Amen. So at verse 35, if you
have a new outline, there are four fundamental points we're
going to be dealing with. The first is the labor of the
gospel, which is underscored for us in verse 35. As you guys know, we've just
come out of the debate and the Senate and Council of the Jerusalem
Church dealing with the nature and character of the gospel.
And they established that for the Gentiles, telling them that
they were saved by grace, not works, but that they should live
a life free of idolatry and fornication, which also such things we believe
as well. When God changes your life, there
is a marked change in our conduct, particularly in the areas of
idolatry. And so the Gentiles were called
to that. Barnabas and Paul then essay to move out and go back
through their journey where they had first made their missionary
work all the way up to the area of Syria. And as they are about
to go, we discover a number of things that take place. In verse
35, it reads, Paul also in Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching
and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And what's important about that
verse is it underscores that the primary objective of the
church, not the exclusive objective, but the primary objective of
the church is a teaching ministry. Whenever the church gets away
from teaching and preaching, it's like a ship that loses its
rudder. It's like a plane that completely
loses all of its instrument panels. You may be going somewhere, but
you can be sure that you're not going where you should go. Where
the church is not a strong teaching church, it's going to be led
by the trends of the culture. That's the only thing that can
keep a body of people together where they don't have an objective
standard with a missional goal or objective behind them. What's
going to lead a group of people in any kind of endeavor or agenda
if it's not some body of truth or some trend of culture? Most
of our world is led by culture, trends of culture. We take on
superficial identity markers and then we build a consensus
and a group out of them and we move in that direction. The problem
with that is, is that cultures come and cultures what? They
do. Trends come and trends go. And
the church cannot be governed by trends and cultures, although
the church itself is not free of culture. It's not free of
trends, but it never is to be governed by them. We are to be
governed by the word of God, right? And in being governed
by the word of God, you have immutable, unchangeable principles
that guide our life from here to eternity. So under the first
point, the laborers of the gospel, I just want to call your attention
to three things. The three sub points are clear. Teaching and
preaching is what should be done. And the text we'll look at briefly
is 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1 through 5, where the Apostle Paul gives
us an example of the collaborative work of himself and Silas in
the ministry. And he reminds the church at
Corinth of this as well. We read in 1 Corinthians 3, verse
1, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. And then he
says in verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat,
for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are
ye able. When he uses the metaphor of
milk and feeding them, he's using the Old Testament model or metaphor
of a father to children or a mother to her babe. And he is underscoring
that the nature of the ministry of the church is to deal with
children, to actually help them grow up in the faith through
teaching. He, however, is admonishing the
church at Corinth because the church at Corinth is much like
the church in the book of Hebrews. late in its growth. So he says,
we cannot feed you with meat or more solid doctrinal truths
because to this point, you have not demonstrated the maturity
that goes on, that goes along with growing in sound doctrine. The implication is that when
you study the Bible or when you're taught the Bible, it ought to
impact you characteristically. And if it impacts you characteristically,
It should also impact you socially. And that is to say that none
of us really grow in the word of God in isolation. You'll meet
a lot of people who will isolate themselves from everyone else
and actually think that they can grow in the word of God by
themselves. It never works. It never works. The person that is in a state
of isolation where they say, well, it's just me and the Lord.
That individual will be lopsided in their growth. They will be
distorted in their maturity, and they will be unproductive
in their walk with Christ. Because God never meant for you
and I to grow by ourselves. That's what the metaphor of a
family is about. A family is a unit of people that work together
collaboratively based upon common identity factors, common goals,
and common objectives. So it is in the church of Christ.
And you guys saw that model by the Lord Jesus. The moment he
started ministry, what did he do? He gathered men around him
so that he never did ministry by himself solo. And then when
he sent them out, he sent them out, how? At least two by two. So that there would be always
a point of reciprocation accountability between the men and women that
were laboring in the cause of the gospel so that you can have
a legitimate assessment of the impact of what you are learning
now this becomes the hard part we all will say about ourselves
I have reached this level of maturity the problem is no one
else will agree with you and consequently you're challenged
with the humble disposition of depending upon others to affirm
your growth and not yourself. So what does the Proverbs say?
Let another man praise you and not your own lips. So if you
don't have other people around you, being able to determine
your substantive objective value in terms of how you benefit them,
interact with them in the name of God, you really cannot measure
yourself. You cannot. And then again, as
the proverb puts it in another place, every man will what proclaim
his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. So you can
see how endemically problematic it is for you to be the judge
of your own character and your own growth. This is where our
text is about to lead us into a challenge. among two men who
are supposed to be very mature in the faith. So Paul talks to
the church at Corinth about the strife and contention that they
were engaged in. And as a consequence, they were
forbidden to go deeper into the knowledge of the gospel. So we
read in verse three, for you are yet carnal, for whereas there
is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not yet
what? Envy, strife, and division. So this was the hallmark of the
church at Corinth. Envy, strife, and division. You can look at these three words
and actually see them as a succession. Envy will lead to what? Strife
will lead to what? Does that really follow? Yes,
it does. Yes, it does. These are consequential
Characteristics that proceed particularly when they are not
arrested by grace Envy will always lead to strife. They will always
lead to division when they are not arrested By what by grace? This is an experience that we
all have if you've ever lived any time on planet Earth and
engaged in a Relationships with anyone you have been challenged
by and be strife and division to some extent shouldn't happen
in the church of God But it does doesn't it? Now he says in verse
four and five these words for while one says I am a Paul another
says I am of a polis Are you not yet? What right? So what
did they do the church? Openly confessed a division of
allegiance didn't they? a division of allegiance. Some
said, I am of Paul. Others said, I am of Apollos.
And then what Paul does is he gives a very, very clear argument
of the fallacy of this kind of divided allegiance in the first
chapter when he says, is Christ divided? He raises the question,
can Christ be divided? And if the answer is no, then
how is it that you and I are tagging our identity to men who
are of God, but they could not be the means of your salvation
or your ultimate destiny to glory. And so Paul says, we got a problem
here because we've got people in the church who are devoted
more to the teachers than they are to God. And that happens
in the church all the time. By the way, that's the hallmark
of a novice in the faith. When you're new in the faith,
you really will attach yourself to your teacher at levels that
are beyond what is really accepted, but it only makes sense when
you are first starting off. Problem is, you're supposed to
grow to a state of awareness of your allegiance to Jesus,
and your teachers are simply instruments by which you gain
greater clarity of Jesus. Does that make sense? So that
your allegiance is to Christ, your love is for your teacher,
but allegiance is to Jesus. And when that's the case, it's
going to minimize your divisions. It's going to minimize your divisions.
And so it goes on to say these words, who then in verse five,
who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but what ministers by whom ye
what? Right. So it's instrumentality
is very important. One of the struggles we have
in the Western church is the fallacy of reasoning things through. So, you know, just because we
negate one true doesn't mean that we are negating all true.
We negate the notion that the instrument is the source, right? We say, no, is that true? The
instrument is not the source. The instrument is simply a what?
Means. Who is the source? God. But by saying the instrument
is not the source, we are not saying we don't need what? Instruments. We do, don't we? Yes. And we appreciate them too. So it's very important to be
able to reason things through, because you'll get people who
will say, all I need is God. Well, if that's the way God saw
it, he wouldn't have had the word communicated to you by men. If that's the way God saw it,
he wouldn't have had the Bible given to you by men, if that's
the way God saw it. God saw that you needed men to
get to God. That's what God saw. God saw
that he that he would have his revelation given to us not directly
but indirectly through a mediatorial process by which in humility
you receive from God through men whom God works through by
which you come to know God so that the men could say if you
have received me you've received God. This is exactly what Christ
meant when he told the disciples, when you go out and preach in
my name, if they have not received you, they have not received me.
And if they have not received me, they have not received him
who sent me. See how important instrumentality is? It's very
important. But what we don't do is we don't
make the instrument God. And so very important to know
that as well. And sometimes people have a hard
time understanding the balance between the means and the source. And that's where grace has to
come in at. So we have the teaching and the preaching that takes
place. And then Paul describes this under the agricultural metaphor
in verse seven and eight. He says, so then neither is he
that plants anything, neither he that waters, but God that
giveth what? Now watch this. So the source
is who? But the instrumentality is who?
The one that sows and waters. And notice what Paul said about
God, the source. He said, God gave the increase. Do you got that? In other words,
God endorses the process because the process is of God. So God
is the one that gave the seed to the sower. He's the one that
gave the gift of the person who waters the sea. And God is the
one that blesses that process, doesn't he? Exactly. And so smart
Christians understand that if they're going to grow in grace
and mature in Christ and be productive in their life, they are going
to be frequently and consistently under the preaching and teaching
of the Word of God. Is that so? Absolutely, it won't happen.
It won't happen any other way. This is an inviolable principle
So our second sub point under the laborers of the gospel is
the answer to our Lord's request Look at Matthew chapter 9 verse
37 This methodology is an answer to our Lord's request which Request
is still in need of being answered today in By the church where
we can strengthen and develop men and women by the way in Ministry
so that this principle can actually be affirmed in Matthew chapter
9 Verse 37 and 38. I'm gonna start back at verse
36 But when he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion
on them because they fainted and were what as sheep having
no what Now watch what he says. Then he said unto his disciples,
the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Notice what our Lord says. He
sees people as ripe for harvesting, but he says there's an impediment,
there's a hindrance here, and that is people willing to harvest
are reap the harvest. It's a powerful analogy because
what our master is doing is giving insight to the disciples of a
provenient work of the spirit of God. Provenient means the
spirit of God has already gone before, began to work on their
hearts and reveal to them their need of Christ, i.e. a kind of sowing of the word
of God. Why? Because most of these people
to whom Jesus was teaching were Jews. They had grown up under
catechism, Torah, Tanakh, right? And so their hearts were already
softened by the law of God growing up. What Jesus says is, it is
still needed for others to come in evangelically and lay upon
their souls the proclamation of freedom and liberty in Christ
and watch what God will do. Imagine, you don't know it, but
God does. There is a people group who have
already been confronted with the claims of the gospel, but
God hasn't done anything by way of Bringing about new birth yet
You are going to be the means by which that happens your humility
Your obedience you're going you're witnessing you're declaring the
gospel because God is the one that gives what? Right, but if
we don't go what is God gonna do? I? He gonna get somebody
else? That's all. Because God's purposes
are not going to be frustrated. But if we don't go, doesn't that
clearly imply disobedience? Absolutely. Please understand
that. So God always works through means to get his work done. And
this is where we can appreciate the Apostle Paul in the book
of Acts. Ezekiel 47 10 gives us a vision,
a picture, of the Ezekiel temple and the river flowing out of
the temple, which I've taught many times, is a grand analogy
of the work of the church and the ministry of the Holy Spirit
flowing out of the church into all the world through the preaching
of the gospel, bringing about life to men and women who are
represented by fish in the sea. And he describes fishermen on
the shores casting their nets drawing in the fish. And it shall
come to pass that fishers shall stand upon it from end to end,
even unto Eneglium. They shall be a place to spread
forth nets. Their fish shall be according
to their kinds as the fish of the great sea exceeding what? Do you remember Ezekiel? He saw
the water coming out of the temple and the angel commanded him to
step in. and to proceed in the water started at his ankles,
moved up to his knees, then to his waist, almost over his head. And what it was talking about
is the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem into all the world. And this is what has happened
over the last 2,000 years. God's elect from every nation,
kindred, tribe, and world, tribe and tongue have been being brought
in through the ministry of the gospel. Did Christ use fishing
a metaphor for evangelism did not he say to his disciples follow
me and I will make you to become two verbs I Will make you to
become Fishers of men in that what he said and that's what
we do when we preach gospel We are fishing for the souls of
men The Spirit of God is working through the word of the gospel
to draw men and women to himself that's the That's the wonderful
magic that you probably are not aware of that takes place every
time the doors of the church are open. So we have 100 people
in here, 70, 80, 90 people in here on Sunday, full house. What is that about? Is that about
mere tradition? Do you know no one can come unto
the father unless he draws them? Do you know that? Do you know
that there's always been an evidence of the Spirit of God working
when people get in their cars from wherever they live and decide
to come to this place to hear the Word of God? Do you understand
that? That that's not a natural thing to come week in and week
out, year in and year out to hear the Word of God? That is
God working. I've been in ministry long enough
to know when God is not working. When God is not working, two
things. Nobody's interested in what you have to say. They're
not coming. Some ministers have to come to
understand that when they open the doors and wonder why people
don't come. No man can come unto me, Jesus said, except my father,
which sent me, draw them. The other reason for which they
don't come is because you're not preaching the true gospel.
Because only the true gospel constitutes the grounds by which
the dynamic of the fishing ministry takes place. What you see in
these other bigger churches and massive numbers is something
totally different than the gospel. However, what you do see is that
men and women are hungry for something, aren't they? They're
hungry for something. And where you and I are negligent
to understand Christ's vision, service and the capacity for
reaching souls our hearts are cold toward the heart of God
because to me it is the most economical thing in the world
follow this logic to get on your knees and to pray to God and
to ask him to use you and then get off your knees and study
and ask him to reveal himself to you And then get up and live
out that gospel that he reveals to you so that you can be a legitimate
witness and not lie on God. So you get on your knees and
ask for revelation. You get in your Bible and beg
for illumination. You get up and start living and
beg for sanctification because God only uses vessels that are
submitted to him. Does that make sense? Right,
and once you know that that mechanism is the way God works, then God
blesses that labor by bringing men and women and children and
families to hear you teach and preach if you're called to it. In many cases, you have the teacher
along with the helpers, as we're getting ready to see in our text.
It's a complete collaborative work. And that's how God works. So let's go to our next point.
Returning to the field, verse 36 of Acts chapter 15. Notice
how the apostle Paul puts it in Acts chapter 15, verse 36.
And some days after Paul said to Barnabas, let us go again
and visit our brethren in every city where we have, in every
city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how
they do. Now there are three things I
want you to recognize in what Paul is asking Barnabas to do. One is he's demonstrating a love
for the labor that he previously engaged in, not presuming that
the goal is to go to a place, start a work, and leave it to
itself. If we buy into the analogy of the cultivated field, wouldn't
it make sense that the husband, even though he knows he's going
to wait for the harvest at the end of the season, wouldn't he
go out from time to time to see the welfare of the growth, wouldn't
he? Wouldn't he make sure that he wasn't dealing with alien
elements coming in, destroying the character and quality of
the crop, wouldn't he? This is exactly what Paul is
doing. And in a place of the Proverbs, it makes it clear that
you are to know the state of your flock. Any man who would
have a flock of sheep would constantly look to the care and quality
of the sheep. That's called a good shepherd.
The analogies are mixing, but they are synonymous analogies
dealing with the nature of the kingdom of God. And so Paul says,
let's go see how they are doing. And look at verse 37. And Barnabas
determined to take with them John, whose surname is Mark.
I'm jumping ahead. I want to get there. But there
are three sub points I think we need to take note of. Let
me remind you that the work of the gospel, especially in the days of the
apostles, was not like sending out brochures to everybody's
home talking about the evangelist Paul and Barnabas are coming
to town. And then everybody meets in a
big building and we go through a wonderful conference and then
they go home. You guys remember how hard it
was for Paul and Barnabas, three things your outline says, they
were dealing with what? Demonic presence. Now this is
going to be important. This was in Acts chapter 13 verses
8 through 11. Look at it again, because I know
the author wants us to quickly deal with a conflict that rises
up. But notice what it says in Acts
chapter 13 verses 8 through 11, where the apostle Paul is going
to deal with one who is a false prophet. Verse eight tells us,
but Elimus, the sorcerer, for so his name is by interpretation,
withstood Paul and Barnabas when they were ministering, seeking
to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who was
also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes
on him and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, you
child of the devil. I told you Paul was not politically
correct. You enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the
Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun
for a season. And immediately there fell on
him a mist and darkness, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. What's going on right there?
A warfare in the spirit. A major conflict between light
and darkness. the battle between the Spirit
of God and Paul and Barnabas and demons operating in these
sorcerers. How intent are sorcerers and
false prophets and demons in opposing the cause of the gospel?
Very intent. If they can turn one soul away
from the faith, they will. And where do they dwell? Largely
in the church. Right, because their goal is
to stop men and women because the church is the door to heaven. It's the door to salvation. So
if the goal of the devil is to steal, kill and destroy, would
he not be right up against the wicked gate? Of course he would. Of course he would. So the nature
of evangelism is not this sweet, you know, pie in the sky ministry
that you see going on in the West. It's fraught with demonic
presence. And hostile opposition look at
verse 40 and then verse 45 In verse 40 of chapter 13. It says
Beware therefore lest that come upon you which was spoken of
in the prophets This is paul talking about the jews and then
look at verse 45 But when the jews saw the multitude of the
gentiles they were filled with what? And spake against those
things which were spoken by paul contradicting and blaspheming
then finally Our Lord gives the warning in Matthew 24, verse
9 and 10 about the character of evangelical ministry. In Matthew 24, verse 9 and 10,
let's look at it. Now, when you think about the
opposition and the demonic presence and the warning of our master,
when it comes to evangelism of the true gospel, you can see
why a lot of people don't want to be a missionary, right? You can see why that's the case.
Listen, then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall
what? Ah, that's right. Kill you. And you shall be hated of all
nations for what? That's what you sign up for when
you say yes to Jesus and you talk about going into the field.
This is what Paul was met with on his first missionary journey
as we learned, right? They stoned him in Lystra, left
him for dead, didn't they? He got up and the next day went
back to that city and preached, didn't he? And then him and the
brethren went on down to Jerusalem. And now he's talking about turning
around and going back through that same neighborhood. What
motivates you to go back to a place where you have to fight demons,
deal with irate religious folks like the Jews, and people who
vow to kill you? What motivates you to go back?
Faith working by what? Always. Always. Understand, without
faith, it's impossible to what? And faith always works by what? Right. So love has to be the
ethic, the foundation, the grace that motivates you to go against
opposition because you actually believe that this is the will
of God and that you can be a means of blessing to the people to
whom you're going, even though you have to face difficulty.
That's the nature of real ministry, particularly in the context of
the gospel. So Jesus said this in verse nine
and then verse 10, notice verse 10. So in verse 10 he says, and
then shall many be offended. See the word offended? Now this
is interesting because this is about to get into our real lesson
for tonight. Scandalizo is the Greek term
for offended. And it means that something takes
place in the process of the ministry that causes certain people to
miss the point. Something takes place in the
cause of the ministry that distracts certain people from the real
objective and goal. When you and I are offended in
the scandal sense, something took place, something happened
that moved us the wrong way. and challenged an assumption
or a set of ideas we had that we didn't like. When you and
I are offended as a rule, something we held to that was precious
to us was challenged. It may have simply been your
own high esteem of yourself. And then someone said something
that basically bust your bubble. Now you're offended. It may have
been your view of some doctrinal concept of which someone said
something contrary to what you thought was the truth, and you
were offended. It may have been some practice
or deed that an individual engaged in that challenged your own set
of ethics, and you were offended. And all of this is the case with
what we're about to deal with now. See, you and I can be offended
really easy. when we assume that we know the
whole truth. You guys got that? Very important
to know. This is really a very important
lesson. When you feel that cut, that offense, before you say,
I have been wronged, ask yourself, am I wrong? Because here's what happens.
Whenever we get irritated or offended, we assume that the
person who did it is wrong. What that means is we hold to
the view unwittingly that we are right and that that individual
has no right to offend me. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And then we set out to defend ourselves And if we have
been offended, as the Greek term scandalizo is saying, we will
actually act in return even more wrong than the wrong we thought
happened to us. This is where we get the term
scandal. Okay? So think about this because
we all feel this way. I don't like what he said. So
what? So what you didn't like it? What
does that have to do with truth? What does that have to do with
truth? What? You are always right? No, you're not. No, you're not. And sometimes the only way you
and I can have faulty notions dislodged from our thinking is
for us to be offended. Sometimes the only way we can
have faulty ideas or faulty assumptions or faulty ethics dislodged is
for us to be offended. Because at some point you'll
discover that you reacted the wrong way. And then you go, why
did I react that way? Particularly if you are a lover
of truth. Did I act that way because I was being defensive,
trying to protect my views and my ideas, my reputation, my opinion? Or did I react that way because
I was really, truly offended by that person? That's very important
to ask. It's very important to ask because
people will scandalize frequently. We're about to see that in our
text. So now let's go back to, um, let's go back to our text
and look at verses 37 through 39 and ask some very pertinent
questions about what's about to happen. Cause what you and
I are about to see happens in our life all the time. Let's
see. Hmm, this was maybe Tuesday. Someone offended me Tuesday. It was my beloved wife. Well, for those of you who don't
know, husbands and wives offend each other all the time. I mean,
all the time, right? So, and what I am saying to you
is that she had a view that was contrary to my view and it created
an initial spark. It's important for you to know
that it's no big deal for somebody not to see things the way you
do. You need to hurry up and learn that. And here's the way
God works. He'll give you something that's
precious as a family. Most precious thing. My only
worth in life is God's grace in my life and my family. I mean,
he had to give me both of them to make me qualified to be a
minister. I couldn't preach to you without a family, you know,
that God used to whittle me down. He's still working, by the way,
and himself, because he doesn't allow pastors to be single men. He doesn't allow it. And so here,
this thing I love to death has been for the last 38 years. a
constant offense to me. Not only my wife, but my children.
Here are these little loved ones you just love, these little bundles
of love, right? And as soon as they get three
and four and five years old, there it is, the offense sets
in. And it gets worse once they become teenagers. And when they're
full grown, it's a war. I mean, it's on. So this is a precursor to our
marriage class. when I deal with the war of words
between spouses. Because you and I have to learn
how to manage offenses. Offenses will come. What? Does your wife have to always
agree with you? No. And when she wakes up to
the reality, that she has 50% of the stake of the covenant,
she's going to start letting you know that. So you've got
to do a good job of keeping her away from the contract so she
doesn't know what her inheritance is. Because that's what a lot
of guys do. They spend a long time hiding
the contract. Honey, where the contract at?
I don't know. I don't know where. And you go as many years as you
possibly can, not letting her find that contract. Because once
she starts reading that contract and go, oh, man. I have the right
to do this. I didn't know that. I have the
right to say this. Well, I can veto him sometimes. You mean I can overrule him in
certain cases where he is just presumptuous. Once they learn
that, then the tables are even. And now you got to sit down and
negotiate and it kills your power. Um, and so then it becomes good
because within your families, That is the place where you learn
how to work through conflict. Are you guys hearing me? In your
family is where you learn how to work through conflict. And
if a wife, is it incorrigible? That is, if a husband can't help
his wife to see where her weaknesses are, then she's going to know
that somebody knows that she's stubborn, right? She's going
to know at least one person knows she's stubborn. And if a husband
is too belligerent and too bullish, he's going to know there's at
least one person that knows he is as dense as a nickel. When
he might be able to manipulate everybody else, there's going
to be one person that once he jumps in the car, he got to shut
his mouth because she knows how dense he is. And God does that
in order to keep us authentic as believers. So he keeps people
closest to you so you can stop pretending to be something that
you really are not. You guys hear what I'm saying?
And then if you still don't get it, you know what he does? He
grows your children up to become teenagers. Whoa, just call it
a wrap. And particularly if you're a
man and you got daughters, They're going to fillet you every chance
they get. Daddy, you said this and you're
just going to fall apart for your own good. For your own good. Because God is definitely into
our character. You understand that? He's definitely
into our character. And if you and I can be so bullish
as to destroy our families because we don't want to listen, then
you are not qualified for biblical leadership. You guys hear what
I'm saying? Because your family will tell
you the truth if you let them. Now, if you don't let them, and
everybody's silent in the house, let me just help you with that.
That's called treason. Everybody in the house is operating
on a different code now. They give you the superficial
code, where they go, uh-huh, daddy, uh-huh, daddy, uh-huh,
daddy. But then the other code says, he at it again. And everybody
knows. I'm being facetious, but this
is a terrible truth, isn't it? This is a terrible truth. Proverbs
chapter 19 verse 1, I think. He that oft time being reproved
and hardened his neck will ultimately be destroyed. And that without
remedy. 29 what? 29 what? This is a good one too. 29 what? Yeah. He that being often reproved.
Do you guys see that? Now that's the normal condition
of believers. God's constantly correcting us. Is that right?
you're a child of God you are but you harden your neck you
know what that means I will not be corrected what that means
is you can't be governed you're like a horse that won't be broken
and suddenly he that being often reproved hardened his neck shall
suddenly be destroyed and that without what right that verse
right there is a family killer that's a home killer That's a
business killer. It's a job killer. It's a church
killer. You see that verse? That's what
kills everything. Because when God puts two people
together and more, their job is to learn how to cooperate
in the light. Am I making some sense? This
is a good study, isn't it? All right, so now let's go to
our object lesson and learn some things about two godly men that
act a fool. That's the only way I can put
it. So I'm in Acts chapter 15. And I'm going to start at verse
37, and then we're going to deal with our fourth point, a third
point, a loving choice that divides. Verse 37 through 39. And Barnabas
determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. So we call him John what? John
Mark, who was Barnabas's cousin, nephew, nephew. And you can read
that in Colossians chapter four, verse 10 in your own time. But
this is Barnabas's nephew. So this is a family thing. Show
you how this works. Verse 38, but, which is a contrasting
conjunction, Paul thought not good to take him with them because
he departed from them when they were in Pamphylia and did not
go with them to the work. In other words, Paul said to
Barnabas, Don't you remember when we were in the heat of the
battle and the Jews were chasing me and chasing us How that mark
ran back home to mama in jerusalem You guys see that Yeah, it was
true It was true Ain't no doubt about it. It was true Acts chapter
13 verse 13 Look at it for yourself. Acts 13 13. Here's what it says
and the spirit of god is gentle with it, but he's factual It
says in Acts 13, 12, then the deputy, when he saw what was
done to the sorcerer, when he was blinded, believed being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. This is the same context we just
read, right? About the battle with the sorcerer, right? And
how apostolic signs were working in Paul to blind him, which signs
only the apostles did. Your bishops and your prophets
don't do it today, okay? Okay, now look at verse 12, verse
13. Now when Paul and his company
loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John,
that's John Mark, departing from there, went back home. For John,
it was too hot. Every time Paul went into a city,
it turned into a big old battle. Every time he went to a city,
there were demons rising up, opposition by the Jews, threats
to kill them. But that's exactly what the master
said, right? But Paul knew what was going to happen. So here's
I'm getting ready to open the floor for some questions around
this, and we're going to shut it down. Go back to our text. Let me just work through it a
little bit exegetically, and I'm going to raise some questions
and we can shut it down. Loving choice that divides this
is the way I'm putting this because I know that Barnabas had a different
frame of mind than Paul Barnabas was there when John
left Barnabas and Paul are not only co-laborers the brethren
in Christ and I'm sure that Paul said to Barnabas Barnabas The
boy left, man. Now, you know, we gonna ride
and die for the gospel, right? How are we gonna have dudes jump
in ship when the heat is on? And I can see Paul letting Barnabas
know he really wasn't down with people defecting because people
defect when things get difficult all the time. Do you guys hear
what I'm saying? This is one, so this tension
is gonna come home. I'm gonna make sure it comes
home so that you aren't dealing with it in the abstract. Because
your Bible is never ever irrelevant. In fact, your Bible is always
immediately relevant to you if it's taught right. If it's not
taught right, we have object lessons that are out there in
the abstract and it never touches us. But I'm here to tell you,
there are very few people in the room with us tonight who
don't know the pain of someone quitting on them just when you
needed them. Are you guys hearing me? At the
job, at school, on the team, somewhere. Because these are
all normal aspects of human experience where clusters of people come
together And you and I don't know the heart of people, do
we? So part of growing up when you're
a child is discovering the nature of human beings. Isn't that right?
Like by the time you are 10 and 11 years old, if you have had
a number of interactions and associations with people, you
begin to discover people act strange. And you're not quite
sure what that's about. but they act strange. Like some
people in the clique you hang out with, they just disappear
like a ghost, poof. And you go, what, where they
at? It seems like they know how to just disappear. And then they
pop up at some of the strangest time and you, you're, you're
only watching them because you're too young to really put it together.
I'm saying this is how God begins to develop your awareness of
anthropology and sociology. human behavior patterns in the
context of the larger social relationship. Am I making some
sense? Right. You still haven't put it all
together. There's this dude that was your partner for a number
of years, and then once you guys reached a certain age, boom,
that was it. It's a mystery. They're no longer
in your life. Or a girl, for those of you who
are women. And you go, what's that all about? Now, it really
didn't matter to you much unless, of course, you were going through
a really emotionally difficult time and you needed them. Have you been there? How many
of y'all been there? We're just a strange thing. At
that time, you just really needed a friend. Watch this. And that person wasn't there
for you, right? They just weren't there. And
that really took you for a spin. If you were young, You marked
it. You thought about it. You had
an emotional tizzy. But because there was no clarity,
you move on with your life. But it affects you. It affects
you. Then as you get older, you begin
to see the pathology of this with people. You begin to pick
up quickly the runners. I call them runners. So remember,
we're all in three modes psychologically. Rest mode. Fight mode or what
mode? Flight mode. That's all of us.
So when you meet people that are in rest mode, they can kick
it with you. They're ready to work issues
out with you. They're ready to help bring solutions to the table
that are objective and reasonable. You like those people because
they're in rest mode. I don't know why they are. Maybe
they got a bunch of big brothers who can throw down whatever the
basis of rest mode is. They've got that, right? And
that's a good friend to have, especially when you grow up in
the hood. The reasonable brother that brings good thoughts to
the table that keeps you from getting into trouble real quick. That's rest mode. Are you hearing
me? Fight mode. That's the brother
that loves to throw down at the drop of a hat. What'd he say,
Jess? What'd he say? Uh-uh. Let's go! Let's go! Let, let, let, let,
let's go! They just, ha! I knew it. I knew it, man. I knew it. I'm
going to get my stuff. Come on. Come on. Let's go. Let's go.
All right. So I'm 13 years old and I got a friend like that,
right? I'm not going to name his name.
I love him. He's dead now. Got killed a couple of years
ago because he never changed. This is the other thing that's
strange about it. Some people never change. So this dude who
I told you was always in fight mode, he liked me, I thought,
but when there was nobody else to beat up on, he would always
want to fight me. Do you know that person? So we're
playing basketball. And if he beats me, I'm his greatest
friend. He's going to buy me a drink.
If I beat him, he wants to fight. I couldn't figure it out. I'm
13, couldn't figure it out. Fight mode. Are you hearing me? Fight mode. And when we would
go somewhere, if somebody would just look wrong at us, Jess,
did you see that? No, I didn't see that. No, I
didn't see that. I saw it. Hey, dude. And then
it was on. It was on. So when you're dealing
with people who are in fight mode, as the proverb says, do
not go with an angry man lest you learn his ways and get a
snare to your soul. After a while, I had enemies
that I didn't know because I hung out with this dude. Like when
he wasn't with me, he was getting into some mess. Then you have
to do who you expect to be there with you. When some go down,
you look around. And he gone, all you see is dust. Where's such and such at? He's
in smoke on out. And he only shows up when the
coast is clear. That's John Mark. You understand
that? That's John Mark. I'm just telling
you. And those kinds of scenarios affect all of us. And they cause
us to raise up our guards. And it caused us to be very discriminated
with who we let into our close circle. Am I telling the truth?
And it causes us to say, you know what? Let me peg this dude
or this chick before I spend any time with them because I'm
not going out like that again. I'm justifying Paul before we
get there. Okay. I'm just helping you. Here we
go. So Paul said, It's not good that
he should go with us because he departed from us in Pamphylia
and went not with us to the work. I look at verse 39 and the contention. See that word contention and
the contention. The strife. It's a Greek term
that means to be sharp and cutting in your words towards one another. It's actually a medical term
called peroxino, peroxino, peroxino. And it actually has to do with
piercing through to the point of cutting the flesh. And the
idea is that the words rose to the level of slicing each other. So think about this, because
here's the way that the verse really unfolds for us. in verse
39. And the contentions were so sharp
between them continually. In other words, this was not
a five minute discussion. This was a daily discussion between
Paul and Barnabas as they were preparing to go on their second
missionary journey. And every time they got together,
Barnabas says I really do want to bring him Paul says no and
then they go at it and every time they get together they go
at it more and more sharply and They are cutting each other and
they're remembering things and they're saying things and they're
stabbing each other You see then how earlier when we read the
text how that applies envy strife divisions And we'll get to this
in a moment just to work this through. So the text is telling
us that Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement that rose to the
level of daily, sharp, strifeful words that cut to the heart and
severed the friendship. Two godly men, two godly men,
two godly men. Listen to how it goes. the contention was so sharp between
them that they what departed asunder one from the other stop
right there so line two tells us after the words became so
sharp you know how sometimes you go i don't know why we let
it go that far i don't know why we let it go that far but it
did right I don't know why we let it go that far. Have you
been there? See, I'm not going to let you
just quickly go over the text because I know that Paul and
Barnabas were believers and they were now trapped by the mystery
of iniquity. The carnal passions of the flesh
rooted in them both wanting to have it their way. It's just
that simple. Isn't it just that simple? Isn't
it just when we are at strife with someone we are presumably
to love? Isn't it as simple as he wants
it his way. He wants it his way. And there,
there is no working it out. So what keeps us from working
through objectively the facts without it's so injuring our
characters individually? What, what keeps that from happening?
It's the flesh. It's the sinful impulses of the
flesh that once they get sparked to a certain level, as I stated
before, envy is going to lead to strife, strife to division.
The only way it can be stopped is by the what? Grace of God.
Is that what I said? Only grace, only grace can arrest
it. Is that true? Only grace can
arrest The Philistine. Is that true? Goliath. Only grace can arrest it. That's James chapter 4, verses
1 through 4. From whence come wars among you?
Do they not come even of this, of the lust that wars in your
members, that drive for you to have it your way. And the real
challenge here is marking how two leaders in the church are
at odds with each other. So I'm gonna show you what happens
here. The scholars say this, take this text, which is a relationship
between two persons, Barnabas and Paul. Contextually, it's
a simple matter, but it rises to the level of the division
of churches and the establishing of denominations to and fro. You got that? Where leaders now
take whole people groups with them and go their way. And he
goes this way. This happens in nations. This
happens in tribes. Am I making some sense? Where
Cain and Abel rising up, two brothers, and they go in opposite
directions. As an aside, this is the reason
why you wanna give very serious diligence to what kind of church
you are a part of and what gospel you are embracing. You guys follow
me? Because our denominations are
largely born out of this conflict. Are you hearing me? Most denominations
are born out of this kind of conflict. And I mean, when you
go back to the, origins and the foundation and the structures,
the development of these denominations, they're hostile. They are variances
and stripes among men, theologians and scholars at levels of persecution
among what formerly were brethren. And then the next thing you know,
Presbyterian. And now you got your English church, or now you
got your Episcopal church, or you got your Lutheran church,
or you got your Greek Orthodox church, and now you got your
Roman Catholic church. They were all in one place at one time.
Are you guys hearing me? And the strife rose to such a
degree, boom, there was a separation. Then you get your Baptist with
its hundreds of splinter groups. You guys are hearing me, right?
Right. So one of the things that you want to do as a believer
in Christ is to make sure that even though you may be part of
a denomination that holds to sound fundamentals of the faith
in terms of the gospel. Make sure that you don't ignorantly
affirm and identify with the history that birthed that denomination
because in all likelihood it was birthed out of strife. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? In all likelihood, it was birth
out of strife. I'll put it like this. Nowhere
in the Bible does God affirm denominations. Nowhere. Now, here's what men will say.
Well, they were apostate and they were heretical and they
were this and they were that. And so we moved out because they
were bad. Here's what I would say. That's
probably at best, partially true. Got that? Probably at best, partially
true. But at the foundation of it,
there was a lot of carnality that perpetuated the strife and
division among those men. And someone found justification
for saying we will depart. Rather than pray it through and
patiently work it through, there often is that. And so later on
down the line, it will often prove itself in that denomination
going haywire too, because kind begets kind. Over time, it goes
from bad to worse on every end. And the interesting thing about
where we are in the 21st century is that the evangelical church
in the 21st century as a larger group has adjusted by moving
away from your traditional Protestant churches, understanding a lot
of that, trying to overcome some of those endemic problems that
are institutionalized in those denominations. And that's largely
because of what I was talking to our women about in the Wednesday
theology class. Demographics and gentrification
and the movement of ethnic groups through different regions will
shake up denominations. Because denominations are largely
made up of monolithic ethnic groups. And whenever you are
a bunch of the same kind of people, you will always think you're
right. Yep. I'm telling the truth. And consequently,
you can't see the forest for the trees until somebody that's
more objective from the outside help you see you're false. So
what happens is God has to move people like he does fish of the
sea, sweep demographics away, change the demographics and show
your church that it is anti-evangelical because of its strong identity
marker as being black or being Asian or being Filipino or being
whatever. And their identity is more in
their ethnicity than it is in Christ. And because they fail
to understand that Christ is a trans ethnic concept. If any man be in Christ Jesus,
he's a what? So that your gospel is to be
freely proclaimed to all ethnic groups, whoever comes your way.
So that they are not impeded by your ethnicity. Like the Jews
are a major example of what I'm talking about. Are they not?
Impeding the gospel because of their Jewishness. And so we see
this cycle going on and on and on through the cultures. What
I'll say to our ladies is that the African-American culture
is in a tizzy right now because of the massive gentrification
going on. And they have not learned how
to adjust to the fact that the church by and large should be
multi-ethnic wherever there is a multi-ethnic representation
and not what we are black church. Are we a white church? Are we
an Asian church? My Asian pastors, they'll come
to me and pastor, they'll say, Pastor Jesse, man, I'll tell
you what, we have the hardest time getting our old school Asian
parents to open up to non-Asians in our church. And I say, you
got the same thing going on in black churches, brother. So,
you know, you got these people who want to preserve their ethnicity and they will argue with me until
they're blue in the face. If they're light-skinned, that's
easy for them to do. For me, it's a little harder. And they're ready to lose the
gospel to keep their ethnicity. When what I say is, that's not
Christ. Are you guys hearing me? That's not Christ. That's
not Christ. And this test came to me some
eight years ago. at a very intimate level. And
I was so glad it came. Because it's easy to talk. If any man being Christ Jesus
is a new creature, we don't know Christ after the flesh. We don't
call him the Jewish Messiah. We call him the Messiah of the
world. The one mediator over all mankind. Whose children are from every
ethnic group in the world. Am I making sense? That's the
true Jesus. He's not a Jew, he's God, the
maker of all mankind. Now watch this. So then my oldest
daughter says, my second oldest daughter says, I'm in love. Okay, cool. With who? A Salvadorian. I said, good Lord. I get to now
practice what I preach, right? Right? I get to practice what
I preach. I get the, I couldn't sneak and
get on the internet and go, let me go see what these crazy Salvadorians
are like. I couldn't, I couldn't. And then
send her all of the evidence that, you know, the Salvadorians
are crazy. You know that, right? You know, they do this, you know,
they do that, you know, they do the other thing, right? I couldn't
do that. All I could do is judge the young man on the merits of
two things, his love for the gospel, and his love for my daughter. You got that? And when God gave
me grace to pass that test, I was thankful because I said, oh,
this is where the problem really lies in our churches. Then my second daughter, she
said, I'm in love. I said, OK, there's probably
going to be a brother this time. So who is it? It's an Asian brother. OK. Number two. And so I have some of the most
beautiful Blasian grandchildren and Blatino grandchildren that
you could ever imagine, girls and boys. This is such a blessing. I was on a cruise just a year
ago. and so the cruise ship dropped
us on their little safety ships to send us to land right and
so me and my wife um are on the little safety ship with a bunch
of asian people all asian people and for some reason i sat in
the row with about three or four of them and when i go to on vacation
i dress like a typical black person, okay? So I don't look
like a pastor, I look like just a brother from the hood, okay?
So I sit down in this row with two groups of older Asian people,
and you could see how paralyzed they were, because they thought
they had a brother from the hood, right? And they're all talking
in Cantonese and Mandarin. So you know what I did? I took
my phone out and I pulled up a picture of my Asian grandson. and I let them all see. That's
my grandson. That's my grandson. Y'all can
chill now. That's my grandson. That's the mess we're dealing
with in our world, isn't it? That's the mess that we're dealing
with in our world. And even some of you may still
be struggling through that. You cannot reach your highest
level of success or purpose for Christ. until you are willing
to more identify with him and your heavenly father than your
earthly father and your earthly mother. Are you hearing me? Yeah,
this is very, very important for you to get. So what I'm going
to do now for the next five minutes, we'll close it down. I'll take
some questions here. I'll take some questions. I need
two brothers to run for this side. So here's the question
I'm going to raise. And then you can just ask a question.
So here's the questions that I'm going to raise. Was this, if you got a question
back there, raise your hand. Whoever has a question on this
side, raise your hand so we got two mics up. Was this a lawful
division? Don't be quick to answer. Cause
when we come back three weeks from now, did I tell you we're
off next week? And then we're off the subsequent week and we're
back on the 20th, right? So on the 20th, I'm going to
take this up and close it out. And I want you to think through
the question. Was this a lawful division? That's the first question. And could it have been done a
better way? Okay. I want you to resonate with those
because if you look carefully at the next two verses, the outcome
speaks subtly to the two questions I'm raising. Was this a lawful
division? Did these men have a right to
divide and go their way? Could they have done it a better
way? Are those good questions? Because
when you and I get into conflict with people we say we love, we
should be able to ask that question. Is this ground for permanent
division between us and that family or that individual? And
could we have done it a better way? Bonnie? So the question
I have. You've got to cut it on if it's
not on. I think it's on. Is the mic up? Hello? Is it on? Is it on? It is on. He didn't have it up.
So the question I have is, I listen to other preachers that seem
to be, or they are, from what I've been taught here, very biblical. but they find it necessary to
identify their churches as something, something denomination. Is there
a particular reason why they have to do that when they are
biblical preachers, at least according to what I can, my estimation
of when I listen to their messages? Case in point is, one example
is when I listen to Paul Washer, he is a, So Baptist reformed. No, reformed Baptist. Reformed
Baptist. But they make it a point to identify themselves as, and
several others that I listened to on sermon audio, is there
a particular reason why they have to do that? Because they
are now an association. So this is how denominations
work. When a denomination has forged
itself into a schism, a separate body, They build a church protocol,
church doctrine, and statement, church confessions, by which
they are identified as that group. This is what we call denomination. A denominated group, separated,
isolated to themselves. And the only way you can associate
with them in a formal way is to become a Reformed Baptist.
Even though, in the heart of their theology, they would be
very much doctrinally aligned with Presbyterian, other kinds
of Baptists, other kinds of evangelicals, or non-denominational churches,
such as ourselves, at the core of their soteriology. But in
terms of what is called their ecclesiology, they will have
a much more guarded view of whom they call brethren. OK? And that's in order to sustain
their identity. It has nothing to do with the
advance of the gospel. It's just like we wear black
hats with white bands and a green flower. And if you don't wear
this, you're not part of us. So next question, next observation. Where's the mic at? I wanted to ask. You got to put
it to the mouth because I can't hear you. I wanted to ask, when
we say When someone asks you what religion you are, or what
denomination you are. Those are two different words.
OK. What religion are you? Non-denominational. No, no, no, no. Religion and
denominations are two different things. OK. What religion is
your sister? Christian. OK. Isn't a non-denominational
also a group, like the Baptist? No. No? No. Then do you say you're gospel
denomination or? No, when we say we're non-denominational,
we're saying that we are not making ourselves formally identified
with the Southern Baptists or the American Baptists or the
Pentecostals or the Reformed Baptists or what have you. That
for us, those allegiances have not been formally made. So as
a local church, we are non-denominational in that we have not made a formal
allegiance with them. That does not make you a denomination.
That just makes you on the outside of formal denominations. Therefore,
if a person wants to know what we believe, that becomes another
question, right? That becomes another question.
So if you're a Christian, what do you believe? The Bible. Oh, everybody says that. We know.
But if you want to hold us to an authority, our authority is
the Bible. And then we might get more specific
and say we preach the gospel. And what we mean by the gospel
is the person and work of Jesus Christ. And from there, it might
become even more technical by means of whether or not people
understand church history and are aware of what we call the
doctrines of salvation or the doctrines of grace and the whole
battle beyond that. But that becomes several subordinate
questions that most people don't ask, who don't know. And we're
not saying don't be ready to answer them, because you should.
But if you are ready to answer them, here's where your honest
answer is going to come from. You're going to be able to open
the book and say, we preach Christ and Him crucified. from Genesis
to Revelation we believe in the doctrines of grace that is that
salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end and that mankind
can't do anything to save himself apart from the grace of God and
then whatever doctrinal truth you want to discuss or investigate
from A to Z we'll go all the way through those doctrines but
what we're saying is our doctrines come from the Word of God and
we're not upholding Calvin or Luther or Zwingli or Knox or
Wesley or anyone else Because their names are not in this book.
You understand that? And this does not mean we knock
our brethren who are part of denominations. We're just simply
saying that we are not confining ourselves to it because we are
not formally attached to it. Does that make some sense? It's
very important. I don't think at all that there
is a substantial advantage to being non-denominational. So
I want to answer that question for those of you who may have
the cloud over your head. In some cases, non-denominationalism
is a fancy word for cowardice. Okay? For cowardice. Where when
you actually investigate what they believe, they don't believe
anything. But are just kind of wide open
to whatever the spirit will lead them to do. That's cowardice.
Well, you know, we're just kind of led by the Spirit and we just
open the Bible and whatever the Bible says. On the other hand,
if a group says they're non-denominational and they say, because we have
carefully looked at all the major denominations and we have seen
weaknesses in those denominations by which if we were to align
with them formally as a local body, it would be to the detriment
of this unique local body that we are a part of. And God does
not mandate any flock of believers who are actually established
by God to align itself with a denominational group that would actually be
an impediment to the gospel. Does that make some sense? God
doesn't mandate that. He doesn't mandate that. So there
can actually be some good benefits of being part of a denomination.
But, you know, you got to look really hard for them. I'm just
telling you. And beyond that your job in mind ethically Is
to judge people not based upon their denominational affiliation But based upon their knowledge
of God and Christ and the Word of God You guys get that I Never make
it a point to assume that when somebody comes to me and say
I'm Episcopal I know you no, I don't I don't know him or her. I'm making an assumption. Am
I not? I don't have any idea how solid they are in the gospel
We all live with certain cognitive dissonances Is that true? and what that means is you may
have a denomination that is solid theologically and Soteriologically
ecclesiologically in terms of its eschatology It's it's it's
it's practice and ethics orthopraxy and yet you may be jacked up
yourself So maybe you got a good denomination, but you're jacked
up and don't even know your denominational doctrines Or vice versa. You may be part of a jacked-up
denomination But you're solid So when you and I begin to talk
because of out of the abundance of the mouth that the heart speak
I'll determine whether or not you know Christ Is that true
and whether or not you have an allegiance to Jesus according
to the Word of God and the gospel of his grace I don't know that
and that won't be because of some title you have over your
head I'm not presuming your sound because your sovereign grace
or Baptist or reformed Baptist or Presbyterian that doesn't
presume your sound See what I'm getting at That does not presume
you're sound. That can be a completely straw
man argument. When I'm sound, I'm part of the
Reformed Baptist Church. So what? When we all take our flight to
heaven, you know what's going to have
to drop while you go? Your denominational titles. It's all dropping. You guys hear what I just said?
It's all dropping. When you land on your deathbed, raise your
hand so the mic can get to your head. When you land on your deathbed,
when you land on your deathbed, when you land on your deathbed,
when you land on your deathbed, I guarantee you, I guarantee
you, when you're breathing your last breaths, your denomination
will be the furthest thing from your mind as the basis of your
acceptance before God. I guarantee you. I guarantee
you when you're laying on your deathbed and you really want
to go to heaven, you won't be begging for a formal
preacher from any denomination, but him who preaches the gospel. I guarantee you that. I guarantee
you that. You guys hear what I'm saying?
And if you don't have a gospel worth dying for, then you're
already deceived. And a gospel worth dying with. Well, that's my hope and prayer
for people that I know that come from the Catholic faith. That's
what I struggle trying to witness and share the gospel. It's Christ and Christ alone.
And I find family members caught up in that Catholic. It's not just Christ. It's their
religion. They have Christ there, but it's
not totally him. They add to it. And that's what
I struggle with when I deal with some Catholics, especially in
the family. Right. The Catholic Church is
the largest pseudo-Christian denomination in the world. And
unfortunately, they have built so many barriers between Christ
and it, that the people that are blinded by the seven sacraments,
and Mariolatry, and prayers to the saints, and indulgences,
and all of those necessary things, the mass, et cetera, for them
to get to heaven, The reason why they will hold to those things
when they die, while they're dying, is because they never
ever saw the glory of God in Christ. Never. Never. And if they should die that way,
it simply means they were not God's elect. Do you guys hear
me? Do you hear me? But here's what
I will tell you. Many, many Catholics, on their
deathbed, have discovered that Mary couldn't get them in. Or
the saints couldn't get them in. Or the sacraments couldn't
get them in. That only Jesus could get them
in. So when you're with your loved one laying on the deathbed,
or ill unto death, when you're with them, here's what you say. Jesus is the only way. No other way to the Father. but the Son. And you don't have
to force it on them, because the power is the Spirit's to
change the heart and prepare them for the simplicity of that
gospel truth. And if they're God's elect, like
the thief on the cross, at that hour, they're going to say, yes,
I believe that. Yes, I believe that. Because not everybody is
as hoodwinked and bewitched by the pagan sacraments of the Catholic
Church, as you might think. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Judge every person on the individual merits of their
personhood. And don't presume. And especially
those of you who have Catholics as loved ones. But this is true
if you have brothers and sisters who are Jehovah Witnesses, or
Seventh-day Adventists, or Mormons. OK? This is true if you have
brothers and sisters who are Presbyterian. Old-school Presbyterian
under the false assumption that their baptism as a child somehow
consecrated them to God There's so many things like that This
is where preaching the gospel and making Christ the foundation
and object of our faith is so critical Particularly at the
crucial point where people are facing eternity Isn't that God's
goodness to us to keep it simple? When we're laying on our deathbed
Christ and Christ alone, Christ and Christ alone. And the Holy
Spirit can work through that to help those people understand
Christ and Christ alone. So if you're going there talking
to them without fully depending upon the spirit of God, you can
expect for it to fail. Your job is to ask God to go
before you. Because you can't change people's
lives. Only God can. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Only God can. This is false evangelism. When you think you can change
somebody's mind and heart, you can't. Only God can. And you
must beg God to go before you. You must. That way, when he does,
or if he doesn't, You won't bear the burden of the eternal outcome
because the burden of the eternal outcome wasn't on you. It's on
God. Is that true? Too many people
walk away burden that they couldn't get their family member converted.
Are you crazy? Salvation is of the Lord. That's an insurmountable weight
of guilt. Think you are the one that's
gonna convert somebody that will never happen You guys hearing what I'm saying
all you can do is say God Salvation belongs to you Would you please
reveal your glory and your son to them in a saving way and all
I'm gonna do is tell them Jesus alone One more question I thought I
had a hand up over. Oh, yeah, right there, Bonnie.
You won't get it. You won't get a second one. Bless you, my child. Is it on? Can you hear me? OK. If we're if we are not mandated
by God to have denominations, then why do we do it? Why do churches do it? I'm just
I'm telling I told you earlier they were born out of strife
and battles that men had. In this day and age, like, it's
the same. What are you talking about? Well,
those who are biblically sound, as the young lady said earlier,
and they still associate themselves as Baptists or what have you,
if they know that it's because of envy and strife and division,
why do you still? No, they don't necessarily know
that. And so what happens is, this is very important. I'll
close here. So right, you have to do your
homework about first that local church, then the denomination
that they are part of and how its present protocol and confessional
statements and missional objectives are working right now. In other
words, you can't condemn them for their origin if they have
modified their practices to line up more with the Bible now. Do
you understand that? Right. So you've got to go in
and actually judge the local church. Every local church is
not the same as the denomination that they're a part of. Right. I'm going to show you the analogy
here in a moment. So you've got to judge that local assembly
that you're a part of. Then you have to determine whether that
local assembly is really seeking to operate biblically. Because
no church is perfect. Then you can go back to the origins
of that denomination to see whether or not the foundational principles
upon which it stands were rooted in strife and contention. Because
if they were, there's always the possibility in the future,
for some reason, that the leadership in that church will be defending
that denomination, even though it knows it has these ugly blocks
in its history. OK? As a Christian, you may still
be able to operate within the framework of that fellowship
because there are more benefits than liabilities. Am I making
some sense? Did you hear what I just stated? More benefits
than liabilities. Sometimes the liabilities are
irrelevant in the practical sense of it. It's kind of like when you get married. So you meet that young man. You begin to date him and you
are judging him on the merits of his own person, which is right. Giving him the respect and credit
of him demonstrating to you his own autonomy, his own missional
statement, his own objectives, his own purposes and goals. And
then you seek to understand him contextually in the light of
his immediate local family. You may discover that he is radically
different than his crazy daddy and mama. And you may choose
not to judge him based upon the tree that he came from. Are you
guys following me? That's what every individual
really hopes. Because we all go back to crazy, whether you
know it or not. You may not know it, but I know
it. You go back to crazy. because we're all sinners. And
if you look and you ain't got to look too far, you got crazy
in your family. We can pull it up. This is where the merits of our
own personal walk with God come in, particularly as Christians. You guys follow what I'm saying?
Every Christian becomes an opportunity to break with the bad patterns
in our background. This is what is meant by if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. It may take a lot of
work to break with certain bad patterns, but you can. I got
crazy in my family. And when God saved me, one of
the things I knew I had to work on was not being crazy like my
family. And it has been hard. Do you
hear me? hard because I have their nature. But grace is able to make a man
or a woman manifest God's glory in spite of the tree from which
they came. But you decide to marry him and
y'all have babies. Poop. Then that baby looks like
not you, not him, but uncle. Crazy uncle. Crazy auntie. Don't that happen? You go, whoa. He just jumped
over us. And then they got all of the
quirks. That's the liability of having kids. You got a lot
of work to do. Alright, let's pray. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your mercies. Thank you for your goodness and
kindness. We thank you for Christ. You've told us that greater is
he that is in us and he that is of the world and you've also
said, what is it that overcomes this world? Is it not even this
even our faith and that's where we trust you even though life
is humbling and in some cases, humiliating. It never ever ultimately
destroys the believer. It only crushes them to conform
us to the image of Christ. We know that. So that we won't
boast in anything but Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself
for us. As we go our way, give us traveling mercies. Prepare
us to worship you on Sunday. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.