Did you ever notice this? I searched it out very carefully
last week after I preached to you on Sunday evening, started
working on this. In the New Testament, there are
no exceptions, not even one. In the New Testament, every time
anyone came to our Lord and complained to him about what someone else
was doing, or wasn't doing, or might do, or might not do. Every time anyone had a word
to say to him negatively about someone else's work or deeds,
he rebuked them sharply. Every time. And I'll give you
a paraphrase. It's stated in different words,
but this is what he said every time. He said, that's none of
your business. He just said, that's none of
your business. You remember in Acts chapter 9, the disciples
came to our Lord and they said, Master, we saw these fellows
casting out devils and we told them to quit that because they
didn't follow after us. And our Lord said, that's none
of your business. Leave them alone. Leave them alone. Martha and
Mary, we looked at last Sunday night. Martha said to the Lord,
Jesus, Master, dost thou not care that my sister has left
me to serve thee alone. Bid her therefore that she help
me. And the master said to Abartha,
honey, that's just none of your business. That is none of your
business. And then turn to John chapter
21, John 21. Let me give you a little bit of background. Peter had denied the Lord Jesus
and the master came to him And his third appearance was to Peter
after his resurrection. And he came specifically to restore
Peter, to confirm to Peter his love for him, and to confirm
in Peter, Peter's love for his savior. When Peter had publicly
confessed Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love
thee. Then the master gave him this
charge, feed my sheep. Peter had denied his master three
times. Here he confesses his heartfelt
love for Christ three times. And he is commissioned three
times to feed the Lord's people. Now look at verse 18 if you will,
verse 18. The Lord Jesus told Peter how
that he would be required to suffer and die for the glory
of God. This impetuous, often fickle
man, Peter, was here assured that in the end he would be faithful
unto death, and he was. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
when thou wast young, and girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest, or thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee
whither thou wouldest not. This he spake, signifying by
what death Peter should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he said to him, The thing that bothered Peter
horribly was he convinced himself that after his denial of the
Master, he denied everything and there was no hope for him.
He went out and he said to his fellow disciples, he said, I'm
going fishing. He said, I've lost it all. I've lost it all. I'm going back to where I was
when the Master found me. All that I've experienced and
all that I said has been vain, empty, and meaningless. It's
a farce. I've been a fake all along. The
Lord Jesus knew better. And he came to him and assures
him that he will be faithful unto the end. And he says to
him, now, Peter, with all this behind us, you follow me. You
follow me. Then as they walked along the
beach, oh, Brother Peter. Oh, Brother Peter, how like Don
Fortner he was. I'd like to be more like him
in some ways, but in all his weaknesses, I'm very much like
him. He saw John following the law. And he, thinking about what
the Lord had told him would happen to him, he said, when you're
old now, somebody's going to stretch out your hands and you're
going to be put to death for my name's sake. This disciple
he saw walking down the beach with him, he said to himself,
well, what about John? Wonder how things are going to
go with old brother John. Wonder how it's going to happen with
John in the end. And he said to the Lord, Lord, you told me
what I must do. But what about John? What's he
to do? Luke verse 20. Then Peter, turning
about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which
also leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which
is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus,
Lord, and what shall this man do? Now at first that may appear
to be a very innocent question, but it was horribly evil. It
was a question that arose from Peter's proud heart. It ought
never to have been asked. It's a question that if it had
been entertained, if it had not been nipped in the bud, would
certainly have caused division among the Lord's disciples. would
certainly have caused trouble between Peter and John, and would
likely have led to other evils as well. And at that point, I
try to picture the scene. I expect the Lord Jesus kind
of just stopped in his tracks. And look, Peter, I swear in the
eye. And he said, that's none of your business. That's just
none of your business. Look at it. He says to Peter,
follow me. Follow me. If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Now here's a message directly
from the lips of the Son of God to you and me. What is that to
thee? It is our responsibility in all
things to follow Christ. But it is never, it is never
our responsibility to determine what another disciple is doing,
or should be doing, or even concern ourselves about what another
is not doing. Our business is to follow Christ.
Brother Todd Nybert and I were talking about this this afternoon,
chatting for a little bit, asked me about what I would be preaching
tonight, and I gave him and a few thoughts, and he said, what an
important message. If we could learn that, it'd put an end to
almost every problem there is in the church and kingdom of
God. And it would. I'm convinced that all strife
and all division that exists among believers can be traced
to this one proud evil. We all concern ourselves far
too much with what other folks are doing and are not doing.
We concern ourselves far too much with how other folks are
serving Christ or not serving Him. We concern ourselves far
too much with what other people do or do not do for the glory
of God. That's none of our business.
That's just none of our business. Turn over to Romans chapter 14
for a moment if you will. Romans chapter 14. Now this is the thing I want
to lay before you tonight. I want to address this question.
What is that today? And I'm just going to address
the question. I'm not going to give an answer to it. I'll just
make a few stabs at it. Let somebody else answer it.
But we must learn to leave God's servants and God's people in
God's care. We must learn to do that. Look
at Romans 14 verse 4. Who art thou that judges another
man's servant? Now the word judge doesn't merely
mean to condemn. It means set in judgment over.
Who are you to give consideration to even think about the faithfulness
or unfaithfulness, the loyalty or disloyalty, the usefulness
or disusefulness of somebody else's servant? Who are you to
do that? To his own master he standeth
or falleth. Now, I understand the context,
but the text clearly is talking about the very thing that I'm
dealing with. Look at the next line. I must confess, most of
the time when I quote this passage of scripture, Larry, I quote
just what we read, and I leave off the last half of it. Yea,
he shall be holding up. He's God's servant? God take
care of him. If he has to break his leg, he'll
still take care of him. If he has to break his heart,
he'll still take care of him. He's God's servant and he shall
be holding up for God's able to make him stand. God's able
to make him stand. You see, God's people are God's
people. They're not yours and they're
not mine, they're his. God's servants are God's servants. They're not yours, and they're
not mine. They're His. I sure wish I could
learn that, and you could too. As such, they're not to be judged
by us. They're not to be controlled
by us. Their lives are not to be run by us. The whole religious
world operates on that principle. Religion binds men. Religion
seeks to put rules on men. Religion seeks fetters of law
and custom and tradition by which they say, now this you shall
do and this you shall not do. And if you've got any questions,
ask me and I'll tell you. Christ does. You remember what our Lord
did with Lazarus when he raised him from the dead? And he that
was dead came forth being bound in grave clothes with a napkin
over his face. The Lord said, Luke said, and
let him go. Just turn him loose. Just turn
him loose. He's mine. He's mine. Turn him
loose. Not bind him, but loosen him
and let him go. It is absolutely none of your
business and none of mine how someone else serves Christ. Now
I've chosen my words deliberately. It's none of your business and
none of mine How someone, what someone else does for his master
or doesn't do. It's none of your business and
none of mine what someone else gives or doesn't give to the
cause of Christ or where they get it. It's none of our business.
I make it, I make it a deliberate policy. I seek never to know
what anybody in this congregation gives for any cause. I don't
want to know. Sallie will tell you. Been pastoring here for
23 years, I just don't ask. Don't want to know. Make every
effort not to know. If I could, the things that come
across my desk, I wouldn't even look at them. I just wouldn't
even look at it. Somebody called, wanted to know whether somebody
gave something. I talk about folks who aren't
even part of this congregation. Ask Shelby. I said, tell her
it's none of her business. None of her business. How dare
you ask what somebody else gives to the cause of Christ? How dare
you ask how somebody else is serving God? That's not our business. The Lord God Almighty is perfectly
capable of taking care of his own. Besides, the fact is most
of us have a full-time job taking care of ourselves. I don't know
about you, but I get plenty of overtime just taking care of
dogs. I don't need somebody else's business. Look at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. Look at this. The apostle says in verse 11
that you study to be quiet. Now look at this. and do your
own business. Is that enough for you to do?
Study to be quiet and do your own business. Again, it is absolutely
none of our business how somebody else serves our God, his God. To his own master he stands or
falls. Now let's look at this passage
here in John chapter 21, verses 18 through 22, and let me show
you three things. I pray God the Holy Spirit will
speak to your heart and to mine. I recall years ago, Brother Henry
Mahan said to me, I was getting ready to preach. We were preaching
over in Appomattox, Virginia, and I was younger then than I
am now. He said, Brother Don, if you
can find something that you need and preach that, Chances are
pretty good somebody out there is going to need it. But if you
don't need it, nobody else is. Well, I need this and you do
too. Here's the first thing. This is our responsibility. Yours
and mine. We must follow Christ. The master's
word to us is follow thou me. You follow me. You follow me. Now I know what I'm saying here.
I know it will cost anyone who dares heed the master's command.
But the business of our lives is following him. Indeed, we
live in vain if we don't live for him. Our lives are meaningless
except as they are spent for him. The Lord Jesus gives this
command in the gospel. You see, in Bible terms, faith
in Christ is neither more nor less than following Christ. Sit
down sometime at your leisure, and it'll take you a couple hours,
but sit down sometime at your leisure and read each of the
gospel narratives entirely. Just go through chapter one right
to the end. Read the whole thing and mark
every time the Lord Jesus called somebody to life and faith in
him. Do you know how he did it? Follow me. Follow me. Follow
me, follow me. He said take up your cross daily
and follow me. He called Matthew and Matthew
followed him. He called Peter and Andrew and
they left their nets and followed him. He called the sons of Zebedee
and they left their ship and followed him. Faith in Christ,
Bobby, is following Christ. It's not just giving a lit service
to a creed. It's not just believing facts.
To believe on the Son of God is to commit your life to Him,
following Him. And this is the responsibility
of all men. This is what the life of faith
is. It is following the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, a disciple is someone
who learns to live the life his teacher lived. Now someone who just learned
his doctrine, if you have a teacher, someone who's respected by his
students, you have someone who has influence and he's loved,
admired, and respected, the folks who are under his influence will
unwittingly begin to act like him, just unwittingly. They so
admire him, they so esteem him, they so love him that they attempt
without conscious effort to follow him, to do as he does, to be
as he is. Now understand this, discipleship
is more than getting to know what the teacher teaches. It's
getting to be what the teacher is. And Christianity is something
much more than believing the doctrine of Christ. Yes, it involves
that. There's no Christianity without
believing his doctrine. But Christianity is following
him. Oh, God helped me to follow him. It's seeking to mold my life
after him. If I'm a child of God, I'm not
a follower of a man. I'm not a follower of a creed.
I'm not a follower of a denomination. I'm not a follower of a church.
I'm a follower of Christ himself, so that my doctrine, my thoughts,
my words, my character, my deed, I seek to mold after his example. He's the example. He suffered
for us, leaving us an example. Yes, his death was more than
an example, but it was an example that we should follow in his
steps. He said, as I had done, so do ye one to another. We are his disciples if we follow
him, only as we follow him. Now, this is what I'm saying.
The Lord God Almighty has given each of us, if we're his, if
we are believers, men and women, young and old, He's given each
of us a place, a position, and gifts with which to serve here,
which nobody else has. God didn't put Bob Ponce here
for nothing. He didn't put you here just to
chase railroad trains, or trains up and down a railroad track.
He hasn't put us here just to run a business. He hasn't put
us here just to do various things in various occupations, but he
has put us here as his servants. That's our occupation, Bob. That's
our occupation. Not being principal, not being
teacher, insurance salesman, but his servants. If you read
the New Testament, the Lord says, you are my witnesses. You know
what that word means? The word is martyr. It's the
very same word translated martyr elsewhere in scripture. Someone
who lays down his life in the cause. not you ought to be, not
you may be, he says you are. You're my witnesses. All who
are saved by his grace are men and women who lay down their
lives in his cause for his glory to serve the interest of his
king. I don't believe that any child of God was created for just mundane I don't believe
any child of God was created just to keep records, just to
build houses, just to teach school, just to be president of a nation.
No, sir. We were created to serve the
cause of Christ wherever we are. Can you give us scripture for
that? I believe I can. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
7. 1 Corinthians 7. In the context, Paul is talking
about marriage and believers' relationship with others in this
world. And in verse 20, this is what
it says. Let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he was called. When God saved you by his grace,
and you were a plumber, or you were a farmer, or you were a
salesman, or you were a lawyer, stay right where you are. God
knows where you are. He knows what you're doing. Abide
in the calling you were in when he called you. Art thou called
being a servant? Now the word is slave. Did God
save you as a slave? Well, don't pay attention to
that. Care not for it. What? Care not for it. Don't be concerned about that.
But if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. Don't spend your
days bemoaning the fact that you were born a slave and your
mama and daddy was a slave and your mama and daddy before them
was a slave. But if you're called in this condition, use it for
God's glory. Did God save you being a welder? Use it for God's glory. Use it.
Did God save you in this position doing this? Use it for his glory.
Read on. Okay. For he that is called in the
Lord, being a slave to another man, a servant to another man,
he's the Lord's free one. You can't put chains on a man's
heart. It can't be done. Likewise, also, he that is called
being free, he's Christ's slave. That's where we are. Yes, sir.
You're bought with a price. Be not then the servants of men.
Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with
God. Now, this is what I'm saying.
God has put you and me where we are with the gifts and talents
and opportunities we have individually and collectively to seek the
salvation of his people, the glory of his name, the increase
of his kingdom. And that's our business. That's
our business. Turn to John 20. Let me show
you. John 20, verse 21. The Lord Jesus came to his disciples.
He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. And he said to them,
verse 21. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you. As my father had sent me, even
so send I you. How did God Almighty send His
Son into this world? He sent His Son, Lindsay, to
save His people for His glory, for His honor. And God Almighty has sent us
into this world for the saving of His people, for His honor,
for His glory. You see, our mission is the same
as our Savior's. No, we can't redeem anyone. No,
we can't save anyone. No, we can't put away anyone's
sins. But we are sent of our Redeemer to do exactly what He
was sent of God to do as instruments for the saving of His people.
That's our life's business. All right, now second, if we would follow Christ, if we would follow Him, We must,
this is vital now, that no following Christ without this. We must
subject everything to his will and his dominion. Everything. When Peter learned what he must
suffer and to do it for Christ, he looked at John and said, and
what shall this man do? And the master said to him, what
is that to you? Follow thou me. Now let me show
you three things here. Number one. If I would follow Christ, I must
not concern myself with the responsibilities of others. But Pastor, aren't
we supposed to watch over one another? Yeah, to care for one
another, not to rule one another. To comfort one another, not to
hurt one another. To minister to one another, not
to be ministered to by one another. You understand the difference?
We are sent of Christ to minister to, not to be ministered to. To serve, not to be served. It's
true, we are all members of his body and we work and labor together
for one cause, the glory of God. All God's people together preach
his word, feed his sheep and promote his glory. But each of
us is the Lord's servant. And we must recognize that each
stands and falls before his own master. We must each be occupied
with our own responsibilities and our own calling and our own
faithfulness to God. Oh, my soul, how important. Yes,
we gladly help others as they serve Christ. Missionaries, churches,
pastors do what we can to help them. but we don't try to control
it. I made this statement down in
Houston this week. Brother Jack Shakes and our friends,
he pastors Larry Street Baptist Church in New Caney, Texas. But
what he does is pastor that church. How he goes about his business,
how he goes about his labors is absolutely none of my business. If he preaches the gospel of
God's free grace, it is absolutely none of my business how he goes
about doing it. We support missionaries, Brother
Cody, Brother Walter down in Mexico. Now, if they didn't preach
the gospel, I wouldn't send them a dime. We wouldn't support them. But if they serve Christ, if
they preach the gospel, probably how they go about doing it, how
they conduct their ministries, that's condemning God. That's
absolutely none of our business. Missionary boards are created
so they can control preachers. Denominations are created so
they can control preachers. We must not seek to control them.
We must not seek to control them or one another. We must not govern
or seek to rule the lives of other people. I'm 50, what will
I be, 51 or 52 in June? I can't remember. I'll be 52.
I'll be 52 in June. I'm almost old enough that I've
learned and folks start asking me about things, what should
I do? I don't know. I just, I know
what this book teaches and I can tell you what this book teaches
and to the best of my ability as I preach the gospel to you,
I will. But man, when it comes to individual day-by-day decisions
that you must make, I'm not about to tell you, even if I knew.
Just not going to. Just not going to do it. Leave
that to you and God. You see, I'm not the Spirit of
God and you're not either and it's high time we quit acting
as though we were. We have no right to attempt to
govern and manipulate the lives of others. We must not, on this
other hand, allow ourselves to be turned aside by others from
our own responsibilities. You see, I'm not responsible
for what God's called you to do. But I am responsible for
what He's called me to do. What God does with you is His
business. What you do for God is your business and His, not
mine. And what I do for Him is my business and His, not yours.
Is that clear enough, Rex? That's just the way things are.
We stand to fall before our own master. Now, if we would follow
Christ, secondly, We must not concern ourselves with things
that don't matter. Not only not concern ourselves
with one another as far as other folks' responsibilities, but
not concern ourselves with things that don't matter. Turn to 2
Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2. God was asking me something else
this afternoon. Talking about various prophetic views. And what is it that's You know
when you hear things. You know when you see fellows
turned aside from the gospel for one thing or another. You
know there's something evil. But what is, what's wrong with
giving a lot of time to study hypocrisy? Doesn't matter now
whether you're, it doesn't matter whether you're pre, post, or
all millennial. I really don't care. I really don't care. It's
insignificant. The end result is always the
same. If that's the thing that consumes your thought, And that's
the thing that consumes ministry, and that's the thing that consumes
study, and that's the thing that consumes activity. We're going
to defend the pre-millennial position, the post-millennial
position, the all-millennial position. It don't matter. They
all do the same thing. They take your attention and
care away from your present responsibilities. And that's true of all issues
that don't affect your life right now. Faith in Christ, living
for Him. Look in 2 Timothy 2 verse 22.
Flee also youthful lust, but follow after righteousness, faith,
charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure
heart. Verse 23. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid. Now let me tell you what most
of the questions that people raise about religion are. foolish
and ignorant, unlearned. Rarely, rarely do I meet with
someone on the streets. Rarely do I meet with a preacher
who's engaged in controversy. Rarely do I meet with somebody
who refuses to submit to the gospel of God's grace. They want
to debate, they want to study, they want to discuss. Rarely
do I meet with one who has a sincere heart issue about which he has
questions. but always foolish and unlearned
things. You know, let's, uh, who was created first, angels
or men? Well, we know angels are spirit
beings, but what are they? God's holy had a sin get in the
world. Where did Cain get his wife? All such nonsense, all such nonsense. I'll tell you what I've discovered.
This book right here is deliberately written by God Almighty in such
a way as to confuse unbelieving men. It is to the unbeliever a stumbling
stone, Christ himself is, over which folks stumble right into
hell because they won't fall on him in faith. Avoid foolish
and unlearned things. Avoid those things that have
nothing to do with your faith in Christ, and obedience to Christ,
and the glory of God, and the souls of men. But pastor, don't
you think God would have us to understand all truth? Christ
is all truth. Don't you understand that? But
don't you want to know the answer to all the questions? Some of
these days I will, but there's some questions I just as soon
wait. As a matter of fact, the more I look at them, the more
questions I get. That's a foolish and unlearned question. I promise
you. I promise you. The secret counsels of God are
his. The things that are revealed
belong to us and our children. Number three. If we would follow
Christ. We must not concern ourselves
with what others do. We must not concern ourselves
with foolish and unlearned questions. And we must not concern ourselves
with our personal interest. And I don't know which of the
three is toughest. They're all tough, but I don't
know which of the three is toughest. We must lose our lives to Christ
if we would save them. This is what I mean. It doesn't
matter what I mean, this is what the book means. I must follow
Christ whether my wife follows him or not. I must follow Christ
whether my family likes it or doesn't. I must follow Christ
regardless of personal preference. I love what Brother Walter Gruber
said to Henry and I one time. We were down in Mexico and we
had taken a couple of days off. This is my first visit there.
It's been a long time ago. Went over to Isla Mujeres. We
were walking just around in a courtyard in the little island there. And
Henry said, He said, Walter, you're happy down here, aren't
you? You've been in there a long time. Walter said, Brother Mahan,
my being happy or not being happy got nothing to do with it. This
is where God put me. Ah, that's it. Doesn't matter
what my preferences are. I must follow Christ regardless
of cost. And God do it with him. Follow
him. Because it's what I want to do. And I'll tell you what, that's
what we do. That's what we do. I'll tell you who's here tonight.
I'll tell you everybody who's here. Everybody, unless prevented
providentially, whether they're just sick, can't come, whatever.
I'll tell you everybody who's here. Everybody who wants to
be. Everybody. Well, but first and foremost,
what's that to you? He's exactly where he wants to
be. She's exactly where she wants to be. Doing exactly what they
want to do. And I tell you, it'll be your Sunday morning. Everybody
who wants to be. And if you want to be, I want you to be. And
if you don't, I'd rather you be where you want to be. That's
exactly right. Follow Him willingly. See, what
folks give, you'll give exactly what you want to. You minister
to men, do exactly what you want to. And you will. I promise you,
you do what you want to. You do what you want. I do too.
We do exactly what we want to, that all the time, unless somebody
stops us from doing it. And I'm prepared. I'm determined,
God's helping me, as your pastor and as your friend, to do nothing
to put chains on you and say, you better do this. This ain't
gonna do it. This ain't gonna do it. Just
wait. He's God's servant. And he shall be holding up of
God. Follow me. All right, thirdly, so pastor, you're talking about
costly commitment. You're talking about things contrary
to the flesh. You're calling for us to give
ourselves up in unreserved consecration to Christ. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. And it's the most
reasonable thing in the world. You remember when Paul said,
the love of Christ constrains us? You know what the word means? The grace I've experienced, the
love I've experienced, the mercy I've experienced from Him just
leaves me no choice. It constrains me. I've been bought. I've been bought with His precious
blood. Shall we take that which belongs
to him and waste it on vanity? Our powers are so limited. I
know some of my own limitations. There's so many things I can't
do. But I'll tell you what I'd like to do. Oh God give me grace. I'd like to use every fiber of
ability in my being for Christ. in service to him. The time's
so short. Time's so short. I try my best to remember this
all the time, redeeming the time, buying up the opportunity, because
I realize the time is constricted. I've got just this, what do they
call it, little frame of time? Just this little window of opportunity.
just this little space, just this few fleeting seconds to
serve Christ's cause. Let me then redeem the time,
buy up the opportunity to serve Him. I wonder what God would have me to do. I ask Him to guide me every day.
I wonder what God would have us to do collectively. I ask
him as your pastor to give us direction every day. And I wonder
this too. I wonder what he might do with
us if we just follow him. This is the command of the gospel,
follow me. This is what it is to live by
faith. Turn to John 13 and it shows
him. Let me see if I can give you one more little inspiration
for following him. If we follow him by faith now, follow him through this world,
follow him through the raging sea, follow him through the fiery
furnace, follow him in pursuit of the Father's will, follow
him Seeking after his sheep, follow him, follow him, follow
him. I promise you, as we follow him,
Bobby will follow him right up to glory. Look here, Simon Peter
said to him, verse 36, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered
him, whither I go, thou canst not follow me now. Not right yet, not right yet. Not right yet. But thou shalt
follow me afterwards. God give us grace to follow him.