A Sermon to the Church

Q: What does the Bible say about the body of Christ?

The Bible teaches that the church is the body of Christ, composed of many members who each have a unique role and function. According to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, the church is described as the body of Christ, where each believer is a member with a specific purpose and function. Paul emphasizes that, although there are many members, they all make up one body, united under Christ. Each member is essential and contributes to the body’s overall health and functioning. This teaches us the importance of interdependence and the unique gifts that each member brings to the church community, as God has placed each one according to His design and pleasure.

Q: How do we know God is sovereign?

The Bible affirms God's sovereignty by declaring His authority over all creation and the unfolding of history according to His divine will. The sovereignty of God is a central theme in Scripture, affirming that He is supreme over all things and exercises authority over His creation. Ephesians 1:11 states that God works all things according to the counsel of His own will, indicating His control over both the big picture of history and individual events in our lives. Additionally, Romans 8:28 teaches that all things work together for good for those who love God, further underscoring that God's plans and purposes are sovereign and will ultimately be accomplished, regardless of human actions or decisions.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential for Christians as it is the unmerited favor of God that saves, sustains, and empowers believers in their faith. Grace is foundational to the Christian faith as it represents God's unearned favor towards humanity. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that it is by grace we are saved, not by our works, which underscores that salvation is a gift from God. This grace not only initiates our relationship with Him but also sustains and empowers us throughout our Christian lives. 2 Corinthians 12:9 highlights that God's grace is sufficient for us, especially in our weakness, demonstrating that it is through grace we experience God's strength and support. Therefore, understanding and embracing grace is crucial in the life of a believer, as it transforms our relationship with God and influences our actions towards others.

Now I'm going to read my text
a little later. The title of the message tonight
is A Sermon to the Church. There's several things that motivated this message that I prepared
for this evening, and I'll refer to them later. But I've been associated in one
form or another with religion for all of my 60-plus years. I'm going to quit saying how
many there are. I'm going to just say 60-plus. But I've been
associated in some form with religion all my life. Involved
in it, aware of it, and I think I know a little of what makes
it makes it tick. And I think I know a little of
what men are doing in the name of religion. It's all about us. It's around us, under us, and
over us. And every year I get a little
more unhappy with religion, a little more disgusted, and a lot more
contented and happy in Christ. I really do. Every year I get
a little more unhappy with what I hear and what I see in religion
and what people are doing. And I keep saying, as they keep
going a little further, getting a little more ridiculous, I keep
saying, we haven't seen anything yet. It's only going to get worse. Now that's Arthur W. Pink, many of us have
read and appreciated and loved the writings of Arthur W. Pink.
I think there's an article in our bulletin today by Mr. Pink
and his book on the sovereignty of God. As I travel around the
world, I run into the sovereignty of God everywhere I go in so
many languages. And almost everybody who knows
anything about God's attributes and God's grace has read Pink's
Sovereignty of God. He was a great man. He was a
great writer. But I'm told by Mr. Herringdean, who knew him
better than anyone knew him, I see Herringdean of Swingle,
Pennsylvania, who was a very dear friend of mine and whom
many of you remember. He's been here dozens of times.
printed that sovereignty of God, and printed Pink's books, and
Pink lived in his home for many, many years. He was very closely
associated with it. And Pink, in his latter days,
got so thoroughly, completely disgusted with today's religion,
he withdrew from it. Isn't that right, John? Totally
withdrew. wouldn't have anything to do
with any of it. It was so corrupted and so contrary to God's word
that he finally just wound up over in Scotland and lived out
his last days and died almost totally separated from all religion. He literally put in practice,
come ye out from among them and touch not the unclean things
and have no fellowship with workers of darkness. And that's what
religious workers are, workers of darkness. Thank God for this
refuge here. Thank God for this family and
this fellowship here. But as I say, I do get more withdrawn
from anything that smacks of religion or sounds like religion. Brother Walter Groover and Milton
Howard were in the States last summer. together in Houston,
and they went out to the golf course, the two of them, two
missionary preachers of grace. And the golf course was crowded,
and so the man at the desk told them they'd have to play in a
foursome. In other words, they'd have to play with two strangers.
So they went out on number one tee, and these two strangers,
two men, joined them. And they teed off and went down
the fireway. And one of the men turned to
Brother Milton and said, what do you do for a living? And Milton
said, I'm not going to tell you because it would ruin your day. That's a good answer. It would
ruin your day. because we're so different. And
nearly everyone in religion is motivated to believe and do
what they do and believe by what they've been taught. People are
victims of what they've been taught. And I've often said this
and I repeat it. The major problem is not in the
There's no need for these preachers to blame their people for their
indifference and their carelessness and their ignorance and their
darkness. The problem is not in the pew,
it's in the pulpit. That's where our whole problem
started, was a compromise right here. Because people do and believe
in religion what they've been taught to do and believe. Isn't
that correct? And there's so many people who
are motivated by these three these three foundations. Number one, many in religion
are motivated by a promise of reward. If you'll do good, God
will bless you. If you'll give your tithe, God
will prosper you. If you will come down and accept
Jesus, God will take you to heaven. God will reward you, and motivated
by reward. And many people are motivated
by fear. I sat down on the airplane coming
back from Mexico, and there was a lady across the aisle from
me, a Mexican lady. And when we got in the airplane,
buckled the seatbelts and revved it up to take off, she took out
her beads, her rosary, and squinted her eyes and began to count those
beads and say that, hey, I'm scared to death, fearful. And
she counted them all the way up in the sky. And then she put
them away, and then when we started to land, she got them out again.
Oh, the fear. And when the plane taxied, it
landed safely. I said, what were you trusting?
Christ? The sovereignty of my Lord? In
peace and joy and happiness and rest? And she was over here in
total fear. And when it finally landed and
taxied down the runway, And she kissed her thumb. If you don't accept Jesus, you'll
go to hell. That's what they tell me. If
you don't live right, you'll be punished. In other words,
it's turn or burn. Turn or burn. And people are
scared. They're motivated by fear. And then others are motivated
by duty. They're told it's their duty
to go to church, it's their duty to live right, it's their duty
to read the Bible, it's their duty to pray, it's their duty
to tithe. And needless to say, these motives
are not according to the word of God. Paul found his motivation
in the love of Christ. He said, the love of Christ motivates
me, the love of Christ restrains me, and the love of Christ constrains
me. These motives, reward and fear
and duty, are not only not according to the word of God, but they're
totally unacceptable to God Almighty. God will not honor them. God
will not bless them. But I'm seeing something here,
right here in the 13th Street Baptist Church, I'm seeing something
that I honestly, several years ago, did not expect to see. I
did not believe that it would actually ever come to pass again. And I'm seeing it come to pass.
You see, I've read about this sort of thing in the word of
God, and you have too. And I've known that by God's
grace it should be. And I've known by God's grace
it could be. But I never expected to see it. I never, I was associated with
religion so long and I'm seeing so much of it about me that I
just did not, I prayed that it might be. And I knew that it
should be. And I knew if God was pleased
in his grace, it could be. But I didn't think I would ever
see it. I never did think I would see it. And I wish to speak upon
it and address it. And I know this, three things
I know. I know the deceitfulness of the human heart. I know the
word of God says our hearts are deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? And I know secondly,
the tendency on the part of every human being to pride. I know there's a tendency in
our hearts, especially in the realm of grace. Somebody said
one time, there's pride of race, and pride of place, and pride
of face, but the worst pride is the pride of grace. And it's
an ugly pride. And I know that tendency, and
I know that potential. And thirdly, I know this, I know
that all things are of God. But he would tell his secretaries
what his subject was going to be on the Lord's Day, and they'd
go over that entire library, huge library. I've never seen
it, I've seen a picture of it. And they would take down every
book that had something on that subject. And they had a long
table in one of the rooms there where he pastored. And they would
open every book at the place where that subject was dealt
with and place those books all the way around the table. And
then he would come in and he would stand and read that page.
And he would go to the next book and read that page. He'd go to
the next book. and read that page, he'd go to the next book
and read that page, go all the way around that. And he could
remember everything he read. He had a photographic mind. That's
why he was such a great orator, that's why he could speak from
the back of an envelope for two hours, because he retained everything
he read. But he wrote this one time, he
said that, and that's a gift of God, but he wrote this one
time, he said the man, that taught him as a boy. He went to school,
he had a tutor, headmaster, and he had great respect and regard
for this particular man, a brilliant man. He was Mr. Spurgeon's tutor,
teacher. And he looked up to him and held
him in high regard, and he lived in his community. And Spurgeon
said he was out for a walk one day, years later, when he was
a pastor. And he went by that man's house,
his headmaster, his tutor, The man he held in such high respect,
the man, he said, in the secular world from whom he learned everything
he learned as a boy. And they had arrested him and
were bringing him, the police were bringing him out of his
house in handcuffs, putting him in a police wagon. A raving maniac. His mind had completely gone.
And Spurgeon said, I remembered him standing in front of my class,
teaching me, and the brilliant mind that he had, and the recall
powers that he had. And here he was, an idiot, and
being drugged out to a police wagon, and hauled away while
his neighbors and former students watched. And he said, it made
a profound impression upon me, the Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. And the gifts we have today can
be just as quickly gone tomorrow if it's in his will to do so.
Let's walk before him in gratitude and love and confidence and faith. But remember, it's all of grace. And I know that. I know that.
And fourthly, I know this, that God must in all things be glorified. He must in all things be glorified,
and some may feel it unwise for me to say some of the things
I'm going to say tonight, but I'm going to say them, and I'm
going to say them for several reasons. First of all, my heart
rejoices to be able to say them. There are not many preachers
who can. And also, God's people need to be encouraged. I might have been at one time,
some of you have known me a long time, and I might have been a
very harsh preacher who rebuked more than I comforted. But I
hope I comfort now more than I rebuke. But God's people need
to be comforted. They need to be encouraged. They
need to be encouraged along the way. The way is difficult enough
without being discouraged. I think sometimes I told the
Sunday school class this, that we learn how to be parents after
our children are grown and gone. One preacher told me one time,
he said, I'm having such a good relationship with my grandchildren,
I wish I'd have had them first. But I think one of the things
all of us are guilty of is being too hard on the little ones,
expecting too much from them. too harsh, and in doing so we
discourage them. We take away their initiative,
we take away their personality, we take away their drive by being
too hard on them. We expect them to be perfect,
don't we? And they're not. And their daddies
aren't. The root's not perfect, how do
we expect the fruit to be perfect? But we do, don't we? And I think
we preachers sometimes, sometimes are a little too, too abusive. And the people need to be encouraged.
And then another thing, the reason I'm going to say some of the
things that I plan to say is because what God has done needs
to be recognized. It needs to be acknowledged with
thanksgiving. We need to praise God for what
he's done. Some people may feel that what I said this morning
about this church and about the way God's blessed this church
and the way this church yields sends missionaries and takes
care of preachers, that you shouldn't say those things. Well, what
God has done needs to be recognized. It's God that's done it, and
he needs to be praised for what he's done. If we have something,
let's tell folks about it. And then believers are to show
themselves a pattern of good works. That's the Scripture,
show yourself a pattern of good works. And show yourself examples. Ronnie read this while ago. You
were examples to others. Example is the word here, but
that's example. You were examples. From you went
out the word of God all over Macedonia and Achaia. And then
believers are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. And here's
the thing. We need to recognize where we've
come from, where we are, and ask for grace to continue to
grow. Don't we? We need to take inventory once
in a while. Well, preacher, get to the point. What is it that
you see that makes you so glad? What is it that you see that
makes you rejoice so much in this congregation and in this
church? Well, turn to Galatians 5, verse
22. Galatians 5, 22. My friends, I actually see in
this congregation Not perfectly by any means. But I see and have
seen for some time now the fruit of the Spirit of God. I see the
fruit of God manifested. I really do. Motivated by the
Spirit of God. For the glory of God and through
the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Galatians 5.22 says, But the
fruit, now that word is not plural, it's singular. The fruit of the
Spirit. And where you find one, you'll
find the other. You may find this fruit in the bud, you may
find it in the bloom, you may find it in the full flower, but
it's there. And they're all there. And I'm
seeing it manifested here as nowhere else, and I rejoice in
it, and it's the fruit of the Spirit. I see love. I see a joy. I see a joy among
our people, a joy in the Holy Ghost, a joy in Christ. It's
not an emotional fever, it's a quiet, peaceful joy. And I
see peace. I watch our people get sick,
and I watch some of them die, and I see them spend these last
days in peace. I visited Brother Charlie Payne
yesterday, who is very seriously ill, and the peace that he manifests
and demonstrates, and Brother Bill Borders, and Brother Roger,
the last time I saw him, a man Just going downhill so rapidly,
but the peace and joy of his heart and words and countenance
were not depressing. John, you saw him the day before
he died. It made your heart rejoice, that peace, peace that passeth
understanding. There are not a lot of men who
are standing on the threshold of eternity with peace. There's
just one place you can find that kind of peace, and that's in
Christ Jesus. But I'm seeing peace. And I'm seeing patience,
long suffering. The exercise of patience. I'm
seeing a gentleness. I've been in, many of you have
been in religion, and it can be so harsh and critical. Religion
can be so critical. But I'm seeing here a gentleness.
I'm seeing a kindness. I'm seeing a goodness. The goodness
of God. I'm seeing faith. I'm seeing
a humility. I'm seeing temperance. And against
such there is no law. Now, here's where it is. Turn
over to 1 Corinthians 12. It's in Christ, and we're all
in Christ, and we're members of the body of Christ. This is
where it is. You see, believers are not just
folks picked up here and there and yonder. They are a unit.
They're a body. They're a family. They're the
body of Christ. And God has put them in that body as it pleases
him, given them the gifts and the place and the function and
the responsibility in that body according to his will. Now let's
read this and notice it. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12. For as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that body being many are one
body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and we've been all made to drink into one
spirit. The body's not one member. In
other words, it's not just a preacher with his ministry preaching to
people scattered here and there. He's just a member of the body
functioning in the place God put him. He's just a part of
that body, and everybody in the church family is a part of that
body. And they're not just one member,
but many members. And if the foot shall say, well,
because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? No, it's not the hand. It doesn't
do the work of the hand. But it's the foot, and it does
the work of the foot. It occupies the place of the
foot. All right? And if the ear, verse 16, shall
say, well, because I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is
it therefore not of the body? What if the whole body were an
eye? What if we all were just alike? Where would be the hearing? If
the whole body were hearing, where would be the smelling?
But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body,
as it is pleased him. I look out over this congregation.
sit in the study and look around the circle at those men, stand
before my class. And I'll tell you, each one is
so precious and particular and important that just remove one,
it'd be missed like a part of the body. They all function in
their own place, their own responsibility, gifts, and place God has put
them. That's what he's saying here.
God, verse 18, has set the members, every one of them, in the body
as it had pleased him. And if they were all one member,
you wouldn't have a body. You'd have a monster. You'd have
a weird contraption. But now, verse 20, are they many
members? Yep, they're one body. They are
many members. Personalities, individuals, temperaments,
but they have a common faith and a common Redeemer and a common
salvation and a common goal, the glory of God. In verse 21,
the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee. Heaven,
may God help us and deliver us, I have no need of thee. The eye can't say to the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have
no need of you. Oh, I do have need of thee. Really, watch this now, much
more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. Those that maybe
aren't out in the open. Think how necessary is one vein,
or one artery, or one rib. That's what he's talking about.
Those that seem to be more feeble, or those that are not recognized,
or those who do not have as much recognition as others. And I
could give you so many examples here tonight, things I know about,
things you know about, where people who are not not seen as much or heard as
much, are so vital and important to the body of Christ, to the
glory of God. Verse 23, And those members of
the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we
bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no
need But God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honors to that part which lacked, that there should
be no divisions in the body." Isn't it a sad commentary on
religion today? The divisions and the conflict
and the fighting that go on in religion and churches in the
name of God. Any of you that have been members
of other churches, the divisions, the inter-wrestlings,
the conflict in business meetings and board meetings and deacon
meetings and committee meetings, and people just can't get along. Somebody preached a sermon one
time on church cannibalism, and he took a text from that scripture
that says you bite and devour one another. Cannibalism. That's what he's talking about,
their schisms. Thank God we don't have them
here. But that the members should have the same care one of another. Whether one member suffer, all
the members suffer. I felt this the last few years
among you, how that when someone is suffering, whether it be physical
suffering or mental or emotional suffering or whatever suffering
it is, all of you suffer with them. Feel their pain and feel
their their conflict and feel their burdens, bear their burdens. All the members suffer. If one
member be honored, all the members rejoice. God is pleased to confer
some gift or honor upon an individual, everybody rejoices. We weep for
those that weep and we rejoice for those that rejoice. You know,
something that has always bothered me in a lot of these churches
where they have a prayer list. Give out prayer lists, you know,
for you to pray. If you've got to write me down
to remember me, don't bother. See what I'm saying? If you've
got to write my name down to remember me before God, just
don't bother. Just don't bother. Now, you're
the members, you're the body of Christ, verse 27, and you're
members in particular. I read an article a few days
ago by Brother Don Fortner. I thought it was quite good.
The title of the article was this, Our Responsibilities to
One Another, in which he said this, We are members of one another. We are the body of Christ Jesus.
By the grace of God, we are identified with and united in bonds of love
to each other. We are the family of God. And
as the family of God, we have certain privileges. and responsibilities
towards one another, and he listed ten. It sounds like I'm going
to preach a long time, but I'm not. I'm going to give you these
ten, and here's what I thought when I read these. Don worked
hard on this and came up with ten points. Ten, he calls them
privileges and responsibilities that members of a congregation
and family of God have toward one another, and as I read the
article, you know what I felt in my heart, I said, we have
that here. By God's grace, we have that
here. And may God, by his grace, allow
it to grow, mature, and continue. If you want to, write down these,
I'll give them to you briefly, these ten things. First of all,
these are ten privileges and responsibilities that we have.
Now, far from perfect, please understand what I'm saying, but
I'm thanking God that he has certainly blessed this congregation
beyond expression. Number one, he said we are to
love one another. We are to love one another. I
was standing right back there by the door after the service
this morning talking to you, and my comment was this, as I
looked down here and saw this congregation, reluctant to go
home. Standing around visiting one
another, I said to him, Look down, they love each other. They
love each other. Those people love each other.
And believers do and they will. The scripture says, Be kindly
affection, Romans 12, 10, one to another in the love of brethren,
in honor of preferring one another. You see, love is the royal law
of Christ. It's the royal law. He said,
A new commandment I give you, love one another. And it's not
a phony love, it's not a feigned love, it's a fervent love. They
love each other. Love is the law of Christ, love
is the evidence of grace, and love is the fruit of the Spirit.
All right, secondly, we are to keep the unity of the Spirit
and the bond of peace. Now this responsibility falls
heavily upon me, but it also falls upon you. We're supposed
to, in our Christian maturity and spiritual maturity, recognize
anything that rises up that may endanger that unity, and stop
it when we see it rise. But we're to endeavor, the word
is, strive to keep the unity. Here it is in Ephesians 4, 2,
and 3. He said, with all lowliness, not high-handedness now. You
don't keep unity with high-handedness. You keep unity with humility
and meekness. So watch this now. Paul says
in Ephesians 4, 2 and 3, with all lowliness and meekness and
patience, forbearing one another in love, strive to keep and guard
the unity of the church. Keep down the conflict. Keep
down the divisions. Watch how he says do it. I wish
I had this place full of preachers tonight, because this is something
that needs to be learned. You don't demand respect, you
earn it. You don't demand obedience. God
gives it, you see. With high handedness, you don't
say, alright, we're going to love each other around here now
or else. That's not the way it's done. With lowliness of mind,
meekness of spirit, patience and forbearance. to one another
in love, strive to keep the unity. It's your responsibility and
mine too. Don't allow conflict. Don't give
in to it. Don't allow hard feelings. Don't
do it. Put them aside. That's our responsibility
and that's what you do. Thirdly, quickly, John says in
this article, he said, we're to be sympathetic and kind to
one another. Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving. Be kind, be tender-hearted, gentle,
forgiving. On what basis? As God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you. I tell you this, the man who
can't forgive better not have anything for which to be forgiven. That's all I've got to say about
it. You say, well, I just find it hard to forgive people. Well,
OK, but you better not have anything for which to be forgiven. Because
God said, if you forgive not your brother his trespasses,
neither will your Father in heaven forgive you. Now, how hard is
it? It ought to come easy, shouldn't it? All right, fourthly, we're
to minister to one another's needs. And I confess to you,
this is something that back in the years, back years ago, I
always wanted to see, but I was never able, I was never able
to promote it. I know a lot of churches, they
have a deacons' committee, and they divided the deacons, the
church membership, and put ten under this deacon, ten under
that one, ten under that one, ten under that one. They have
elders, and they put a third under this, and a third under
that, a third under that. his responsibility to check on this
one, check on that one, see what this one needs. Everybody's assigned
all these things, but I knew something was wrong with that.
The care and concern and ministering to either spiritual, emotional,
or physical needs of any people is to be our care and concern,
but it's to be motivated out of love for them and not out
of a law. Out of a desire and not out of
a duty. And this is what I'm seeing.
I'm seeing deacons doing what deacons ought to do without being
told to. That's right. I'm seeing elders
do what elders ought to do without being told to do it. Spontaneously. In fact, just tonight, two of
our elders, one there and one here, I heard that the day before
Roger died, those two men were up there to visit with him, talk
to him. Their pastor was out of town, they took it upon themselves
to do it. Visiting one another, caring for one another, all of
you are doing this. I hear about it and I rejoice in it and I
say, this is the way it ought to be, John. This is the way
it ought to be. People motivated by a love for
Christ and a love for each other, not being told to visit somebody
or told to write somebody or told to call somebody or told
to go see somebody or told to help somebody, they just do it.
And that's what our Lord Jesus is saying at that great judgment.
He's saying to those on His right hand, He's saying, I was hungry
and you fed me. I was weary and you comforted
me. I was in prison and you visited me. I was naked and you clothed
me. I was sick and you visited me. I was this and that. They
said, we don't remember that. Why, He said, inasmuch as you've
done it to the least of these, you've done it to me. You've
done it to me. Care. Religion appoints committees. God motivates hearts. That's
right. That's right. Believers do things
out of love. It's spontaneous. I know we could,
Doris got on the phone, called one of our ladies that are sick
at noon today, and there was two of our ladies already there.
They weren't told to do that. Did it because they love them.
See what I'm saying? I'm seeing that. You know what
I'm talking about, Steve. You know how religion is so organized
and people are told to do this. It's their duty to do this. If
only, if only we had that love of Christ and that grace of Christ
that we thought about people and loved them and prayed for
them spontaneously. And that's what we have. God's
given us that. So be careful. I'm being careful, but I'm just
saying thank God for this spirit. Thank God for this spirit, let's
make it grow. Then fifthly, we are to watch
over one another. Paul said in Hebrews, if Paul
is the author, in Hebrews 3, Paul said, Exhort one another,
encourage one another while it's called today, lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And then Hebrews 10,
let us consider one another and give attentive continuous care
to watching over one another, to stir up one another to love
and good works. I see these young men around
here sitting with their Bibles open, exhorting one another.
Y'all do that all the time? You say, I read this, let me
show you something. And they meet in homes and they discuss
the Word of God. You do it, all of you do it.
I know about those things and I say that. That's watching over
one another, that's encouraging one another. It's not just coming
to church on Sunday like you go to a film station, fill up
your tank, and then wait until next week. All week, you get
your tank refreshed by encouraging one another, watching over one
another. We don't spy on one another,
we encourage one another. There's a difference. And sixthly,
we're to bear one another's burden. Turn to Galatians 6, I want you
to look at this scripture here. Bear one another's burdens, whatever
the burden might be. The strong are to bear the infirmities
of the weak. I don't think anybody here would
profess to be strong, but some of you are, even though you wouldn't
admit it. Brother Magruder said one time,
a saint is the last fellow that will call himself one. But the mature are to bear the
infirmities of the weak, the strong. The mature are to bear
the errors of the immature. Let me tell you a story. A man
in this church, converted about 10 or 11 years ago, said that
he came in to study one evening before a Wednesday night prayer
meeting, second or third time he was in there. And there was
a discussion going on, and he said, I made the most ridiculous
statement. It sounded good to me then, but
he said, I know it was awful. And he said, nobody rebuked me.
He said, in fact, I remember two ridiculous statements I made
on that occasion, and not one of those older men came up to
me and said, that's not according to doctrines of grace or scripture. He said, they let it go. They
all heard it, but not a one of them rebuked me. They understood
I was immature. See what I'm saying? The mature
are to bear the errors of the immature, the offended are to
forgive the offenders, and the faithful are to be patient with
the careless. You say, well, somebody's not
as faithful of the service as they ought to be. Pray for them.
Pray for them. Listen, Galatians 6, 1. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, ye which
are mature, restore him. Don't discipline him. Don't exclude
him. Restore him. Restore such a one
in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted,
and bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Our Lord gave that example of the tree that had nothing but
leaves, had no fruit, and he said, well, shall I pull it up?
He said, no, leave it there, dig around it, dung it, fertilize
it, and hope for some fruit. If a man go overtaken in the
front row and rip him up and throw him on the garbage heap,
encourage him. Dig around it and dung it. It
may bear fruit. Bear one another's burdens. Seventh,
we're to pray for one another. Paul said, Brethren, pray for
us. Pray for us. Now I'm not going to organize
prayer meetings. We'll have prayer. We'll pray here. We'll pray there.
We'll pray wherever. We'll pray, but we'll pray privately.
That's where we better pray. In our closet. That's the best
prayer. I'm just not going to organize prayer meetings. I feel
like that much of what we call prayer today is nothing but ritualism,
nothing but form, and God doesn't have anything to do with it.
God forbid that I should sin against God in ceasing to pray
for you. Ephesians 6 says, praying always
with perseverance and supplication for all the saints. If we're
motivated to pray, we'll pray. And I'll just tell you this,
if we know God, as we claim to know God, know ourselves like
we should know ourselves and know the needs of others, we'll
pray. We'll pray more and more. And in the eighth place, we're
to assemble together to worship, study, pray, and praise God.
Consider one another and forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together. We need to hear the word of God. The children need
to be fed the children's bread. We need one another. I have friends
off in other places who get the tapes. And tapes are good. They fill a need. But I tell
you, no tape or television will take the place of a worship service.
No tape or television or book or nature. We come here in this
place dedicated to and reserved for the worship of God and sing
these great hymns and read the word of God and pray and preach
the gospel and fellowship together, embrace one another in love,
encourage one another. I tell you, it's a long time
between Sundays sometimes, isn't it? And between Sunday and Wednesday. I believe, and I've been in,
I tell you, I've been in services My soul, how many have I been
in? Many of you too. But I believe I could come here
every day and enjoy. I believe we could. Don't you
think you could come here and worship God every day with these
people? And have a different person get up here and preach
every service? Rejoice together. I'm delighted, aren't you? I
know you are. I see that. And do you notice we don't have
any campaigns to get crowds. One church had banana day. They
said, you be one of the bunch, you know. They had all these
silly things to get folks to come. Pack a pew, fill a pew.
Oh, this is ridiculous. I'll tell you this, Dosh doesn't
have to call dinner too many times when I'm hungry. I'll come
to the table. And people who are hungry for
the Word of God, if they got somebody to set a table, they'll
be there. And let's not preach to those
who aren't here, let's preach to those who are here. And number
nine, watch this now, this is good, that's right old Don. You're
right Don, tell him how I improved on that sermon here that he wrote. We are to show no respect of
persons in the house of God. No respect. Now we respect one
another. You understand what I'm saying?
I'm saying this. I'm saying God has gifted different
people in different ways. We've got older people here and
young people. We've got men and women. We've got people who are
well off financially, people who are not. We have people with
much education, people with very little. And we recognize men's
gifts. I recognize a man's knowledge
and ability and gift, and I thank God for it. But I'll tell you
worldly position and worldly wealth and worldly honor and
social standing have no place in the family of God. No place. No place. Let no man despise
thy youth. Let no man despise thy youth.
Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things. Be not snobbish. That's exactly
the word that's used there. But give yourself to humble thoughts
about yourself. And give yourself to the humble
task. And be not wise in your own conceit. Read Romans 12 in
the Amplifier. There's no place in the family
of God for place. Isn't that right? That's exactly right. We're brothers.
And you know, I hear people say, well, what do y'all do for your
young people out there? Preach the gospel to them. What do you do for the senior
citizens? We don't have any old people here. We got some people
been young a long time, but we don't have any old people. Ain't
that right? I've been young a long time.
You've been young a long, long time. But we're one. We're brothers. He ain't heavy.
He's my brother. That's right. And in the 10th
place, we're to be examples to one another. In 1 Timothy 4.12,
Paul writing to Timothy, his son in the ministry, and he said,
Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example
of the believers, watch this now, in your speech, in your
conduct, in your love, in your faith, and in your purity. Now
these ten things, I read them and I said to myself, I said,
now thank God, that's prevalent, not perfect, but prevalent in
this family of God. And I thank God for it, and I
know this, and I say this to all the preachers who may hear
this tape, this is the results of the grace of God, and this
is the product of gospel faith And this is not the accomplishment
of any preacher. That's right. In other words,
I say to all who pastor and all who preach, do not think, do
not think that you will set forth these characteristics by demanding
them or by cultivating them or by requiring them. They come
by the grace of God. through the faithful proclamation
of his pure, free, sovereign gospel of grace. That's how they
come. That's right. You see, nearly
every time Paul writes to somebody, he says, grace, mercy, and peace
be unto you through our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace comes before
mercy, and mercy comes before peace. Always. You're not going
to have any peace until you're an object of his grace and his
mercy. You see that? Preach it. Preach
the grace of God. Don't compromise. Boldly, boldly
we'll preach the gospel of Christ our Lord. Lift up Christ. We'll
look to him and wait upon him to make effectual those things
which only he can do and separate him. Our gospel is life unto
life and death unto death. We will praise him for what he's
pleased to do. in us and what he's pleased to
do for us. Let us pray. Our dear Father, bless us with
Thy grace while traveling through this wilderness. Our Sonship,
may we keep in view. May we honor Thee in all that
we do. And may we, Lord, bless Thee
from day to day, trust Thee to keep us on our way, and own Thee
to cast our every care that, like Thee, one day we will appear. In the name of Christ our Lord,
we pray. Amen.

A Sermon to the Church

What does the Bible say about the body of Christ?

How do we know God is sovereign?

Why is grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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A Sermon to the Church

What does the Bible say about the body of Christ?

How do we know God is sovereign?

Why is grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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