SERMON NOTES FOR SUNDAY THE 25th

Gene the Deacon from Quacco Baptist Church called me on the 20^th inviting me as guest preacher for Sunday the 25th and from that Tuesday to Friday night so much has occurred in lightning speed, or so it seems, that I didn’t know if I was to incorporate it in this message. Friday in the wee hours on the morning I woke up thinking a verse, which turned out to be in Joshua 24:15 – “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Then later in the day I read about the Israeli PM Netanyahu being invited by the Speaker the House to speak to a joint session of Congress and the resulting reaction of the White House and it came to mind Exodus 7:3-4 which says, “But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my people the Israelites.”  Obama is, as Pharaoh was, not an innocent or godly man. Before the first plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart against letting the Israelites go. “Pharaoh's heart became hard” (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19).  Pharaoh could have spared Egypt had he not hardened his own heart. God was giving Pharaoh increasingly severe warnings of the judgment that was to come. The same that God is doing to the United States. Pharaoh chose to bring judgment on himself and on his nation by hardening his own heart against God’s commands. Because of his stubbornness, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart even further, allowing for the last few plagues (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27).  As terrible as the plagues were, God’s mercy was demonstrated by Him not destroying Egypt completely, which would have been a perfectly just penalty. Romans 9:17-18 declares, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.” From a human perspective, it seems wrong for God to harden a person and then punish the person He has hardened. Biblically speaking, however, we have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23),

‘HE WILL BE IN YOU’

IN MATTHEW 24 JESUS SAYS THAT NEAR THE TIMES OF THE END, THE TIME OF THE FINAL SEVEN PERIOD YEAR PERIOD BEFORE HIS SECOND COMING THAT THERE WOULD BE WARS AND RUMORS OF WAR AND NATURAL DISASTERS, BUT THAT THESE ARE JUST THE BEGINNING. NOW THERE HAVE BEEN NATURAL DISASTERS AND WARS ALL THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THIS WORLD BUT IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 19^TH CENTURY, ALL OF THE 20^TH CENTURY COMING UP TO TODAY IN THE 21^ST CENTURY THERE HAS BEEN AN ALARMING INCREASE IN BOTH NATURAL DISASTERS AND CONLICTS BETWEEN NATIONS. AN ARTICLE I READ TITLED ‘HISTORY TODAY’ IT SAID THAT THAT BETWEEN 1870 AND 2001, THE FREQUENCY OF WARS BETWEEN STATES, THAT IS NATIONS, HAS INCREASED STEADILY BY 2% A YEAR ON AVERAGE. BETWEEN 1870 AND 1913, THE FREQUENCY OF ‘PAIRWISE’ CONFLICTS, (THAT IS THE NUMBERS OF PAIRS OF COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN CONFLICTS) INCREASED ON AVERAGE BY 6% PER YEAR. NOW IT BECOMES INTERESTING. THE FRERQUENCY OF WARS INCREASED BY 17% PER YEAR IN THE PERIOD OF THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS, AND BY 31% PER YEAR DURING THE COLD WAR. IN THE 1990S THIS FREQUENCY ROSE BY 36% PER YEAR.  WE KNOWN THAT FROM SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 TO TODAY WAR HAS BEEN A CONTINUOUS ACTION IN THE FORM OF TERRORISM WHICH ITSELF IS INCREASING IN INTENSITY.

SO YOU ASK, “WHAT HAS THAT TO DO WITH US”?  WELL, JOHN PIPER ONCE SAID THE FOLLOWING, “WE EVANGELICALS CARE ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING, ESPECIALLY ETERNAL HUMAN SUFFERING”. THAT IS WHAT IT HAS TO DO WITH US. WE NEED TO CARE ABOUT THE ETERNAL SUFFERING OF HUMANS. GOD, BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. YET HE CARED SO MUCH ABOUT THE ETERNAL CONDITION OF HIS CREATION THAT HE, “SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY ONE OF A KIND SON THAT WHOSEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

SO WHAT ARE WE TO DO? WELL JESUS GAVE A CLEAR COMMAND TO HIS DISCIPLES, IN THE 28^TH CHAPTER OF MATTHEW. THEY WERE TO GO TO ALL THE NATIONS AND MAKE DISCIPLES TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE EVERYTHING THAT HE HAS COMMANDED THEM. TO BAPTIZE THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

NOTE SOMETHING OF IMPORTANCE- IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THAT GENERATION TO REACH THE WHOLE WORLD IN ITS LIFETIME.  SO THE COMMISSION GIVEN TO THAT FIRST GENERATION OF BELIEVERS EXTENDS BEYOND, IT IS GIVEN TO ALL GENERATIONS OF BELIEVERS.  THE VERY SAME CHARGE GIVEN TO THEM IS GIVEN TO US IMPLICITLY. 

IT IS MY VIEW THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE CRUCIAL VERSES IN THE BIBLE. THIS VERSE IS IMPORTANT FOR GENUINE BELIEVERS. JESUS’ COMMISSION TO TEACH AND BAPTIZE BY ITSELF IS NOT ENOUGH TO REACH THE WORLD FOR JESUS CHRIST.  IMPORTANT YES, BUT PRECEDING BOTH JESUS SAYS DISCIPLESHIP.  HE SAYS ‘GO THERFORE AND ‘METHETEUSATE’ ALL NATIONS; TO MAKE DISCIPLES. 

OUR LORD WAS TELLING US HOW TO GO AND HOW TO EVANGELIZE.  HE GAVE US NOT ONLY HIS ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE AND PURPOSE; HE WAS GIVING THE METHOD TO USE IN EVANGELIZING THE WORLD.  HE IS TELLING US TO DO WHAT HE DID. 

What did He do? Christ "came to seek and save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). He sought the lost, those who were willing to commit their lives to Him. And when He found such a person, He saved that person. When Christ found a person who was willing to commit his life, Christ attached Himself to that person. Christ began to mold and make that person into His image. The word attach is the key word. It is probably the word that best describes discipleship. Christ made disciples of men by attaching Himself to them; and through that personal attachment, they were able to observe His life and conversation; and in seeing and hearing, they began to absorb and assimilate His very character and behavior. They began to follow Him and to serve Him more closely. In simple terms this is what our Lord did. This is the way He made disciples. This was His mission and His method, His obsession: to attach Himself to willing believers.

There is another way to describe what Christ did. Christ envisioned something beyond Himself and beyond His day and time. He envisioned an extension of Himself, an extension of His very being, and an extension of His mission and method. The way He chose to extend Himself was discipleship, attaching Himself to committed persons, and through attachment, the persons absorbed and assimilated the Lord's very character and mission. They in turn attached themselves to others and discipled them. They, too, expected their disciples to make disciples of others who were willing to commit their lives to Christ. Thus was the glorious message of Christ to march down through the centuries. As Paul instructed Timothy in his 2^nd letter, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”  (2 Tim. 2:2).

So there is no question what our Lord's commission is: we are to go; but more than that, we are to make disciples, to attach ourselves to those persons who will follow our Lord until they in turn can make disciples. (2 Tim. 2:2).

He commissioned us to teach all that He had commanded. Teaching is an essential part of discipleship. Note what is to be taught (edidaske): "all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19-20).

"As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me " (John 6:45).

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16).

"If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed " (1 Tim. 4:6).

"Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them.”    (1 Tim. 4:11).

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deut. 6:6-7).

"And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean" (Ezekiel 44:23).

WHO THEN ARE WE TO GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES?  WE GO TO THE UNBELIEVERS; TO THE UNREGENERATED; TO THE LOST. RIGHT HERE IN CHATHAM COUNTY. HOW MANY WOULD ANSWER GOD’S CALL? WE WILL NOT KNOW, ALL WE CAN DO IS GO. I BELIEVE THAT MANY OF US DON’T GO BECAUSE OF FEAR OF REJECTION, OR WE MAY NOT REMEMBER WHAT TO SAY. THE REASONS AND EXCUSES I’M SURE ARE MANY. I KNOW, BECAUSE I HAVE USED SOME MYSELF. BUT  KNOW THAT WHETHER YOU ARE BY YOURSELF OR TWO OR MORE OF YOU, YOU ARE NOT GOING AT IT ALONE. JESUS PROMISED TO BE WITH HIS FOLLOWERS- ALWAYS.  LISTEN, HE SAYS IN MATTHEW 28:20, “TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”  NOTE THAT JESUS GAVE AN EMPHATIC ASSURANCE, NOT, “I WILL BE WITH YOU.” BUT, AGAIN EMPHATICALLY STATING, “I AM WITH YOU…” JESUS IS WITH THE BELIEVER AS THE BELIEVER GOES FORTH TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, (PEOPLES). THERE IS NOT A MOMENT WHEN JESUS IS NOT WITH THE BELIEVER TO HELP HIM WITNESS, EVEN IF HIS WITNESSES MEANS ABUSE, PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM. 

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:5-6).

"When thou pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:2).

HOW IS IT THAT JESUS IS WITH US SINCE HE BODILY ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES? LOOK AT JOHN 16. THIS IS AT THE LAST SUPPER AND JESUS HAS JUST SAID TO THE DISCIPLES THAT HE IS GOING BACK TO THE FATHER, BACK TO HEAVEN AND THE DISCIPLES NOT FULLY UNDERSTANDING WHAT WAS TRANSPIRING WERE SAD BUT JESUS TELLS THEM IN VERSE 7:

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you”

BUT LET’S BACK TRACT A LITTLE AND IN CHAPTER 14 STARTING IN VERSE 16 JESUS TELLS THEM, HIS DISCIPLES, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

NOTE THE LAST FIVE WORDS, “AND WILL BE IN YOU”. THE COMFORTOR WILL BE INSIDE OF THE DISCIPLES, INSIDE OF ALL TRUE BELIEVERS.

PAUL WRITES IN HIS FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS, “. . . Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? . . . the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. . . do you not know that your body is a *temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (6: 15 – 19). *WE ALL KNOW THAT A TEMPLE IS A BUILDING DEVOTED TO THE WORSHIP, OR REGARDED AS THE DWELLING PLACE FOR A GOD OR GODS. WE KNOW THAT THE TRUE GOD DWELT AMONGST THE ISRAELITS IN THE TABERNACLE AND THEN IN THE TEMPLE UNTIL HE DEPARTED FROM THERE. BUT EVEN THEN GOD WAS SEPARTED FROM THE PEOPLE, THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS ALLOWED INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES WAS THE HIGH PRIEST AND THEN ONLY ONCE A YEAR. BUT NOW, GOD DWELLS IN EACH OF THE BELIEVERS.

IN ACTS 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 

THE BELIEVERS WOULD BE EQUIPPED WITH POWER, THAT POWER WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF. THEIR POWER WAS TO BE SUPERNATURAL AND SPIRITUAL. THE VERY POWER OF GOD HIMSELF; OF THE SUPREME BEING OF THE UNIVERSE; OF HIS PRESENCE; OF HIS SPIRIT.  GOD’S VERY OWN SPIRIT WOULD DWELL IN THE HEART AND LIFE OF THE BELIEVERS. NO GREATER POWER COULD EVER BE POSSESSED BY ANYONE. THE BELIEVER IS GIVEN A TASK TO CARRY OUT. WE, THAT IS THE BELIEVERS, DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO CARRY OUT THIS TASK ON OUR OWN. THE POWER OF GOD HIMSELF, THE HOLY SPIRIT, IS NEEDED.  THAT IS WHY JESUS PROMISED, “YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COME UPON YOU” (ACTS 1:8). THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES AS AN EQUIPPING POWER. HIS EQUIPS THE BELIEVER TO CARRY OUT THE TASK FOR GOD.

OUR TASK IS WITNESSING FOR GOD. THAT IS OUR TASK UNTIL THE DAY THE LORD RETURNS. AT THE RAPTURE OR HIS SECOND COMING. WE ARE TO BE WITNESSING JESUS CHRIST, SHARING THE GLORIOUS SALVATION WE HAVE IN HIM. NO GREATER TRUTH EXIST BUT JESUS CHRIST. FOR THERE IS NO SALVATION IN ANYOTHER NAME BUT JESUS CHRIST. MAN NOW CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE; MAN CAN BE DELIVERED FROM SIN, DEATH, AND HELL.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER. “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (LUKE 24:49).

AND SO THEY STAYED IN JERUSALEM AND ON THE FEAST   PENTECOST, “suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them CLOVEN tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and IT SAT on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, DIALECTS as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” (ACTS 2:1-4).

A CLOVEN TONGUES APPEARED AND THEN EACH TONGUE RESTED UPON EACH OF THE DISCIPLES; SYMBOLIZING THAT HE WILL DWELL IN EACH BELIEVER AS WELL AS IN THE WHOLE BODY OF BELIEVERS. TAKE NOTE THAT IT SAYS “IT” SAT ON EACH BELIEVER. THE HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF WAS DESCENDING ON EACH ONE. THEY WERE RECEIVING THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

NOTICE ALSO THAT THE SPIRIT APPEARED IN THE FORM OF A TONGUE. THE TONGUE SYMBOLIZES THE INSTRUMENT OF SPEAKING AND PREACHING AND SHARING THE GOSPEL. THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS TO BE THE BURNING POWER OF THE TONGUE, OF THE CONVICTING MESSAGE TO BE PROCLAIMED.

THE RESULTS WERE THAT THE DISCIPLES WENT OUT AND PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS AND ABOUT 3,000 WERE SAVED THAT DAY.

THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS NOT JUST SENT FOR THE DISCIPLES THERE IN JERUSALEM. YEARS LATER PAUL AT EPHESUS ASKED THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST IF THEY HAD RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN THEY BELIEVED TO WHICH THEY REPLIED: “WE HAVE NOT EVEN HEARD THERE IS A HOLY SPIRIT . . . AND WHEN PAUL LAID HANDS UPON THEM, THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME ON THEM, AND THEY BEGAN SPEAKING WITH TONGUES AND PROPHESYING” (ACTS 19:2, 6).

THE BELIEVER, THE DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST, HAS BEEN COMMISSIONED TO GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. TO GO AND PREACH TO THE LOST. THE LORD DRAWS THOSE PERSONS WHO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD TO HIMSELF. THE LORD DOES THE CONVICTING. ALL THE BELIEVER HAS TO DO IS PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF THOSE WHO ANSWER THE CALL OF GOD. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HERE AMONG THE CHURCH, WHICH IS THE BODY OF BELIEVERS, BUT MANY ARE GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. WE ARE NOT FOLLOWING HIS GUIDANCE. A. W. TOZER SAID THAT “IF THE HOLY SPIRIT WERE WITHDRAWN FROM OUR CHURCHES TODAY, 95 PERCENT OF WHAT WE DO WOULD GO ON AND NO ONE WOULD KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.”

DO YOU HAVE THE HEART OF JESUS CHRIST?  DO YOU HAVE HIS COMPASSION, HIS SORROWFUL HEART FOR THE LOST KNOWING THAT WITHOUT JESUS CHRIST THEY ARE CONDEMNED TO ETERNAL DAMNATION? AS JONATHAN EDWARDS SAYS IN HIS SERMON, “SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD” - THAT THEY MUST FACE THE WRATH OF THE INFINITE GOD. PROVERBS 20:2 SAYS, “THE WRATH OF A KING IS LIKE THE ROARING OF A LION; WHOEVER PROVOKES HIM TO ANGER SINS AGAINST HIS OWN LIFE.” YET EVEN THE MIGHTIEST EARTHLY KING IS BUT LIKE A WORM IN THE DUST IN COMPARISON TO THE GREAT AND ALMIGHTY CREATOR AND KING OF HEAVEN. NOTHING CAN COMPARE TO THE WRATH OF THE GREAT KING OF KINGS. LUKE 12:4-5 SAYS, “AND I SAY TO YOU, MY FRIENDS, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THOSE WHO KILL THE BODY, AND AFTER THAT HAVE NO MORE THAT THEY CAN DO. BUT I WILL SHOW YOU WHOM YOU SHOULD FEAR. FEAR HIM WHO, AFTER HE HAS KILLED, HAS THE POWER TO CAST INTO HELL; YES I SAY TO YOU, FEAR HIM.”

LET US PRAY – “OH LORD OUR GOD WE HUMBLY COME TO YOU, HAVE MERCY ON US, GUIDE US OH LORD, BLESS US WITH A RENEWING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SEND US OUT IN YOUR STRENGTH AND POWER TO MAKE DISCIPLES. AND LORD, ADONAI, FOR THOSE HERE WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT SEND HIM NOW THAT THEY MAY BE FILLED AND KNOW THE JOY OF BEING YOUR TEMPLE. OH MIGHTY GOD, LORD KING OF THE UNIVERSE MAY THOSE NEAR AND FAR KNOW THAT THE SPIRIT OF THE MIGHTY LORD OF THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN, THE KING OF GLORY, THE MIGHTY GOD IS HERE IN THIS PLACE. WE ASK OH LORD OUR MIGHTY GOD IN THE NAME YESHUA HAMASHIACH, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR FOREVER AND EVER AMEN AND AMEN!