I almost wished that I was preaching
on Samson this morning. That was such a blessing, that
reading, and the gospel is so clear in that story, Samson being
a type of Christ, and I've got to think about it. I know it's
been 30 years since I preached on that, and I look forward to
trying to, maybe next week, you never know. That was such a blessing
to me. At any rate. the apostle of our profession. Wherefore, holy brethren, every believer without exception
is one of these holy brethren. Chosen to be holy in eternal
election, declared to be holy by the work of Christ on the
cross, and made holy by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, God has called you. Think attentively on the apostle
and the high priest of our profession. Now our profession is what, I
love the way he says our profession. Every believer has the same profession,
the same confession. The word means literally to speak
the same thing. And if I am saved, and if you
are saved, if God has saved us, you know what? We believe the
same thing. Now, what I want us to consider
is the apostle of our profession. Do you know that's the only time
the word apostle is capitalized in the New Testament? The apostle
of our profession. Now, generally when we think
of the apostles, we think of the 12 apostles. And there were
only 12 apostles. When Judas lost his apostleship,
the apostle Paul took his place. Every apostle is someone who
was taught directly by Christ. There were only 12. They were
the ones who had the power to lay their hands on people and
transfer the gifts. When they died out, that died
out as well. and we read of the foundation
of the apostles and the foundation of the prophets. But here we
read of the apostle, capital A. Now the word apostle is the
noun of the verb to send or sent. He is the sent one. I love to think about that. Jesus
Christ is the one God the Father has sent. The sent of God of our profession. Now let me read some scriptures
I want you to listen to carefully. John chapter three, verse 17.
For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world. That's not why I came. Beloved, we were already condemned. He sent his son into the world
that the world through him might be saved. He is called in I John
chapter 4, verse 14, the Savior of the world. I love that title
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture from
John chapter 8, verse 42. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
You do the deeds of your Father. They replied, We have one Father,
even God. And the Lord said, If God were
your Father, You love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent
me. He is the sent one of God. In Matthew chapter 15, verse
24, he said, I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Listen real carefully. The savior
of the world was sent to save the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. He was sent to save the elect.
Understand that. He said, I came down from heaven.
John chapter six, verse 38. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, should have everlasting life and I should
raise him up at the last day. In John chapter 4 verse 34 he
said, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. Now whatever the Father sent
him to do, he did. He's no failure. Whatever the
Father sent Him to do, He did. In 1 John chapter 4 verses 9
and 10 we read, And this was manifested, the love of God to
us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and
sent his son to be the propitiation. Somebody says, what's that word
mean? Big word, simple meaning, a sin removing sacrifice. He
actually removed sin and made it not to be for everybody for
whom he died so that every believer stands holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable in God's sight. Colossians 1, 22. It was said of God. The one God sent, he whom God
hath sent speaketh the words of God. He is the word of God,
this one whom God has sent, and he speaketh the words of God. Now, when I hear the words of
Christ, I really do know it's the words of God. If you're a sheep, you do. My
sheep, hear my voice. His word recommends itself as
nothing less than the very word of God. He is the word of God. And I love that scripture. After he finished the Sermon
on the Mount, the scripture says the people were astonished at
his doctrine. For he spake as one having authority. Now that doesn't mean that he
spoke in a big booming voice. Maybe he did. I don't know. I
don't know what he sounded like. But that doesn't mean he spoke
in this authoritative way that everybody was afraid of. That
means his word recommended itself as the very word of God with
all authority, everything he said. Our doctrine is the doctrine
of Christ. It's not Todd's Rue Grace Church
doctrine. We're in trouble, that's what it is. It's not the doctrine
of any denomination. All denominations, without exception,
are man-made. You're not going to find them
in the Bible. What about the Baptists? Weren't
they there? John the Baptist. Well, he was John the Baptist.
He baptized, but that's not the Baptist denomination. What about
Presbyterians? There's a Presbytery. Well, yeah,
I know there is, but that doesn't mean there's a Presbyterian denomination.
We're the church of God. Well, all the church is the church
of God. Or we're the church of Christ. Well, every church is
the church of Christ. But as far as particular denominations,
where we've got a little bit clear hold on the truth of this
other denomination, we're, no, no. Just the very idea of a denomination,
fooey on all of them. I mean, they're just, I don't
mean to be hate, but well, I'm getting myself in a hole. I wanna
love everybody, so. Our doctrine is the doctrine
of Christ. He was sent to do the works that
only God can do. Now remember, we're talking about
the sent one of God, the sent one, the one God has sent. He did what only God could do. Don't you love the way he walked
on the water? And he let us know that the law
of physics are his laws. And he can suspend them whenever
he wants to. And he walks on the water just
like he had that ax head float. Yeah, there's physical law, but
it's his law. And he can suspend it whenever
he wants to. He raised the dead. He controlled the weather. Can
you imagine the power a man or a country would have if they
had some kind of harness on the weather and they could get the
weather to do what they wanted to? He does. There was a mighty storm. Peace be still. There was a great
calm. Only God can do that. He brought
matter into existence that was not in the universe before. When
he created new food to feed the multitudes, only God can do that. He did what only God can do. He said, the works that I do
bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. There's that word
again. He's the apostle. He's the sent
one. The great work of creation, he
did it. I love saying Jesus is God, because
he is, and I love saying it. It's just glorious. But I love
saying this as well. Jesus of Nazareth, created the
universe. He's God. He created the universe. It was He who said, light be.
And light was. He is in control of all the works
of providence. Everything that happens, happens
because He wills it. There's one reason you're here
this morning. He willed it. That's why you're here. He willed
it. No, I got up and I was gonna
come to church this morning. Well, I'm glad you did, but he
willed it. He is in control of everything.
I love thinking about this. There's another thing I love
saying. He is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men. He's in control of everything.
Now, you do what you wanna do. You can't, that's just so. We do what we wanna do. He's
in absolute control of it. Most especially, he is in control
of the great work of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 4. This is his first public message and here he tells
us specifically what he was sent to do. now i think it's interesting
if you go on the street start asking people what do you think
ross said or how you get so many different answers but here he
tells us what he was sent to do that peaks my interest he
tells us what he was sent begin reading verse sixteen now after this message Verse 28, And all they in the
synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him into
the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they
might cast him down headlong. Now these people were mad. They
were angry over what they heard. They were going to throw the
Lord off a cliff. His hour was not yet. They couldn't
do what they wanted to do. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. How that happened, I don't know.
But they had him throw him down and he just passed through the
midst of them. Went his way. His hour has not yet come. But
let's consider what was said in this message where he clearly
identifies what he was sent to do. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth,
where he'd been brought up. Hometown. I would imagine that there was
quite a buzz in the hometown at that time. He grew up there. And everybody heard about all
the miracles that he had done. And I have no doubt that they
were looking forward to hearing what he had to say. And they
were the hometown boy made good, you know, he's coming back. And
I don't think there was skepticism at this time. They were excited
about what they were going to hear with regard to him. He went in to the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written. This is Isaiah chapter
61. Now, he could have picked out any part of Isaiah and used
it for the same reason, but he selected Isaiah 61. to let the
people of Nazareth and me and you know why he was sent. Verse 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave
it to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogues were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now here he tells what he was
sent to do. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. And I know that when he read
that passage of scripture, everybody knew he was talking about himself.
That's why their eyes were fastened on him. Wouldn't you love to,
when he read the scripture, you knew what it meant when he read
it. And he read this in such a way as everybody knew exactly
what he was saying. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. That's what our Lord is saying
to these people. He hath the Spirit without measure. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to a certain people called the poor. Who are the poor? The poor are
people that do not have anything. If you're poor, and this is what
our Lord was talking about when He said, blessed are the poor
in spirit. If you're poor, you do not have one thing about yourself
to recommend you to God. Not one. Poor. Poverty stricken. Bankrupt. Nothing to bring to the table.
He hath anointed me to preach the gospel. to the poor. Now he's going to tell us what
that means in the next statement, or the next statements. He has sent me, there the word
is, he has sent me to heal the broken hearted. Broken hearted. That is not talking about when
your heart is broken over some kind of horrible thing that's
happened. And there is indeed broken hearts.
Broken hearted over the horrible things that can happen between
a man and woman in a home. Grievous things that take place.
Everybody's faced with those. Everybody's faced with broken
hearts in that sense. But he's talking about a heart
that is broken and does not work. Jeremiah put it this way in Jeremiah
chapter 17, verse nine. Listen to these words carefully.
The heart, your heart, my heart. Let's not talk about somebody
else's heart. Let's talk about my heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. You know what that word desperately
wicked means if you look it up in the dictionary? Incurable. Beyond recovery. Guess what? That's the person
he came to heal. by whose stripes ye were healed. He has sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives. Now don't miss this language. He didn't send me to preach deliverance
to everybody. He sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives. The captives. What's a captive? He's captive. He's in jail and he can't just
walk out. He's captured. He's captive. You know what? If you have free
will, you're not a captive. He came to declare deliverance
to the captives. Paul put it this way with regard
to his own experience. We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. That means a captive to sin.
That person who is a captive, he came to preach deliverance
to. He came to deliver them. And
as a matter of fact, he did deliver them when he said it is finished
deliverance. But let's go on reading. Recovering
of sight to the blind. People who cannot see why God
would have mercy on them. For judgment am I coming to this
world, that they which see not might see, and they which see
might be made blind. Somebody says, well, I see why
God had saved me. I did this, I did that. You've
been blinded. Somebody says, I can't see why
God would ever look at mercy upon me. He's given you sight.
You're going to see that he does it for Christ's sake, and for
Christ's sake only. This is why he came. This is
what he was sent to do. Then he says next. to set at liberty them that are
bruised." Now that word bruised means shattered. Shattered. We have on our coffee table at
home a little squirrel. Well, it's actually a pretty
big squirrel. It's gold, painted gold. I don't know what it's
made of, but it's got a, the squirrel's hands are out and
it's got a bowl in it. and a candy in it, and you can
get candy out of it anytime you want. We always have chocolates
and stuff like that in it. And it's got a break in it. It
grieves me. I like that little thing, but
its tail's knocked off. There's a hole in it, and if
anybody looks, they can see. But it's still functional. It's
not complete. It's not perfect, but it's still
functional. It still holds out that little
bowl with the candy in it. If it was shattered, it couldn't
do that. Plum shattered. You ever seen anything shattered
to smithereens? That's what this is speaking
to. Shattered to smithereens and not capable of being put
back together. And then he says, he sent me
to preach, verse 19, to preach the acceptable year. of the Lord. Now the acceptable year of the
Lord is the year of Jubilee. I love this year that in the
Old Testament every 50 years something amazing was supposed
to happen. Now let me say this, there's
not one record of this ever happening in the Old Testament, not once.
It was supposed to, but if There was a holiday where everybody
that owed you money didn't owe you any more. You probably wouldn't
like it, would you? There were some people who didn't like the
year of jubilee. Everybody who felt like they
were losers by it. They were hoping in something they no longer
had. And they didn't like the year of jubilee. But what was
the year of jubilee? Well, every 50 years, a silver trumpet would
be blown every 50 years And all your debts were canceled. If you were a slave, a Hebrew
slave, and you had to sell yourself into slavery because you couldn't
pay your debts, you were set free. Everything you lost was restored. And the land was given a full
year's rest, no work. Vacation. The gospel. Your debts are canceled. You
don't owe anything right now. You're free as a bird. Free. Debts canceled. Slaves set free. Christ set free everybody he
died for. What you've lost was restored
in more. Rest, a year's vacation. And the Lord said, this day is
this scripture fulfilled. Never had been before. But as
I speak to you, this day, this scripture, the year of Jubilee
is fulfilled in your ears. Now we're gonna get in a moment
to what, how can I know if it was fulfilled for me? He was
sent to do this. How can I know if he did this
for me? Well, turn with me to John chapter
six. Now, it's important when the
gospel is preached When we talk about the death of Christ, it
is very important to let everybody hearing know the death of Christ
was for the elect. Now why is that so important?
Because what he did is successful. If he died for everybody and
paid for everybody's sins and some of them wind up in hell,
he failed in his intentions. Now remember when we talk about
Him being the sent one, He, because of who He is, whatever He was
sent to do, He did. No failure on His part. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. He's the Lord. He's incapable
of failure. Don't you love that about Him?
He can't fail. Everybody He died for. SAVED. THEIR SINS ARE PUT AWAY. THAT'S
HOW THEY'RE HOLY BRETHREN AND PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING.
WHAT CHRIST DID FOR THEM. NOW UNDERSTAND THAT. HOW CAN
I KNOW HE DID WHAT HE DID FOR ME? John chapter 6 verse 26. Jesus answered them and said,
well let's Verse 24, When the people therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also
took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. This is after
he had fed the 5,000. And then he left them. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me not because you saw
the miracles. They did indeed see them. And the miracles testified of
who he is. That's what these miracles do.
He did what only God can do. You seek me not because of the
conviction of who I am. You seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Now you remember how he fed 5,000
men. He brought food into existence,
matter into the universe that was not there before. And there
were 12 big baskets left when he was finished. And they'd only
started with five biscuits and two biscuits and five biscuits
and two little herrings. And fed 5,000, not including
the women and children, tons of food left over. And that's
when they said, verse 14 of this same chapter, then those men,
when they'd seen the miracles that Jesus did, said, this is
of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. When
Jesus, therefore, perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain
himself alone. You see, ain't no man gonna make
him king. He is the king. He's king of
kings and Lord of lords, and nobody's gonna make him king.
And when they tried to make him king because they thought, man,
if he's our king, we don't have to work, we got food coming,
we got everything we need. Oh, everything will be great.
Let's make him king. He left that. He left that, they went
looking for him. That's where he says, you seek
me not because you saw the miracles, but because you eat the loaves
of the field. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For him hath God the Father sealed. Now I've got to say this. The Lord knew the same people
that he was speaking to would leave him, didn't he? He knew it. He knew exactly what
they'd do. Yet he says to them, labor not
for the meat which perishes but for the meat which endures to
everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give to you. Anybody who asks for His mercy
is gonna have it. Anybody who comes to Him will
be received. He does not say to these people,
you're not the elect and I know you won't take this food. He
knew they were. not but he didn't say that he
says labor not for the meat which perishes but for the meat which
endures to everlasting life with the son of man will give to you
for him hath the father stealed now look what they here's their
response verse 28 then said they unto him now all they heard was
labor and work that's all they heard What work, what labor do
we need to do? Give us something to do. Then
said they unto him, what shall we do? That we might work the
works of God. Now listen to his answer. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is The work of God. Now notice they said, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Give us some things
to do. This is the work of God. What? That you believe on him
whom he hath sent. There it is. He's the sent one. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God that
you believe on him. Who is he? He's the son of God. He's the brightness of God's
glory. He's the express image of His person. He's the one who
upholds all things by the word of His power. You believe on
Him. You believe on Him whom He hath
sent. The Father sent Him. The Father sent Him to be the
Savior of the world. He didn't send Him to condemn
the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And
we believe because of who He is, whatever the Father sent
Him to do, He did. He did. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. That's
exactly what He did. He saved. His people from their
sins. And beloved, that's what I need
to say from my sins. My sins. He saved His people
from the condemnation of their sins. There's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He saved His people from the
dominion of their sins. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. It shall not have lordship over you. Christ is my Lord.
He saved His people from the actual from the love of sin.
They now hate what they once loved. They're saved from the
presence of sin and glorification. They're saved from the commission
of sin and glorification. Salvation from sin. That's what
He was sent to do. And that is precisely what He
did. When He said it is finished,
He did what He was sent to do. Now I want to Look at two more
passages very briefly. Turn with me to John 17. John 17. I want you to see the significance
of Him being sent. Verse 3, And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. Look in verse eight, for I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have
received them and have known surely that I came out from thee
and they have believed that thou didst send me. Do you believe
that? I do. I surely do. Look in verse 18. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Now, here's
your purpose. This is your purpose. If he was
sent for you, you're sent to tell others what
he was sent for. That's your purpose in life. It's to tell
others what he was sent for and what he actually accomplished
in being sent by the Father. Look in verse 21, that they all
may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they
also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me. Verse 23, I in them, thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know
that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved
me. Verse 25, O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, but I've known thee. And these
have known that thou has sent me. Not only was he sent to us,
we're sent to him. Luke chapter 10, verse 16. Luke 10, 16. He's speaking to His disciples
in their preaching of the gospel. This is where He sent them to
preach the gospel. He said in verse 2 of the same
chapter, The harvest truly is great, but the labors are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send
forth laborers into His harvest. And this is where He sends them
to preach the gospel. And He says in verse 16, He that
heareth you, He that despises you despises the
gospel you preach and sets it at naught. He that despises you
despiseth me. I don't want, and I know I have,
I've given people reason, maybe by the way I've treated them
at times, to not be able to hear me and despise me. And I understand
that, and I don't want to do that ever again by the grace
of God. I don't want to give somebody a reason to not be able
to hear me because of the way I treat them. But if you despise the message
that I'm bringing right now, it's not me you despise. It's him. And that's what he
says. Now I repeat, I do not want to
cause someone to despise me because of the way that I treat them.
But if I preach the message of the gospel, And you despise me
for the message I'm preaching. It's not me you're despising.
It's Christ himself. That's what he says. He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despises you, despises me. And he that despises
me, despises him that sent me. The father sent. Him. Consider. The sent one. At two years. The one the father
has sent. Consider the sent one. Of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now we are sent only. to tell what he was sent to do. That's our message. To tell what
he was sent to do. 1 John 4, 3. I said I won't make you turn
to any other scriptures. One more. 1 John 4, 3. I hate it when preachers do that. I've heard many messages where
I thought, there's a lot of good places you could have quit. But
I'm sure somebody's thinking that about me right now for doing
that, but bear with me. 1 John chapter 4, verse 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesseth, professeth, this is a public
confession, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh as of God.
He was before he came, God sent him, he came in the flesh, and
he did what he came to do. That is the gospel. Now, give me something to do,
this is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. Period. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you
sent your son not to condemn us. Lord, we confess
we're already condemned, self-condemned, but you sent him to save us. And Lord, we know that whatever
you sent him to do, he did. And we are relying wholly upon
that. In his blessed name we pray.
Amen.