prophecy and doesn't even know it, that his death
will be the foundation of the gathering together into one of
the children of God that are scattered abroad, and then back
to John 10 and verse 12. John 10 and verse 12. He that
is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,
beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. Same word for scattering. So I believe what our Lord is
saying is, In this veiled reference to his mission of gathering his
sheep to himself, as he says in John 10.17, other sheep I
have that are not of this fold, them also I must bring. He says with respect to this
work of gathering his people to himself, there is no neutrality. He that does not gather with
me is scattering. Let me put it as bluntly as I
know how. Your life, from day to day, is either a means of
gathering to Jesus others, or scattering them from Jesus. You
say, Pastor, I... I didn't say it. Jesus says,
no middle ground. He that gathers not with me,
scatters. We don't like that, do we? Jesus
draws such a clear line in the sand, we want to say, well, I'm
neither gathering nor scattering. Then tell the Lord Jesus to come
down from heaven and rewrite his word. Do you have the gall
to expect him to do that? If not, this text is true. He
that gathers not with me scatters. Your life is either an instrument
in the hands of the Holy Spirit in some degree, in some way,
to gather to Christ, or it scatters from Christ. And there's no neutral
ground. For you see, if you are truly
attached to Jesus in faith, in love, and obedience, you cannot
help but live in such a way that to some degree your life is an
instrument to gather unto Him. But if you're not attached to
Him in faith, in love, in obedience, you're still a child of the devil.
You are still a son of Belial, a daughter of the enemy. You're
in the kingdom of darkness, and you are the instrument of the
prince of darkness to scatter These are the words of Jesus.
If it gathers not with me, it scatters. This then, as far as
I can understand my Bible, is the essential meaning of these
words of Jesus, spoken then, true then, spoken and just as
true now. Well, we looked at the setting
of these words of Jesus, the meaning of the words of Jesus,
now thirdly, Consider with me what I'm calling some searching
and encouraging conclusions drawn from these words of Jesus. Some
searching and yet encouraging conclusions drawn from these
words of Jesus. Number one, the absence of whole-souled
attachment to Jesus in faith and love and obedience. is regarded by Jesus as whole-souled
antagonism to him. Let me run it by you again. The
absence of whole-souled attachment to Jesus in faith, love, and
obedience is regarded by Jesus as whole-souled antagonism to
him. He that is not with me is against
me. Well, I don't feel that I'm against
him. It has nothing to do with your
feelings. It has to do with what Jesus tells you. Because he comes to you in the
overtures of his grace and his kindness and his mercy and his
saving power. And he is not neutral to you.
He comes to you in the preaching of the Word. He comes to you
in the twinges of your conscience. He comes to you at family worship. He comes to you in your Sunday
school class. He comes to you from this pulpit. And He presents Himself to you
as the God-Man. full of grace and truth in all
the plenitude of His saving power, and He says, Come to Me. with gracious imperatives. He calls upon you to abandon
all hope of salvation in yourself. He calls upon you to stop dilly-dallying
and saying, well, could He be? He says to you here today, trust
Me. Abandon yourself to Me. Give
yourself to Me. Believe in Me. Take up your cross. Begin to follow Me. And your
refusal to do so pits you against Him. The absence of whole-souled
attachment to Him is regarded by Him as whole-souled antagonism
to Him. Now, to be against Jesus is serious
stuff. He that is not with me is against
me. That's serious business to be
against him. Now listen to me carefully. Right now, this moment,
sitting here, if you're not with him, you're against him. But listen to me. He is still
for you. Now a moment, a day is coming
when he won't be for you. He'll be against you. In all
the righteous fury of His holy office as the appointed judge,
He'll be against you. And He will say, Depart from
Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. And it will be an eternal, irrevocable
against you. But oh, my dear sinner friend,
boy, girl, young man, old man, old woman, listen. He's still
for you. He's keeping you alive. He upholds
all things by the word of His power, Hebrews 1. He keeps your
heart beating in your breast. He keeps you drawing your next
breath. And he's brought you here to
this place, another Lord's day. And his servant stands before
you and says, in the word and promise of the gospel, Jesus
is for you. He says, come unto me and I'll
give you rest. Him that comes to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. It's the Jesus. who, when he
sees that city of Jerusalem where he has labored, showing he was
for them in grace and mercy, and they turn aside, he says,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you as
a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not. I was for you,
but you were against me in your unbelief. You were against me
in your impenitence. But I was for you, for you in
my mercy, for you in my compassion, for you in my yearning over you. Dear children, young people,
Christ is still for you in the word and promise of the gospel. You have no assurance He'll be
for you another day, another Lord's Day. And if He chooses
to stop that heart from beating in your breast and take away
your breath, the moment you breathe your last, He's everlastingly
against you. Everlastingly against you. And there is a sense in which
Almighty God is against you while still being for you. That's the
mystery. of God's free, sincere offer in the Gospel. The Scripture
says in John 3.36, He that believes better rendered he that obeys,
not the Son. The wrath of God, present tense,
abides upon him. God's wrath hangs over you like
a dark, ominous cloud. And it's only a heartbeat that
keeps that wrath from crashing down upon you. And yet, while
God is against you, in Christ he's for you. Pastor, you're
talking nonsense. No, I'm talking Bible. He's against
you. Who has warned you to flee from
the coming wrath? And yet He's for you. You're
alive. You're sitting here. You're rational.
God's servant cares enough for you to look you in the eye and
pour His soul through His voice and His heart and His hands. What more can He do to show you
He's for you? You go on in your unbelief, withholding
your heart from Him, stubbornly refusing to commit yourself to
Him. You will not be attached to Him
in faith and love and obedience. The absence of that whole-souled
attachment to Jesus is regarded by Jesus as whole-souled antagonism
to Him. Secondly, The absence of a positive
influence on others that draws them to Jesus is regarded by
Jesus as a scattering influence that drives them from Him. I'll
give it to you again. The absence of a positive influence
on others that draws them to Jesus is regarded by Jesus as
a scattering influence that drives from him. He that gathers not
with me is scattering. You either gather or scatter,
no neutral influence. You say, well, I don't go around
cussing and swearing and telling dirty jokes. Ah, but listen,
you go on as a living monument that Jesus is not worth your
trust. that He's not worth your love,
that He's not worth your obedience. You go on slandering Jesus every
day. You live in your unbelief without
loving Him with all your heart and obeying Him. You slander
Jesus! And by slandering Him, you scatter!
You rub shoulders with people day after day in your home, in
your school. And what your life says is Jesus
is not worthy to be trusted. That's slander. You say Jesus
is not worthy to be loved with all the heart. That's slander.
Jesus is not worthy to be obeyed. That's slander. That's scattering
people. You're lying about my Savior. And he doesn't take it lightly.
He that gathers not with me scatters. But you see, when you trust Him,
commit yourself to Him, abandoning all hope for forgiveness and
acceptance with God in yourself, in what you do, in what you hope
to do, and say, Oh Lord Jesus, I come empty-handed, trusting
only in You. And then you see as the fruit
of that faith, he's altogether lovely and worthy of having that
place of supreme affection above father, mother, brother, sister
in your own life also. And out of that faith and the
love that will be born of that faith, you seek to obey him deliberately,
consciously, albeit imperfectly, just living that way. You see
what you do? Wherever you go, your life says
Jesus. is altogether worthy of being
trusted, he's altogether worthy of being loved, and altogether
worthy of being obeyed. You're drawing, you're drawing,
you're drawing, oh yeah! Jesus said, I came not to send
peace but a sword. I'm fully conscious that in that
drawing process there will be times when there will be persecution
for righteousness sake, but that very thing may be the instrument
God uses to let people see, hey, we give this guy, this gal a
hard time because it's evident Jesus has first place in his
life, her life. You can't get away with cutting
corners around him or her and they're going to mock you and
pick on you. But in their moments of sober
reflection, they say, hey, if Christianity is real, he's got
it. She's got it. It means more than our smiles
and our favor. And when their back gets against
the wall, you know where they're going to come? They're going
to come to you. You've been drawing all the while. You appear to
have been repelling. You see it? Now your life is doing one thing
or the other. You are drawing or you are scattering. I didn't
say it. Jesus said it and He meant it. He that gathers not with me is
scattering. And this half-baked, well, could
he be, and maybe someday, it's time it stopped. And by God's
grace, it'll stop if some of you recognize that's a cop-out
for saying, I'm not ready to let Jesus have the place he deserves. First place in every area, in
every relationship. Stop slandering him. and hiding
behind, well, I'm considering the faith and I'm weighing the
issues. What have you got to weigh? What more does he have to do
to prove he is who he is? What more does he have to do
to prove he's worthy of all that he demands of your undivided
affection? It's a cop-out, especially you
kids reared in a Christian home. He demands and is worthy of your
whole soul trust right now, today. And of the undivided heart, and
of the diligent, serious obedience to Him, obedience rendered in
the framework of the reasonable demands of His yoke, and the
absence of a positive influence on others that draws them to
Jesus, is regarded by Jesus as a scattering influence. That's
the searching applications. Now I want to give an encouraging
application. Look at the text again. What
in that text is there to encourage us? Well, listen to the words. He that is not with me, is against
me, that means we can be with Him. He that gathers not with
me, scatters, that means I can actually be a partner with Jesus
in gathering. I can be with Him, I can gather
with Him. Now I say that's a wonderful
encouragement, that Jesus is ready to say, of vile, filthy,
polluted, hell-deserving wrecks of humanity. They're with me. I own them. They're my kind of
people. Isn't that wonderful? Remember
what he did one day? He's teaching in a house. A bunch
of people are all around him and then some of his relatives
come and they send a messenger and they say, your mama and your
siblings are out there and they want you. And Jesus said, who
are my siblings? He said, here's my family, those
who hear the word of God and do it. That's my mother. That's
my brother. Those are my people. They're
my kind. I tell you, it's a thrilling
thing to think that Jesus is willing to say of the likes of
you and me, that's my kind. They're my people. I'm not ashamed
to own them as mine. That's what he's going to do
in the last day. Hebrews tells us that he's going to say to
the Father, Father, I and the children whom you have given
me, look what I've done for them, Father. By my gracious salvation,
they all bear the family likeness. My blood has cleansed them, has
provided a just pardon. My Spirit has sanctified them
and renewed them and made them into my likeness. Father, here's
my whole bunch of my people. They're my people. You're my
kind. He that is not with me means
there are some with him. And he's ready to own that identification. With him. With him. This man
receiveth sinners and eats with them. That's how I can be with
him. He receives sinners. It's sinners
that he calls his family. What a privilege. What a privilege. I hope it can make some of you
dwellers jealous. Wouldn't it be wonderful to know
that up in heaven today and by the Spirit present in this place,
Jesus would say of you, that's one of my kind. They're with
me. Father, they're with me. Attached
to me in faith, in love, in obedience. And I've given my spirit to them.
And I'm at work in them. And when I'm done, they're going
to share perfectly the family likeness when I present them
to you, Father, with Him. With Him. You see, that's what
keeps you going when people look at you like you're a religious
nut. And they would disown you and distance themselves from
you. They think you're a bit kooky. You say, wait, there's
one in heaven who says, that's one of mine. He's with me! With me, Father! One of mine. What a privilege to be with him.
But then, what a privilege to gather with him. To gather with
him. And this is our privilege. Listen
to this text. In 2 Corinthians 6, in verse
1, though it has unique applications in the apostolic ministry, it's
not exhausted in that. Paul, in verse 20, speaking of
himself and his fellow laborers, we're ambassadors, therefore,
on the behalf of Christ. As though God were entreating
by us, we beseech you on the behalf of Christ. be reconciled
to God. Think of it. Paul said, I stand
in Christ's place when I beseech you to be reconciled to God,
him who knew no sin, etc. Verse 1, and working together
with him, we entreat also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. We also working together with
him. That's why when Peter writes
to wives who've got unconverted, nasty, unreasonable husbands,
he says to those wives, look, you're gathering with your Savior.
In like manner you wives be in subjection to your own husbands,
but even if any obey not the word, they may without the word
be gained by the behavior of their wives. You're working with
him, you abused, unappreciated wives who've got these churlish,
unconverted, nasty, selfish, self-centered husbands. Conduct
yourself in a gospel way and they may be gained by the behavior
he that gathers with me. Gathering by a consistent Christian
lifestyle in a negative, nasty, unappreciative context. You gather,
you're gathering with him. And dear people, as I laid out
in the previous hour, this prospect of the establishment of these
home-based evangelistic Bible studies, do you see something
of the light of this text on him? He that gathers, gathers, to think we can be with Christ
in His gathering work. Are you prepared to say you don't
believe God has any of His elect in your community? What a fanatical
claim to make. They're there. And Jesus said,
Other sheep I have. I have them already. They are
not of this world. Them also I must bring. How does
He bring them? He brings them through his people
as they are gatherers together with him. He that gathers not
with me, which means there are some who do gather with him,
and we are privileged to be of those some want And that ought
to fill us with a fresh sense of expectation and hope and prayerful
dependence upon God that we might see in the days to come the gathering
work of Jesus. If He doesn't gather, a name
won't be gathered. But we're privileged to gather with Him,
with Him, with Him, with Him. And we are privileged to have
that part. Well, that's the text. It was
on my heart to preach to you this morning. I preach it about
every eight to ten years. It's been almost ten years since
I preached on it, except in the school graduation. I know some
of you were there. I know I preached in the school
graduation, but that wasn't in the church. Why do I want to preach this
every ten years? For the simple reason. that in this context
where you have a generation of children coming up under the
sound of the gospel and the proper theology of Christ and his work
and his person, it's so easy to think, if I'm not someone
who's bad-mouthing Jesus and cussing Jesus and living like
the devil, then somehow there's a middle ground where I can be
neutral to his claims. There isn't. In this cosmic warfare,
you're aligned with Jesus or with the devil, and there's no
neutral ground. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me scatters. May God grant that some of you
will not pillow your head this Lord's Day. until you've settled
this issue. Oh, Lord Jesus, I don't want
to be found against you, especially because you are still for me,
in mercy, in grace, your goodness that is calculated to lead me
to repentance. Lord Jesus, I'm done. I'm done tempting you. I'm done
playing Russian roulette with my soul. Lord Jesus, I want to
be with you. I want to be aligned with you
in faith and love and obedience. I want to be aligned with you
in your work of gathering to yourself. Lord Jesus, here I
am. There's a lot I don't know, a
lot I don't understand, but Lord Jesus, this I know. You are God. You came from heaven to save
sinners. I know I'm such a sinner. And
I know that you call every sinner as a sinner to abandon all hope
in himself or herself and cast himself upon you. Lord Jesus,
that I do. Take away my love of self. Take
away my love of the world. Take away my idolatrous love
of my friends and my peers. To wear your will, Lord Jesus,
not peer consensus, shapes my life. What I watch, what I hear,
what I say, what I wear, Lord Jesus, I'm yours. It happened to a teenager, yes.
It happened to this teenager. And I ain't never gone back by
the grace of God. Did it cost? Yes, it cost. It still costs. But what's the
cost? To know that He owns me as one
of His and said, He's one of my kind. I'm with Him because
He's with me. And Lord, He's gathering. Father,
He's gathering. He's gathering with me. Let people
think you're nuts. Let people think you're this.
Let people think you're that. At the end of the day, who's
going to sit on that throne and judge you? Them or Him? One of
the passages I read almost every Lord's Day morning to prepare
myself to preach. You know what it is? It's 2 Timothy
chapter 4, verses 1 to 8. I charge you in the sight of
God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the
dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word. Timothy, preach with the shadow
of that day over you when the Lord Jesus will judge. I have sought to preach that
way this morning. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me scatters. There is no neutral ground. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for
these words of our Lord Jesus, and we pray that the Holy Spirit
would ripen indelibly upon every one of our hearts. Oh, how we
yearn that this day, some who began the day against you will
end the day with you. Some who began the day scattering
will end the day gathering. Lord Jesus, would you not do
this for the good of their souls, for the delight of the hearts
of many? Oh, Father, thank you. Thank
you for the encouragement of this passage that you privilege
us to be identified with our Savior in his person and in his
work. Oh, fill us with a fresh sense
of our high calling and privilege to gather with Him. We pray that
You would go before us in these matters that were laid out in
the previous hour. Oh, God, we pray, use us as never
before to be instruments of gathering unto Jesus. Seal then Your Word,
we pray, to the praise of Your Name. Amen.