me to the book of Acts chapter
18. Acts chapter 18. And I want to
read beginning with verse 24 and read down through verse 28.
24 through 28. And a certain Jew named Apollos Born at Alexandria, an eloquent
man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was
instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the
spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing
only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they
took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass
into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive
him. who, when he was come, helped
them much, which had believed through grace. For he mightily
convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures,
that Jesus was the Christ. I read these verses out of the
18th chapter of the book of Acts, because these will be our text
today. But I do want us to hold, as it were, our finger here,
or put a marker here, and turn to the chapter that Brother Randy
read to us earlier this morning. Now, it is evident, as you read
the Word of God, the Apostle Paul being a writer of Scripture,
being an apostle unto the Gentiles, that there are many, many references
in the Word of God to the work and the labors of this beloved
Apostle Paul. But often in the Word of God
we find mention of others that were called of God, that were
blessed of God, and were used of God in the ministry. They had a ministry toward the
lost and also a ministry toward the Lord's people. And back in
the history of the Church, there have been a great deal of confusion
in churches over the different men that God has placed in the
ministry and in the church to carry the Word of God. And these
differences have arisen because of the fleshly mind, because
of the carnal mind of the people in the church. And I just wanted
to mention this because I'm sure that as you read the Word of
God, you cannot help but see that Paul was an outstanding
apostle and one mightily blessed, one mightily used of God, one
who received many revelations from God and was greatly used. Now there have been many, many
men in history that God has set apart and has blessed them mightily
and have given them many, many souls for their labor. I think
about Charles Haddon Spurgeon in London, England, and it is
said in that tabernacle there in London, England, there were
over 6,000 seats. and that somebody during the
30 some odd years that Mr. Spurgeon preached there, there
was somebody converted in every seat in that tabernacle. Now
that's wonderful. And it was also said that he
received a letter on the average of one a day from people that
read his printed sermons around the world that were converted
under his preaching. And then we remember that on
the day of Pentecost about six weeks, now you listen to me carefully,
after Peter, if my calculations are correct, in about six weeks
after Peter had denied the Lord three times, remember the cock
crew, you remember that he denied the Lord and went out and wept
bitterly, he preached on the day of Pentecost and there was
3,000 souls that was converted on that very day. Now you say,
well now wait a minute now, you mean God will use a man that
has been unfaithful, a man that has sinned like old Peter did?
Well absolutely he did. And the question sometimes arises,
does God ever use vessels that are not perfect? Well, beloved,
if God didn't use imperfect vessels, He wouldn't have anybody to use,
because we're all imperfect. And then there are many others
that could be mentioned, but certainly we get the drift of
what we're talking about. George Whitefield, great preacher.
God mightily used him. And I thought about how Benjamin
Franklin He was one of his peers, and Benjamin Franklin would hear
him preach. He was never converted. Benjamin
Franklin never was converted, but he would listen to George
Whitefield preach, and he would come to the meetings, and Whitefield
preached outside a great deal, and would have huge crowds, up
in the thousands of people that would come to hear him preach.
And Benjamin Franklin would start up close to the platform, and
then he would begin to walk backwards as George Whitefield would get
going in his preaching, in his message. And he would walk sometimes
as much as a city block away. just to see if he could still
hear. And he could. He could hear old
George preaching the gospel. And George would preach to these
huge crowds. Many, many people would be converted. One time he preached to a whole
mountainside of coal miners. And it was said that after he
was through preaching, that the tears had run down those coal
miners' face, and it was a sight to see, how they had coal dust
all over them, and their tears had washed their face, flowing
with tears after hearing old George Whitefield preach the
gospel. But it was also said that in
the evenings, after he had preached to these huge crowds, that he
would vomit blood for a long time, the cause of the tremendous
strain that was upon him trying to preach to these huge crowds. And so God has used many, many
men. He has used many, many men. And
I thought about then the man, that primitive Methodist layman that preached on a snowy,
cold morning in London, England back in 1850 when Charles Spurgeon
just was a lad and he couldn't go to the regular church because
there was a foot of snow on the ground and he went in and heard
this primitive Methodist layman get up, he was not a preacher,
but he got up and he said, look unto me and be you saved. For I am God, and there's none
else. And Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
the preacher I mentioned earlier about preaching to the 6,000
people, this preacher, this fellow, of course at that time just a
young lad, 15, 16 years old, was converted that morning. He
was converted under that message, and God mightily used that man. But don't you think God honored
that one man, that layman, in that that he was an instrument
in the salvation of a soul? But now you listen here in 1
Corinthians chapter 3. Paul said, brethren, I cannot
speak unto you spiritual, but as unto those that are fleshly
minded. Even as in the babes in Christ,
you haven't grown at all. He said, I fed you with milk,
the milk of the word, and not with the meat of the word. For
hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are
you able. For you're yet fleshly, for there
is envy and strife and divisions among you, and this shows your
carnality. And it shows that you still have
the mind and the opinion of mere men. For while one sayeth, I
am of Paul, another says, I am of Apollos. Are ye not fleshly
to think this way? Who then is Paul? Now you notice,
he says, he's asking a question, who is Paul? and who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom ye believed. But notice this, even as the
Lord gave to every man. Beloved, let me say that our
record is on high. The record of all true preachers
of the gospel is with the Lord. We do not know who was converted
under our ministry, neither does it matter whose ministry people
are converted under, because as he goes on to say, I have
planted a polis watered, but God gave the increase. God gave
the increase. God it was that appointed those
that would be converted under every man's ministry. Do you
think it was an accident that this primitive Methodist clergyman
or this primitive Methodist layman that he was in the pulpit that
morning when little old Charles Haddon Spurgeon walked in? Do
you think that was an accident? Absolutely not. The Lord had
gave him to this man. The Lord had given him to this
man. His man would be the instrument,
but it was God that gave the increase. Paul said, I planted,
I've been sowing the seed all across the Gentile world. And
Apollos has come along and he's watered that seed. But he said,
it is the Lord that gave the increase, our attention. Our
focus must be on God. Salvation is of the Lord. Apart
from Him, there can be no salvation. There cannot be anybody saved
apart from the work of God. It is God's work altogether. Listen to verse 7. So that neither
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, But
there again, he draws our attention back to God, but God that giveth
the increase. So we need to keep our attention
on the fact that when anybody gets saved, it's not to the glory
of the preacher, it's not to the honor of the preacher, it
is to the glory of God. It is God that gives the increase. And I've known people so fleshly
minded that they would not ever admit that God used anybody in
the salvation of their soul. They were that vain, and they
would not admit. They're people, parents, and
they're religious people, and they feel that they can teach,
you know, as well as the preacher or as well as anybody else, and
maybe they can. But they would never admit that God had anything
to do with the salvation of their children or that any man had
anything to do with the salvation of their children. In other words,
that God used a human instrument in their salvation. This is absolutely
vain. This is absolutely terrible because,
listen, all true work for God is immortal. Don't you ever forget
it. All true work for God is immortal, and as we said earlier,
our record is on high. Well, it will be sufficient for
us whether anybody ever says, well, the Lord's used you, or
whether they don't say that. It'll be well for us and will
content our hearts perfectly if we hear in the end, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. We're not looking for acclamations
from anybody, Because it is God that is to get the attention.
The Lord is the one that gives the increase. Now he that planteth,
and he that watereth are one. And so if God uses me to sow
a seed, and you come along and water it, and God gives the increase,
somebody gets saved, then we're in this business together. We're
in it together. And every man shall receive his
own reward, because our record, as we said, is on high. God knows
what we've done and what we haven't done. God knows what seed we've
sown and what we haven't sown. That's all in the Lord's hands.
And then he goes on to say, for we're laborers together with
God. We're laboring together with God. We're in this business
with the Lord. And the Lord is the one that's
accomplished. Listen to what he says. He says,
ye are God's husbandry. That word husbandry is farm. Ye are God's farm. The Lord's
people are the Lord's farm. God is planting. God is growing
his crop. and on his farm. And it's the Lord's people that
make up that farm. And then he goes and says, you're
God's building. You're God's building. God's
building a building. He's building a temple. And ye
that are saved are living stones in that temple. But you're alive
because God made you alive. Well, I felt it necessary this
morning to say those things. for opening remarks in our message
today. And I want us to turn back here
into the 18th chapter of the Book of Acts, and we'll go on
with our message this morning out of this text here. But we
see that there was a man by the name of Apollos, and he's mentioned
probably six, seven times in the Word of God, and most of
the times are right there in the third chapter of Corinthians,
where we just read to you just a few seconds ago. But nevertheless,
this man, we don't know what finally became of him, whether
he was a famous evangelist later, we do not know. But we know that
God used him on this occasion. And he was a Jew, and he was
an eloquent man. And that means that he spoke
from the heart. He was a man who spoke from the
heart, to other people's hearts. That's a tremendous gift. It
doesn't always mean that he was a flowery orator, but he was
eloquent in that he had a word for the souls of men and could
speak it directly into their hearts. He was an eloquent man,
and he was mighty in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, scriptures
he knew them backwards and forwards and he came to Ephesus and this
man was instructed in the way of the Lord he was instructed
in the way of the Lord as much as had been made known to him
as much as had been revealed to him he had a grasp of the
ways of the Lord and being fervent in the spirit He was a man that
was burning in the Spirit. The Spirit of God was upon him.
The Spirit of God had given him life, and he was altogether alive. He was like the little dog called
Rover. When he died, he just died all
over. When this man experienced God in his life, he was filled
with the Lord and filled with the power of the Gospel. Well,
he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord. But the
scripture says, knowing only the baptism of John. He had heard
John the Baptist preached, mildly affected by what he heard John
preached. As John would cry out to that generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He said, repent
and bring forth works meet for repentance. Before I baptize
you, you must bring forth works here that indicate that you have
repented of your sin. Now that was the message of John
the Baptist. But that's all this man really
knew, was what he had heard John the Baptist say and what the
Old Testament scriptures, what he had gleaned from them. And
he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. whom when Aquila and
Priscilla, those that had been saved under Paul's ministry,
those that had been enlightened through the testimony of the
Apostle Paul, those who had been instructed in the school of grace,
and they knew the ways of God, and had heard him, they heard
him and I know they were impressed with him. They say, my, this
is a man that is full of the power of God. And so they took
him aside and they expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly. They took him aside and he was
a humble man, I'm sure he was. And he wasn't lifted up with
pride like some who cannot be taught, but he was teachable,
and they taught him the way of God more perfectly. And when
he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting
the disciples to receive him. That is the Corinthian church.
And who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed
through grace. That's the reason why that some
said, we're of Apollos. They heard this man, this eloquent
man, and he helped them so much. Some said, oh, we're of Apollos.
You can be of Apollos if you want, but we are of Apollos.
Well, he helped them much. That had believed through grace
for he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly showing
by the scriptures That Jesus was the Christ and anyone that
could take the Old Testament scriptures and prove that I'm
sure he used the book of Isaiah Don't you fear figure he did
I'm sure that he used even the promise in the book of Genesis
I'm sure that he did well There are three things that I'd like
to talk about here this morning if God gives me the ability And
one thing is that true believers have believed through grace. And secondly, such believers
need help. They need to be strengthened,
they need to be comforted, they need to be taught the Word of
God more perfectly. And then, let me say in the third
place, this is a much-needed work in our day to help those
who have believed through the grace of God, to help them in
the ways of the Lord. Now, may we ourselves be helped
this morning in order that we may be able to help others. First
of all, then, those who have truly believed have believed
through grace. Now Luke, by the Spirit of God,
felt it necessary to insert these words through grace. Nobody in his day, nobody in
Luke's day, doubted that salvation is altogether worked in men by
the grace of God. But the Holy Spirit foresaw that
many in after years our time included, would deny it. They
deny it altogether. They deny that salvation must
be worked in men by the grace of God, but they would conceal
it or obscure the truth so that men would not be able to plainly
see the truth, and that is that salvation is by grace through
faith in Christ Jesus. So we have underhand and seal
from the Holy Spirit that those who believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that they believed through grace. Now, brethren and sisters,
surely the grace of God is to the front in all good things. No man is before God in the salvation
of his soul. No man is before God in the salvation
of his soul. Whenever you get saved, whatever
the circumstances surrounding your salvation, you didn't think
of it first. God originated the thought of
salvation, the plan of salvation, the accomplishment of salvation
was all of God before it ever dawned on you that you even needed
saving. I often think about how dead
people really are. You see, men and women, boys
and girls, are so dead that they don't have enough life to know
their death. They don't even know that they're
dead in sin. And so God has to give you life
enough to know that you're dead before you can be saved. But
God is, in the salvation of the soul, is the first cause. I heard of a woman recently and
thought of it when Carl was praying this morning, that she said,
I know that I love God. I know that I love God, but I'm
not sure whether God loves me or not. Now, you see, that might
sound like quite a, you know, quite a pie statement. But, beloved,
the truth is that nobody loves God until God loves them. The
Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 19 that you love
God because He loved you. And the effect My friend, the
love of God is equal to the cause. We love God because He loved
us. And you that are here this morning,
if you say, well, I know I love God, preacher, I know that I
do, then my friend, believe that it's because God was before you
in the matter and that He loved you before you loved Him. Now that might clear up some
things with some of you that are in doubt. You say, I just
love God. Well, praise the Lord. That means
that God loves you because you cannot be before God in these
matters. Now, it is the grace of God that
gives us the gospel which we believe. Now, think about that
a little bit. It's the grace of God that gives
us the gospel that we believe. Now, the gospel is the good news
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world of believers unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, but imputing their
trespasses unto the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And there's a
poem that says, grace first contrived the way to save rebellious man
and all the steps that grace displays which drew the wondrous
plan. We talked about that last Sunday
afternoon out to Fort Shaw about the plan of redemption and how
that it was contrived entirely by God. Now then, also beloved,
it was grace that chose the people whom God would love and save
and would give them to the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that
God has chosen a people. The Bible says there is now a
remnant according to the election of grace. Nobody would ever be
saved apart from God's elective grace. My friend, why would it
be so difficult for a man to accept the fact that God must
choose all of those that He redeems and all of those that He saves?
When we consider that no man is going to choose Him, no man
is going to choose Him. There's a little poem And Aaron
said he memorized it. Aaron, can you tell us what that
poem is that tells us about how our hearts would still refuse
him? Yes, sir. There it is. There
it is. That's exactly the truth of God. If we had not been chosen of
God, our hearts would have never chosen Him. Thank you very much,
Aaron. I appreciate that. It was the
grace that gave Jesus Christ, it was the grace of God that
gave Jesus Christ to stand in the room and place instead and
bear for them that God had chosen that which was due the justice
of God on account of their sin. You remember in John 10, 29,
Jesus told the disciples to whom he had given eternal life, he
told them that God the Father had gave him to them. They had been given, he had been
given unto the disciples. This is rarely noticed. Jesus
Christ is the unspeakable gift of God. And so we've been given,
we've been given the gospel by grace, and we've been given,
the Lord has a people he chose by grace, and then Jesus was
given to those people by the grace of God. It was grace which
led the Savior to undertake and carry through the work of substitution. All the way to the end, our Lord
was our substitute. He was made everything that we
were by nature, and we, in Him, are made everything that He is. How glorious that is. That's
total, absolute substitution. Now, beloved, that's how we can
stand here today in a right mind, a mind of peace, and have blessing
in our soul is to know that Jesus is indeed our substitute, that
he was made what we were in a state of nature, that we might be made
what he is, and that we might have his righteousness. We might
have the love of God which God has for him. This is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, God said. And so he looks upon
us and he says the same thing about us. Now then, Grace wrote
the first letter of the gospel. Grace will write the last letter
of the gospel. The Bible says in the book of
Hebrews that he is the author and he is the finisher of our
faith. The author of it and the finisher
of our faith. Salvation is all of grace from
the first to the last. I would to God that all preachers
and those that were hearing them knew the meaning of the word
grace and did not frustrate the grace of God but would believe
what the scriptures teach about it. Grace is the blessings of
God at Christ's expense. For it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, Romans 9, 16, but of God that showeth
mercy. And, you know, it's something
that we often mention, but we cannot mention it too often.
And that what God demands of us, he provides for us in his
Son. If it be of grace, it is no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
If it be of works, it is not of grace. Otherwise, work is
no more work. That's Romans 11 and verse 6. No, verse 6. By grace are you
saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God. Grace is God's riches. at Christ's
expense. Grace signifies free, undeserved
favor. And as it comes from God to us,
it is sovereign grace, which is moved only by the good pleasure
of His will. Grace, get it if you please,
is active. It's the movement of the divine
will to produce the results which have been graciously determined
on by God. Now, grace makes a distinction
between man and man and must have all the glory of what it
does. Grace is exercised according to the will of God, not according
to the will of man. For the Lord has said it, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. The wind bloweth, where it listeth,
thou hearest the sound thereof, that canst not tell whence it
cometh, nor whither it goeth. And so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. You cannot explain why God saves
some people in a congregation and passes by others. You cannot
explain that. We don't have the ability to
explain it because it's a mystery. And the salvation of souls is
a mystery because God comes down, sweeps down in the person of
the Spirit. The sovereign grace lays hold
of a soul, one in a family, sometimes a whole family, and God delivers
them. out of their sin and saves them. But he said, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Yes, it was the grace of God
that sat in the council chamber of eternity and devised the scheme
of mercy, the plan of redemption, peace through the blood, the
whole of the dispensation of salvation by grace. Well, let's
go on. I say then that while grace gives
us the gospel to believe, grace also gives us to believe the
gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou shalt be saved. And you must believe. It is imperative
that you believe the gospel. Man left to himself is an unbeliever
and will never be anything else but by divine grace. To meet
the deep depravity of our nature and its settled unbelief, he
who gave the gospel to be believed also gives the faith that believes
the gospel. Isn't that wonderful? Well, this
is the wonder of grace, but then in the realm of grace, everything
is wonderful, is it not? We're so steeped in unbelief
and depravity that we'll never come to receive the gospel except
through the operation of the grace of God upon our consciences
and upon our wills. The faith which comes to God
must first come from God. If you come to God in faith,
That means that God has given you the faith to come to Him. So not only did grace give us
a gospel to believe, but grace gave us to believe the gospel. We come, but God draws. We come because He draws. We turn because He turns us. We came to believe because His
Spirit enlightened and persuaded us. And as the psalm says, O
happy day, O happy day, when the Lord persuaded our hearts
to come to Him. Next I wish to add that such
believing is a sure evidence of grace. There is no true believing
where the grace of God is absent. No true believing. Now if you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, you have
the grace of God in you. You have the work of God in you. Now, for the grace of God, think
about it. Think about the work of God in the place of the term
grace. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ with all your heart, you have the work of God in you.
God's there. He's doing a work. There's no
sure proof than this. When there is faith, where there
is faith, there is the work of God, if it be true faith. Where
there is faith, there is grace. The one is the inseparable fruit
of the other. He that believeth on him hath
everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, John 3 and 18. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 5 and 1. If you believe in Jesus Christ,
whom God has sent, you have the one sure and certain evidence
that grace is present in your life. Faith is the evidence of
grace. It's the evidence of it. Do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Then if you truly believe, then
you have the grace of God working in your heart. If you believe
in Christ alone and are resting your hope upon his finished work,
you have the clearest evidence that the grace of God is in your
heart. Any other evidence you might
produce is not clear. You say, well, I've changed this
and I've changed that. You can say whatever you want
to. The surest evidence that God is at work in your soul is
that you believe on Him whom God has sent. Jesus, there were
some asking one time, how can we work the works of God? And
Jesus said to them, he looked them in the eye and he said,
the work of God is that you believe on him whom the Father has sent. That's the work of God. If you
want to do the work of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Will
you not examine yourself to see whether or not you have the real
faith of the gospel, real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Be
sure of this, my friend. He that believeth not is condemned
already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. And let me say on hurriedly that
if you believe through grace, that grace which made you believe
is the best guarantee that you'll just keep right on believing.
It's the best guarantee. Faith which is born of self will
die of self. You save yourself and you will
go to hell for sure. Salvation has got to be to be
real, to be lasting, to endure. for all eternity must be the
work of God. Faith which is born of self will
die of self, but that which is of grace will live forever. If you've begun to believe of
yourself, then you're going to leave off believing of yourself. But if God's grace began your
believing, God's grace will continue your believing, and you will
abide in this faith wherein you stand even to the very end. Now, beloved, this gives me great
comfort. How can anybody feel that well
saved today? But what about tomorrow? What
about next week? What about when those ill winds
begin to blow? What about when stress and pressure
comes from the outside world? You know, we face a frowning
world. This world is no friend of grace
to help us on to God. We get out in the world and much,
much pressure, persecution, and stress Well, how are we going
to know that we're going to stay saved? Well, it's because the
Lord is the keeper of his people. If the faith whereby I have laid
hold of Christ to be my Savior be altogether worked in me by
the Holy Spirit through grace, then I defy the devil to take
away that which he never gave, or to crush or stamp out that
which was created in me by the sovereign grace of God. I defy the devil to stomp it
out. You know, there's some people around that talk about the work
of God in a very flippant way. And there's some people that
say, well, you know, if there's a little fire starts, some people
get interested in the things of God, then what you ought to
do is stomp it out. And if it comes back, then it's
of God. There ain't a bit of truth in
that. That's not in the Bible. It isn't in any chapter of the
Bible. Somebody said it might be in
Acts chapter 29. You can look if you can find it. There is
no such thing as Acts chapter 29. But some people, you know,
they got the Bible all their own. always finding something
that's not there. But I'm telling you, the devil
cannot stamp out the faith that he did not give. The faith that
God is the author of, that faith may be weak, but it's of God
and it will abide in the soul. I defy my free will. Somebody said, well, oh, I say,
well, we're in the hands of God. And they said, well, yeah, but
you can take yourself out. You can take yourself out. Well,
I defy my so-called free will to throw away what it never brought
to me. I was not saved by free will. And anybody that gets saved by
free will will go to hell by free will. Salvation is by free
grace, by sovereign grace. And if God saves you, my friend,
you're saved. What God has given, what God
has created, what God has introduced and established in the heart
of his people, he will maintain there. Believe it, my friend,
it's your only hope. God will maintain what he starts
in a man's soul. Every plant which my Heavenly
Father has not planted is going to be rooted up. It's going to
be rooted up. That's when the religionists
are going to lose everything they've got. Oh, they've got
nothing now that amounts to anything, false hope, but they're going
to lose everything they've got. that my heavenly father's not
planted, gonna be rooted up. But what he has planted, none
shall root up, for it is written, I the Lord do keep it. I will
water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I'll keep it night and
day. I'm going to keep it. Those that
believe, believe through grace, and they're kept by grace, believing,
believing the gospel. May God's grace work in us all. true faith. Now then, the second
thing, and I'm going to hurry here because my time's almost
got away. I want to say that those that
have believed in the grace of God, that they need some help. They need some help. I know they
do because we're told in the text that Apollos helped them
much which had believed through grace. Well, in what respects
do those who have grace need help? In what ways can true believers
truly be helped? Well, first, many believers need
help in further instruction. Now, believers are not generally
born with beards on. They may know the three R's.
They may know ruin by the fall, redemption by blood, regeneration
by the spirit. And that's no small thing or
small part of a spiritual education. But Apollos was a believer, as
we mentioned earlier, But yet he needed help, didn't he? He
was mighty in the scriptures, but he needed help. Yet he knew
only the baptism of John, the doctrine of John. He was a true-born
child of God, yet he was ignorant of many things. It is not what
you know, it is who you know. Don't ever forget that as long
as you live. Many, many times people question the salvation
of younger people because they say they could not possibly know
enough to be saved. My friend, it is not what you
know, it's who you know. If there's been a revelation
of Christ to your heart, Then you know Him. I remember when
God saved me. I'm not sure whether I knew what
the first book in the Bible was or the last book in the Bible.
I'm not sure. Now as I look back upon it, I
knew very, very, very little. But the wind of the Spirit of
God blew and I was saved by the grace of God. And the education
part will come later. Scripture says you go, you make
disciples of men, you baptize them, and then you teach them
to observe what things soever the Lord has commanded them to
observe. In Acts 10 we find Cornelius,
we're not going to turn there, that God tells us plainly about
this devout man, that he was one that feared God, he prayed
to God always, yet Cornelius knew very little. He walked in
the light that God had given him, he worshipped the Lord,
he was to come, but he did not know that he'd already come.
He didn't know that. And God accepted his worship.
Cornelius was saved, but he needed help. Cornelius needed someone
to show him the glorious accomplishments of Jesus Christ. Now, he needed
to know the meaning. his redemptive work, the meaning
of his finished work, and my there are so many that need to
have help along those lines. Certainly the Apostle Peter was
a saved man when Paul withstood him to the face at Antioch in
the book of Galatians chapter 2. He confessed Christ, he followed
Christ, he worshiped Christ, trusted Christ, loved Christ,
and And he preached Christ, yet Peter was still entangled with
the spirit of legalism and bondage. In spite of all of that, he had
heard, experienced, and learned, and Paul sharply rebuked his
error. It was a serious matter, brethren,
and still is. Now, Paul did not condemn Peter
as an unbeliever. No, he did not. He took him by
the hand and led him along the way to a more mature and more
sound understanding of the gospel. Peter needs someone to show him
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. He needed someone to teach him
that, and Paul did just that. My point, I hope, is obvious.
Many of God's dear children are weak in faith and in understanding. They need help, but they're God's
children nevertheless. Not only do those who have believed
through grace need instruction, they often need comfort. Large
numbers of true believers are tempted to doubt. They're full
of despondency and distress of mind. There are days when there
are some of us that are so depressed in spirit that we can hardly
look up. Depressed. We all have times
of downcasting and uplifting, and these are bruised and broken
and they need to be bound up. We need a Barnabas, a son of
consolation, to come by and pour in the oil and the wine of the
gospel when we find a wounded spirit. A word fitly spoken,
a promise seasonably quoted, may help much those who have
believed through grace. So they need instruction, they
need comfort, and they need leadership. Well, we must move on. The last
point is this is a much-needed work in our day for people to
take up this work of helping those that have believed through
grace. This is a work worthy of the
highest talent and the greatest experience. We pray for God's
babies to be brought in for us to nurse. And we have new converts
here, and we will have more. And the reason is, is because
God answers prayer. And we are prayed for the salvation
of souls. And we have, not myself only,
but this whole church has prayed for the salvation of souls. Brother
Conrad comes here early on Sunday morning, sets these chairs up,
told me on numerous occasions that he spent time before God
praying for those of you that would come in here and hear the
Word of God. A true helper indeed in the things
of God. And there are others here that
have prayed, earnestly prayed and cried to God for the salvation
of the souls of the Lord's people. And they've been faithful. They
come, they give, they pray. They come, they give, they pray.
They listen, they hear the Word of God. And they keep on and
keep on consistently through the years. God will own his word,
brethren, and we need to believe that God is going to bless us
with converts. We need to believe it. We've
been preaching the word. I've been going from house to
house for basically two years teaching all these young people
and preaching the gospel to them over and over and over and over
again. And we believe that God will
own his word. Somebody said, you think God's
going to save anybody? I know he's going to save somebody. I've been praying that he would,
and God will own his word, his testimony. God will seal it. There'll be souls born into the
kingdom and family of God. Wherever children are expected,
there must be a skilled person in readiness to care for the
weaklings. Must be somebody there. When
a baby is born, it needs some attention, doesn't it? Absolutely. So God will send his babes to
a church that is prepared to nurse them. We are, I trust,
thus prepared. that we will look after the Lord's
babies and instruct them in the way of the Lord. And I want to
stir you up to be ready to help much those that I believe through
grace. There was a man that told Mr.
Spurgeon one time, he said, I never did get anything from the church.
He said, I joined the church, never got a thing from it. Mr. Spurgeon said, I joined the church
too, never got anything from it. The man said, well, why in
the world would you join the church if you didn't get anything
from it? Mr. Spurgeon said, I joined the church
to help everybody in that church that I could help. I joined it
to help them. You see, this selfishness, I
joined the church and I never got anything from it. That's
nothing but pure selfishness. You join the church to be a help
to those that are in it. And if you know enough to help
them, then you see to it that you do. You know enough to pray,
then pray for others. That's the way God would have
it to be, my friend. That we must get off our selfishness
and begin to look to God. Now, I believe that everybody
that brings an empty cup to church, I believe they get something.
I believe that God's people do get something. I think you testify
to that end. But I thought Mr. Spurgeon dealt
with that man quite well. Apollos had been helped. And
let me say that those that have been in the dark dungeon knows
the way to the bread and water. Isn't that right? I mean, if
you've been in a dungeon, then here comes another one throwed
in with you, and you know the way. You say, well, it's a scripture
you ought to look at this week. Here's a verse, and call them
up, and say, well, I just wondered if you'd ever seen this. Look
at this. And so on and so forth. You know the way to the bread
and water. Bless God. All of us have not been wasted,
you see. All the experiences we've had. God's been giving
us all these experiences so we'd have something to help these
that have believed through grace. And we must be about that business. How do I see our role in this
town? Well, I see it as not me, or not you and me, but us. We
must contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered
to the saints. We must live our faith and walk and live by faith. And lastly, we must keep the
resume of a true believer before every soul that comes in to this
place. We're living in a city where
the preachers are dedicated to robbing Almighty God of His glory.
They're lying on God every time they preach. And they tell men
of free will. They tell men God's will is in
bondage to theirs. God's will is the only will,
my brethren, that is free. And God's will is the only will
that is not in bondage. And we need to keep these things
before the people that come in. And you people are for that.
I know that you are. Lastly, let me finish this up
by saying this. How can I prepare myself to help? those who have believed. Number
one, Apollos was mighty in the scriptures. We can all study
our Bibles. Those who speak scriptures sow
seed. And it's a living and it's a
growing seed. Seed whose harvest is salvation. You just learn the scriptures
and quote them to people. Don't be afraid to quote the
word of God to people. It's a sharp, it's sharper than
any two-edged sword. It pierces to the dividing asunder
the soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a critic
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. It is a living
word. It is God's word, not our comment
on God's word that saves men. Learn scripture, quote it. and
be yourself blessed and inspired by it. Number two, this man was
a man fervent in spirit, Apollos. Romans 12 and 11 says, be not
slothful in business, but be fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. Now he was a burning man, he
was a man on fire. He threw all that he had into
his ministry. If you're full of fire and full
of life, your heart full of the word of God, you will be a blessing
to others. You cannot help but be a blessing
to others. But don't be afraid. Don't be
afraid. I like the song that Stephen
asked us to sing this morning about being consecrated fully
to the Lord, fully, fully consecrated unto Him. Don't be afraid. Put
too much in it. You can't put too much in it.
Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And then lastly, he
preached Christ to them. If you're going to help those
who have believed in Christ, our conversation ought to be
full of Christ. Nothing really feeds the soul
but Jesus. But Jesus, His flesh is meat
indeed, His blood is drink indeed, all else is just froth and wind.
That's all it is. Keep it to Jesus. Keep bringing
these people back to Jesus, back to Christ. Keep bringing them
and bringing them and bringing them. To whom coming? We just
keep coming every day. And they might one day say, it can't come
as a saint. Well, if you can't come as a saint, come as a sinner.
Because that's the way we have to come all the time. We come
as sinners. And we come to Christ. Alright? Preach substitution. Preach blood
atonement. Preach imputed righteousness,
justification, but faith. Preach up the saving ability
of our Lord Jesus Christ. None but Christ can satisfy. None but Christ can save. Well, we don't want to be caught
giving bones, bare bones. To people, throw on them bones,
no meat on them. Give them something out of the
word of God. Give them some milk and give
them some meat out of the word of God. Look, keep an eye out
for those that are young in the faith that needs your encouragement
and pray for them. Write their names down. Pray
for them and be of all the help you can possibly be unto them. I think one of the greatest blessings
ever fell out to a family on earth is to have the children
saved. What a marvelous, wonderful thing
that it is. And how blessed it is to have
God's children as your own children. What a wonderful thing it is.
How blessed. How blessed. Well, we're going
to have a song in closing.