He that is Not Against Us is for Us

Introduction and John's Spontaneous Confession

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 19th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 May I encourage you to turn, please, in your own Bibles to the Gospel according to Mark, Mark's Gospel, and the 9th chapter, and follow as I read in Mark 9, verses 49 and 50. In our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we have come to this incident of this strange, unnamed person, concerning whom I'm sure a hundred questions will arise in our minds, but God has been pleased to reveal but a little, but in that revelation has spoken volumes of helpful instruction. Mark 9 and verse...

1:07 Mark 9 and verse 49.

1:09 And John answered and said... I'm sorry, I'm reading from Luke's Gospel, the parallel passage.

1:18 I've spent so much time in it in the preparation. I'm sorry. We want Mark's account, which is Mark 9, verse 38. John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he followed not...

1:38 us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not, for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, and ask that God will graciously and powerfully come to our aid, that we may understand, his own holy word.

2:15 Our Father, we have learned in recent weeks,

2:22 that even disciples standing in physical proximity to Jesus, hearing his clear, straightforward teaching, did not perceive the meaning of his words. And we come in our felt need and ask that it would please you in this hour to open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law, that you would take from us every native prejudice, every preconception of what you have said to us in this portion of your word, and give us the spirit of the Bereans, who receiving the word with readiness of mind, were prepared to search the scriptures, and then to... to embrace all that was indeed true to the scriptures.

3:20 Give us then that spirit, and may the Holy Spirit himself come upon us, as together we look into your word, hear our plea, as together we make that plea in the name of your beloved Son. Amen. Now as I've already indicated in our consecutive expositions of Mark, we arrived this morning, at another portion which contains the record of a vital lesson that our Lord was determined to teach his disciples during this period when he is found not primarily ministering among the masses, but found in constant intimate interaction with the Twelve, preparing them for the time when he will soon leave them. And in his leaving, lay upon them the awesome responsibility, of carrying the message of his saving work and grace to the ends of the earth. He has just completed his searching words concerning the place of humility in entering the kingdom, humility in relationship to one's true status in the kingdom, and humility in relationship to our receiving other members of the kingdom. And according to the parallel passage

4:48 in Luke's Gospel, this next incident was John's answer, or his response, to the previous teaching of our Lord Jesus. So there is an organic relationship between the teaching on humility and the teaching which our Lord gives in the brief paragraph read in your hearing. And as we attempt to understand the content of the passage, it is evident that it breaks down very naturally and simply into two major divisions. There is first of all the spontaneous confession of John, and that's contained in verse 38, and then there is the response of Jesus to that confession in verses 39 and 40. First of all, then, the spontaneous confession of John. John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he followed not us. Now I'm sure many of you are struck with the fact that this is a strange introduction to this incident.

The Disposition and Substance of John's Confession

6:09 If we had read, and Peter said unto him, we would feel comfortable. For throughout the Gospel records, we find Peter again and again, the bold, the forward spokesman of the Twelve. But here it is said that John said unto him, the only place in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where John is recorded as speaking on his own. We do have the record in chapter 10 of Mark where John, in conjunction with James, speaks, and then again later on, in chapter 10 or in chapter 9 of Luke, both James and John wish to call down fire upon the Samaritans. But here and here alone do we have the record in the synoptics of John bringing forward a concern and articulating that concern for himself and probably at least on behalf of James and perhaps on behalf of the other of the Twelve as well. It is John, with no apparent eliciting of this remark from our Lord, who spontaneously brings forward this confession. And it apparently was precipitated by the final strand of our Lord's teaching on humility

7:34 in which he emphasized that whoever received one such little children in his name, whoever was prepared to receive a fellow believer, one who in his helplessness, defenselessness, and dependantness had embraced the kingdom, was receiving Christ himself, and in receiving Christ was receiving even the one who had sent our Lord. And apparently the sensitive conscience of John was pricked that on a given occasion in his previous ministry, he had failed to do that very thing. He had not received in the name of Christ one who obviously to some degree was not only acquainted with that name but loved that name and had great faith in that name. And as we examine the confession of John given spontaneously on this occasion, notice first of all the disposition of that confession and then the substance of that confession. The disposition of the confession is underscored by his formal address to the Lord. And John said unto him, Teacher.

8:58 Luke says that John said unto him, Master. And the discrepancy is not as those who are nitpicking with the word of God or want to tell us a contradiction, but speaking in Aramaic, the word that Jesus would have used could be translated with equal accuracy, Master or Teacher. For the Master was the Teacher and the Teacher was the Master. And so by the formal use of this term in addressing the Lord, John immediately indicates something of the disposition with which he makes his confession.

9:40 John has felt the impress of the searching words of the Lord Jesus upon his own conscience. He with the others had been arguing who is to be greatest in the kingdom. And the Lord Jesus has humbled them. He has instructed them.

9:58 He has shown them afresh how much they need his instruction to think in a way that is consistent with life in his kingdom. And with that fresh impress of the authoritative, searching, humbling word of Jesus upon his spirit, it is, as it were, a new acknowledgement on the part of John that he stands ready to be instructed by his Lord. His conscience troubles him about a previous incident. And as he comes to confess the details of that incident to his Lord, he does not come in a posture of self-defense, of self-justification, but he comes in a posture of genuine teachableness. And that posture is bound up in the very formal address that he makes to his Lord, Teacher we saw. And then in the substance of the confession, we have what he and his companion James, if he is referring to an incident in their original preaching tour when they went out two by two as recorded in Mark 6, 7 through 13, or he is referring more likely to a more recent incident in which he and the other eleven actually beheld something. So in his confession, he begins with what he and James

11:27 or he and the other eleven had observed. And notice what he says. Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name. What he and James or he and the other eleven observed was an actual, real, bona fide exercise of true exorcism.

11:57 Now when he said, we saw one casting out demons in your name, remember this is a man who himself, had beheld this horrible, ugly reality of demon possession. Who had not only beheld it, but who according to Mark 6, 13 had been greatly successful along with the other eleven in that first preaching tour when sent out two by two in the very casting out of many evil spirits. So this man, whoever he was, and whatever he was doing, was not performing a con job on the people around him or on John and James or John, James and the other ten. There was real, bona fide casting out of demons. Because this whole experience of observing what a person was like when possessed by a demon, what he was like when the demon was truly exorcised, John confesses that one was able to actually casting out demons. Not just once, but many times, and the tense in the verb underscores that.

13:14 Furthermore, John says that he was casting out these demons in thy name. That is, in the name of Jesus. Now that may mean that this unnamed person actually used some kind of a verbal form that incorporated the name of Jesus. But whether it means that or not, it means something far more profound and significant.

13:46 What they are saying to Jesus or what John is saying is that we saw one casting out demons and in this activity he was making it abundantly evident that that activity was directly related to the revelation you have made of yourself. He obviously was casting out demons in conjunction with what he had either personally seen and heard of you, Master, or what he had heard by way of report of you, which report he had embraced, believed, and believed to the extent that he waxed bold enough to confront demons and in the confidence of your mighty messianic power to conquer the powers of darkness, he was actually casting out demons in your name. In other words, he wasn't in the same league or the same ballpark with those seven sons of Sceva recorded in Acts chapter 19 who thought by the magical little phrase in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, the demons would all leap and run and instead, they leapt upon them. This was a case where John and whoever was with him, either James

15:14 and the entire body of the twelve, or the entire body of the twelve, saw demons truly cast out and cast out in conjunction with the name of Christ. Now I'm sure if all the questions about this unnamed individual were recorded, and along with all of those questions, all of the conjectures about his origins, his identity, his possible relationship with John the Baptist or the Seventy, if all of that were recorded in one place, you've had an awful lot of wasted printer's ink. Paragraphs and pages are written trying to expound God's silences. And I wonder at times, and I'm tempted to write in the margin of some of my commentaries, when will you learn your task is to bow reverently before the silences of God and labor to elucidate clearly the voice and the pronouncements of God? And that's my task as an expounder and a preacher, and therefore I'm not even going to weary you, nor shall I say titillate you with some of the suggestions, even what may be some of my own personal inclinations with reference to some of the questions. The facts are that John makes a confession to Jesus, and the confession involves

16:40 telling Jesus what he and James or possibly the entire apostolic band had observed, namely, we saw one casting out demons and doing it in your name. But then in his confession, he tells the Lord how they responded. Look at the text. And, having beheld this, we were forbidding or prohibiting him.

17:11 And the form of the verb underscores that this guy was no pushover. They didn't speak once to him. They didn't speak twice. They made a concerted and a sustained effort over a period of time to prohibit him.

17:28 They were saying, Man, you've got no business doing what you're doing. Stop it! And he didn't listen to them. And then they perhaps came back with a set of reasons, but they made calculated, decided, concentrated efforts to get him to quit.

17:47 And the indications are that they probably were not successful, because later on when Jesus responds, the overall context indicates that the man is probably still carrying on his practice even while John is making his confession. So what did they see? A man actually casting out demons and doing it in the name of Jesus. How did they respond?

18:14 We were attempting to forbid him, to put him out of business. We attempted to tell him, Cease and desist. Now in his confession, thirdly, he tells why they responded as they did. Because, we were forbidding him because, here's the rationale for our reason, master, teacher, because he was not following us.

18:44 And in the parallel account in Luke, we have this expression, because he was not following with us. So obviously their reason is, he was not of our band of followers, who together, Jesus, master, teacher, are attached to you. Now for John, to think in terms of forbidding one who did not literally, actually follow Jesus, as he made his various treks throughout Palestine, up into Galilee, and then up into Caesarea Philippi, and down again, this was a natural thing for him to do. For in that point of redemptive history, following Christ, being a disciple of Christ, did indeed in many cases involve the literal attachment to the incarnate God, being willing to go wherever he went, to be found in his company continually. And so he says, our reason for forbidding was simply this, he was not following us, or following you, with us. Because he was not with us, we therefore determined that he had no business doing what he's doing,

20:14 we made a concentrated effort to stop him. Now notice, not a word is said about discovering in him some glaring flaw in his character. Nothing is said that this man was attempting to draw a following to himself. Nothing is indicated that he was seeking to use a miraculous power to line his own pockets and to make himself wealthy at the expense of the people.

20:46 Furthermore, there's no intimation that he was setting up a rival party to Jesus and his followers, some kind of an independent, headstrong, arrogant maverick, who was determined to have his own little coterie of desires, his own little coterie of disciples. They said no, only one thing we discerned and on that we forbade him, he was not following with us. Now there's John's confession. Now how does Jesus respond to that?

Jesus's Negation and Explanation: The Principle of Consistency

21:16 Well in his response we have first of all a negation of their prohibition and then an explanation of that action. First of all then our Lord responds, by negating the prohibition of John and whoever else joined him in it. But Jesus said, stop forbidding him. In a present imperative he says, enough.

21:47 You say to this man, cease and desist from casting out demons. I say to you, cease and desist from attempting to forbid him. Forbid him, not. And our Lord bluntly in a straightforward simple way negates their prohibition.

22:11 Our Lord says in essence, leave him to go on as an instrument in my hands to spoil the goods of the strong man. To confront people with the power of the kingdom of God. For you remember Jesus said, if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then has the kingdom of God come among you. Leave him alone to make my name known and loved and honored and my power displayed.

22:39 You have told me he's casting out demons in my name. You've not intimated or conveyed to me any information that he's doing this to any other end. But that my name will be known. That my name will be manifested.

22:53 My glory and my power displayed in taking helpless wretches who have been possessed by demons and releasing them from the power of the evil one. So our Lord very straightforwardly negates the prohibition. But then he gives an explanation of that negation and it has two strands to it. Now some would add, verse 41 is a third strand and I have reasons for not doing so which I will disclose God willing when we take up the passage at that point next week.

23:27 Or two weeks from now. I'll have the privilege of sitting under the ministry of Pastor Jack Seaton next Lord's Day. But when we come back to Mark I'll give the reasons for breaking it off at verse 40 and taking the position that in explaining his negation our Lord gives two reasons. Notice, four.

23:47 The middle of verse 39. Four. Forbid him not. Four.

23:53 Reason number one. And verse 40. Four. He that is not against us is for us.

24:00 And you will notice that when he gives the reasons he rises above that immediate situation and he speaks in a linguistic form that makes it evident that he is articulating broad general principles which have a specific application in that setting. He is not just dealing with that incident but reasoning from that specific incident. He is articulating broad general principles that have manifold application. And the first is this.

24:36 And I wrestled with how to express it and for lack of a better way for the hour of truth had come and it was time to preach. The principle of general consistency between deed and word. The principle of general consistency between deed and word. For there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

25:12 You see the emphasis upon deed and word. Let me try to underscore it by reading it and giving it verbal emphasis. There is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name and be able quickly to speak evil of me. And what is our Lord doing?

25:35 He is articulating this principle that there is generally a consistency between deed and word. As a general rule no one will do a genuine miracle in or more literally upon my name resting down upon the revelation I have made of myself heard and received in faith now acted upon in faith as a general rule. No one will do a genuine miracle upon my name and then turn around and speak evil quickly of the very one whom he has extolled by that deed. If someone is out to tear me down they will be consistent in seeking to do so by word and by deed. And so he says do not forbid this man for there is this principle that generally speaking when a man builds up a cause by his deeds he does not quickly turn around and tear down that cause by his words for everyone would see him for what he is then. Either a hypocrite in what he did here or a liar in what he says here. And generally men don't come forward eager to be classified either as a hypocrite or a liar.

27:01 And so that principle our Lord says needs to be understood by his disciples. And he said if you had understood that principle you would not have been so quick to forbid him simply because he wasn't in our band and in our circle. You would have recognized that what he was doing by deed was resulting in the extolling and the magnifying of my person my identity. It was forwarding my mission.

Jesus's Explanation: The Principle of Non-Neutrality

27:33 And if that is so and this man is not some glaring exception to that principle in the judgment of charity you should have assumed that if he is doing mighty deeds upon my name given the opportunity he will only speak well of me. He will only explain what he has heard about me and therefore be an instrument of the profuse proclamation of my own saving mercy and my mission of power and of grace. But then he gives a second explanation for this negation and it's what I'm calling the principle of non-neutrality to Christ and his followers. The principle of non-neutrality to Christ and his followers. Verse 40 For he that is not against us is for us. He that is not against us that is me and you my disciples have attached yourself to me at my call upon whom I conferred special powers and graces to perform mighty signs and wonders. He says there is a principle that you either never recognized or if you recognize that you have forgotten it and it's the principle of non-neutrality

29:03 to me and to us to you as my followers and to me as your leader and the principle is this he that is not against us is for us. You see you disciples think that for you for us must always in every instance mean with us in physical geographical proximity. You've gotten yourself locked in to a limited perspective the only way to be for Christ his cause is to be with Christ and those gathered around him and therefore when they saw somebody doing even a noble work outside that circle they said we forbade him we forbade him because he was not with us and anything that's not with us must be against us and if it's against us Lord it's against you. So we were seeking to serve the interest of the purity of your mission and Jesus said you either never recognized or you have forgotten this vital principle of non-neutrality in this great mission upon which the Father has sent me there is no neutrality.

30:31 Think for a minute disciples were there real demons possessing real people really and truly giving up that possession at the presence and under the influence of this man's ministry if so how could you ever regard him as being against us he's for us he is for us in that he is doing the very things I've commissioned you to do if you're not prepared to regard your own mission and your own activity as illicit then don't regard his as illicit because if he is not against us if he is not undermining my mission if he is not seeking to cancel my claims if he is not seeking to draw men away from me but to himself he that is not against us is for us there is no neutrality but all my disciples have an accurate standard by which to determine who is with us and who is against us and that standard is not whether or not they happen to be in our circle and it was that principle of non-neutrality to Christ and his followers that our Lord articulates to get them to reflect upon their actions

Vital Lessons: A Clarion Call to Graciousness

31:57 for if they did and asked the question could we say in faith and in confidence that this man was against our master was he doing anything to undermine the purpose of his coming they would have to say no well if not then not being against him he is for him even though he is not with us and those are the key prepositional phrases that it is possible to be for him and not with us well there is the spontaneous confession of John and then the response of our Lord now then in the third place what are the vital lessons that this passage contains for us and surely as we reflect upon it it is evident to every thoughtful reader that however we express it whether in a positive or negative way and though we may differ in the outworking of the principle surely the dominant message of this passage is clear it constitutes a clarion call to have a gracious attitude to everyone who is truly serving Christ in circles other than our own do you see that it is a clarion call

33:25 to have a gracious attitude to those who are truly serving Christ in circles other than our own now I am conscious that I am on the razor's edge in articulating the principle I am even pressed down on that edge when I seek to apply the principle but live on the razor's edge I must to be true to the passage you see for the disciples themselves one of whom was John to attempt to serve Christ in any other context other than physical attachment to Christ was impossible Jesus had said to them literally follow me and they left their nets and their business and they followed him for them there was no way to maintain a good conscience that they were following the word of Christ than literally to be constantly with Christ you see that for them with Christ were inseparable realities you see that if any one of them started to walk away what would that symbolize as it did in John 6 a rejection of Christ a rejection of his message a rejection of his person

34:54 and he turns and he says to the twelve will you also go away going away from him in terms of geographical attachment proximity meant from his person his work his teaching and all that he stood for but you see the disciples made the mistake that because that was true for them it was inevitably flexibly true for every single person on the face of the earth and that's where they were wrong how did this man come to attachment to Christ I don't know was he a disciple of John I don't know was he one of the seventy I don't know I don't know but this much we know is that the Savior who did know says he's kosherly malone now that I know based on the text for he is advancing my is promoting the glory of my name he is an instrument to impose of Satan he is casting out demons

36:21 where did he get that power I don't know was it ever formally conferred upon I don't know but all I know Jesus says forbid him not he was not a child charlatan he was not a maverick he was not somebody out to promote himself simply using the name and cause of Jesus as a launching pad for his own schemes there is every indication in our Lord's assessment of him that he was a true man what level of faith he had attained to I don't know where he was in his own understanding of the identity of Jesus I don't know but I do know that our Lord says leave him alone and in the light of these two great principles the general principle of consistency between deed and word and the great principle of non neutrality leave him alone now you see when our Lord is speaking about our assessment of his person is he of God or the devil you have the maxim in Matthew 12 13 Matthew 12 30 and Luke 11 23 he that is not with me is against me that's the flip side

37:49 you see with regard to who Jesus is there is no neutrality if you are not with him prepared to acknowledge him to be what he claims to be sent to the Father one with the Father as to his deity God's Messiah the priest and king suitable to the needs of sinful men if you are not prepared to confess him to be what he claims to be in his person you are against it you can't stand back and say ah neither for him no Jesus says in Matthew 12 and in verse 30 he that is not with me is against me now with respect to your personal assessment of and relationship to Jesus Christ that's the axiom if you are not with him in the positive confession of what he claims to be of what he claims to be and who he claims to be and what he claims to do for sinners if you are not prepared to embrace what he says about himself you are against him you are his enemy but with relationship to whether people serve Christ in any circle other than our own the axiom is he that is not against him is with him he that is not undermining anything revealed by Christ

39:16 he was doing this upon the name of Christ within the boundaries of the self-revelation of Christ and that's so important Jesus is not saying here that anyone who happens to be religious in some way or other introduces the name of Christ occasionally leave him alone treat him as your friend no that would negate many other parts of his own life his own teaching and many other parts of the teaching of the Old and the New Testaments this is not our Lord's call to a mindless undiscerning ecumania no it is not that the context will not allow it the remainder of scripture will not allow it but what it is saying is this where someone is truly serving Christ and what you see and what you discern gives you no grace that he's doing anything other than serving Christ leave him alone even though he's not in your circle be gracious to him now I'm going to descend from the principle the fleshing out of it to specific applications if this lesson had been heeded what evils would have been avoided in church history you would not have what I call the nasty Baptists who literally unchurch

40:45 every paedo-baptist congregation I find it hard to believe that men who claim that grace is in their hearts are prepared to say that paedo-baptist churches that is churches where people are making confession of faith walking in a way of biblical obedience according to their light but who happen to regard their infant seed as included in a larger circle of the church and put water on their forehead they are prepared to say they are not even true churches they are prepared to unchurch every single paedo-baptist church would God that such nasty Baptists had understood this message are they preaching the Christ of scripture are they holding forth the uniqueness of his person the sufficiency of his work for sinners are they extolling his name as the only name under heaven given among men whereby sinners are to be saved are they seeking to pursue a life of holiness are they seeking to be a city set on a hill are they seeking to be light and salt and we may regard them as churches with an irregular view of the extent of their membership and with a defective view of baptism

42:14 but we must regard them as our brethren if the marks of the brotherhood are upon them though they may have never joined our watery ways if this principle were understood there'd be no nasty Calvinists who are constantly unchristianizing anyone who cannot articulate the five points I have sat in meetings where I almost wanted to stand up and make a public display and say if anyone's sitting here not what you hear caricatured from that pulpit I've read and heard things that have embarrassed me as nasty Calvinists unchristianized Christ loving Christ trusting Christ kingdom advancing people who happen to have what we might regard as some defective views of how God saves and why He saves but that He saves guilty sinners and saves them in virtue of the work of His Son objectively and the work of the Spirit subjectively and God gets all the glory though not consistently when they sit down to write their books

43:42 but when they sing their hymns and pray their prayers dear people they are our brethren and for us to say we've forbidden they're not with us on the other hand there's a flip side to that there would be no nasty paedobaptists who would make all Baptists to be tyrants who had no compassion for their children would unchurch them and uncovenant them and leave them like poor raw pagans I've read paedobaptist polemic that I didn't know whether to laugh or smash my fist into the page nasty paedobaptists who would make every Baptist a tyrant because he won't sprinkle little Willy and say because he won't put water on Willy's head and call him a covenant child give him as it were to the dogs of a pagan existence and there wouldn't be any nasty Arminians who make all Calvinists into monsters who sit around and wring their hands with glee and have a glint in their eyes and talk about the decree of reprobation as though it were the most wonderful thing in all the world

45:01 oh do you see the harm that's come in the church the thousands of pages of invective and nasty ungracious polemic that have poured forth from pages and all of the ill will that has risen up from the remaining corruption of sinners who are nonetheless true saints because of a failure to grasp the principle that we are to be gracious to those who truly least of scripture though they may serve him in circles other than our own and I thought it was a kind providence that this passage would come up in the providence of God and the threshold of our conference we are met in a conference brethren in which the vast majority of us come with a deep and for some of us a long and arduous journey has brought us there to deep convictions about doctrinal distinctives that we believe are biblical we believe they are the historic voice of the vast majority of God's people throughout the ages and by the grace of God not only for those things where when we agree with all of God's people in all ages but in those things wherein we have our own particular convictions on matters in which all are not agreed

46:29 we're prepared if necessary to die for those principles but oh may God grant that with such convictions there may be a truly catholic spirit not a roman catholic spirit not a spirit that's prepared to even embrace roman catholics who will not renounce their idolatry of the pope and of the mass recognized as a brother or a sister publicly whatever my subjective convictions may be one who has God on his altar every time the priest says his magic words and who thinks that Mary can be an effective mediatrix and who sees in the pope the very extension of Christ's rule I will rest in but what I am saying is this there are many in our own generation who for one reason or another do not understand all of the things that we understand as we understand them who are doing the work of God in ways perhaps concerning which we have some serious reservations

47:58 and in a way in which we could never do them and keep a good conscience remember the disciples they could not do what this guy did and keep a good conscience as one of them had broken loose and started his own exercise exorcism ministry he'd have been a maverick he would not have been with Christ because for them to be with Christ meant to adhere to his word that called them into that peculiar fellowship with him but oh dear people may we by the grace of God show graciousness to those whom we have reason to believe are not against him but with him and though we may not be able to understand him understand how they've come to their posture of understanding and service if we see enough like John to know that the real powers of darkness are suffering real blows from the name and powers going forth then in the judgment of charity we must assume they're with us and not against us and let's not treat our friends and his friends as our enemies you remember they tried to do this with Moses that incident in Numbers has a lot of parallels turn back to it if you will for a moment in Numbers chapter 11 it's almost like the Old Testament

Old Testament Parallel and the Spirit of Openness

49:26 expression of this same spirit Numbers chapter 11 70 elders have been appointed to assist Moses and God has come down by his spirit well let's read the account in verse 24 of Numbers 11 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and set them round about the tent and the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the 70 elders in that immediate geographical presence gathered around the tent the place of God's special presence that special anointing of God the spirit that rested upon Moses now rested upon the 70 and as a result they prophesied but they did so no more there was an immediate burst of prophetic utterance in some kind of inspired perhaps praise and announcements of God's triumphs with his people but verse 26 there remained two men in the camp they weren't in that geographical place where the others were gathered the name of one was Eldad in the name of the other Medad and the spirit rested upon them

50:53 and they were of them that were written but had not gone out unto the tent they weren't with Moses and yet wonder of wonders what happened they were found in another place not with them prophesying in the camp and there ran a young man and told Moses and said Eldad in Medad do prophesy in the camp and Joshua the son of Nun the minister of Moses one of his chosen men answered and said my Lord Moses forbid them Moses said unto them are you jealous for my sake would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them and Moses got him into the camp he and the elders of Israel you see Moses disposition reflected the greater than Moses the prophet whom God would raise up like unto Moses they come and say Moses here's an irregularity these men are prophesying now notice they didn't say they're going through the motions of prophecy in pagan age in ecstasy that's one thing tragically it's present to this day you've got all kinds of nonsense going on in the name of prophesying but these men were giving real prophecy God the spirit came upon them and took their mouth and speech organs and made them the very instrument of direct revelation but it wasn't quite kosher they didn't have their union card they weren't in the right place

52:22 and they think for sure Moses will just flip out over this Moses very calmly says are you jealous for my sake would that God would come upon the whole camp of Israel and they all prophesy get me jealous the only thing you get me jealous for is God will do it with some more people now you see when we have that spirit dear people that you see we are not the exclusive channel of God's gracious working in our generation then you've got eyes that are always looking for God's surprises and you come on a situation and the New Testament parallel I believe to this is what God did up in Antioch God sent a persecution and lo and behold a church gets born up there and no apostle was there to start it they sent up Barnabas who when he came and saw the grace of God you see when you've got this disposition you've always got your eye open looking, looking, looking Lord where have you in ways unknown to me and through channels separate from the channel in which I'm found by conscience and I can't deny that my conscience brings me into my serving Christ

53:50 according to the light he's given me you can't keep that up I can't keep that up but oh when you have this spirit you know that he may be doing wonderful surprising things in other places and the minute you see something you don't take the cynic's attitude and shout at him say wait a minute he didn't get what he's got and learn what he learned through association with us let's shut him up with us Jesus said no, no give a fair examination of what he's doing and when it bears the mark of destroying the kingdom of darkness and extolling my name and my virtue and my power then he that is not against us is for us now you may not be able to go and join him and be his companion in labor but you can rejoice in what God is doing through him do you see the principle and oh may God fill our hearts with it and then let me just touch briefly as I draw the meditation to a close this is surely the focal point the dominant emphasis of the passage but I cannot pass over it without inserting this other word and then just trying to drive home another word brief word or two of application in the context do you see the connection at least thematically

The Root of Narrow-Heartedness and Responding to Christ's Word

55:17 if not historically and temporally do you see the thematic connection between the twelve jockeying for positions in the kingdom and having a narrow heart to anyone else outside of their circle you see the connection on the way down to Capernaum they're arguing about who's going to be the greatest now what are the mathematical possibilities one in twelve but wait a minute if this guy is included with us now the mathematical possibilities are lessened it's one in thirteen we don't like this you see the spirit the spirit that has the horrible leavening effect of personal ambition is always a narrow hearted spirit why? because the fewer trees

56:20 the more chance I've got to be top dog but if there are it may mean that I'm just a little fish in a big big pot and much of the censorious divisive narrow spirited mentality of pastors and preachers and churches is rooted in unmortified pride and ambition if we keep small and insulated there's much more chance I can be a big shot but if God's work is much greater than that much bigger and larger then I may get lost in the sea in other words your heart is more concerned about advancing yourself than seeing Christ's kingdom advance these disciples should have clicked their heels for joy when demons were running instead they're there saying cease and desist well then the other point of application that's so I think touching in the passage is it constitutes a helpful example of what we ought to do when the words of Jesus prick our consciences about any past actions John you see freely came to Jesus

57:46 having heard the words about whoever receives one such little one in my name receives me John's conscience smote him and he remembered back maybe some months to an incident in which he may have refused one such little one who had come in dependantness and helplessness and seen in Jesus his only hope of salvation and life and had trusted him and his faith had risen to such heights that God sovereignly conferred upon him miracle working power what a beautiful picture John is of what every disciple ought to do when at any point in the pilgrimage the words of Jesus make us uncomfortable about a past action that we may have done with a good conscience and in faith but we never believe that anything we do is in vain and we are not worthy of it but we never believe that anything we do is infallible and we're always open to the word of Jesus in the language of David to search us to know us to try our hearts to see if there be any wicked way in us Master we saw we forbade Master what's your assessment of all of this and if we stand condemned by your word you're our Master you love us speak words of truth to us do you have that attitude before God and in the world in his word

59:15 or do you come to preaching and to your devotions with all your defenses up I'm amazed at times when in pastoral work we sit and talk with someone whose conscience is hardened on some of the most elementary aspects of ethic preaching and have devotions and be so utterly sensitive on so fundamental an issue I'll tell you what the problem is for a long time the barrier of action upon past actions I did them in faith I did them with a good conscience did them with a good conscience rather than saying oh God at this point I know nothing against myself but oh Lord give me fresh light search me know me and you're prepared to go back as far as the word impinges on your conscience and confess sins committed a month two months ten months a year ten years ago you don't put up your defense walls but you always come to the word with that disposition law let any word from your mouth pick up a strand and as you begin to pull it let it unravel as much as you know needs to be unraveled

The Inescapable Reminder: No Neutrality to Jesus

60:43 even if it leads me back through a winding path to a place somewhere there in galilee where I forbad instead of received one of your own master I saw one we saw one we forbade him What is your judgment on the issue? Do you have that disposition before God in His Word? If not, dear child of God, cry to God until you do. And then finally, this passage not only sets before us this tremendous principle of our attitude to those who are not with us, constitutes a beautiful example of how to respond to the Word of Christ, but it also constitutes an inescapable reminder there is no neutrality to Jesus. He that is not with us is against us. He that is not against us is for us. In either statement, with the varying points of emphasis as we saw earlier, there's no neutrality to Jesus, dear people.

61:54 Sitting here this morning, there's not a man, woman, boy or girl who is in a neutral posture. I'm a leader to the Lord Jesus. Not a one of you. Not a one of you!

62:06 As surely as there are no amorphous persons here, there are nothing but boys and girls, men and women. I don't know what innocuous personhood is. God never created it. I don't know anything about it.

62:21 I know persons who are males and females.

62:27 And as surely as every one of you is a male or a male, a boy or a girl, you're with Him. You're against Him. You're for Him. You're against Him.

62:40 Oh, you say, but I'm somewhat... No, you are not.

62:42 No such neutral ground exists. There is no spiritual DMZ, my friend. No spiritual demilitarized zone. You're either in the grip and power of the devil and a child of...

62:59 You are united to Jesus Christ in faith and under the canopy of all of His grace to need His sins. Where are you at?

63:09 Where are you at? You say, I don't like that, my friend. No, I know you don't like the question. Because you don't want to be honest.

63:19 Because the minute you begin to be honest, you'll have to have dealings with God. And having dealings with God means you've got to deal with your sin. And to deal with sin means you may have to deal with something as dear as right hand and right eye. And they've got to go or you'll be damned.

63:36 There's no middle ground, friend. Hear the word of Jesus. He that is not against, and that man made it evident who he was for. He was against the devil, casting out demons.

63:52 He was for Jesus, doing it in the name of Jesus. He made it plain. He was for Jesus. That's why Jesus said He's not against us.

64:01 He's obviously for us. Now, anyone looking at your life, watching you live for a week, when you get up, go through the day, go to sleep at night, what you do and what you don't do, who you talk to, who you don't talk to, what kind of television programs you watch, and don't watch, what you say in secret public, what you think when you're alone in your bedroom.

64:23 Is there any reason to say you're for Jesus?

64:27 Any reason to say you're for Jesus? If not, my friend, you're against Him. And if you're against Him, Almighty God is against you. The wrath of God lies upon those who believe.

64:41 Pull, repent, and flee to Christ until you know that you're for Him. That you are with Him in the bond of faith and in the commitment to a life of discipleship. Let us pray.

65:06 Our Father, we bow in Your presence this day and would confess that all too often the spirit of John and his companions has been our spirit when through misguided zeal we have been prepared to cut off those whom You own and distance ourselves from those whom You love. And to cleanse ourselves from those whom You regard as with You. Cleanse us from every such sin. Give us a truly Catholic spirit.

65:43 Give us a spirit that is prepared to walk in the light that You give us and to maintain a good conscience at every point of our walk and service. But gladly to recognize that there are others who love You seeking to walk with each of us with equal integrity who do not see eye to eye with us in all of our convictions. Have mercy upon us. Apply Your word with power.

66:13 May we see even in these days together Your gracious work advancing in many of our hearts whatever the circle of our service may be. Have mercy upon those who cannot say they are with Your Son. O God, give them no rest until by grace they too can say to whom else can we go. You alone have the words of eternal life.

66:43 Seal then Your word to our hearts. We plead through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.