Well those of you who know me, well
brave enough to say you know me, would say that's quite some
achievement. Someone says he's his friend. We have heard two messages so
far today. I was just thinking at the end
of Pastor Jarrod's message there, I'm not one for alliteration,
but it just seemed, it seemed to, doom came upon me because
it seemed the first message was comfort. The second message was
confidence. I've got a feeling this is going
to be controversy. I can't think of another C. But
let's hope not. But indeed the word of God should
to some degree challenge us, should it not? We shouldn't just
say amen to everything. We shouldn't leave from hearing
the word of God and just pat the preacher on the back. Sometimes
we need to be in a position where we would actually be preferring
to lay one on him. You know, the Word of God challenges,
and the Word of God should challenge us today. I want you to turn
with me please to the Gospel of Mark, and we're reading a
few verses from chapter 8. Gospel of Mark and chapter 8,
and we're beginning from verse 34. speaks of the Lord Jesus when
he had called the people to himself with his disciples also he said
to them whoever desires to come after me let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me For what will it profit a man
if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me
and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
the son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of
his father with the holy angels. Now our verse we are looking
at briefly here is this last statement by the Lord Jesus for
whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and
sinful generation of him the son of man also will be ashamed
when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels For those taking notes, the title
of the message here is, and it can only be, those who know me
can only be, right or wrong with me, up front and not ashamed. Up front and not ashamed. That
is what we are to be. If we are the people of God,
if we truly are the people of God, we are to be up front and
not ashamed. Those kids who are here today,
and maybe larger kids, will remember a film from last year called
Home. I don't know if anyone's here who saw that film, that
animated film. And there was this little creature
who came down, and these creatures came down from this planet, and
there was one outcast from them. He went by the name of O. And he thought everyone loved
him. And he said, I have been given this name by my many friends. And then they showed a caption
of this creature. And whenever he went near all
these other of his kind, they all went, oh. Well, it's a bit
like that with me, I think, sometimes. But you know, we've all got that
friend, haven't we? We've all got a family member
who at times is a bit of an embarrassment. Don't invite them to that function.
They're going to say something. They just can't help themselves.
Don't sit them next to so-and-so. It's all going to kick off, isn't
it? I remember I used to go to football,
as we now know it's called, don't we? But soccer, as our friends
from the States say... I used to go to football a lot
with my mates, and when we used to go down the pub, there was
one thing that would send one of them walking away from us.
one conversation which would send them walking away from us.
Because as kids, we used to play this game. It was a really skillful
game. It was so good a game, we played
it even into our adulthood. It was a game, a football game,
a table football game called Sabutio. I don't know if anyone
remembers Sabutio. And it was a game of pure skill.
You had to be skillful at this game. And we even used to have
our own little league, even up to the age of about 18, 19, 20.
whenever anyone used to mention this, deliberately in most cases,
this guy Richard would walk away. He wouldn't even say a word,
he'd just walk away. It's a beautio in shorts. I can't
be hearing any of that. That's the church, dear friends.
That's the church. That's the church that calls
itself evangelical. That's the reformed church. Whatever title they give themselves,
those who claim, those who claim, in many cases, to believe the
doctrines of grace, to love the doctrines of grace, even as someone
with an embarrassing member of their family, they would never
say they don't love, but they're ashamed of them. They're embarrassed
of them. Most times you will never hear
them preached fully. They'll hide behind statements. They won't say such statements
as limited atonement, will they? They'll hide behind a less offensive
term like particular redemption. The Word of God, the Gospel of
God's grace is not hypothetical. It is exactly what Peter said
earlier. It's straight down the line simple. Praise God it's simple because
people like me can understand it. And that gospel that we seek
to take out into all the world to the common people is a simple
sound. If there's any complicated sound,
we've got a problem. You should raise your alarm bells. Christ says, if any man be ashamed
of me and my teaching, not ashamed in the parlor, not ashamed in
the office, in the vestry, amongst your fraternals, but in the pulpit,
when you're silent on it, I'm going to be ashamed of you. And
if you're ashamed, if you're ashamed, If you're a member of
a congregation that's ashamed to preach openly and honestly
and up front what we say we believe, we're in danger of the Lord saying
unto us, I'm ashamed of you. I want to just look at three
things. How Are people not ashamed? You see, we're not just going
to look outwardly. We must look inwardly as well.
We must challenge ourselves as well. Otherwise, we not preach
the word of God. It's very easy to point the finger
outwards, but we've got to get our own house in order as well.
But firstly, we see people are ashamed by what is preached. In fact, I would say it's not
preaching. Because, Peter is clear, if we're
proclaiming the gospel of God's grace, if we're proclaiming the
gospel of Christ, that's preaching. I don't care what their education
is, I don't care what their intellect or lack of intellect is, if they're
talking on subjects, and wowing people with things that they
say that sound good, but they're not preaching the gospel, they're
not preaching. Simple as. Quite often, the preaching
of the Gospel is not really preaching the Gospel of Christ, you see.
The Gospel that came from Him. The Logos. The Word. Sure, there are many who claim
to love the teachings of Christ. You won't find many in the Evangelical
Church who will openly say to you, I hate the teachings of
Christ. Have you ever met them? But in
practice, that's what they do. The teachings of Christ, which
are the doctrines of grace, they are not Calvinism. We don't worship
Calvin. Calvin had a lot wrong, by the
way, he was a man. They are the doctrines of God.
The doctrines of grace, they do not preach them. They don't
preach them openly. rather trusting in the writings
of fallible men. The only truth is, the only truth
ever is, the only truth I've ever been instructed in, Pastor
John would always say, with a question I'd have about this or that,
he would always say, what do the scriptures say? Simple it
may be, But profound and true it is. That is all there is. What do the scriptures say? Nothing
more. Nothing more. We need to heed the words of
the Lord Jesus instead of following the evangelical speak. Oh, we're great at making speak
up in the church. And it sounds good, doesn't it?
And half the time I haven't got a clue what people are talking
about. We don't trust in our terminology. Otherwise, what we are studying
is not theology. It is nothing more than anthropology.
It's the study of man and his wisdom. But that is the church
today. It has invaded the church today. Can I say scum? This scum of
a teaching has invaded the church today. It has no place in it.
It's filth. It's filth. It's done. It's a righteousness of man that
God says, by the prophet Isaiah, what does he say? What does he
say? Filth. Filthy rags. I upset someone when I described
what Isaiah was saying in the true Hebrew word, in the true
meaning of the Hebrew word here. Well, I'll say it again because
let's go for it. It means it's nothing filthier,
it can be nothing better than a menstrual cloth. That is exactly
what God says. That's what God says. I don't
care what commentators say. That's what God says. We trust
in God's word alone. Jesus says, the son of God says,
God says, my words are spirit. The flesh profits little. Does he say that? The flesh will
only get you so far. Does he say that? He says the
flesh profits nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Your words, man, they
are nothing. Absolutely nothing. God's word
alone. We are surrounded on every side. by a message which is tainted,
tainted with man's inventions, while hiding the truth of Christ's
teaching on sovereign grace. It must never be brought to be
mentioned. Oh yeah, sure, there are people
who will preach it sometimes. Oh, I've met these impostors,
I've met these fools, I've met these people who want to feather
their own cap and get around, as John would say, on the circuit.
I'll go to this church, it's a sovereign grace church, I'll
preach the doctrines of grace there. But I go to this one,
I won't preach them there. People have said that to me.
They're frauds. That's what they say in America,
isn't it? Frauds, they do say that, don't they? Phonies, they
say in America. Brother Don, we've got to mention
Brother Don today, haven't we? Brother Don would say their words
ain't worth spit. I'm going to be sued now for libel,
aren't I? He owns those words. But is that not true? Is that
not true? When people are doing that, they
are not preaching honestly. That's no better than my wife,
Alison, who, when we go down the street, she'll say to someone
who's handing out leaflets, the cheek of it, she'll say to someone,
when there's someone handing out leaflets, I'm walking slightly
ahead of her, and I've taken a leaflet, and she'll say to
them, oh, it's all right, I'm with him. And I turn around and
say to her, and quite often I'll say, when did you last say you
were with me? Convenient it was, wasn't it?
But that's the preaching that goes on today. It's a preaching
of convenience. People are silent to the most
part. The Apostle Paul identifying,
I was shivering because I thought maybe you're gonna touch on this
verse as your main verse, Peter. Because the Apostle Paul, identifying
it thus, in Galatians 1.7, "...but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ." PERVERT the gospel
of Christ. Should I say it like that? Get
some impact? PERVERT. Strong words indeed pervert he
means he means when he says this they turn it around Because they're
always trying to get around the truth to make it palatable. They corrupt it. That's what
he's saying People are embarrassed silent on and so we must say
are ashamed of Christ and his teaching There can be no other explanation
surely Surely. What marks such people out? Well,
many will say to you, you'll meet them. Many will say to you,
our doctrine is down the line, down the line, exactly the same
as yours. You've met them. You've met them. You should always have, in the
back of your mind, with this man also. He says he believes
them. He says he believes this, he
says he believes that. Is it? Is it down the line the
same? When they say they believe in
grace, well what do you mean by grace? When they say we believe
in an election, what election do you believe? When you say
you believe in limited atonement, what limited atonement do you
believe? Because you look a bit closer and you see they've made
up teachings of man that get around that and add to it, which
in effect is denying it. You see, it matters not what
they claim, it matters not what any of us claim, In fact, what we all claim to
believe, it matters not. Not on its own. What we all claim to believe,
sound as a pound, that's a lovely saying we've got in this country.
Sound as a pound it all may be, yes squeaky clean. But what do they, what do we
actually preach? People who claim to believe the
doctrines of grace have changed the teachings, the teachings
of Christ, they have changed His teachings to make it acceptable to man. I joked with Billy about this
earlier, Billy Foley, because I was talking to him last year
before I came and briefly spoke about Munir. And I quoted him. It seemed quite apt. And now
I've got a quote from Billy again. I think we're going to have to
open the book of Billy's quotes and sell it in the bookstore.
But we were talking and we were saying, yeah, that's us. We're
not just full of sin. I think there's a better way
of putting it. We're full of it. We're full of it. And not only
that, not only that, we preach what's acceptable to
man, because deep down we know, in all honesty, each one of us,
each one of us, even us who believe the truth, we know in our flesh
that dwells no good thing, nothing of God, nothing of God's teaching
is acceptable to us. When we understand that, we will
then learn to look at scripture with the eyes of the spirit rather
than the eyes of the flesh. Everything about us, everything
we read in this word, you're a liar if you say you do not.
You have the other side, your old nature, your sinful nature
is denying the word of God. The word of God is anti the flesh. But we surely are content and
not ashamed to trust anything but Christ and his word alone.
As 1 Corinthians 2 says, now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but
with the Holy Spirit, which the Holy Spirit teaches. comparing
spiritual, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. So what of us? What of us here? We must ask the question of us,
always. What of you? You see, it is easy
for us, as I said earlier, it is easy for us to just sit here,
to stand here and amen how others are wrong. We haven't got everything
right. If you've got everything right,
put your hand up right now. We used to joke at Merton years
ago, and John used to say to me, he'd say, there's no perfect
church, Harry. He says, Meck comes close, though. We affectionately call it M-E-C-K,
for those who don't understand. We must get our own house in
order before we can correct others. Although our essential gospel
doctrine may be okay, absolutely right even, is our practice denying
in any other way the teaching of Christ. Here it goes. Take a large gulp
of water. But accept these things in the
spirit it's meant. What about the Lord's Supper?
Oh, don't go there. You said earlier, don't go there.
You said don't go there, and then I saw the game of football
going on and I couldn't resist. You saw the state of me when
I came back. I went there, didn't I? We have
to... There are no no-go areas in the
Word of God. Do you remember the 1980s, those
who are old enough? There were areas in cities in
England where there were no-go areas. Even the police weren't
allowed to go there. That's crazy, isn't it? There's
no no-go area for the Word of God. Is there? Oh good, I didn't hear an Amen,
that's good. I was hoping I wouldn't find
someone dissenting. But what about communion? See,
perhaps to some this will seem controversial. It's not meant
to be controversial. It's quite simple. Because looking into the Word
of God, I cannot see it. Now there's much greater minds
and theologians than me. But I can't see it. I'm willing
to be corrected always. I cannot see any controversy
here. So how is it that we are in danger
of being ashamed of Christ's teaching on this subject? In our practice. There is, I'm emphatic on this, Am I allowed to mention how you've
been served? Mrs. Slocum used to say, I am unanimous
in this. But I seriously am emphatic on
this. The word of God is clear. There
is no way if we are all believing the same gospel, as Paul says
it, speaking the same thing of one mind. If we are all believing the same
message, the one message, as Peter said earlier, If we are
all preaching, believing the same gospel, we should, there is no way, no
way at all, we should refrain from partaking of this great
symbol of our Lord's wondrous redeeming work at the cross,
where he was once offered to bear the sins of many, the sins
of his elect, All the elect of God, all who know they are the
elect of God by faith on the Son of God are welcome, beckoned,
commanded to partake. Not separately, together. Together. There's no such thing as denominations
in the Word of God. One find it. You'll find trouble,
as Peter said. You'll always find trouble. There's plenty of us troublemakers
around, but you'll find no denominations in the Word of God, just the
Church of Jesus Christ, the believers, the people of the way, the brethren. This great declaration is not
only of Christ's victorious atoning sacrifice. The communion, the
Lord's Supper is not just a declaration of Christ's victorious atoning
sacrifice of which we are told, are we not, by the Apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians. As often as you eat and as often
as you drink, You declare the Lord's death till he comes. Oh,
it's a great gospel declaration. No greater declaration. But it's
not just that. But also, also it is a declaration
of His elect's oneness in that blood. Surely it is, is it not? I've got one amen anyway, so
I'm doing it. we'll build up to it. If we do not display, if we do
not display our love for the Brethren in this, excluding none. And write that in capital letters.
excluding none, and you know what I mean, I'm not talking
about all and sundry who are not professing Christ, you know
what I mean, who profess the name of Christ, who profess to
know the Lord Jesus, excluding none. If we do not display this
love for the Brethren in this, where, I ask you, is
our love for the Redeemer? who is the head of the body. If we do not display this love,
surely we are in danger of denying the Lord's teaching, as I understand
it. It is not for a man, you see,
to examine, to interview someone, whether someone's suitable to
be partaking of the Lord's supper. That's going back to law! And find me a man who's ever
looked into a man's soul, into a man's heart. I'll tell you
one, the Lord Jesus. The one we celebrate in the Lord's
Supper. Whether someone belongs to Christ. How pompous. How pompous. How about if it was turned back
on us? When people saw our failings that they didn't know about. How would we feel? It is not for a man to judge
another man. We have not a single iota of
an example in the Word of God that tells us that. However,
the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 11, let a man so examine himself. The condemnation isn't coming
upon the elders and deacons of the church if, oh, someone slips
through the net and takes the communion, whose doesn't belong
to the Lord. The condemnation, the one who eats and drinks condemnation,
is the one eating and drinking condemnation unto themselves. Whatever our church, If we believe
the same things, the fundamentals, we have a great picture here. We have a great privilege. If you can make it tomorrow,
and you haven't planned to, but you physically can make it, get
yourself down here tomorrow, because it's going to be wonderful
to be around the table of the Lord together. Well, I know it'd
be wonderful for me when there's only about, how many, six, seven
of us on a Sunday? And around the table, only about
four. I will be rejoicing around the table. Come and rejoice with
us if you know and love the Lord Jesus. If we believe, believe the same
fundamentals of the faith that Jude says that was once delivered
unto the saints, then we surely must be, we surely must be as
the church in Acts 2.45, where we see, and they continually,
daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from
house to house. Surely we must obey the teaching
of Christ. and so declare, there is one
body, one spirit, even as you are called
in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. So how about baptism? Is there
someone here who has already known the call of God's grace,
is trusting on the Lord Jesus because they've been born again,
as we've already heard, born again of the Spirit of God and
caused to be made willing in the day of His power? Is there
one here who has confessed Christ with their lips, but openly has
not gone through the waters of baptism? who is trusting Christ alone
for all righteousness with God, who has not declared how the
righteousness of God was fulfilled. It was good enough for the Redeemer,
wasn't it? Who had no sin to go through the waters of baptism.
Have you obeyed His call to be baptized publicly? You know,
we should be, as the early church, we're so staid and so stuffy,
we're so, I'm gonna say it, this might do it now, we're so middle
class in our way in the church. When, I wonder if there was a
lake right there, if there was a river right there, and someone
came forward, praised God and said, I wanna be baptised now.
I wonder whether we would just go through with it and do it
right now to the praise and glory of God. We need to get back. We need to get back to not just
theoretical Christianity. Have you been baptised? I mean
true baptism by immersion only, publicly letting your love for
Christ known before men. If not, why not? Are you ashamed
of Christ? Munir and those people under
threat every day of bombs and bullets. They had baptisms, praise
God, last month. Four people went through the
waters of baptism in a dirty canal. And all I heard from him was,
we were rejoicing. We were rejoicing. One last thing. In fact, it's not the last thing. You see, it is very easy just
to be accepted in the church by others as a believer. Oh,
so easy. So just call yourself a believer.
You can buy the t-shirt, even. As a child of God. Because you
just say you believe. the teaching, the doctrine of
the Bible. Many people love doctrine. Many
people love doctrine. Even Richard Dawkins, that terrible
man, says he loves the authorised version of the Bible. Loves it. Just because you say you love
doctrine, it doesn't mean anything. Do you love the Lord of the doctrine?
Are you ashamed of Him? To say that you just love the
teachings of Christ. But do you love Christ? Do you,
more importantly, first and foremost, before you can love Christ, do
you have Christ? Do you have Christ? Is He made
today? Is He made real to you? Has He come to make to take up
residence in your heart, softening your cold heart. The Gospel message
says, whoever believes on the Son shall not be put to shame. On that day he will not say,
I am ashamed of you. Will it be said of you? Now I'm nearly done. But how do we view evangelism? I turned this order right around,
I just felt I had to. How do we view evangelism? We
who believe and hold to the teaching of Christ, the gospel of free
sovereign grace, are privileged indeed. Why is it that the majority of
evangelism going forth into all the world. Why is it the majority
of evangelism and mission goes forth from the free will teaching
churches? There's no reason it should be.
Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? Because
he knows when that gospel is proclaimed, it does something.
It's the dynamite of God. The free will, free of a gospel,
it only tickles the ears of a load of goats. It never calls a sheep. And if it does call a sheep,
if it does call a sheep even when the gospel is proclaimed
in the wrong way, such people come away from that gospel because
they will not hear the voice of strangers. And so why, why, why are we not
at the forefront of it? Us who say we trust Christ and
His finished substitutionary work at the cross for His elect
and hold to irresistible grace must also grasp we have this
treasure in earthen vessels That's God's prescribed way that we
preach the gospel, not just from pulpits, but from the rooftops. And our Lord Jesus' words are
clear. You can't twist them around.
Go into all the world I don't see a single implication of the
word stay. Can you find it? Can you find
it? Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Proclaim the
word. Publish it abroad. Herald it
forth. Because we've got the gospel.
The only gospel Let us not be ashamed of Christ
and his teaching on this respect. We must reclaim our role and
right as the true Church of God. I was preaching last Sunday morning
on John 3, 16 for the very first time. And it hit me. It hit me as I was speaking.
It hit me. This verse, we have been scared
to death to proclaim. because of false teaching when
we know what the truth is. Let us not be ashamed. Let us
not be ashamed. Having such truth, we must go
and herald it forth from the rooftops. We cannot place our
light under a bushel. holding forth the word of life,
that's what we're doing. Let us proclaim everywhere the
words of our Lord Jesus alone. Are we, are we gonna do it? I'll tell you something, the
free will, free offer, half-baked peddlers of religion have no
power in their message. Let us not be ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to do something. Unto salvation, unto everyone
who believes and such who believe this message shall not, shall
not, shall never be put to shame.