The Corporate Means of Grace (2)

Introduction: The Danger of Despising God's Provisions

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, June 13, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us once again seek the face of God in prayer, asking especially for God to grant us the presence and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the opening up of his own holy and infallible word. Let us pray.

0:39 Father, we do praise you for the solid joys and the lasting pleasures that your children alone experience. And we thank you that even this day, in the previous hour, we have known the solid joy and the lasting pleasure of feeding upon your holy word. And what we have tasted, though it has satisfied us, has increased our longing and our hunger. And we pray that the same Spirit who attended the teaching of your word in that hour will now attend the proclamation of that word in this hour. We thank you that you have not exhausted the infinite supplies of your grace in the Lord Jesus. And we therefore plead in his name, and because he died, and rose again, and intercedes for us, and from his own person and presence sends forth the Spirit upon your people. O God, for his dear name's sake, send the Spirit upon this gathered people, upon preacher and listener alike.

1:59 And may each of us be conscious that that word which we study together is coming to us not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Hear us to the benefit of the souls of the saints, and for the good of those who are yet strangers to your grace. We plead through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

2:35 Anyone who has become even familiar with the broad outlines of biblical truth would agree with me that the word of God is not only the word of God, but the word of God is the word of God. When I say that some of the most outstanding manifestations, really astounding manifestations of wicked unbelief, gross ingratitude, and high-handed insulting of God are to be found in the history of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel. Among these manifestations are the incidents recorded, in Numbers 11.4 and in Numbers 21.

3:21 In Numbers 11.4 through 6 we read, And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our soul is dried away.

3:48 There is nothing at all save this manna to look upon. A similar complaint is recorded in chapter 21 of the same book of Numbers, verses 4 and 5. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

4:25 For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread. In despising and loathing the manna, that which they here call the light bread, that which God calls in the Psalms and in the book of Nehemiah the very bread of heaven, that which Jesus refers to in John 6 as the bread which God sent down from heaven, the children of Israel were despising and loathing the very thing which God had ordained by which to sustain their very lives in the wilderness. And according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 through 12, these very incidents have a present burning relevance to the people of God in this present gospel age. For in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 6, God's word is very clear. These things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after them.

5:46 To the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Or verse 11, and these things happened unto them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Now you may well ask, that is all true, Pastor Martin. It's clear from the scriptures, but what is it?

6:16 What does this have to do with our present series of studies in what we have called the Manifesto of Trinity Church? Well, it relates this way. We are presently engaged in considering some of the major principles of the doctrine of the Christian life which we, by God's grace, are determined to maintain in our thinking, in our teaching, and our expectations in the life of this congregation. And the principle presently in focus is this, that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life. However, just as ancient Israel God's provision, even the manna, is read from heaven, so we, the people of God, can despise with God's provision, the manna, and the manna, and the manna, and the manna, and the manna, and added to the neglect and despising of those means, we can, like the Israelites, begin to dictate to God what means we would choose.

Identifying the Corporate Means of Grace (Acts 2:42)

7:48 We have completed our examination of those private or individual means of grace, ordained the punishment of the life in the soul of those whom God has quickened through union with God, through union with God, through union with Christ. We began last Lord's Day to focus upon the public or the corporate means of grace. And in our initial study of the corporate means of grace, we had time only to accomplish one thing, and that was to set forth and demonstrate from the Scriptures a general principle. And the general principle was this, that the corporate means of grace are posited and exercised primarily within the life of a biblically ordered church. The corporate means of grace are posited and exercised,

8:52 though not exclusively, within the life of a biblically ordered church. We examined particularly Matthew 18, 15-20, Acts 14, 21, and following, and 1st, Timothy 3, 14, and 15. Now today, we will take up the consideration of seeking to identify those specific major means of grace which God has deposited within the life of a biblically ordered church. And having identified those means, we will then make some observations concerning those means, and then some very necessary applications with respect to them. First of all, then, identifying the means. When we have established the major public or corporate means of grace as those things deposited within a well-ordered biblical church, then the question that inevitably follows is, what precisely are those means? What is their identity?

10:08 How am I, and how do I recognize them? And in responding to that question, I know of no single text in all of the New Testament which more succinctly yet comprehensively answers that question than does Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. And so I would encourage you to turn with me to that portion of the Word of God. 42, writing approximately 30 years after the event,

10:50 reflecting upon that mighty work of God wrought on the day of Pentecost, which resulted in the conversion of some 3,000, we read concerning those that were brought to repentance and faith and baptism, and then incorporated into the church at Jerusalem, and they continue steadfastly steadfastly in the, the teaching of bread, edification of those means of grace deposited within the life of a biblically ordered church. And Luke summarizes them in terms of four categories of internal church life. Now remember, I am not speaking this morning on the comprehensive task of the church. We're addressing the issue that there are no active substitutes for the God-appointed means in living the Christian life.

12:12 And having considered the private or individual means of grace, and turning now to the corporate means of grace, having already established from the Scriptures that those means are deposited primarily within the life of a biblically ordered church, what are those means by which God, by which God, by which God, in the life of the saints, which He Himself has imparted? The answer of this text is that there were four corporate or public means of grace. And with respect to each one of them, there was on the part of a persevering each one of these things. Notice the language of the text. And they continue, and then the fours are mentioned. With reference to the Bible, it says, to each one of them the entire church was found in a posture of persevering means of grace.

The First Means: Persevering Attendance Upon the Word of God

13:39 The word translated continued steadfastly is exactly the same word that was found earlier in the first chapter of Acts. In verse 14, these all with one accord continues with it the connotation of grace. And therefore, I say, for things with grace, with the words, and attendance with persevering remembrance of, persevering plea, not for rhetorical effect, but in order to underscore the emphasis of the text. Standing on the front door of the words, whatever happened within the walls of this spiritual house of God, those within it were not picking these up occasionally,

14:54 engaging in to, what are they, as we just take a brief, brief overview before us in the text. They continued steadfastly persevering the menace of the word of God. The Greek word didache in the apostles doctrine. You might get the idea from the use of our word doctrine that Luke is underscoring, that they held to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And though that was true, that is not the emphasis of this passage. Luke is saying, they were marked by a persevering attendance upon the living ministry of the word of God, which was being dispensed by the only spiritual leaders in the church at that time,

16:15 namely the apostles. And because the apostles had been promised by the Lord Jesus, a unique kind of inspiration, a unique kind, a unique, as foundation builders in the church of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the word of the apostles was nothing less than the word of God. This is why Paul could say to the Thessalonians, God be thanked that when you receive from us the message, you received it as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works in you that. And so when Luke tells us that the 3000 added to the 120 were marked by this persevering attendance upon the teaching of the apostles, he's asserting nothing less, nothing more than a persevering attendance upon the ministry of the word of God. They were adhering to the pattern of being present when the apostles instructed them, when the apostles were being used by the risen, Christ for the function for which he had given them to the church.

17:42 And I remind you that that function is clearly delineated in Ephesians chapter four. When he ascended on high, he led captivity, captive gave gifts unto men, and he gave some apostles for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service. And because the apostles were resident there in the church, at Jerusalem, they were giving by the inspiration and enlightenment of the spirit, the understanding to the church of the significance of the life and the death and the resurrection and the descent of the spirit, all in conjunction with the Lord Jesus. Paul can say as an apostle in first Corinthians 1437, if any among you claims to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things, which I, say unto you are the commandments of the Lord. So what Luke is describing here is this means of grace deposited within the church, namely the stated public teaching and preaching of the word of God. And with respect to the 3,120, the size of the church at this time, they are described as persevering,

19:05 persevering in their attendance upon the ministry of the word of God. Now, no doubt in the beginning, since many of these people had come from various places and the voice, Peter and the voice of John and the voice of the other apostles were new to them. There would be a natural fascination with the newness of things. But even when that fascination vaporize, they were still holy and godly upon the public ministry of the word of God.

The Second Means: Persevering Involvement With the People of God (Fellowship)

19:48 There was persevering attendance upon the ministry of the word of God. They continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching. And secondly, there was persevering involvement with the people of God, for they not only continued steadfastly in the apostles, teaching, but they likewise continued steadfastly in fellowship. And here we have the simple ordinary word koinonia for fellowship, which fundamentally means communion and shared life in its broadest sense. Now, some have tried to press this into a more limited sense and to say it refers to the community of goods. But, since that reality is described in the next paragraph and again in chapter four, there would be no reason to introduce it in a nebulous way with a more generic word. When Luke purposes to give a specific description of that kind of fellowship in shared community of goods, which marked their life together.

21:06 So he is using it here in its broadest sense and underscoring. That this body of people having been constituted one body by their common confession of faith in Christ, having been indwelt by the one spirit, they began to live our life in undeniable manifestations of that spiritually constituted oneness. That was theirs in the Lord Jesus. Bound up in a common life in union with Christ, they lived in a manner in their corporate interaction, which gave witness to that reality. There were no lone ranger Christians in this church. There were no hermit Christians. There were no individualist Christians who felt that having God and the Holy Ghost and having heard the Apostles teaching.

22:12 That's all. They needed. They could split and leave the socializers to themselves. No.

22:20 Recognize that in the shared life of the people of God, there was a deposit of God himself of a means which has its ultimate source in Christ the head. Much of which is mediated directly into our Holy Spirit. Much of which is not. Given direct from Christ the head dwells in our hearts, but is mediated through his people.

23:05 And if you have any question about that, just read the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Read the twelfth chapter of the letter to the Corinthians. The first letter. And here it is up.

23:21 That a divine dated means with reference to the corporate. That a divine dated means with reference to the corporate. That a divine dated means with reference to the corporate. That a divine dated means with reference to the corporate life of the people of God is persevering involvement with the people of God.

23:36 And up in a common life, they shared their mutual concerns, their encouragements, their joy, their fears, their tears. Matthew Henry, quaintly states it at a mutual affection to each other, but a great deal of mutual conversation and he's using it in the old English sense of a mutual conversation, but a great deal of mutual conversation and he's using it in the Old English sense of a mutual affection to each other. sense of not just talking, but interaction with each other. They were much together. When they withdrew from the crooked generation, that's what Peter said they had to do, save yourself from this crooked generation, they did not turn hermits, but were very intimate with one another and took all occasions to meet.

24:28 Wherever you saw one disciple, you would see more, like birds of a feather that flock together. See how these Christians loved one another. They were concerned for one another, sympathized with one another, and heartily espoused one another's interests. And while it was in a previous lesson out of chapter 2, in 1 John, that Pastor Lamar took us to 1 Corinthians 13.

24:59 To give us an overview of the characteristics and actings of that love, which is an indispensable mark of divine life in the soul of man. A truth laid out again so powerfully in the previous hour, and surely one of the marks of love is strong affinity toward its objects and delight to be in the presence of its objects. For a man to say he loves me, and then deliberately to avoid it. For a man to say he enjoys spending time with me, is to contradict by his actions all of his passionate words of affection.

25:37 A husband who holds his wife and tenderly whispers in her ear, and finds a thousand excuses never to spend time with her, all his whisperings mean nothing. They're empty words. And therefore this fellowship established by the Spirit of God, by this group who had come under a common conviction of sin, who had been pointed to a common conviction of sin, who had been pointed to a common conviction of sin, who had been pointed to a common Savior, had a common experience of repentance and faith, and open confession of Christ and incorporation into His Church, they were marked not only by persevering attendance upon the ministry of the Word of God, but by persevering involvement with the people of God. Not just an occasional obliteration, but intimate enough for the rough edges to begin to rub. Intimate enough for the rough edges to begin to emerge, that irritate. Intimate enough to where another man's burdens begin to become your burdens.

The Third Means: Persevering Remembrance of the Son of God (Breaking of Bread)

26:50 Another man's trials, another sister's trials, your trials. They were ordinary people with all of the ordinary pressures and responsibilities and cares of this life common to all of us and yet it is said of them that they continued steadfastly in the koinonia, in the fellowship. So in identifying those public means of grace that are deposited primarily within a biblically functioning church here, the church at Jerusalem under the tutelage and guidance of the apostles is described as one that was marked by persevering attendance upon the cross. The ministry of the word of God, persevering involvement with the people of God, but then thirdly, persevering remembrance of the son of God, persevering remembrance of the son of God for they continued steadfastly not only in the apostles teaching and fellowship but in the breaking of bread. In the breaking, commentators say this is a reference to just having common meals together and I answer and say no. I agree with the commentators who say that emphasis of their shared life comes through

28:20 in the next paragraph, verse 46, day by day continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart. Here is terminology for sharing ordinary meals for the sustenance of physicality. They were not only one suddenly set in time, but they were also two constantly, two times more, a meal about a table became a feast upon their common faith and upon their common Savior. But this terminology is the terminology found in a little different construction as to its essentially the same construction as is found in Acts 20 and Verse 7, when they were gathered on the first day of the week in order to break bread. It's the same construction as is found in Acts 20 and Verse 7 when they were gathered on the first day of the week in order to break bread. And it has reference to that sacramental meal instituted by our Lord Jesus. And one can only imagine the tremendous sense of continuity between the upper room and their gathering for these seasons of remembrance of the Son of God.

29:36 For those who had heard the Lord Jesus say, this is my body which is for you, this is my blood of the new covenant shed for many, this do in remembrance of me, and I drink of this fruit of the vine until I drink it with you new in the kingdom of God. Just a few weeks later, what a privilege it was for them as part of teaching to instruct this fledgling church that the great head of the church had left alone. A legacy to them, not in some elaborate ritual to be performed by in gown that they would rival atonement, but ordinary fishermen dressed in taking ordinary bread and the ordinary fruit of the vine, and without any pomp and ceremony and magical mumbo-jumbo and the Eucharist. They had their hearts mixed again and again upon the Lord of glory. These were the men and women, many of whom, many of whom, had originally cried for his blood

31:00 and were indicted by Peter on that Pentecostal sermon with being the murderer of the very Christ of God. And it says in verse 37, when they heard this, they were stabbed in their hearts and said, what shall we do? Peter does not give them. A message of despair, but a message of hope.

31:24 And he tells them upon repentance and faith and identification with Christ, they shall be the recipients of the Holy Spirit given by the very exalted Christ whom God visibly constituted or openly constituted by his ascension and session at his right hand. His Christ and the sovereign messianic Lord has sent forth the Spirit. And Peter says, as you may now enter into all the benefits of that, you can only imagine what it must have meant for these people who, just a few weeks before, had had their hearts crushed and broken with the knowledge we killed our Messiah. We murdered our Messiah.

32:10 And now we see in the one whose blood we cried for our only hope of life and salvation. We've received life from a crucified, risen, exalted Lord. With what abounding joy must they have undertaken to be obedient to the command of Christ. This do in remembrance of me.

32:35 And in so doing, they delightfully remembered the Son of God as crucified for them. Jesus Christ as crucified, the source and fountain of all their life and all their forgiveness and all acceptance with God. Jesus Christ crucified, risen and exalted as their great protector, as the one who by the Spirit would be present with them. For surely they could no longer have been silent about those words spoken by the Lord Jesus, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.

33:15 What a privilege it would have been to have been Peter or James or John of one of the other apostles and for the first time to have told a Christian, Christ is not here visibly present to our eyes, but by his own word and promise he is present by his Spirit. And he has authorized us to take ordinary bread and the ordinary fruit of the vine and to break and eat the one and to drink the other in remembrance of him not only in terms of what he's done in the past in shedding his blood, but of what he, has done in being raised to life, but also what he has done to secure a complete and final salvation for all who trust in him. And so this early church was marked in this question of the God-ordained public means of grace by a persevering remembrance of the Son of God, even in the way of his appointment, even in the way of his appointment, but then notice the fourth thing that is mentioned. They not only continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread, but we read and the prayers, and the prayers.

The Fourth Means: Persevering Dependence Upon the Blessing of God (Prayers)

34:42 And to what does this refer? It refers most likely to stated seasons of corporate prayer. For remember, all that is said here is predicated, of the church in its corporate life. They continued steadfastly in their together for apostolic instruction, gathering together for expressions of shared life in all of its ramifications, gathering together when together is the clear note in first Corinthians 11 with reference to the Lord's Supper.

35:23 And therefore there would need to be compelling, exegetical evidence, or corollary evidence to say that this has reference to something other than their corporate prayers. And it may well be that in chapter 3 we have a hint of one aspect of that with Peter and James going up to, Peter and John going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. Whether the people of God had their own little caucus some place adjacent to the temple, we do not know. But this much is clear.

35:59 They manifested a persevering dependence upon the blessing of God. A persevering dependence upon the blessing of God. And that dependence was manifested in their lame hold of God in all forms.

36:21 For they continued steadfastly in the prayers. You will remember that it was in chapter 1 in verse 14 in a context of unified persevering prayer that the event of Pentecost took place. Now I did not say Pentecost occurred because they persevered in prayer. I didn't say that.

36:50 And I've delighted with my Pentecostal friends and their tarrying meetings. And working. Everything up to try to get to baptism. To take them to chapter 2 in verse 1 and just describe the situation.

37:04 It doesn't say they were on their faces agonizing and pleading and groaning. It just says the place where they were sitting. Suddenly there came from heaven. There was suddenness, unexpectedness.

37:17 They were not in the posture of spiritual heroes on their faces moaning and groaning and wrestling. They were sitting. Maybe they were just eating. I don't know.

37:26 But they were sitting. The Holy Ghost is underscored. They were sitting somewhere. For that's exactly what we read in Acts chapter 2 and verse 2.

37:35 And suddenly there came from heaven the sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind filled all the house where they were sitting. We learn from the end of chapter Luke. They were at the end of the last chapter of Luke. The gospel of Luke.

37:49 That they were spending much time in the temple precincts giving praise to God and worshipping. So it isn't as though they had. Just one extended day and night prayer meeting for the ten days between the ascension of our Lord and the descent of the Spirit. However, it is accurate to say it was a climate permeated with corporate persevering prayer.

38:14 For the text says in verse 14 of chapter 1. These all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer. With the women and Mary. The mother of Jesus and with his brethren.

38:30 And when we read the subsequent history of the church there in Jerusalem. We find that when the first crisis is faced. When open opposition comes to two of our leaders. What do they do?

38:42 It says they go back to their own company. And they pray. And after one of their leaders is killed and another is imprisoned. It says prayer was made of the whole church for him.

38:53 So it is not an arbitrary. Interpretation to say that the emphasis of Luke in this last public means of grace. Is upon various expressions of corporate prayer. There was a persevering dependence upon the blessing of God.

39:15 Manifested in this giving of themselves to seeking the face of God in prayer. So these then according to this passage. Were the four major public or corporate means of grace. The word of God.

39:34 The people of God. Remembering the son of God. And praying to God.

Observations on the Corporate Means of Grace

39:42 Now having identified them. Let me much more briefly now make. Three observations concerning these corporate. These public means of grace.

39:55 Number one. No to their timeless avail. Ability and relevancy. Their timeless.

40:05 Availability and relevancy. In the setting of the text both before and after things are described which were unique to the apostolic age. There was the sound of a rushing mighty wind. Clothing tons of fire sitting over the head of the hundred and twenty.

40:27 Following this there were some unusual things. This community. Of goods. Look at verse forty three wonders and signs are done through the apostles.

40:38 However however. In describing. The life of the church in its distilled spiritual essence. Not one thing is mentioned that is limited to the unique apostolic role authority or gifts.

40:56 Nothing about tongues. Nothing about miracles. Nothing about signs. Nothing about.

41:01 Wonders. It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching fellowship breaking of bread and prayer and that is the state now we've got people telling us today the reason the church is more about the reason the church is powerless if she comes together as we do on a Sunday morning like this and we hear no celestial firecrackers and we see no flames of fire and we see nobody's. In the spirit we just seeing and we pray preachers preach and give us outlines and meaning that. The Greek words.

41:40 All of that is the reason the church is in such a mess. Friend what an insult to Almighty God. The people who have real thorns and. Miracles are the very ones who point us in another direction as to the question what are the god-ordained public means of grace.

42:07 And. Each. these mentioned are timeless and relevant to the people of God in every age and in every place. May I say it reverently? These are God's humble, changeless manna by which He has ordained to sustain the life of His people. And whenever the church gets rested with God's manna, bread, and begins to loathe God's manna, judgment will follow upon the church as surely as it fell upon Israel. And there's no worse judgment than temporary excitement that bears some semblance of spirituality that leads to cynicism, deception, and disillusionment.

43:07 And so the first observation we make about these divinely ordained people is that they are not the same as the people of God. They are not the same as the people of God. The public means of grace is their timeless availability and relevance. But then secondly, notice their relative simplicity and the brevity of the list. Simplicity and brevity. Again, I remind you, Luke is not giving us an exhausted description of all the church did in its corporate life, service, witness, and mission. However, in terms of its internal life and growth, in terms of its internal life and growth, in terms of the means by which the people of God corporately nurtured their new life in Christ, these four things were the major means. Continuing, persevering attendance upon the ministry of the Word, involvement with the people of God, remembrance of the Son of God, and pleading for the blessing

44:09 of God. Not a shred of evidence that the apostles said, but oh, wait a minute, we've got some of the heathen and some of those who took the lead in engineering the crowd to cry for the blood of Christ, and they have such a tremendous sense of guilt to their involvement. We've got to have special seminars for those more directly involved in the bloodletting of the Son of God. And then we've got others who come out of such unusual Pharisaic backgrounds with all of their hang-ups that they'll never be able to be abandoned in their love to Christ.

44:47 And in their service, until they go back into their dysfunctional legalistic background and get it all sorted out psychologically. You see where we could go with this nonsense?

45:00 No. There's a relatively simple and brief list of the means of corporate blessing which God himself instituted. No festivals of music, no dancing troupes, no acting troupes, no famous personalities to give their testimony to validate the message of Christ. For unless you have the six foot seven, three hundred pound offensive linemen who can say, he belongs to Jesus, how will Jesus have any credibility among people who worship six foot seven, three hundred pound linemen? No, no, my friend, it's far more likely God will get to a six foot seven, three hundred pound lineman with the credibility of the Gospel by using a little Bring him a message that will cut him down to size until he sees himself as a lilliputian in the presence of a holy God. Deserving of eternal wrath! His only hope is an annihilated, forsaken, abandoned, derelict Christ upon a cross. Subsequently raised to glory and to power.

The Evident Efficacy of God's Appointed Means

46:16 Notice the relative simplicity and the brevity. But then the third thing I ask you to note, by way of observation about these means, is the evident efficacy of these means.

46:29 I've spoken of their timeless availability and relevance, their relative simplicity and brevity, but look at their evident efficacy. As the church was nourished by these means, what happened? Well, Luke tells us in verses 43 to 47, And fear came upon every soul. A sense of awe came over those...

46:51 Those who looked upon these people. A sense of wonder that there was something more than a novel religion being born here in Jerusalem. There was something in the truest sense of the word awesome. The old writers would say how sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors.

47:14 Fear came upon every soul. Special grace for the special function of apostles. The apostles continued to be given. And many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

47:27 And no indication that the apostles had seminars on how to pass on their ability to do signs and wonders to others. God have mercy. God have mercy on the men doing that today at $150 a clip for the seminar. In wonder seminars.

47:46 There are men who could do signs and wonders and they had no seminars to pass on their ability to anyone else. God continued. To endow them with power. Look at verse 44.

48:02 And all that believe were together and had all things common. Spontaneously. This is not a mandate for the church in her standing light. It's just telling us that that sense of mutuality.

48:14 That sense of coin on here was so real as we heard this morning. It had to find a conduit and it found it at this time in a voluntary community of goods. All that believe were together and had all things common. And they sold their possessions.

48:29 And good. And parted to them all according as any man had need. And day by day continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home. They took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.

48:44 Praising God and having favor with all the people. Now notice. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved. What's this paragraph?

48:55 But a description of a church. Probably. With the blessings. With the blessing of Almighty God.

49:03 With the life of God in the midst of it. Overflowing in such a way that on the one hand the community about them are awestruck. Later on we read no man dared join himself to them yet, yet, yet. The mighty power of God in granting men conviction of sin.

49:24 And a saving revelation of Christ crucified, buried and risen was such that the Lord was adding. And day by day such as would be saved. In other words, this paragraph is a description of what we would say in modern parlance is a church living under the full blessing of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

49:47 And why does Luke give us that paragraph immediately following our text? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. To underscore the evident efficacy of the means that God had ordained. Those means were ordained by God.

50:13 Those means were made sufficient through the grace of God. So that the church in her corporate life had clout, fear, and awe came upon those who observed them. Those with special gifts and ministries continued to be given the anointing of the Spirit. To fulfill those ministries, their internal life was being raised to new levels of true koinonia.

50:42 And God was blessing their witness to the salvation of souls. Now what could any godly church member want more than that?

50:54 And it did not come with all of the fancy means. With all of the psycho, pseudo-psychology and psychologizing. With all of the fancy means. With all of the psycho, pseudo-psychology and psychologizing.

51:07 With all of the gospel and telling people you can't really get with it through these simple means until you have been deprogrammed. Until someone's dug into your dysfunctional past and gotten rid of all. My friends, this is an attack upon the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His means to make His church healthy.

51:33 In the history of the church it can be demonstrated when life wanes and the power of God recedes. And carnality increases.

51:45 Men's inventions always come along to try to truss up the dying corpse. And men's inventions become perfume to sprinkle on the stinking, rotten stench of death. But when God visits His church in revival, what's one of the marks? She goes back to the simplicity of God's ordainment.

52:13 She goes back to the simplicity of God's ordainment. She goes back to the simplicity of God's ordainment. And what must our posture be then? If we come through seasons where we do not know the measure of God's presence and power.

52:33 That we long to know the answers, not to look for new means. But to cry more mightily to God. To plead more with God that He'll bless His own instituted means. To invent our own means and to ask the blessing of God upon them.

52:50 is to be guilty of playing with the strange fire of Nadab in a bayou. And only the mercy of God has kept many a man and many a church from being swallowed up as were those two impudent sons of Aaron.

53:07 God will have no strange fires upon his altar.

Application 1: Seek Membership in a Biblical Church

53:12 We've looked at the identity of the means, some observations concerning these means. Now, in closing, I want to bring some crucial applications with respect to these means. The first is this.

53:29 Anyone who is serious about growing as a Christian must seek to become a member of a biblically ordered church. Now, that's not very hard to grasp, is it? If God has sovereignly deposited in the life of his church these means by which to nurture the life of his people, then anyone who is serious, about growing as a Christian, must seek to become a member of a biblically ordered church. I didn't say he must seek to become a member of Trinity Baptist Church or a Reformed Baptist Church.

54:06 I said of a biblically ordered church. If God has wisely and sovereignly chosen to deposit these means within his church and those, according to Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, who were a part of those means, were first of all a committed, discernible part of that assembly, then they that received his word were baptized and there were added to them in that day about 3,000 souls, then surely for you not to be a member of a biblically ordered church and yet to profess to know and love Christ is a gross abnormality. Now, notice I didn't say, I didn't say you're not converted.

55:00 I didn't say your faith is a sham. I said it is a gross abnormality and not one to be tolerated if you're interested in your own well-being. And when we have a biblical view of this, then we don't make life-shattering decisions independent of the realization that though God has given personal, private, individual means of grace and nothing can substitute for exercising grace, and knowing the blessing of God upon them, likewise, God has deposited certain means in his church. Therefore, when I contemplate such decisions as marriage, career, what job shall I accept, all of those decisions will be colored by this question. Do I have reason to believe that that decision will put me within proximity of a biblically ordered church?

55:58 First question is not, do I like her and does she like me?

56:03 Is the job suited to me and me to the job? And are the benefits attractive in the salary more than I could hope for? No, the question is, can my soul flourish in my career cut off from a well-ordered biblical church?

Application 2: Expect Evident Growth in Grace

56:27 That's serious implications. Second application is this, anyone who's a member of a biblically ordered church participating in its God-appointed means ought to...

56:39 ought to be evidently growing in grace.

56:42 Anyone who is a member of a biblically ordered church and participating in its God-appointed means of grace ought to be evidently growing in grace. Because it says of this group, as they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers, that God's blessing was upon them. Later on in chapter 4, there's a beautiful phrase. It says of the...

57:10 the entire congregation in verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles their witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Acts 4.33, and great grace was upon them all. Mega grace was resting upon them all.

57:31 It was evident they were growing in grace. They were exuding the power of grace. They were manifesting the wonderful overtones of grace. In their speech and the delineations of grace, in their growing conformity to Christ, zeal for His kingdom increasing and growing.

57:52 And I tell you, dear people, there are few things that are more perplexing to the heart of a true pastor than to see people, members, not of a perfect but a biblically ordered church, sitting under means of grace that again are not perfectly administered or have the measure of the blessing and power of God, that we yearn for. But where we can say, God is present in the teaching and preaching of the Word. If you were here in the previous hour and didn't sit there and say, God is speaking His Word through His servant to my heart, I pity you. You utterly lack spiritual discernment to hear the voice of Christ when He's speaking through His Word.

58:34 And I trust sitting here today as I have been conscious in my own felt weakness and my own sense that I have nothing, that I can flip a switch to be sure that I will know the presence of God. If I have any discernment, God has not left me at the mercy of just what Al Martin can bring to this pulpit. There's been some measure of the help and present aid of the Holy Ghost.

59:02 And when we meet for prayer and we gather to the Lord's table, we know some measures of the presence of God upon His own institutions. But what plagues me is this. There are some measures, and some of you try as I may when I come to your name in praying through the directory. And I want to give thanks, as Paul does for the saints.

59:29 I find it very difficult to give thanks for positive evidences that you're growing in grace.

59:37 That's grievous.

59:40 And I ask why. And the first time I ask it, I usually say, Lord, could it be that that's part of the fruit of my own failure? That my own praying is not as fruitless, frequent and intense and biblical for this one or that one as it ought to be. And I confess to God my sin of prayerlessness on your behalf.

60:02 That I've not travailed that Christ be formed in you. Then I turn on my preaching and say, Lord, could it be that I'm not preparing carefully enough, prayerfully enough, and repent of my sins of the pulpit. And then I repent of my sins of pastoral oversight. But my friend, it is in all of us, is it all my sin?

60:24 Is it all my sin? Is it all my sin?

60:30 Must I take the whole burden upon me?

60:36 I see others under the same ministry flourishing like palm tree,

60:43 growing by leaps and bounds,

60:48 train work, which some of you... What's the cause, my friend?

61:02 It's about time some of you got honest.

61:06 Some of you, it's addiction to your stupid TV. And you know it. Some of you, it's addiction to something else. certain liberties. Some of you, it's addiction to food, it's addiction to pride of face, pride of race, pride of something else. It is sin, grieving the spirit, so that these public means of grace, instead of becoming divinely ordained and divinely implemented conduits through which the very life and power and grace of Christ flows into you, they're all choked off six inches short of your heart, because you come to these means indwelt by a grieved Holy Spirit, that root of bitterness, that root of self-pity, that ungoverned tongue,

62:04 that hasty temper, that unforgiving spirit, whatever it is. Anyone who's a member of a biblically ordered church and participating in its God-appointed means ought to be evidently growing in grace. And that's not just my burden, that was the burden of the writer to the Hebrews. He says, for the time you ought to be teaching others, you're still in the state of infancy and have need that someone go back and give you baby. And the final exhortation, application I would make, and I pray God help you to hear it. I know some of this has been intense, but dear people, this is a burden of a lifetime that's coming out in the message this morning. Anyone truly concerned for the glory of God, I pray God help you to hear it. I know some of this has been intense, but dear people, this is a burden of a lifetime that's coming out in the message this morning.

Application 3: Maintain God's Means and Resist Substitutes

62:53 The glory of Christ and the good of His people will be willing to maintain all of God's appointed means of grace and resist unto death the intrusion of any man-made substitute. As I think of my own mortality, and if I seem to be unusually sober these days, it's not just because I miss my wife who's away. I'm trying to sort out. man goes through when his father dies. And he knows from being second in rank of those who will be swept away into his grave, I've now been pushed up to the first line. And as I think of that, one of the burdens of my heart is, oh God, are there men and women in Trinity Church who are not simply basking in these things, enjoying them, but have no real visceral commitment ready when I'm in my grave. The first time someone persuasively suggests that, well, you know, in the light of the peculiar needs of 20th century man,

64:14 no longer is the Word of God enough. No longer is involvement with the people of God enough. No longer is remembrance of the Son of God enough. No longer is pleading for the blessing of God enough. We must adapt to the 20th century and introduce strange fires upon the altars of this church's life. I pray, God, that there sit in this place men and women and boys and girls who are determined for the glory of Christ and the good of His people to maintain God's appointed means of grace and resist God. Unto death the intrusion of any man-made devices.

65:08 If you're one of those, have dealings with God today. Have dealings with God. And if you're one of those who already hear, we have them from time to time, that begin to take up the language of the Israelites in the wilderness. Our soul loathes this light dread. Same old stuff, week by week. We know what the next psalm is going to be. We know what the next chapter is going to be. We know what the next chapter is going to be. We know what the next sermon and the next lesson is going to be. And we know what the prayer meetings are going to be. We loathe this manner. Oh, my friend, beware of that spirit. May God help you to come to every service as though it were the first time. And keep the freshness of hunger. Think of those children of Israel, any who are really of faith. And apparently of this generation, 20 years old and upward, there were only two, Joshua and Caleb.

66:07 What others loathed, they saw as God's daily miracle. And every time they went to gather man, it was like the first time. How good is God? Look at it, bread down from heaven.

66:18 The God of heaven cares for us. God's made us a meal. And they saw the man every day as the stretching out of the heart of God and the hand of God to his people, to feed them. Oh, may we view God's means in his church as the heart of God, moving the hand of God with the manna of heaven to feed us, his needy people. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

66:47 Father, we do thank you for your presence with us throughout this morning. How good you have been to feed us with manna from heaven. Oh, we would repent of our sins of ever growing restive and discontent with your manna. Forever having the slightest desire for the leeks, the onions, and the garlic of Egypt. And Lord, we see your professing church, an onion house, a garlic house, a leek house, the world's forms of entertainment, the world's thought patterns, psychologizing the gospel, redefining sin, redefining grace. Oh, God, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy upon your professing. And in mighty power, so work that she shall be brought back to have confidence again in those means ordained of you for the sustaining of her life. Oh, Lord, seal your word, seal

68:04 your word, we pray. May it bear fruit now and even until the return of our Lord Jesus. May your blessing rest upon us as we leave this place. And may the day be glorious.

68:18 In all of its activities, gather us together again tonight, full of expectancy, as once again you reach down from heaven to feed us with your manna. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.