The title of our message today
is Members of His Body. Members of His Body. And you
may wonder why I had you to go to Ephesians chapter 5 on that after the elder did the reading
of the Scriptures. The Amen were kind of weak. Some kind of weak, weak amens.
I mean, you know, what's wrong with husbands? Love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church. Anything wrong with that, ladies?
Ain't nothing wrong with that. Don't you want a man to love
you like Christ loves you? Even though that's not possible. But what I find difficult is
the second part of the verse. husband and wives submit yourselves
to your own husbands in everything y'all got a little quiet on that
one I said boy we in trouble I'm
gonna share something with you though the Apostle Paul got us
off the hook when he told us over in verse 32 this is a great
mystery But I ain't talking about earthly marriages. So we both off the hook. I am
talking about Christ and the church. And when he uses the
lofty language of sacrificial love and total submission, sacrificial
love and total submission, he is using the language of union.
Union. between a man and a woman. And
he's speaking about the mystery of Christ in the church. I thought
about this all week long as I said that I would attempt today to
just bring us some practical principles relevant to church
membership. But I can tell by even the way
we are responding to that portion of scripture that The whole idea
of what it means to be the church of Christ, I think sometimes
is vague to us. And I think, ladies and gentlemen,
it's vague to us because marriage is vague. I know you hear a lot
about marriage, your books and articles and commentaries all
over the world. Every time you turn around, the
idea of marriage is in our face. It really truly is. But what
I think is a problem for all of us is not understanding that
marriage, the way that God set it up, the way that God set it
up, is a non-negotiable institution that cannot be modified or altered
or changed in any such way. That to attempt to do so, modify
or alter or change marriage, the way that God set it up, is
for you to make war against the God of your salvation. For you
and I to think that we are free, like our culture and our world
is attempting to do, to modify and change, restructure, redefine
marriage, interpret it according to our circumstances and our
felt needs and our own goals and agenda, and politicize marriage,
is to diminish the significance of the institution of marriage
according to God. I think in our present day, what
we are seeing is a wholesale assault on the idea of marriage
from a biblical perspective, so much so that it even permeates
believers in the church. And the reality is, while you
may not say it, I think we often function like we believe the
world's interpretation of marriage. I think our thought processes
find themselves submitting to and yielding to the way the world
would have marriage to be understood. But I'm here to tell you for
each and every one of us that would be inclined to interpret
marriage according to the world is to destroy any hope for salvation
because marriage was designed to point us to Christ and to
show us that his eternal purpose was to have a bride with him
for all eternity for whom he was willing to sacrificially
give himself in order to bring her into the bosom of the mystery
of the Godhead and become a partaker of the divine nature, desiring
and willing lovingly to submit to Christ in all things. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So let me say this one more time for you husbands. There is no
way for you to persist through this world with all of the bombardments
that come against you as a man with regards to how you are to
treat your family and to make sure that you get yours and you
be yourself and you get all you can get. You're not going to
be able to be the man that God has called you to be. If you
take your eyes off of Christ, if you fail to make Christ your
model, You will never be the man that God has called you to
be. You cannot have a model better than Christ when it comes to
loving your wife. You cannot love a woman the way
Christ loved the church. You can't do it. And you will
not have another model on planet Earth that will give you the
motive, the desire, the aspiration, the perseverance that it takes
to stay married to a woman. And ladies, you need a whole lot of help to stay happy and holy with that
man. But you see, we're talking about
the church of the living God. Let me just lay this down very
plainly to you. We are talking about the mystery
of the union of a supreme union and dignity and privilege which
surpasses knowledge. It is truly mind boggling. It
is mind boggling that I am so united to Christ that he calls
me his wife. It's mind boggling. It blows
all my synapses. It unravels all my points of
reference. I cannot fathom the idea that
he said, Jesse, you are bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. You shall be called woman because
you were taken out of me. Isn't that amazing? The church
then of Jesus Christ, when she properly understands her role,
has been called to the highest position, the highest status
in the world to serve with the God of glory in the scheme of
redemption by which Jesus Christ is bringing men and women to
a saving knowledge of himself Every day all around the world
and all the nook and crannies of life in all the difficulties
of life in all the troubled places of life You know what's happening
the bride of Christ along with the Spirit of Christ are calling
sinners to Christ Through the gospel, you know what that means
the husband and the wife are getting along They're working
together in a very complementarian relationship. And do you know
what? The wife doesn't mind submitting
to the husband. I told you, you read the last
book of the Bible, Revelation 22, verse 17. Watch this. And
the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. The Spirit of Christ, along with
His bride, are calling sinners to come. I love the fact that
he chose me, don't you? I love the fact that Christ called
me out of darkness into his marvelous light. I love the fact that he
laid down his life for this undeserving sinner. I love the fact that
he told the whole world, watch this now, that's my bride. I love it. Humbles a brother,
wipes me out, but I'm so thankful to be a member of the body of
Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful to be a member
of the body of Jesus Christ. I wanna raise the level of your
appreciation of the church today with regards to that analogy.
Or at least I want to raise the level of awareness of your low
thinking about the church by virtue of that analogy. I want
to help you see that the reason why you don't love the church
like you ought to is because you don't see the church as you
ought to. And the reason why you don't see the beauty and
value and the enormous privilege of the church is because you
don't see the beauty and value and enormous privilege of that
celestial union between the God-man Jesus Christ and the bride who's
made up of billions and billions of people from every hue of life. So different individually, but
collectively we are one body in Christ See what I'm talking
about is the wisdom of God I'm talking about God determining
to have for all eternity a people for himself in the context of
holy matrimony You know what? It would have been cool if he
would have used the analogy of a mere business where he's the
CEO and I'm one of the blue collar workers. I'd have been on God's
team any day of the year, any year of the day, any time. But
he uses the analogy of the most profound institution in the world. And that is the institution of
marriage. And ladies and gentlemen, It
is a great mystery, isn't it? It is a great mystery to be a
child of God. If John told us to pause in 1
John 3, verse 1, when he says, Brethren, behold, behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called what? Children of God, sons of God. As I said on Friday, a paralyzing
concept. Nobody can believe in reality
that you are a son of God. But God said it. And more than
that, he did everything necessary to make it so. When you contemplate
the bestowment of God upon a sinner to make him a son of God, it
ought to shut your mouth in humility. When you think about what God
did to unload on you all of the benefits of redemption and salvation
and grace and mercy, to bring you into a status where He could,
and this is the only reason He unloaded on us, was that He could
tell the world, that's my son, that's my daughter, that's my
child. When you think that through, it is staggering, staggering
to be a child of God. Don't hold a low view of sonship. Don't hold a low view of being
a child of God. To the degree that you do that,
to that degree you despise what he did to lavish on you his love
by which he could tell the world, that's my son. Don't hold a low
view of your sonship. Don't hold a low view of the
church of the living God either. And by the way, because we are
such autonomous creatures in America, don't think that God
called you to do this business of the ministry by yourself.
There ain't no analogy in scripture that indicates or even implies
that you've been called by yourself from God to independently and
autonomously do this thing. There's no such analogy in the
scripture. There are no lone rangers. Do you know this at
best? When God saved you, he saved
a toenail. I ain't talking about the toe.
I'm talking the toenail. Did you hear me? Now, you know,
the toenail has a purpose. Anybody lose a toenail in their
life? Doesn't the toenail have a purpose? You didn't think it
did until you lost it. And once you lost it, you were
like, woo, I need a toenail. Right? I mean, I need a toenail. What I'm talking about are the
members of the body of Jesus Christ. And we get this insane
attitude that the members of the body of Christ can be belittled
and looked upon as insignificant and irrelevant. You cannot do
that. We are talking about every part
of the member of the body of Christ. Every believer in Christ
is a miracle of grace. You are a sign and wonder. You are a great mystery to be
bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Isn't that ridiculous?
And then to be used by God as the visible expression of the
redeeming grace of God in Christ for you. I'm talking you. to
be used by God as the visible expression of the redeeming love
of God in Christ. Ain't nobody here physically
seeing Jesus. If you did, we got a hospital
right up the road. Every time people say, Pastor,
I see Jesus. OK, OK. What color is he? You with me? What color? What color? Wait,
he's white. Wait, hold it, hold it. He ain't white. Wait, he's
dark. No, no. Listen, no man has seen
God or has physically seen Jesus. Jesus Christ is such a glorious
being that he fits all ethnic groups in the world, him having
made them for his own glory. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And he transcends them because he is the God-man. No, don't
tell me you've seen Jesus, but now I'll tell you why. Because
of his spirit given to the church by which we together express
our worship and our love of him and then are devoted to the cause
of the gospel, people can catch a glimpse of the glory of God
through the church, which is his body, the fullness of him
that filleth all things, for which he made the worlds, for
which he came into the world, for which God gave him the preeminence
over all things to the church. He's the head, we are the body.
He didn't come out of us, we came out of him. He came through
us, but we came from him. He was first, we were second.
He's the alpha, he's the omega. We are all on the inside of that
thing. Are you following me? This ought
to give you a greater devotion in your marriage too, as you
listen to all this fickle talk about rearranging marriage. Christ
is the head of the church and we are the body. And the goal
of the body is to submit to the head. Am I telling the truth?
Now I'm here to help you now, Christian. If you're thinking
like this secular world system, you're not going to enjoy the
head because you can't go in one direction while he goes in
another. Either he's running the show or you're pretending
to be a Christian. Am I making some sense? It's
so critical to understand that we are the body of Christ. And what are we talking about
when we talk about the body of Christ? We're talking about the
one institution that God has chosen by which he would reveal
himself through a collective effort on the part of that body
so that men and women would come to a saving knowledge of him.
But first, let me tell you, those of you who acknowledge and are
confident that you are part of the body of Christ, you were
dead trespasses and sins. You were part of a graveyard
of dead bones. Dead bones, dry dead, long time
dead, not an ounce of life in you. You were under the wrath
of God. You lay in that valley of death,
stinking and rotten, unable to help yourself and but for the
mercy of a saving God. Do you remember the account?
God had to straighten his servant out. Ezekiel chapter 37 verses
one through 10. What do you see, brother? He
says, I see a valley, not a mountain top, a valley, not a palace,
a valley, not a great citadel, a valley. That's where you and
I came from, a valley. You and I came from the dead.
Do you understand what I'm saying? He said, he said, Ezekiel, can
these bones, which you have carefully assessed and observed and realize
they don't have an ounce of moisture in them. You know, we still got
these people who think somehow there is just a scintilla of
human good in you. Will somebody tell the truth?
There's none good. No, not one. There's none that
do it good. There's none that think right,
none that act right, none that do right. We are all nones. Will somebody tell the truth?
That through and through by nature we are corrupt and vile. that
even our best thoughts are vile and all of our good works are
a mistral clock. Would somebody tell the truth?
Now why would a holy, glorious, spotless, righteous God who cannot
look upon iniquity look upon you? I'm telling you we're talking
something powerful here. Why would he look upon you? Why
would God designate you one of the members of his body when
from the sole of your feet to the crown of your head? There's
nothing but rebellion against God. Why would he do that? Love
is an amazing thing, isn't it? Isn't love an amazing thing?
It's inexplicable. You can't even really explain
it. You can't define it. It's just so. He loved me and
gave himself for me that he might bestow upon me the dignity of
God. so that I might be called the
son of God. Isn't that glorious? Don't ever
play it down. Don't ever play it down. What
is the body of Christ? The body of Christ is a former
graveyard. Good for nothing. Useless. And sitting there rotting and
stinking. But God came along one day. And
you know what he did? He told his servant, speak to
these bones. Do you remember that? Because
he asked him the question, Ezekiel, can these bones live? You know
what Ezekiel said? I don't know. At least he didn't say, oh, yeah,
all I got to do is make a decision for Jesus. He says, I don't know. Because salvation is of God. When a man or woman comes to
know God, the first thing that must occur is that they must
be raised from the dead. You who were dead in sins and
trespasses, hath He made alive? Hath He quickened? Hath He raised
from the dead? Do you remember when you were
ignorant of God? When you were blinded to His
glory? When you had no desire for God? When you were running
your own way? When you asked the question,
is there even a God? And then He revealed Himself
to you so magnificently in the Gospel. that you ask the question,
how could I ever have thought there was not a God? He raised
you from the dead. And the text tells us, Ezekiel
observed bone coming together to its bone. That's each member
of the body joining itself in an anatomical structure to become
the new man, the new creature in Christ Jesus. How did it happen? He told Ezekiel to speak. And
then he told Ezekiel to cry out for the spirit of the living
God. And the spirit of the living God took what was formerly a
graveyard filled with dead, dry bones and brought life to it. Created a body. In fact, you
know what he called it? An army. Now I'll tell you, if
we were serious about this cause of the gospel, particularly in
the 21st century, you'd start thinking like a soldier. Because
there's a warfare going on. And the enemy ain't playing.
And what he's doing is for keeps. He's sending souls to hell. And
the believer ought to be fighting the good fight of faith. We ought
to be laying hold of eternal life. We ought to be serious
about delivering hell-bound sinners from the clutches of the evil
one, because he's sending them to hell as we speak. Some of
them are our sons and our daughters, our brothers and sisters, nieces
and nephews, cousins and aunts, moms and dads. Am I telling the
truth? And here we are, ignorant of
our calling. as the people of God. But I'm
just here to talk to you today about the importance of membership,
what it means to be a member of the body. I want you to stop
thinking so low and stop missing your purpose and understand who
you are in Christ and get down to the business that God has
called you to. So, let's talk about a little
bit. A few points in your outline. You can follow me. Point number
one in your outline is given to us in the book of Acts. I'm
going to be dealing with three or four passages in the book of Acts.
Go with me to Acts chapter two. Now, pastor, why are you pressing
this message home? Because today is the day of salvation. We don't have tomorrow. I don't
know what tomorrow is going to bring. Do you know it was a situation
that come up. I've been burying people for
the last 16 years. And the older I get, the more
sorrowful my heart gets when I have to bury people. Can I
tell you why? Because everybody in the world
thinks they're going to live forever. Do you hear me? People go about
as if they know they're going to be here tomorrow. They just
do that. I already told you 500,000 people
are dying around the world every day. What makes you think your
number won't come up? And all I have to ask you is,
are you ready? Am I making some sense? We get to see people get
sick and so their plane slowly descends until it finally stops. And we think that's the way it's
going to be for us. But see, what we don't know is two thirds of the
rest of the people around the world die abruptly. What makes
you think that won't be you? And so the issue of being sure
who we are, whose we are and what we are about is so critical
as today you're going to observe here in the next 25 minutes.
I'll be, I'm going to make this short today. You're going to
observe baptisms and you're going to observe people standing and
acknowledging membership in the local church. And I don't want
you to go away from here thinking, ah, just another religious activity. Because there's a day coming
when we will stand before the great king and have to give an
account to all of this stuff. You too. You too. I remember a situation that well,
I got to wait for it down the line. Let me get back to point
number one in the cause of the gospel for the body of Christ. Who are his or who are his members?
God has laid out for us what you and I are called to point
number one in your outline is the word adding. Do you guys
see that adding? The multiplication is the increase
is the one plus one equals two plus two equals four plus four
equals eight and so on. Addition, addition, addition.
It's a term that's used several times in the book of Acts. And
what it implies is that one of the aspects and calling of the
local church and its purpose It's to see men and women come
into the body of Christ. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? That's one of the critical purposes and it is a chief manifestation
and feature in the book of Acts. And I want you to see the language
so I can make some application to you and me. Acts chapter 2
verse 41 notice what it says This is in the context in which
Peter has preached the gospel And this is primarily Jewish
people of whom the writer Luke is giving commentary verse 41
then they that gladly received His word were what do you remember
that day in your own life? when you gladly received his
word and responded in obedience to Christ. Do you remember that?
Are you still alien to that? See, this is a pattern laid out
in the scriptures. When the word of God came to you and your heart
was glad and you saw Christ as sovereign Lord and you were ready
to do whatever he said. Do you remember that day? Well,
a whole bunch of people did on this day. Watch it. Notice what
the text says. And the same day there were added See the word
added unto them. How many souls? Three thousand
souls. It's the middle voice. So we
don't have explicitly who did the adding, but we know who adds
to the church, don't we? We know who adds to the church.
In fact, go with me now on down to verse forty five, forty six
and forty seven, and they continue They and they continually daily
with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house
to house Did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart
verse 47 praising God and having favor with all the people and
who added the Lord added to what the church How often daily such
as should be what say? Do you see what's going on? God
has chosen to work through the visible institution that represents
the kingdom of God for the purpose of bringing the members of his
body into realization through the gospel and bringing the members
of his body. See, there's still a whole bunch
of members of his body out there that are in that graveyard. See,
you used to be there. Are you hearing me? But they're
still out there. And they too must be brought in. Am I making
some sense? Jesus said to the disciples in John 10, other sheep
have I that are not of this fold. They too must be brought in. The operative word is what? Must. And there'll be one fold and
one shepherd. The job of the church, the bride
of Christ is to assist her husband in that glorious task. Addition, multiplication, increase. That's the character and nature
of God. That's that sort of proto evangel that was given to us
in Genesis chapter one, 26 and 27. He made them male and female
in the image of God made he them and he blessed them. And he told
them to be fruitful and what multiply and do what replenish
the earth. And we know that that was a redemptive
mandate given to the church as your job in mind. So now, the
reason why you are in the church today, listen to me, saints,
the reason you are in the church is because the church was obedient
to the gospel. So that the Spirit of God hunted
you down through a believer in Christ and the believer laid
the gospel on you. And you thought you could walk
away the same as you were when you heard that gospel, but you
didn't know the Spirit of God had put the handcuffs of grace
on you. Do you know how that word started penetrating your
skull, started messing with your head? And the next thing you
knew, you were contemplating the things of God until the Word
of God so got a hold of you that it broke your heart and brought
you to a saving knowledge. Am I making some sense? That's
because the believer was obedient to drop the word on you. Because
we know that this work must be done. Turn with me in your Bible
now to Acts chapter 5. Now this is the early days of
the church where the saints are happy about the gospel. Do you
remember when you used to be happy about the gospel? I know
you're not now. But when you used to be happy about the gospel,
it's just like when you first got married. You know how happy
you was? You ain't now, I know that, you're not now. You go
places now and you don't even tell people you married. No, you ain't really excited
about being married today. I'm still excited about being
married. Do you hear me? Still excited. Oh yeah, I'm married. His name
is Jesus. Still excited about being married. Listen to the Acts of account
chapter five. And this is where the husband who owns the house
and loves his wife and putting up with no junk in his church
had a couple of knucklehead folks that was married. See, you can
be married the right way and the wrong way. You know that?
Ananias and Sapphira is a good example of how not to be married.
They thought they could lie to God and get away with it. Well,
they both made their grave together the same day. Do you believe
the Bible? So it closes out in that text
over at verse 14, this way. Well, let me start back at verse
12. And by the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were
all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Isn't it good to be in
unity with the people of God? Just to be able to let your hair
down and say, these my folks, these my brethren, we labor together,
we toil together, we struggle together. We we work together. It's just good. Isn't it just
being one accord watch it? And of the rest there's no man
join himself unto them. That is the apostles, but the
people did magnify them That is the apostles because you didn't
joke around with the apostles. You know how we got all these
folks calling themselves apostles today Well Peter and and and and Paul
they had the power to kill people and That's that was one of the
privileges of apostleship That's why the text said he didn't hurry
up and run up on peter james Because they knew hey if these
two folks got taken out just for lying I'm liable to just
Disintegrate by even getting near these brothers with all
the mess going on in my life. Yeah, they kept their distance
Peter and james and johnny wasn't no joke. See they didn't always
decree blessings Sometimes it was the judgment of god You out
of here, buddy. Because the church has nothing
to play with at the end of the day. I could tell you stories,
but I ain't gonna leave you here alone because we want to get
into the we want to get into the actual process of baptizing
our folks and seeing how the spirit of God works. But I can
tell you some stories. I know you might think that we're
dealing with a mere earthly institution. You are wrong. You are wrong. God walks through the midst of
his churches right now. And he exercises and executes
judgment right now. I see how God works in the lives
of people who disobey Him. And I see how God works in the
lives of people who obey Him. I am under no illusions. Christ
is in the midst of His church. Do you believe that? And you
ought to act like it. Listen to how it goes in verse
14. And believers were the more added
to the what? believers were the more added
to the what now this is interesting because in Acts chapter 2 such
were added daily that were ordained to believe are to be saved in
a lot of part of Acts chapter 2 and the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved here it says they were added
to the Lord can I tell you what's going on It is the reciprocal
relationship between Christ and the church, where Christ does
his part in the adding and we do our part in the adding. It
is the reciprocal relationship between Christ and the church,
where Christ adds to the church and the church adds to Christ. It is the reciprocal relationship
between Christ and the church. Let me get it on. where Christ
adds to the church and the church adds to Christ. You see, he never
viewed it as merely him working, but him working together with
us by which sinners are saved. So let me drive this one home.
You know how you're a part of the church? You were added to
the body. For what reason? So that you
can assist in the addition to the body. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? You were added to the body in
order that you might also assist in adding to the body. And might
I say this, if you're born of God, you love God. If you're
born of God, you love Christ. If you're born of God, you love
the Holy Ghost. You love the triune God. And if you're born
of God, you love them that are born of God. And you love to
see folks born of God. Am I making some sense? You love
to see people born again. You love to see the manifestation
of the work of the gospel in people's life. Therefore, you
love to see such added to the church daily who would be saved. You are bent on your husband's
glory. As the glory of your husband,
you are bent on your husband's glory. Isn't that what 1 Corinthians
11 says? The man is the glory of God and the woman is the glory
of the man. And if I am Christ's bride, I
am his glory. Did you get that? And I am bent
on him being glorified. I want him to be glorified. So
I'm going to increase by the gifts that God gives me, my glory
and my beauty, because my glory and my beauty are his glory and
his beauty. Am I making myself? You brothers
ain't quite getting it. You know how your wife Takes
all that time to get dressed. It don't make no sense. No. You know, honey, I'm going down
to the store. I'll pick up some things. I'll
come back. And you know, she's still ain't ready. You know what
she's doing? She's glorifying you. When she
glorifies herself. Am I making some sense? She's
glorifying you. See, we're talking about the
twain becoming one flesh. See, so my wife can't do anything
of her own without it reflecting on me. And if I'm stupid, then
I might sort of, in my mind, mentally disconnect myself from
her and assess and judge what she's doing as if it has no relevance
in my life. But everything she does has relevance
in my life. And everything I do have relevance
to Christ. And so if I'm living for his
glory, my additional glory is his additional glory. Do you
see it? Again, verse 13. And of the rest,
just no man joined themselves to him, even though the apostles
were magnified and believers were the more added to the Lord,
multitudes, both men and women. Do you see it? Multitudes, both
men and women. Go with me to chapter 11. you
to look at verses 20 through 24 of chapter 11. A unique account
here that's worth our meditating on. I want you to go away today
thinking that I'm part of his body. I'm his bride. And I want
to participate in having children for him. Did you get that? I'm the bride of Christ. And
I want my husband to have as many children as he wants. Did
you get that? however many children he wants.
See, y'all all jacked up again, I see it. I mean, like I'm in
the house all by myself now. Cause see, y'all didn't already
shut it down. You shut it down, it's shut down.
Pastor, use another analogy. That one won't work. I'm talking
spiritual. I'm done with the physical, I'm
talking spiritual. So y'all sisters ain't gotta worry about it. I
done done aid, okay? I done done aid, I'm on my grandchildren
now. Listen, but the church can bear
children until Jesus comes. Do you hear me? She can conceive
and bring forth children until Christ comes and she ought to
want to. You remember those happy days,
don't you sisters? Quiet again. Chapter 11, verse 20 through
24. I want you to mark this. It's about Brother Barnabas.
This speaks to the uniqueness of every one of you. I wish I
could get it into your head. What joy it would be for you
as a believer to assist your husband in the salvation of one's
soul. If you've never experienced it.
The joy of you being a being by which somebody actually enters
into an eternally righteous state with God. Isn't that an amazing
thought? That God would use you in some
small way to be a means by which an eternity-bound soul is brought
into his saving mercy. Don't you want to do that for
him? This is what we're talking about. Listen to the language.
It's an interesting thought on Barnabas. This is a portfolio
of one person and this can apply to you and me too. Verse 20.
And some of them were of the men of Cyprus, Cyrene, which
when they were come to Antioch, this is where they first were
called Christians, spake unto the Greeks, preaching the Lord
Jesus. What are they doing? They're preaching Christ. And
the hand of the Lord was what? With them. So I wanna just make
an application here, although I need to do it in a text. If
you and I are about the business of preaching Christ, everywhere
we go, everywhere we go, Here's what you can be sure of, the
hand of the Lord will be with you. If you and I are about the business
of preaching Christ, if we are ready to give an answer to every
man, if we are cocked and loaded, loaded and cocked, ready to unload,
and your heart's right, the hand of the Lord will be with you.
Are you hearing me? The hand of the Lord will be
with you. The hand of the Lord is with all them who love to
boast in the Son of God. Talk about the Son of God. Preach
the Son of God. Explain the Son of God. Exalt
the Son of God. Make manifest His redeeming glory. His hand is in that. In fact,
I've told you this before. You can't preach the gospel without
the Spirit of God. You cannot preach Christ without
the Spirit of God. This is why for some of you,
you find it so difficult to do. You go, wow, this is hard. Am
I telling the truth? Wow, I'm thankful that some of
you guys told the truth. The reason why it's hard is because
you need God's help. You need God's help. You need
him to fill your heart with the Spirit of the living God and
give you such a love for Christ that you can overcome the flesh
and the shame and the guilt or the Whatever it is that causes
you to be afraid to tell people about Jesus it takes the Spirit
of God But I'll tell you what if you ever open your mouth one
day by accident and Lord just just help a brother out help
a brother out He'll his hand will be in it and you have no
idea What eternal potential lie in you sharing the gospel with
people? listen to the language verse
21 and the hand of the Lord was with them in great and A great
number did what? Believed and turned to the Lord. Is that amazing or what? 22. The tidings of these things
came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they
sent Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch, who when
he had came, he had seen the grace of God, was glad, exhorted
them that with purpose of heart they should do what? Cleave unto
the Lord. I want you to see what's going
on. There are people who are faithfully proclaiming the Word.
God's using it. God honors His Word. Does He
honor His Word? He has to honor His Word because
you and I are dishonorable vessels. Did you get that? He has to honor
His Word because if He's waiting on us to be honorable, He ain't
gonna get nothing done. Am I telling the truth? So this
is why it's so important for you to learn how to say the word.
Just say it. Say the word. Just proclaim the
word. Declare the word and ask God to honor his word. What Barnabas
did after people heard the gospel was to come down and do what
local elders do in the local church. And that is to exhort
those who become believers. To close the deal. And be married. to Christ publicly and demonstrably. Elders,
that's what our job is, elders, to teach and expound and explain
and to make known the mysteries of the gospel and to exhort the
people of God to close. You know, the language he's using
is our natural language. For this call shall a man leave
his father and his mother and shall plead unto his wife, and
the twain shall become what? And what we're telling you, Christian,
is to close with Christ. Close with him. Let the world
know you're married. Let the gospel have such an impact
in your life that you are proud to say, I am a child of the living
God. I am a son of the king. I am
the bride of Christ. I am a member of his body. I
am not ashamed. to say, I know him. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? That's what's going on here.
And so the encouragement by Barnabas is to encourage the saints to
cleave to the Lord, because ladies and gentlemen, whether you know
it or not, it's a battle to keep looking to Christ. Am I telling
the truth? Now watch what verse 24 says.
As a consequence of this combined effort of those who preach the
gospel and Barnabas' exhortation to the church to cleave to him,
for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,
watch this, and many people were added unto the Lord. There it
is again. Do you see that? Do you understand how the book
is emphasizing the impact of the gospel? Let me say this so
I can go to my next point. The salvation of sinners is not
directly the effort and work of those who are part of the
body of Christ, though that has been the major emphasis that
I have laid out to you. The fact that people actually
become saved is a consequence of Christ's conquest at Calvary. The reason many women actually
are made new creatures in Christ is because Christ's death on
Calvary won him the crown rights to claim sinners so that when
the gospel is preached, they necessarily will come to Christ.
In other words, he shall see his seed. He shall see his seed. His days shall be prolonged and
the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his head. The reason
you and I are saved is because Christ died. He was buried and
he rose again and he earned the inheritance of a host of sinners
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. That's the only reason
you're saved. The reason you're saved is because God can't lie,
can't change or fail. What he promised his son was
he'd give the uttermost parts of the world as an inheritance
to him and the heathen also. Oh, that's you. That's you. Did
you know that? You the heathen. So once you came to a knowledge
of God in Christ, what you are coming to a knowledge of is the
victory of Christ on Calvary. That's what you're coming to
a knowledge of. And now that you are a part of this mystery
called the church, which is his body, you are called upon to
now participate in the fulfillment of that mystery. Am I making
myself plain? Let me go on to my next point then. Not only
is this business about the addition of the members of his body from
the nations around the world who are called by the gospel,
but the method is gospel persuasion. I want you to see one verse,
1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 4 through 10. I just want to
share with you the methodology if you have forgotten. How does
God bring people to the point where they love him? And how
does God bring people to the place where the gospel becomes
good news to their soul? How does God bring a person to
the place where the proposition of them being a sinner and Christ
being the only savior starts to make sense? Remember? Remember how proud you and I
were? Who, me? You calling me a sinner? Man,
I'll knock your head off your shoulders. Me? I might be bad,
but I ain't bad as him. I can give you a whole group
of people worse than me. Had a fellow on Thursday, got
so mad at me in our gospel and sexuality class. He got so, didn't
he? He stood up, Reverend, I don't
agree with you. There are all kind of good people
in the world. And I didn't even call him a
sinner. It was just, It just was tossed
out there. And he got so mad. And I just
had to back up and say, hey, the book is clear. The book is
clear. You can fight with me all you
want to, but you ain't going to change the black words on
that white book. God says it as it is. You and I like to change
the book and change the words and change the meaning and modify
it. We always want the exception to the rule. But you know what?
When Adam fell, we all fell. And when Adam died, we all died.
Oh my goodness. We're sinners. See, y'all may
not have been happy singing only a sinner saved by grace, but
I'm always happy to sing that song. Cause I know what I am. Well, I ain't a sinner no more.
Well, either you're in glory or you're not saved. Cause all
God is saving is sinners. That's all he's saving is sinners.
That's all he's saving this sinner. And last I checked, you can't
be in glory and walk in this chair of firmitude. So you're
delusional. In fact, you just sinned when you said you're not
a sinner. So you better get to the mercy seat before God takes
his breath from you. First Thessalonians chapter 1
verses 4 through 10. This is how God uses the instrumentality
of preaching to bring a person to himself. And this is what
happens. We call this formation or transformation
as a consequence of the preaching of the gospel. First Thessalonians
1 verse 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. You see where salvation starts?
In God's electing love. In other words, your salvation
is not an accident. You're saved because God chose
you in Christ before the world began unto salvation through
a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Did you get that? And when God,
when God put the spotlight on you, he knew you by name, even
though you didn't know him, he had written your name down on
the palms of his hand. He had written your name down
on his heart in eternity past before there was a universe.
He knew you. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God for our gospel came not unto you in word only.
It happens to people often where they hear the gospel week in
and week out, week in and week out, week in and week out, and
nothing happens. But one day. The gospel comes with such dynamic. And power. that it knocks you
off your feet and you know you're dealing with god am I telling
the truth doesn't matter how loud the preacher preach speaks
or how low he speaks the weight of the spirit of god
when it accompanies the preaching and gets a hold of your mind
and grips you and then Revelation begins to appear of his glory
and you are fixed on this Infinite being called God in that moment,
you know, you are dealing with God That's how it comes and once
it shakes you up like that you are shook up forever I've met
God in the preaching of the gospel. I've met him in the preaching
of Jesus Christ. Listen, I and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. These are the apostles talking
about being authentic preachers of the gospel as they preached.
I still preach and I still believe that you have to be born of God
in order to be a vehicle by which people become born of God. Did
you get that? I preach and teach that you must
be born of God to be a vehicle by which men and women are born
of God. Every seed bearing earth brings
forth fruit of its own kind I don't believe that a person who is
not born of God can be a vehicle by which people are born of God And so he goes on to say this
and You became followers of us. Do you see it and of the Lord?
Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy
Ghost verse 7. I so that you were examples to
all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia. Verse 8, for from
you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and
Achaia but also in every place where your faith towards God
is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. Now Verses
4 through verse 8 are worth your own investigation and exegetical
labors Because this is what it means When the gospel comes to
you and gets a hold of you It makes you a believer in Christ
Once you become a believer in Christ Guess what? Then you become
an example having followed those Who are believers in Christ?
and you become a model so that others look at your model. And
in that process, you becoming a believer, you becoming a follower,
you becoming a model, a model, the you is in the plural form
is talking about the church as a whole. Like Grace Bible Church
is the consequence of that process unfolding, preaching, that results
in believing, that results in modeling, that results in an
example so that other people follow. Do you guys see that?
That's exactly how it works. And you'll notice what verse
8 says. It says, the word of your faith has spread everywhere. It has spread everywhere so that
we don't have to say anything about you. You know what that
means? That means the local church that's
obedient to the gospel is waving to sinners like the spirit and
the bride saying come Whosoever will let him come and everyone
that's thirsty Let him come to the waters freely and drink of
Jesus Christ. Everybody will know that that
local church is happily married to Jesus and don't mind letting
the whole world know that they're happily married to Jesus. All
right, let's rush through a few more things here. Point number
three and four, as we get ready to close, the purpose is to witness. Do you see that? What's the purpose
of a local church? The purpose of the local church
is to witness to the glory of God. That's your job. That's
the purpose of the local church. You are my what? The goal of
the local church is to witness to the glory of God, witness
to the truth of God, witness to the power of God, and let
men and women know the reality of Jesus Christ. You are a witness.
You are a credible witness of the propositions of biblical
truth concerning the glory of God in Christ laid out in the
scriptures. You are a credible witness. That
means when you say what you say about God's Word, You are legitimate
because you believe the book. You are a credible witness. Now,
if you're not a true believer, you're not a credible witness.
True believers testify to what they have seen and what they
have heard. Am I making some sense? See, we're back at the
courtroom business again. When you stand in the courtroom
of people's conscience and they ask you, so what say you about
Jesus? Is he the son of God? Yes. Is
He the Savior of the world? Yes. Is He the Redeemer of His
people? Yes. Is He the Bright and Morning
Star? Yes. Does He run this universe? Yes.
Does He sit on His throne in glory? Yes. Is He coming back
again? Yes. Is He going to judge this
wicked world? Yes. Is He going to bring His
people to glory? Yes. Will that Jesus save me? Yes. If you bow the knee to Christ,
He will save you. Are you hearing me? Yeah, this
is serious business. Just think about just look at
the church right now. Look, look at our church. Just
think of yourself as being in the courtroom. Because that's
how it's going to be. Brothers and sisters, same thing,
no different in the day when the judge comes, he's going to
gather everybody together. Now, if you and I are serious
about this business, you know where we're going to be sitting
on the jury stand. judgment with Christ against
the world y'all with me so far this ain't no joke this is not
a joke when we share the gospel with people we are confirming
their destiny one way or the other this is not a joke it's
not a joke mama and daddy that you might one day in eternity
have to stand before God against your children this is not a joke
It's not a joke. You are my witnesses. And I want
to bring us to the fourth point concerning membership in the
local church. There are four things I just
want to put into your head as we close. Membership in the local
church, being part of the body of Christ, that celestial bride,
that glorious union between God and his redeemed people calls
for commitment. Did you guys hear that? Commitment.
In Mark chapter 1 verse 17 and 18, the Lord Jesus is walking
by. He sees Peter, James, and John fishing. You know what he
does? He calls them. Follow me, and I'll make you
fishers of men. You know what they did? They
dropped their nets and followed Christ. Do you hear me? See, this is how I know you're
saved, because the gospel is so compelling. that you are willing
to let it change your life, change your vocation if necessary, but
certainly change your life. That's how serious we are about. You know, that was a powerful
word for you to leave your business by which you make a living, to
follow a brother you don't know. That's powerful. I see in the
local church, And my elders can affirm this and you brother pastor
and that pastor brother and that are with us. You can affirm this
commitment is one of those heebie-jeebie words in the church, isn't it?
The kind of stuff where you start getting, you know, bumps and
measles and mumps commitment. But we are back to secular thinking. We're back to secular thinking.
People vacillate as to whether they're going to commit to the
God. who committed himself to save
you. There shouldn't even be any conversation
about that, right? I mean, really, logically speaking, should a
redeemed sinner even question commitment to Christ? Should
he question or should they question commitment to his church? Since
you can't separate the two ontologically or experientially. I know people
like that. I'm a Christian, but I ain't cool with the church.
That's an oxymoronic statement. That's like saying, I'm a Christian,
but I ain't cool with myself. Well, that might be true. That
might be more true. That might be more true. That
might be more true than the latter, you know, cause you all messed
up and sometimes you don't even like yourself. Isn't that right?
But the reality is, it's not about you. Even though you don't
like yourself, obviously God liked you. He saved you. But
what I am talking about, children of God, is something critical.
You get ready to see here in a few moments people who will
stand up and become members of Grace Bible Church. You'll see
12 people get baptized today. There will be about 30 or 40
people that will be joining Grace Bible Church. God does that for
us every year. What a blessing. What a blessing. But for me,
to you, who are members of the body of Christ, go back to your
first words. Re-evaluate God's calling in
your life Think through the privilege of being part of the body of
Christ Think through the privilege think through the privilege of
being part of an institution that can't fail Am I making some
sense? Because the church can't fail
The head of the church won't let it fail. I will build my
church and the gates of hell will not prevail. I Every stone
will be brought from the rock quarry of God's eternal purpose
and placed in the body, fitly joined together, growing into
that holy temple in the Lord. God won't fail. Only I want to
say to you who are members, don't forget how God saved you. And
for those of you who are going to become members at Grace, as
you settle down and become part of this family, don't you forget
how God saved you. because our job is to assist
him by his grace to see other people saved. Am I making some
sense? Commitment is critical. The next one that's critical
is accountability. That's another one that knocks
people off their shoes. I had a young man call me the
other day, bless his heart. He said, Pastor, I need to establish
some accountability for myself. He ain't in no trouble. He just
wanted accountability because he's moving towards leadership.
And when you are moving towards biblical leadership, what you
know is one wrong move will disqualify you. It'll disqualify you. Oh, we got a whole lot of disqualified
folks in leadership today. They ran, but God didn't send
them. They're occupying an office without the approval of God,
and they're messing up the church. But these young brothers I'm
dealing with understand that in order to achieve a status
of leadership, you've got to execute the process lawfully.
A man is not crowned unless he strives lawfully. Am I making
some sense? You've got to stay in your lane,
brother, so that when you cross the finish line, that photo shot
don't catch you tipping over. You know how that go? You know
how brother was rolling at 400 meter, rolling, just rolling.
He was disqualified 50 yards out of the run. Accountability
is so critical in the church. What is accountability? Accountability
is you and I recognizing that we are responsible to others. We are answerable to others. In many ways, we are liable for
others. To be accountable is to be willing
to report to someone else and be examined by others for the
welfare and health of your position in that local body. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Accountability means that you
want to walk in the light and not in the darkness. Accountability
means that you want to be able to bring forth all the fruit
that God has designated for you because you are being honest
with the things of God. Am I making some sense? After
all Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 tells you to remember those
who have the rule over you Who have spoken unto you the Word
of God? That you should pattern your life after they have patterned
their life if they have faithfully patterned their life and to submit
yourself to them That's a sense of accountability. Isn't that
right? chapter 17 chapter verse 17 says the same thing obey them
that have the rule over you for they do what they watch for your
soul you don't believe that one last time you talk to your elder
man y'all get out of here so quick it ain't even funny i might
hear from y'all once a year i'm kidding listen this is what i'm
getting at i don't want to talk to you most of the time to be
honest with you pray for you, you pray for me,
okay? No. What we are talking about is
the aspect of the last word that I'm about to close with and that's
called communion. The koinonia of the people of God is fellowship.
That was Acts chapter 2 verse 40. And they continued in the
apostles doctrine and they went from house to house breaking
bread and in prayer and having fellowship. Koinonia. Fellowship
is is the mutual reciprocity of resources and blessings that
exist in the community by which you get to know each other, build
each other up, and serve for the cause for which that community
was made. Are you guys hearing me? When
we talk about fellowship, what we are talking about is enjoying
the resources, participating in the resources, sharing with
one another the resources by which we are strengthened, by
which we are edified, and by which we are made able to go
forth and do the work that God has called us to do. And I know
that sometimes we can neglect that aspect of our calling. To the degree that you do, to
the degree that you do, to that degree, you're going to be minimally
used of the Lord. You're going to look up, if you
would honestly assess your own life, and you may have gone years,
years of having no recognition, recollection of being a part
of the salvation of an individual. Wow. Isn't that something? Wow. I mean, years. I'm talking years. You're a Christian.
You are the seed of God. You are the vineyard of God.
You are living waters. You are the bread of life. You
are the field and harvest of the true and the living God.
And nobody eats of your food. Nobody drinks of your water. Do you understand what I'm getting
at? Right now in our men's study, we are dealing with what are
called the indicatives. You are the light of the world. How's
that working for you? You are the city of the Living
God. How's that working for you? You are the people of the Most
High God. How's that working for you? Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? God says that's what we are.
So how's that working? See what I'm getting at? Well,
this is how it works. It requires accountability. It
requires commitment. And it requires the kind of koinea,
fellowship, communion that puts you in a position that the moment
you walk out these doors, God can use you. God can use you. We're not talking about you weighing
out your life by messing up the priorities of your life so that
you're running around like a chicken with your head cut out, cut off
trying to get folks saved. No, go to work, pay your bills,
raise your family, but always be ready. That's what it means
to be a witness. Am I making some sense? Always
be ready. So I'm going to close with this
proposition. I'm not going to do anything with it. I'm just
going to ask you, are you married? Are you married? Some folk like to scream. God bless you who said it. Well, manifest that. Manifest
your commitment to Christ. Don't be ashamed to say he's
your husband. A lot of people shacking up. You hear me? A lot of people
shacking up. Ain't no evidence. You're getting
the bennies, but ain't nothing going on. Ain't no evidence.
Ain't no commitment. Be committed. He committed himself to you.
We're going to have the offering at this time, and then we're
going to do our baptisms and make our acknowledgments and
close in prayer. Y'all stay with us now. You need to see this.