There won't be any Sunday school
next week. Caleb's gonna bring the regular
message, but we'll just cancel Sunday school for next week.
I'm gonna be over in Sylacauga, Alabama preaching for Brother
Larry and then back home. If you will, turn with me to
Mark chapter six. We're gonna be looking at verses
seven through 13. And I want to bring a couple
studies on these verses. And the first one we'll do today,
I want to concentrate on the apostles' calling. This is where
our Lord called these men to be His apostles. These 12 men being called by
our Lord to be apostles. What is an apostle? We read that
at the beginning of Paul's letters where he says he was called to
be an apostle. What is an apostle? Well, an
apostle is the highest office in the church. I don't know why our Lord saw
fit. Actually, when I look in the
scriptures, I see he reversed the The prophets came first,
and then the apostles, but in Ephesians chapter four, which
I'm gonna preach on here in just a little bit, he reverses that,
and he says he gave gifts, our ascended Lord gave gifts, some
prophets, or some apostles, some prophets. He reverses the order
of it. In Ephesians chapter four, chapter
two toward the end where he said, we're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. He reverses the order again.
And so I think it's safe to say that an apostle is the highest
office in the church. I'm not trying to elevate them
above a prophet, but these men told us what these prophets prophesied
of. These are witnesses of Christ
firsthand, taught of him personally. They weren't taught in a church
somewhere, they were taught by Christ himself. and this message
that they brought. And they ushered in what we call
the gospel age, and I'm not trying to talk about dispensations,
I'm just simply saying this, there was a time when Christ
was only known through the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets
and in type and picture. But then there was a time when
he was manifested. He become flesh and he appeared
on this earth. And then he ascended back into
glory and he left these apostles to establish his local churches. And the whole age has changed.
The priesthood has been done away with. And now he's ministering
to this world through his church or churches, visible church. And so these apostles, this is
the highest office in the church in our day. An office which our
Lord chose to use as the very foundation of our faith. We're
built upon the foundation of the apostle. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid. And Paul said that he laid the
foundation for them. In Ephesians 2.20 it says we're
built upon this foundation. And these men were his witnesses.
They walked with him. They ate with him. They listened
to him. They were taught by him, corrected
by him, exhorted by him. And they saw firsthand all the
things which he did and all the things which were done unto him. They were taught by Christ himself. They were not left to their imaginations. Here's a man who Our Lord asked him one time,
let me put it this way. He said, whom do men say that
I am? Well, some say you're John the
Baptist and some say you're, but certainly a prophet of some
kind. And he said, but whom do you say that I am? And Peter
said, thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ. They were
taught by Christ himself and they were his witnesses. And
they saw everything that he did and all these things, and they
were not left to their imaginations, not turned over to their natural
reasoning, but he told them who he was. And God confirmed it with miracles
and wonders and signs. And these were special men. Men
by whom he would turn the world upside down. These 12, that's
what the Jews See, just this handful of fishermen and shepherds,
they've turned the world upside down. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. But they were
special men. Special men. All who were called
would be gifted to preach, to teach, and fulfill their calling.
Some would even be divinely inspired to write the New Testament. Paul
was, wrote half the New Testament. Think about that. How special
these men were. Peter and James and John and
Paul and all these apostles. You think how special they were.
Think how few there were. Think of the population of this
world. And there were 12. And one of them was a devil.
There were 12. Only 12. You know, and people look at
preachers today, and I don't wanna get into that because that's
gonna be my next lesson on this. I wanna show you the same calling
as it applies to preachers and evangelists in our day. But think
about how few, you know, and people tell me all the time,
well, you think you're the only one who knows anything at all
about the Bible. No, I don't think that. I don't think that.
But I don't think there's a big multitude of people out there
who know it either. I don't think there's ever been
a big multitude out there that knew it. I think they've always
been in the minority. As far back as literature goes,
they are. And they were very special men,
and think how privileged. Here they are over in the Middle
East. I don't know exactly where they're at all the time, but
here's these men, and you think, What a privilege it was for one
of these men to come into your town or to be around you and
for you to hear him. He's Christ's ambassador. He's
Christ's man. He's going to be the writer of
Scripture. This is the man that God has
chosen to use. And to go out before him in all
these places where he himself was going to go. And he sent
these men, Peter and James and John and all of them. and gave
them authority and God the Father confirmed them, confirmed their
calling with miracles and wonders and signs that they did, just
as Christ did. And these men were, every one
of them, gifted to preach and to teach and to fulfill their
calling. And every one of them would be
used to establish this gospel age, New Testament age and the
local churches and establish the order ordained by their Lord. And as John the Baptist was used
by God and then taken out of the way, so these apostles would
be used of God to establish these things and then they were taken
out of the way. We don't have apostles in our
day. We don't have prophets in our day. There's no reason for
them to be here. Word of God's complete. It's
already been confirmed. I don't need to stand up here
and preach and then raise the dead in order for you to believe.
God's already confirmed his word by doing that. He doesn't need
to confirm it again. Apostleship is not a succession
that's gonna be continued to the end of time. And the Catholics
have sort of adopted that. This man they call the Pope,
that's what he is supposed to be. He's supposed to have the
power and authority of an apostle. And he has the, if you listen
to him at all or read any of their literature, you'll come
to find out that they believe that this man, this Pope, has
the power to interpret scripture and to change the meaning of
scripture even. and to say, well, no, this is
not gonna mean this in our age. Our age is different than that
age, so we're gonna believe this. And they believe that this apostleship
is a continual thing. They believe Peter was the head
of the apostles, and so he was kind of the pope, or the first
pope, and then from there, they selected different ones and so
on all the way down through time. So as we go through these verses,
I want you to see their calling and the privilege of that calling
and the character of that calling and the consequences of it and
the benefits of it. So let's examine how they got
to be apostles. What did they do like the Catholics
and come up through the ranks and they start out as I don't
know that much about the Catholic religion, but these local, where
I was raised up in Ohio, the local Catholic churches were
all presided over by one they called Father. father this or father that, and
then you could obtain a higher office after you've been there
a while, and if they liked you and the whole church approved
of you, you could get to be a higher office, and then a higher office
than that, and eventually you could get up here and be a candidate
to be pope. Is that how these guys were called? No. There's not even a hint of
that in here. These men were fishermen. They
were perfectly content to fish until the Lord called them. And
they left their boats and left their nets and they followed
Him. Some of them were shepherds. They left their flocks and they
followed Him. One was a doctor. Left his practice
and followed Him. And you can go on and on. So how'd they get to be apostles? Well, it says here in Mark 6
verse 7, and he called unto him the twelve. Christ called them. It was His choice. He called
them. You know, people look, the only
thing I have to even compare it to is preachers in our day,
People look at preachers and say, well, what makes him think
he's a preacher? Who called him? Well, I really don't have any
evidence of it, but Christ called me. He called me. The evidence
is the message I preach. The evidence is the fact that
I'm here, and I'm a pastor, and you're listening to me. And God's
give you a submissive spirit to do that. That's the only evidence
I have. But Christ called these men,
personally, affectionately, permanently, and without any reservation,
he called these men. Judas obtained a part of this
ministry, he said, but our Lord knew from the beginning who would
betray him, said it would have been better for him not to have
been born. But this was in the will of God,
this was in the purpose of God, for him to obtain a part of that
ministry, and he was considered an apostle. And these men were just chosen
from among men, kind of a cross-section of men. They were fishermen and
tax collectors and a doctor and shepherds, and they were not
of really notable character. Tax collectors was notorious.
They were notorious people. So were fishermen. They were not of notable character,
but questionable character. And most were not wise men after
the flesh. And none were noble. And most were anything but mighty.
And if left to themselves, they would all have died a common
death. And they would have been forgotten but all but a handful.
But that wasn't God's purpose. God's purpose was to use these
men. They were nobody special in themselves,
they were just common men until he called them unto himself. And, what's the word I want to find? He gave them a notoriety. That's really not
the word I'm hunting for, but it's the closest thing I can
find. He gave them a notoriety. He gave them an office that demanded
men's affections, demanded men's submissiveness. He gave them
an authority that accompanied this office, and it had nothing
to do with them. It had to do with him. He gave
it to them. And such notoriety he gave to
these men that he said, when you go into this city, and you
preach this gospel, you enter into this house, and you preach
this gospel, but they don't want to feed you, and they don't want
to take care of you, and they don't want to hear what you got
to say, when you leave that place, you shake the dust off your feet.
and judgment's gonna come on that place. Now there was nothing
in them worthy of that, but everything in them according to this office
to be worthy of that. They had received two callings
from Christ. Their first calling was a calling
from death unto life. It was a calling from being lost
to being found. Peter said he called us out of
darkness into his marvelous light. He delivered them from the power
of darkness and translated them into the kingdom of his dear
son. He called them with a holy calling, not according to their
works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God does not call unregenerate
men to the ministry. That's my purpose, the point
that I'm trying to show you. He didn't call them straight
out of the boat and call them apostles. He called them first
unto life. He regenerated them. Flesh and
blood hath not revealed this to you, Peter, but my Father
which is in heaven. He called them from death unto
life and then he called them to the apostleship. God doesn't
call unregenerate men into the ministry. I was up in Fort Smith
holding a meeting several years back when we were still down
at the old building. And there was a young pastor
there that said that the Lord called him to preach when he
was 12 years old and when he turned 15 the Lord revealed Himself
to him. God doesn't call unregenerate
men to the ministry. He doesn't. separate him unto
the gospel and somewhere down the road give him eternal life. They were called first unto life
eternal. And then secondly, he called them into this office. He called them
to be apostles. Called them to be apostles. And
then here's the second thing I want you to see. I want you
to see the privilege of this calling. God our Savior took this band
of ragtag nobodies. That's all they were. They were
nobodies. And he gave to them the highest
office in the church. In all the history of the world,
There were just 12 apostles. How many billions have populated
this earth since the beginning of time? And from the beginning
of time to date, there's only 12 apostles. Think about that. Just a handful, just a speck
in the number generated by our Father Adam. 12 apostles, 12 men set apart by
Christ and called to the ministry. And oh, what a privilege was
given to them. What a privilege to walk with
our Lord. I can't imagine. John said, our
eyes have seen and our hands have handled, handled the Son
of God. Think about that. I mean, I can't get over the
privilege of just knowing him in my heart. I just can't imagine
walking with him and touching him and having him to touch me
and to talk to me like I'm talking to you. Can you imagine what
a privilege these men experience? They ate with him. We sat around the table last
night and we ate together. Can you imagine Christ sitting
there at that table with you? Huh? What a privilege. And then he himself would teach
them patiently, kindly. How many times did he tell them
about the resurrection? And they were still ignorant
of the resurrection. But he didn't quit. He kept right on teaching. corrected them in love, exhorted
them. There's just no higher accreditation
than what these men had. He revealed himself to them. And then look at this also in
verse seven. It says, he sent them forth. Today, this has fallen into an unrecognizable
thing, these people that God has set apart to use. Look how
far it's fallen in our day. It's no more than a vocation.
Some people want to be fishermen, some want to be policemen, some
want to be doctors, some want to be preachers. No difference. And so those who want to be preachers
go to the seminary, they learn how to conduct themselves with
a kind of, Brother Don said, political savvy, so that they
don't ruffle too many feathers. They learn how to talk without
offending, how to manage without using authority, how to speak
without really saying anything, how to outline a sermon, and
then they're all fixed up. And they get their degree, and
the seminary recommends them, and they go out into whatever
denomination that appeals to them, and they become pastors.
They have everything except the calling of Christ. Everything except his calling.
They have degrees, they have schools, they have their accreditation,
they have confirmation, they have everything except the calling
of Christ. Our Lord began to send him forth.
It says here he sent him forth two by two. Now the object or end of preaching
is an impossibility for a preacher as well as for the hearer. The
only way, how shall they preach except they be sent? Preaching's
not something you can just go do. Well, I'm gonna preach. No,
you can't do it. How shall they preach except
they be sent? They have to be equipped, they
have to be qualified, they have to be called. Providence has
to be adjusted to fit this, arranged rather, to fit this. David is
going to draw men to him, he's going to draw him to men. And what he says is going to
go past the ears to the heart, at least to some. And you can't do that by yourselves. It's an impossibility for the
preacher and it's an impossibility for the hearer. Preaching necessitates
a higher power. It necessitates A power that
no man can generate of himself. I can't get to your heart. I
mean, I get so frustrated sometimes, I really want to. I want to just
cut it open and pour it in, but it don't work that way. We wait
on Him. And to be effectually benefited
by a preacher, God must intervene in the hearer and give him ears
to hear And he must take this preacher and enable him to preach
these things in an understandable fashion. To take these things
that's been mysteries even to the princes of this world and
open them up simply so that a child can understand them. God the Son sent them forth and
he sent them forth in pairs. Now this is not a pattern that over time God gonna send
two preachers to a church. No, that's not what was going
on here. But no preacher I've ever heard
or read of in the scripture or even in the history of the church
has ever been a loner. There's always been other preachers
with whom he communicated. And I tell you, there's reasons
for it. Even Peter came down to Galatia and had to be withstood
to the face. And Paul did that. But he didn't
do it in a mean way. He did it to restore Peter. And
he did it to prove to these people that he believed what he was
preaching to. And to show Peter the damage that he had done and
the ones who were with Peter. And you got two preachers, you
have a fellowship between preachers, and we need that fellowship.
I need their input and they need mine. And so he sends them forth two
by two. They didn't share in a pastorate,
and they didn't share in their apostleship, but they kept company
with one another. And we're expressly told, especially
by Peter, to be subject one to another and be clothed with humility,
for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourself, Peter said, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.
Be subject one to another. Listen if somebody's talking
to you. You don't have to be thinking about what you're gonna
say next. Just stop and listen to what he's saying first. You'll
have time for a comeback. But listen, just listen. So while these men had an equal
authority and office in the kingdom of God, they were subject and
rightfully so to the advice and even sometimes correction of
one another. There's something I want to say
here on this. I'm just a man. I'm not divinely inspired as
was the writers of scripture in the sense that everything
I say is to be counted as the word of God without question.
I want you to prove all things and hold fast that which is good. I do the best that I can. And as Paul said to the Corinthians
by the manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every
man's conscience. I'm going to preach to you and
I'm going to leave it alone. And God will work in your conscience
to confirm it or reject it. There are no perfect preachers
and even Peter had to be withstood to the face. And then there was
something even with Paul and John Mark. There was something
that went on there. Who knows who was at fault? But it didn't keep either one
of them from being writers of scripture or being apostles. And there's always been a company
of preachers sent and not any one man alone. He sent them forth
by twos. And then watch this, he gave
them power over unclean spirits. They were preaching something
new, totally new, something totally different. This had never been
done. There was no baptism before John. There was no preaching
the gospel as they were doing to individuals. And these men
were doing that. And God's going to confirm this
and ratify this by special miracles and wonders and signs. that he
did by them in their midst. And then I think about this when
he talks about these power over unclean spirits. He's even talking
about the power of Antichrist here, and these things have to
be overcome, and the only way they're ever gonna be overcome
is through the power of God. Well, how's he gonna do that?
Well, the preaching of the gospel is the power of God and salvation. The power that he gave to them
is not the same as he uses in me. The power he gave to them
was supernatural. They had a spirit of discernment. They could look at you and know
what you were thinking. That's frightening, isn't it? And it superseded anything they
could do. And then thirdly, he commanded
them that they should take nothing for their journey, just the staff,
no script. And the closest thing I can give
you on this script is a check. It's something they can cash
in if they need a script. And they said, don't take a script.
No emergency funds. No, don't take any extra bread. Don't make a lunch. No money in your purse. You just
go. You just go. And I'm gonna have
to cut this short, but I'm gonna tell you something. When I first
come down here, if you looked at me coming down
here from a natural standpoint and just said, well, Now I have
to feed my family, and I have to do this, and I have to have
this, and some clothes, and maybe a car to drive, and I'm going
to need a little assistance. I wouldn't have come. I wouldn't
have come. There was no potential. If this
were a job that I was going to, I was a carpenter and builder
for years. If I was going to build a house somewhere, going
to look at a job somewhere, and I looked at the potential, I
wouldn't have come. But it don't work that way in
the ministry. In fact, it almost always works
the very opposite. You take a place where it's absolutely
impossible to make things, to figure things out and get things,
you know, this is how we're going to do this. No. No, it don't
happen that way. But you know, I've never wanted
for anything. Nothing. Not since I come here. So where was the potential? It
was in him that sent me. And he'll take care of it. He
rules over Providence. My soul, he could fill this parking
lot up with people if he wanted to. And that's our potential. And we see that and love him
and know that. And man, how that comforts our
hearts. I hope I've made some sense to you about these apostles.