Responsibilities to the World, Part 2

Recap: The Framework of Church Membership and Outward Responsibilities

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, April 26, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Our Father, we do indeed rejoice in that old, old story of Jesus and his love, and we pray that as we turn to your word this morning and consider our privileges and responsibilities in the Church of Christ with reference to the proclamation of that word, that you would come upon us and, as it were, baptize us afresh with a holy love for that message and with holy zeal to proclaim it in as many ways as your holy word gives us warrant to proclaim it. O Lord, send your Spirit upon us as together we turn to your word. Amen. We ask in Jesus' name.

1:05 Amen. Now, it hardly seems possible, but it was indeed five Lord's Day mornings ago, just prior to my recent trip to the United Kingdom, that I began our Sunday morning meditation with the following words, and I quote them from my own notes of five weeks ago. We come this morning to our final study in this brief series of messages on the Holy Spirit. On the general theme of the duties and privileges of membership in the Church of Jesus Christ, end quote.

1:46 Well, that particular message five weeks ago was only half, or more literally, only one-third preached on that occasion. And this morning, it is my purpose to complete two-thirds of the remaining third and the final third next Lord's Day and bring to a conclusion the message of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.

2:07 Amen. Amen. And in conclusion, what will be eleven messages on this subject of the privileges and responsibilities of membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. Now, because five weeks have passed since we last considered this subject together, let me seek very briefly to bring together the very essence of what we have sought to discover from the word.

2:36 And as I went over... Over this review, I found that I was able to get through it in six to seven minutes, and so I will stick very closely to my notes in order to stick within that time frame.

2:49 First of all, I apprised you of the reason for this series, and the basic reason was that, as your annual report will show, we took in forty-one new members over the course of the past year, with quite a few waiting in the wings to come into the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ. And in the last year, we were able to get a lot of new members to come into this assembly. And we felt it was an appropriate time to underscore afresh some of the duties and privileges of that new relationship into which many of you have entered, and also to remind those of us who have lived within that privilege for many years of our privileges and responsibilities. And the purpose was not to give a comprehensive statement of these matters, but simply to focus on some of the major duties and privileges of church membership. And then the biblical framework for the study was set by an examination of Acts 2, 41 and 42, in which two basic questions are addressed in this passage. Question one, who was admitted into the apostolic church at Jerusalem, and then what happened to them after they were admitted. And as we answered those two questions from that passage, we saw the

4:15 framework for all biblical thinking concerning admission into the church and the duties and privileges of involvement in the life and ministry of a biblical church. From there, we began to look at the biblical framework for the study of Acts 2, 41 and 42, and we began to look at the biblical framework for the study of Acts 2, 41 and 42, and we began to look at the biblical framework for the study of Acts 2, 41 and 42, and we began to consider some of the specific duties and responsibilities under the organizing principle of the imagery of a circle and three sets of arrows. If the circle represents the church and within it the responsibilities of its members, then consider two arrows pointing upward, our responsibilities towards God, two arrows pointing inward, our responsibilities towards God, and two arrows pointing inward, our responsibilities towards one another, and two arrows pointing out and piercing the circle, our responsibilities to those who are without. Under that first set of arrows are duties and privileges that are directed primarily to God, we considered four. To be present at the stated gatherings of the congregation. Secondly, to be present having made appropriate preparations for the various spiritual activities anticipated in our gathering. Thirdly, we are to be present with a determination to engage

5:40 the whole of our redeemed humanity in the various ways in which we approach God and in which God approaches us. And then fourthly, we are to be present with a conscience void of offense to God and to man. And may I simply say that we are to be present with a conscience void of offense to God and to man. And may I simply say that we are to be present with a conscience void of offense to God and to man. And is any of it influencing the manner in which you come to the stated meetings?

6:16 May God grant that I have not labored in vain in setting forth these perspectives. But now the arrows pointing in one toward another. The duties and privileges that we have with respect to each other. And I sought to demonstrate from Scripture that there is one supreme, overarching, all-inclusive duty, namely, to love one another. And then we looked at some of the specifics of how love conducts itself in church fellowship. And we looked at activities that we are to engage in at all times, all of the brethren, as expressive of love. We are to receive one another, and we are to edify one another. And then we looked at specific duties to brethren in special positions and in extraordinary circumstances. Our duties to our leaders,

7:20 our duties to members in the face of their discovered need, and our duties to members with Christ. Chronic spiritual disorders. Then, in our last study, we began to look at the arrows that go outward and penetrate the circle, our duties with respect to those who are without. And I chose to use the terminology, those that are without, because five times in the New Testament, this is how the Scriptures describe the unbelieving world in relationship to the church.

7:57 The church is comprised of those within. And the world and sinful men are described as those who are without. And I asserted on that occasion that our duties and privileges as church members, with reference to those who are without, can be reduced under two very simple words, or two very simple concepts. The words are not so simple. Authentication, and proclamation. And all we had time to consider was our duty and privilege of authentication. Now, to authenticate something is to prove it to be genuine, or what it is represented to be. If someone is negotiating with you to sell you a given work of art and says that it was done by such and such a painter at such and such a period, and is therefore not authentic, then it is not authentic. It is not authentic. It is not authentic.

8:57 If you are worth so much money, if you are a wise investor, you will look for some bona fide authentication that that work of art is indeed what it is represented to be. And when it is authenticated, it is then affirmed that it is what your friend or this broker claimed that it was. Likewise, the great privilege and responsibility of communication is to be authenticated. And when it is authenticated, it is then authenticated. And when it is authenticated, it is then affirmed that it is what your friend or this broker claimed that it was. Likewise, the great privilege and responsibility of the church members, with reference to those who are without, is a labor, a work, a ministry of authentication. And that authentication is to come to expression in these three ways. Our corporate life must authenticate our identity as the new humanity in Christ. By our love,

9:53 our unity, and corporate holiness, we are to be authenticated. Authenticated as the new humanity in Christ. And then secondly, our corporate gatherings must authenticate our identity as the temple of the living God. And finally, our individual and family lives must authenticate the genuineness of our professed discipleship. Again and again in the New Testament, we are warned that if the people of God do not conduct themselves in the right way, themselves by biblical norms, while professing to be Christ's disciples, the result is that the word is God is blasphemed by those who are without. And therefore, one of the requirements for spiritual leaders is that they not only have credibility with those who are within, but in 1 Timothy 3, we read, they must have a good report from those who are without. Well, with this extension, we are going to have a good report from those who are without. But relatively brief review, setting the context of our study this morning, now let us come and

Introduction to Proclamation: Three Channels of Gospel Witness

11:06 consider again this matter of our responsibility to those that are without. I have asserted that that responsibility is not only one of authentication, but it is one of proclamation. And as a congregation, as members of this visible local church, we have the unspeakable privilege and solemn responsibility to proclaim the good news of Christ to those who are without. Now let me suggest that this duty and privilege of proclamation is to cut three major channels, or to change the imagery, this privilege and duty of proclamation is to be carried on by three concurrent activities. So if we go back to the imagery of the circle being the church and its people and its activities, and the arrows going out and penetrating the circle to those that are without, consider our task of proclamation in in terms of three major channels or three concurrent activities.

12:33 We'll take up two of them this morning and, God willing, the third next Lord's Day morning. Now, the first is this. The incessant internal proclamation of the gospel by a well-ordered church furnished with God-given pastors and teachers. How is the church's task of proclamation to those that are without to be carried on?

Channel 1: Incessant Internal Proclamation within the Church

13:03 Well, it's to be carried on, first of all, by the incessant internal proclamation of the gospel by a well-ordered church furnished with God-given pastors and teachers. Now, let me open up that statement. It is an undeniable fact that...

13:25 ...that some of those whom the Bible describes as without, that is, without the church spiritually, without the church in terms of membership, are actually brought within the orbit and life and message of the church geographically.

13:46 Who are they? Well, you have the children of believing church members. Every Lord's Day in this place, we have many who are without found within.

14:01 There are many children of believing parents who, by the exercise of their parents' authority, are brought without any choice of their own into this place where the people of God worship and pray and fellowship and where the Word of God is preached. And it is right that it should be so. And God have mercy. And God have mercy on any head of any household who doesn't have the fortitude to say to his children, no matter what their age may be, as long as you live under this roof and under my directive, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

14:46 And that involves going to the place where the Word is preached and the people of God gather to worship. But then, in some cases, you have not only the children of believing church members, but some of the extended family of church members, various relatives who may be living with you, who are brought with the people of God to the house of God. And then, thirdly, you have the unconverted, brought by friends, neighbors, relatives, or the pressure of an awakened interest in spiritual matters. And that can be as diverse as the people present.

15:29 Paul envisions that situation in 1 Corinthians 14, when he says, If the unbeliever comes among you, indicating that such would happen, and he may be found there for a number of motives, but he is found among the gathered people, though spiritually he is described as one who is without, yet he is found within, yet he is found within, in terms of geographical and spatial proximity. And then there is always the hypocrite, whose heart is not right with God, but who is present in the gathering of God's people. And that's why he is a hypocrite, because his external conduct gives you no reason to question, but that he is really not only within geographically, but within spiritually, until such time as God is pleased to expose him in this life, or in the day of judgment. Now surely, it is the duty and privilege of a well-ordered church, furnished with God-given pastors and teachers, to proclaim the gospel to all of these who are among us, though they are without spiritually, yet are found within the sound of our voices. And I want to demonstrate that this was exactly the pattern which the apostles followed

16:57 in writing their epistles. They were conscious that their epistles were being sent to those within, that is, to churches, comprised of confessed disciples, and yet they recognized that within those churches, there would be found present some who were without spiritually, and they appealed to them in the very epistles addressed to churches. Notice, for example, in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. To whom is the apostle writing in this epistle?

17:36 Well, he tells us in the opening words, Paul, 2 Corinthians 1, 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He envisions that his letter is going to an assembly, a called-out assembly of God, that gathers in a place called Corinth. And yet, in the midst of this epistle, to people already called into vital union with Jesus Christ, notice how he takes the place of an evangelist and speaks in direct appeal in chapter 5 and verse 20. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us, we beseech on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled at all. Well, wait a minute. I thought they were already Christians.

18:59 Reconciled to God through the blood of Christ, and have been brought into the orbit of the privileges of grace, and yet he says, we beseech you, be reconciled to God, him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, and working together with him, we entreat also that you receive not the grace of God in vain, for he says, in an acceptable time I hearkened unto you, in a day of salvation did I succor you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. He's talking like an evangelist. Where? Within the precincts of the gathered church. So you see, there was no inconsistency in the mind of the apostle between the concept of the church as those who are within, and yet, exercising his ministry as a herald of the gospel, and engaging in an act of proclamation right in the midst of the church.

20:10 And then in the first epistle he recognizes that there may well be some hypocrites, some self-deceived people in the church, so he addresses them. And notice again how directly. You see, the apostle did not write in an overly fastidious way and say in 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, in dealing with the problems of immorality, verse 9, Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? He didn't say some people in some places are liable to be deceived.

20:48 He says, Don't you be deceived! Any among you that think your claim to union with Christ is consistent with a pattern of unrighteousness in life, do not be deceived! And then he gets specific. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

21:17 Such were some of you, but you were washed, sanctified, justified, etc. You see, the apostle recognizes that there could be some hypocrites there. And he preaches to them. He makes an attempt to blast them out of their self-deception, that they might see their true state, and then flee to Christ and to His salvation.

21:41 When he concludes the second letter in chapter 13, those well-known words of verse 5, Examine yourselves. Put your own selves to the test, whether you are in the faith. Prove your own selves. He's made an assumption in the opening words of the letter, that the church is in reality what it ought to be.

22:07 But he does not make such an assumption as to preclude that there may be those who are not truly in the faith while they are yet in the church. They may be outside while inside. And so he appeals to them with great earnestness and great passion. And you find the same thing in both the epistles of John and of Peter.

22:29 Need I remind you of the many places in the first epistle to John especially? If we say we know Him and do not walk as we ought, we lie. If we say and we profess this, then we are self-deceived. If we say that we know Him and keep not His commandments, we lie.

22:53 If we say we love God but don't love our brother, we're self-deceived. To whom is he writing? He's writing to churches, to those who are within. And yet he is proclaiming the gospel, he is probing the conscience in such a context with a view to seeing those who may be self-deceived stripped of their deception and seeing and feeling their nakedness that they might lay hold of Christ and of His freely offered salvation.

23:29 Now it's in this very spirit that Dr. Packer in his classic little work, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, writes as follows, dealing with the whole question of evangelizing and proclaiming the gospel. He says, And most important, there are regular services Sunday by Sunday in local churches. Insofar as the preaching at our Sunday services is scriptural, those services will of necessity be evangelistic.

24:01 It is a mistake to suppose that evangelistic sermons are a special brand of sermons, sermons having their own peculiar style and conventions. Evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he's preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what's in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man's salvation.

24:32 All Scripture bears witness in one way or another to Christ, and all biblical things relate to Him. All proper sermons, therefore, will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion, and so be more or less directly evangelistic. Now some sermons, of course, will aim more narrowly and exclusively at converting sinners than to others, i.e., this recent series that Pastor Nichols is bringing in the evening. It is more narrowly aimed at the conversion of sinners than, say, his series on the post-war generation or Christian maturity that was aimed more narrowly at seeing Christians brought to maturity in Christ. But you cannot present the Lord Jesus as the Bible presents Him, as God's answer to every problem in the sinner's relationship with Himself, and not, in effect, be evangelistic all the time. The Lord Jesus Christ, said Robert Bolton, an old Puritan, is offered most freely and without exception of any person

25:43 every Sabbath, every sermon, either in plain and direct terms or impliedly at the least." So it is, inevitably, wherever the Bible is written, it is preached biblically. And there is something terribly wrong in any church, in any man's ministry, to which Bolton's generalization does not apply. If in our churches evangelistic meetings and evangelistic sermons are thought of only as special occasions, different from the ordinary run of things, it is a damning indictment of our normal Sunday services.

The Lord's Supper as Corporate Proclamation

26:27 So that if we should imagine that the essential work of evangelism lies in holding meetings of the special type described out of church hours, so to speak, that would simply prove we have failed to understand what our regular Sunday services are for. Thus ends the quote from Dr. Packer. So in this great work of proclamation, I say that the first channel by which this work is to be accomplished is the constant setting forth of the heart, the essence of the Gospel, as well as the privileges and demands and implications of the Gospel in the regular course of expounding the Scriptures. This is the apostolic pattern. And where you have a well-ordered church furnished with God-given pastors and teachers, there the work of proclamation will go on continually, incessantly is the word that I use, by men whose hearts burn for the salvation of those who are without spiritually, but who are within the proximity of His voice. And I cannot understand the man who has a missionary conference and brings in speakers to try to create a passion for the lost

27:54 ten miles away, who never goes after the consciences of the children, the extended family, the visitors, and those whom God has brought together within the sound of His own voice, never weeps, never thunders, never seeks to expose. Brethren, these things ought not so to be. May God grant that it will never be such in this place that anyone wondering what is life all about what is God like what lies beneath would ever be able to come in here but just a few times and not say to himself I'm beginning to get the answers to the ultimate questions of life. But then in a well-ordered church with God-given pastors and teachers there will not only be that incessant proclamation done by the servants of God in the regular course of the ministry of the Word, but as you were instructed at your last Lord's Supper in a well-ordered church there will be regular and frequent participation in the Supper of Remembrance. And you were instructed out of 1 Corinthians 11, 26 that you as the people of God

29:22 when you gather to the table of His appointment are engaged in a corporate act of gospel proclamation. 1 Corinthians 11, 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you, the people of God, gathered in your corporate identity about the table of the Lord you are pretty confident in a well-ordered church mandate from the Lord this due in remembrance of me. There is an incessant proclamation to our very children who sit with us but the bread passes by them and the cup passes by them and what are we saying? We are saying, my precious children, though daddy is your father and you lived in mummy's womb and were bound in the closest ties of natural relationships you are still on the outside until you have embraced Christ as your only hope of life and salvation. And there is a preaching of the division that comes with the message of the gospel

30:48 that all the world is divided into believers and unbelievers and we are proclaiming to our children and to one another and to ourselves that great central truth of the gospel that we have come into life through the crucified and risen Savior and we are sustained in life by the virtue of the crucified and risen Savior and we hope to be maintained in life by the crucified and risen Savior until he come. That is pretty clear gospel proclamation isn't it? And we are privileged to engage in that together as the people of God. Now by way of application let me say this incessant internal proclamation of the gospel must be the constant focal point first of all of our fervent prayers that the Holy Spirit will make it effectual. Paul could say to the Thessalonians knowing brethren beloved your election of God, why? How that our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.

Application of Internal Proclamation: Prayer, Expectation, and Inquiry

32:10 Oh dear people of God have we grown to despise our privilege? Can it be that we have heard incessantly gospel notes sounded and woven into the texture of consecutive expository ministry that we've lost that sense that unless God the Holy Spirit makes it effectual it will never penetrate the heart. My daughter, my nephew my mother-in-law my uncle who comes with me my neighbor who's come along with me that stranger who sits in the pew across from me oh may God grant that we will be renewed in our conviction that though we cannot explain precisely how this interaction operates the Bible does indeed reveal there is this close relationship between the prayers of the people of God and the mighty operations of the Spirit of God. Luke 11, 13 He gives the Spirit to those who ask Him. Philippians 1, 19 Your prayer and the supply of the Spirit it was as our Lord stood in the waters of Jordan and was praying that the Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove.

33:37 And I urge you as the people of God though commending you for your constancy in prayer as we do in the annual report I would admonish and entreat you to cry to God if nothing tangible is seen in our life together in the coming year beyond this that this will be something none of us can deny that God increased among us the Spirit of holy wrestling the Spirit of earnest fervent desperate in previewing that we should be like that man whom Jesus described as the great paradigm and example of importunate prayer who comes to his neighbor at midnight and knocks and knocks and knocks and knocks until his hands are full of bread to set before his wayfaring friend. Oh may we cry and cry and continue to cry until week after week in this place no matter what is being expounded when it comes time to put the focus more directly upon some facet of Christ some aspect of his person and work and its suitability to sinners if there is any point where we pray that the Holy Ghost will come oh that we may know what it is to find the Holy Ghost shining the spotlight upon Christ with such bright

35:05 and brilliant intensity that sinners even almost cannot see and almost imperceptibly will be caught up in the sight of his glory as the Spirit gives them eyes to see and a heart to believe. But not only ought we to seek to grow in the fervency of our prayers to this end but in our believing expectations is the Gospel the power of God unto salvation or is it not? If it is and we know that as the Lord's day by the Lord's day to one degree or another with varying degrees of concentration and detail of explanation and application that the Gospel is going to be preached you remember that word that was given to Mary to comfort her when she cried out how can I a woman who has never had relations with a man be a mother? God's only answer was no word from God shall be void of power all God needs to do is to speak a word the word and the most amazing miracle in all of the history of God's dealings with men was effected, the coming together, the assumption by the eternal word of a true human soul and body. One word from God had enough power to effect the incarnation.

36:35 And the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And all that we may come every Lord's day, not only as it were being carried here by the prayers that have preceded us, but with the expectation, Lord, in whom will you make it your mighty power this day? And to sit and to listen in the expectation of faith that God will make his word effectual. And then we will also engage in what I would call sanctified inquiries.

37:09 On the way home, we won't allow our children to just engage in prattle. But if the gospel is come with peculiar clarity and power on a given Lord's day, moms and dads will say to their children, well, as Pastor Nichols preached today, or Pastor Bob, or Pastor Martin preached today, was there anything in the message that struck you, dear? Were you listening when he spoke about Jesus dying for sinners? Were you listening when he spoke about the heart?

37:39 Were you listening when he spoke about the horrors of the hell that awaits those who do not believe?

37:45 As you walk out of this place and your eye catches a stranger, you'll not go up and grab him by the collar and say, brother, are you saved? No, no, we don't mean that kind of freakish, boorish, insensitive directness. But you put the hand upon the shoulders. Good to see you here.

38:03 My name is so-and-so. But in the back of your mind, you're not just engaged in social niceties. You're looking for a judicious way to probe the issue. Is he right with God?

38:16 Did his heart respond to the message that he heard? Oh, dear people, that's your privilege. It is your privilege, as it were, to clench the nails of the public preaching by your private interaction with your own children, with visitors among us. And that is part of your great privilege as a congregation.

Channel 2: Aggressive External Proclamation by Sent Men

38:40 Well, there must then not only be this incessant proclamation internally in a well-ordered church with God-given pastors and teachers, but there must also be the aggressive external proclamation of the gospel by men recognized, sent, and supported by the church. The aggressive external proclamation. The proclamation of the gospel by men recognized, sent, and supported by the church. Now, first of all, the biblical basis for the notion of aggressive external proclamation. And what do I mean by that? I mean a proclamation outside the confines of the gathered church in which we do not sit somewhere with a sign, I'm a gospel preacher, if you'd like to hear me, come and stand next to me. But aggressive in that the servants of God make a deliberate, outgoing effort to find sinners and to accost them in the name of the God of heaven and to press home upon their consciences in love and yet in holy directness

40:01 the truth of the gospel. Now, where is the biblical basis for this notion of aggressive external proclamation? Well, we could turn to so many passages, but I've tried to reduce it to several which, when pulled together, seen in sequence, will set it out in bold relief, I trust. First of all, Matthew chapter 9.

40:25 Matthew chapter 9, the very familiar passage often read at missionary conferences, and rightly so.

40:35 Verse 36. Jesus is engaged in another preaching tour and healing and teaching. But we read in verse 36, When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered as sheep, not having a shepherd. Here he is, pouring out himself in ministry, but so many that he cannot speak to, so many he cannot touch and heal, so many he cannot teach.

41:05 Then he says unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous. He changes the imagery from distressed sheep to a harvest, all ready to be gathered. The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the labors are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labors into his harvest.

41:28 You notice he didn't say, The harvest is plenteous, the labors are few, go out on a recruiting tour.

41:35 He said, Pray that the only one who has the right to conscript will do his work. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send, send forth labors into his harvest. And then you know what happened? The Lord of the harvest did that.

41:50 Look at the next verse. And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal all manner of disease, all manner of sickness. Then the twelve are named. Now look at verse 5.

42:07 These twelve Jesus sent forth saying. And then he told them where not to go. And where to go? Verse 6.

42:17 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as you go, preach, saying. And then that they will be aggressively going from city to city is evident in the following verses. Verse 11. Whatsoever city or village you enter, search out who is worthy.

42:35 There abide till you go forth. Verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Now.

42:44 Do you see the concept here of aggressive external proclamation of the gospel? He says pray the Lord of the harvest to send them out. The next thing we read is that he's taking the twelve. He's giving the commission.

42:59 And he's thrusting them out. Giving them both his authority and his power by which to accomplish the task that he lays upon them. Now. It is that very concept.

43:11 That merges into the standing privilege. The standing privilege and duty of the church as the apostle so clearly indicates in Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Paul has first of all declared that the way of coming into possession of the righteousness of God in Christ is the way of faith.

43:41 And that the activity of faith in terms of the sinner can be described as calling upon the Lord. Verse 12 of Romans 10. No distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

44:04 There's the great blanket general promise that whoever of Jew or Gentile calls upon the Lord. That is. Turns in faith to the Lord who has been proclaimed in the gospel. He shall be saved.

44:20 But now he takes up a vital question. Notice the question. Verse 14. How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed?

44:32 And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Notice. Not a guitar twanger.

44:47 Not a screecher. Not a mime. Not an actor. But how shall they hear without a?

44:57 How shall they be sent? Even as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. And you see that close line of argumentation. Here's the glorious promise.

45:20 Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that very calling is the indication of faith emerging in the heart. So he says how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how can they believe him whom they have not heard?

45:37 A reference to the fact that Christ himself calls his own through the gospel. And the word of the gospel coming through a sent messenger is Christ's word. How shall they call on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear?

45:52 Without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? And the sent ones who are they? Those who go out with their feet aggressively covering geographical expanses to bring the glad tidings of good things.

46:12 That's why I've used the term aggressive external proclamation of the gospel. The aggressiveness is seen with the focus on the feet. How beautiful are the feet! And that it is the gospel is clearly indicated that the feet carry the man who brings glad tidings of good things.

Biblical Basis for Church Recognition, Sending, and Support

46:38 Now then, having shown the biblical basis for the notion of aggressive external proclamation, what's the biblical basis for the notion of recognized, sent, and supported by the church? Well, Acts chapter 13 is perhaps the most crucial passage in answering that question. It's not the exclusive passage. There are many passages, but it's the pivotal passage.

47:05 Paul has already been drawn to Christ and God's gracious dealings with him in direct revelation on the road to Damascus and the subsequent visit of Ananias. Somewhere in that complex of events, he's brought out of darkness into marvelous light. He already received a commission by direct revelation. Some years have passed, at least three of which God has covered with a cloak of no information.

47:35 While he was forming his servant, more time has passed in general maturation, and now we find him in chapter 13 and verse 1. There were at Antioch, now notice, in the church that was there. And you Greek students know this verse fascinates the scholars. Strange construction.

47:58 There were in the church that was, the church that existed, and we supply the word there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manan the foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called you. I have called them. So here is the Holy Spirit, the great executor of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest, who is back in heaven in his bodily presence.

48:36 The great Lord of the harvest is about, according to his own will and design, to send forth two laborers into the harvest. And therefore the Holy Spirit, who is the executor of the will of Christ, speaks to this group of men ministering to the Lord, whatever that meant, in a context in which they were very conscious of the strong vertical realities of biblical church life. It wasn't in the midst of a seminar or a conference in which their consciences were being pummeled with humanistic reasons why they ought to go. They were fixed upon the Lord.

49:16 And the Lord, by the Spirit said, Separate Saul and Barnabas to the work whereunto I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands upon them, now notice, they sent them away. Who is the they? Well, it's at least the group of fellow ministers, but most likely has reference to the entire church.

49:42 Because the passage begins, That their worth in teaching, and as the Spirit of God made known the will of Christ the head, there is at least the activity, of these church leaders, but most likely the entire church concurring, and its heart being committed to them for this work. For we read later that they come back to that church, and they report to that church, and they remain in the midst of that church, for the reintegration of life and vision and concern, and perhaps many other purposes. But they sent them away. Now look at verse 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Spirit. Here's the great principle.

50:37 The Holy Spirit who revealed the will of Christ by some extraordinary means, that Paul and Barnabas should be sent forth, did not bypass the mind and will of discerning brethren and the activity of the church. When people say they have their almighty commission directly from Christ, and they need recognition by discerning, and they need no support, and the church can, or I'll go do my own thing. No such freelance mentality. And this is why I have said that our task as a church,

51:51 and as members of the church, we must be committed intelligently to this task of the aggressive external proclamation of the gospel by men, recognized, sent, and then supported by the church. And where do we get the notion of support for men who go forth to preach the gospel? Well again, I give you just the key text. Many texts.

52:16 But the key text is 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, where we have as clear a statement as can be found in human language. Paul is speaking of certain liberties, certain liberties and rights that he was willing to relinquish and forego in certain circumstances for the sake of the gospel. And one of them was the right of living by the gospel, that is, being supported by the labors and the fruit of the labors of others, that he might be free to preach the gospel.

52:52 Verse 14, Even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Now two things are vital in this text. The Lord did not ordain that those who are doing some ancillary tasks to the gospel, and there are many ancillary tasks to the gospel, throughout the epistles and the book of Acts, we see people in helping roles again and again, men and women in all kinds of roles, but this text is not addressing whether or not it is right that they should live of the gospel. The Lord ordained that they that proclaim the gospel, those whose peculiar task it is because of recognized gift and proper commission to exercise the gift, have gone with those beautiful feet to the gospel of peace. And the Lord has ordained that such who proclaim the gospel should live of. And there is that beautiful, beautiful conjunction of church involvement in this ministry of the great apostle when we turn to the book of Philippians, very quickly now,

54:19 because I must draw this to a practical conclusion and be done for the morning. Paul thanks the Philippian church, verse 5 of chapter 1, for their fellowship, their koinonia, their shared life, in the furtherance of the gospel. Now notice he says, from the first day until now. Now how did these people sustain fellowship in the gospel with Paul from the first day until that very hour?

54:52 He's writing them from a Roman prison. How can a group of Christians way back in Philippi be fellowshipping in Paul's gospel endeavors? Well, no doubt many ways, but the way that he highlights in the fourth chapter is very clear. Verse 15, and we could back up to verse 14, howbeit you did well that you had fellowship, same word, with my affliction, and you yourselves know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, that is, in the beginning of my new gospel frontier when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving, and receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my need. How did they have fellowship in the gospel? Well, it's very clear.

55:50 By the support of that very church that had come to birth under his labors. And we could turn to many other passages, but surely these are sufficient to point the direction of what is the overarching testimony of the New Testament. That in fulfilling its mandate of proclamation, the church is not only to engage in a work of incessant internal proclamation by its well-ordered life and its appointed Christ-given pastors and teachers, but there is to be this aggressive external proclamation of the gospel by men recognized, sent, and supported. By the church. Now, if that is so, what does it say to us by way of application? Well, once again, dear people, it constitutes a clarion call to prayer.

Application of External Proclamation: Prayer for Laborers

56:51 Prayer that God will raise up the laborers. Isn't that what our Lord tells us to do? Pray the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers. Now, I am not saying that missionary conferences that make people aware of need may not be used of God to begin to plant seeds of desire in the hearts of men.

57:16 I am not saying that. But ultimately, it is not scheming. It is not calling conferences. It is not gathering in seminars.

57:26 It is not analyzing by computers temperaments and all of the rest. It is by laying hold of God that laborers will be both formed and thrust forth. But you see, prayer always tends to be the Cinderella of the church because it is an activity that is so withering to our flesh. And because it launches us so pervasively into the unseen but real world of spiritual dynamics, there is an aversion in our flesh to it.

58:00 And yet it is that to which God calls us. And we need as a church in days to come, if we are to fulfill our privileges and duties in the area of proclamation, we need to pray that God will raise up laborers. That God, if it please Him, will send out a stream of men to stand with our brother Steve and conquer in the name of Christ with gospel preaching one island and then another until the one little church about to be constituted there in the suburbs of Manila will become a hundred churches throughout the Philippines. And we need to cry to God that the Lord will send forth laborers to join some of our brethren who labor alone. The very Lord who was too kind ever to send them out one by one. He sent them out two by two. And when He sent the seventy, two by two.

58:56 And the universal apostolic practice without exception for any sustained gospel foray was two by two. You may have had an individual go to examine a situation as Barnabas went up from Jerusalem to Antioch, but it wasn't long before he's saying, Paul, need some help. And when the two of them labored, it says, much people was added to the Lord. We need to cry that the Lord will not only raise up laborers and send them into new areas, but raise up laborers to stand with our brethren who labor alone in all of the vulnerability of this scriptural abnormality.

Application of External Proclamation: Discernment and Liberality

59:37 Or this unscriptural abnormality of laboring alone. Then we need to cry to God to make it plain who they are. We may not have chosen Paul and Barnabas, but it was a group of men open to the Lord, seeking Him, waiting upon Him, submissive to Him. And in that context, the Lord chose His men.

59:59 And He didn't choose the flunkies either. We get praying in earnest. You know what God may do? God may take one of us whom you think is indispensable to this work.

60:12 There ain't nobody indispensable to this work but Jesus Christ. None of us is. And some of you know how I struggle whenever I come back from visiting another country and see the need. Often it's weak that I'm wrestling.

60:30 Lord, can I justify staying on? Or having seen the need, should I go? So we need to cry to God that He'll raise up the laborers. We need to cry to God that He will give discernment to recognize who they are.

60:48 That those of us in peculiar responsibilities of assessing men, their gifts and graces, that God will rid us of all natural prejudice and give us eyes accurately in the light of the Word of God. And then we need to pray that God will work in us in a congregation increasing measures of the grace of liberality. Freely we've received, Brethren, freely we must give. And surely you are marked and known as a generous church.

61:22 But I say with the Apostle this, I pray, that we abound yet more and more than we do to cut out that of our weekly budget. That we may advance ourselves and put away a bigger nest egg. But that we may send forth more with beautiful feet to take the Gospel to our generation. And then we need to cry to God to keep us faithful in prayer.

Concluding Exhortation: Faithfulness in Prayer and Discernment

61:49 The first place our declension will begin to be manifested is in our prayer meetings. And we need to take to heart the exhortation continuing steadfastly in prayer. And see how Paul coveted the prayers of those churches for his Gospel endeavors if he's in 6, Colossians 4, etc. But then we need also that God will give us as a congregation a spirit of biblically disciplined discernment.

62:23 Because if God is to raise up men from our own ranks, surely their gifts and their graces will be confirmed among the people of God. It will be evident if God is giving a man such measure of gift and grace as to exercise it with all of the peculiar problems of going out into the ministry here or abroad. That they will be men of more than ordinary grace and men of more than ordinary gift. And so, dear people of God, this is our privilege, this is our responsibility as a church, not your elders and your deacons and a few experts.

63:06 It's responsibility and church privilege that God would take us who deserve to be roasting in hell and let us be privileged to be involved in the proclamation of the gospel. That's grace upon grace. And so I lay before you this morning these two channels, these two major means by which we as a congregation have both an unspeakable privilege and a solemn duty to engage in the work of proclamation. First of all, the incessant proclamation of the gospel in our life ordered by the word of God and through those of us who stand to speak His word by the call of God. And then our great privilege by the grace of God to be part of an enterprise of aggressive external proclamation of the gospel by those recognized and supported by this church. Don't you long as the Lord tarries for the day to come when there be few among us who could hold in our own minds without something on paper the number of those whom God will bring to such a place in grace

64:32 that career and personal aggrandizement and ambition in all of us will mean nothing who shall be given a holy baptism of longing to see Christ receive His inheritance among the nations and to see them given the gifts and graces to communicate the word with clarity with power and with passion. Oh, may God allow some of us to live to see the day when the ends of the earth feel the impact of the prayer and the sacrificial giving and the careful walk of God's people here. You say, Pastor, you're talking like we were 10,000. No.

65:15 You're just about double what God used to bring down a whole nation of big shots. Remember those Midianites? You kids know the story of Gideon and the Midianites? Like sand upon the seashore, God says.

65:29 And when Gideon goes out with 30,000, God says, you've got far too many for me to work with. They beat him. They'll go around and find a way they did in their own strength. God says, whittle them down, whittle them down until he gets 300.

65:40 He says, now you've got just about the right number for me to do the thing and then to make it evident when it gets done that I get all the glory. So you see, maybe God will have to whittle us down. We're about 600. But our actual membership is just about Gideon's band.

65:53 Take away the Christian workers and we're just about 300. Now, I'm not one given to coincidences and building theology on it. But the principle, dear people, that God takes the weak to confine the mighty and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh had glory before him. Oh, may God grant that he'll do such a work that anyone who has half his rational faculties will say, ain't no explanation for that, but there's no explanation for that.

66:26 Let us pray. Oh, our Father, we thank you for the unspeakable privilege that is ours of engaging in the proclamation of that message about your Son, which you've ordained to make the very instrument of grace and salvation to lost men and women, boys and girls. Our Father, give us as a church a renewed sense of our mission, a renewed awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts a renewed awareness of our privilege, the high and holy privilege that is ours, with lips that once cursed you and spoke things that are vile and filthy, to think that we are privileged to show forth the glories of Christ. Oh, Lord, come to us and fill our hearts with the sense of wonder, mortify in us everything that would keep us from being wholeheartedly given over to this work of proclamation as a congregation of Your people. Lord, seal the word to our hearts and may Your name be praised in the fruit of that which is wrought in us. We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ.

67:51 Amen.