In Evangelism and Missions

Introduction: Unity Through Common Conviction and the Manifesto

0:00 Any of you within the sound of my voice this morning who are at all familiar with the general content of your Bibles, and in particular the New Testament, you are very conscious that the unity of the people of God is a matter of great concern to God Himself.

0:22 You will no doubt think, whenever you think of the doctrine of the unity of God's people, of our Lord's high priestly prayer, recorded in John 17, in which He prays that His people may be one, even as He and the Father are one. And you will remember that again and again in the letters addressed to the infant churches in the New Testament era, exhortations to unity are passionately given and without embarrassment repeated again and again.

0:56 Now, no little part of true spiritual unity is to be found in a common commitment to a common body of truth, goals, and perspectives. This is clearly taught in a passage such as 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. Here the apostle writing to a church that had suffered divisions says, I beseech you, brethren, through the name of the Lord Jesus, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you,

1:35 but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. In other words, their unity was to be a unity in intelligent perception of commonly held truths, goals, and spiritual perspectives. And if such unity is to be attained, maintained, and increased in any given congregation, there must be a periodic restatement of those central issues by which we are bound together

2:19 in a common life, a common vision, and in common corporate endeavors, in conjunction with the gospel. We are presently engaged in an examination of those biblical realities which have formed the very warp and woof, the very soul and lifeblood of our ministry here, and also of our unity. And we are doing this under the general title, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. A Manifesto.

2:57 A Manifesto being a public declaration of the motives and intentions of a group of people. Thus far, we've examined three points of the Manifesto and are presently working our way through the fourth. The first three were as follows. We are determined that Jesus Christ shall have His rightful place in the totality of our life and in the future.

3:27 We are determined that He shall have His rightful place in the totality of our life and ministry. We are not saying He does have fully that we have attained. This is a declaration of our spiritual mindset. We are determined that He shall have His rightful place in the totality of our life and ministry.

3:47 Secondly, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the Word of God. And thirdly, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the Word of God. And fourthly, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the Word of God. And fifthly, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the Word of God.

3:56 And fifthly, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the Word of God. And thirdly, we are determined that we shall maintain a God-centered climate in the totality of our life and ministry. Now the fourth tenet of the manifesto that we are presently opening up and expanding upon is this. We are determined that our life and ministry shall unquestionably confirm the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes of God.

Review: The Church Defined and Its Unique Place Demonstrated

4:27 From our very inception we were and have continued to be and to this day are determined that our life and ministry will unquestionably confirm the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes of God. We are determined that our life and ministry shall unquestionably confirm the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes of God. In our initial study of this particular affirmation of the manifesto, we sought to do two things. Give a working definition of the church.

4:59 It is not any and every religious group that calls itself a church, but the people of God gathered out of the world by the power of the gospel and committed to walking together under the rule of God. It is not any and every religious group that calls itself a church, but the people of Christ as found in the scriptures. Where you have such a group of people, you have a church. And in using the word church, we are speaking of the church local and of the church universal, all such churches as they are scattered throughout the earth.

5:33 And then I sought to demonstrate in the second place that God has indeed assigned a unique place to the church in his reign. Not an exclusive place. God uses other agencies and institutions to accomplish His redemptive purposes, but He has given a unique place to the church.

6:00 And we therefore looked at seven pivotal texts, all of which together underscore this simple reality that God has assigned to the church a unique place in the purposes of redemption. Then in our last study, several weeks ago, we began to take up in the third place, having defined the church, demonstrated its unique place in the purpose of God in redemption. Some of the plain manifestations of this determination. It's easy to say, we're determined. All you need is a loud voice to say it. We're determined.

6:42 But are there really concrete, plain manifestations of this determination? Well, we began to consider some of the plain manifestations of our determination that our life and ministry will confirm without question. The unique place assigned to the church. And we dealt with only one such manifestation, and it's what I called our theology and practice of the Christian life.

7:11 And in opening up that theme, I set before you the doctrine and practice of the Christian life as found in the New Testament is both Christ-centered and church-based. And we have sought under God to have a theology and practice of the Christian life, that is, the doctrine and practice of the Christian life. That is Christ-centered and church-based. We do not go on from Christ after entering through the door of conversion into union with Christ.

7:43 We don't go from Christ to something else. But as we've received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him. But to be Christ-centered in a biblical way in the Christian life is also to be church-based. The Bible knows nothing of Christ-centered freelance Christian experience.

8:09 It only knows Christ-centered church-based. For Christ Himself has built and is building His church, has constituted His church, His body. He has constituted His church, His life. He has constituted His living temple.

8:25 He has deposited manifold means of grace within His church. And any theology and practice of the Christian life that is not both Christ-centered and church-based is unbiblical. I did not say it may be heretical, but it is certainly unbiblical and erroneous.

8:47 Now I don't know how far we'll go today. And so I will not say how many further.

8:54 Plain. Clear. Manifestations of this determination I'll touch upon. I'll keep an eye upon the clock and cover as many as I'm able to.

The Second Manifestation: Church-Based Evangelism and Missions Introduced

9:03 But the second plain manifestation of this determination that has marked us from our inception and has increasingly marked our life together is to be found in our efforts to maintain a Christ-centered church-based theology and practice of evangelism. Our efforts to maintain a Christ-centered church-based theology and practice of evangelism and missions

9:40 is another plain manifestation of our commitment to confirm the unique place given to the church in the redemptive purposes of God. Now let me first of all explain my use of the words evangelism and mission. I'm not using them technically, but I'm using them as they are used in a popular sense among most of God's people. And the best way I know to explain that use is to take as a reference point Acts 1.8.

10:14 There our Lord said to the group upon whom the Spirit was to come, Ye shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And generally speaking, when people use the word evangelism, they are referring to efforts to bring the gospel to those in our more immediate geographical and cultural setting. And we generally think of evangelism as the local church in a given area seeking to bring the gospel to its own Jerusalem and Judea.

10:58 And we generally think of evangelism as the local church in a given area seeking to bring the gospel to its own Jerusalem and Judea. And we generally think of evangelism as the local church in a given area seeking to bring the gospel to its own Jerusalem and Judea. That is, bringing the gospel into a geographical, cultural, and often linguistic framework in which we do not need to leap over any cultural or linguistic or vast geographical barriers. And for the most part then, when a local church is evangelizing, spreading the gospel, seeking to bring the message of God's saving mercy in the person and work of Christ, coupled with the summons to repent and to believe to its immediate setting, we call that evangelism.

11:36 But when the church begins to make concrete endeavors to take the gospel to its Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, beginning to cross cultural and religious and even linguistic barriers, we generally call that missions or missionary endeavor. Now, I am not here to justify that distinction. To defend it, I am only explaining it as it is used and as I am using it today. Alright?

The Content of Their Evangelism: Christ Crucified

12:05 So that is what I mean by those terms. And I am stating, under this fourth head of the manifesto, that our efforts to maintain a Christ-centered, church-based theology and practice of evangelism and missions is a plain manifestation of our determination that we shall confirm the unique place assigned to the church in the purpose of God. Now, having explained my use of the words, I then ask, what is at the heart of our evangelistic and missionary endeavors, as weak as they may be? And as brethren yesterday morning even wept before God

12:49 for our lack of compassion to the lost, and poured out their hearts pleading that we would be given greater compassion, and greater zeal, as pathetic, as shameful in some senses as our efforts may have been, such as they have been, what has been at the heart of our evangelistic and missionary endeavors? Well, has it not been a determination to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the only hope of sinners? Can we not say, in spite of the feebleness of our efforts, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 and following,

13:33 I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him as crucified. Can we not say with the apostle in the language of 1 Corinthians 15, 1 and following, I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed in vain?

14:13 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and that He hath been raised, on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared. Surely our efforts in evangelism, reaching our own Jerusalem and Judea, our efforts in missions, reaching out to the Samarias and the uttermost parts of the earth, surely at the heart of it has been our commitment to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen,

14:58 as the only hope of sinners, to say with Peter in Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Furthermore, have we not joined to that proclamation, whether in the form of gospel tracts, tapes, door to door evangelism, or in thinking of missionary endeavor, in terms of Bible studies, in terms of literature and radio, in all of these means? Have we not joined to the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified, the divine summons to all who hear

15:43 that message to stack arms, to repent and to believe the gospel? Could we not say, as did the apostle to the Ephesian elders, that the heart of our proclamation, has been this, Acts 20.21, I kept back nothing that was profitable, but declared publicly and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord, Jesus Christ. Have we not summoned men to repent?

16:19 We have not preached, either by tracts or by words, preached either by tracts or radio, or books or Bible studies, or in living preaching, or in door to door visitation, or in visiting in the hospitals and in the prisons, ministering at the rest homes. We have not preached, Christ crucified, now just tip your hat to Jesus. We have preached Christ crucified and on the basis of what God did in judging human sin, in the person of the Redeemer, we have summoned men to repent, with reference to God, to turn away from their life of rebellion,

17:02 to turn away from their indifference to the law of God, and to the claims of God, and to fellowship with God. We've commanded men in the name of the God of heaven, to repent. And we have urged them to believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not even use that unbiblical terminology, to accept Jesus as personal Savior, never found in the Bible.

17:30 We tell men, believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Throw the weight of your soul upon one who is enthroned in majesty and glory at the right hand of the Father. The one who by Mary's womb went to a shameful cross, went to a dark, dank tomb, but came out in power, and is now the Messianic King and Lord upon His throne. And we've told people, throw the weight of your soul upon an enthroned sovereign.

18:06 He is Jesus, Jehovah our Savior, given that name at His conception, for He would save His people from their sins. He is Christ, the Anointed One, God's final and glorious Prophet to teach us, Priest to forgive us, King to rule over us, has not this been our message? Christ-centered proclamation, Christ crucified, the summons to repent and to believe, and even further, has it not been a setting forth of the living Christ Himself, calling to sinners in the Gospel, entreating sinners in the Gospel,

18:48 promising that He is willing and able and ready to receive every coming sinner. How many times have the words been quoted in this place and in gymnasiums and auditoriums in which we've met through the years? Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.

19:21 We've not invited men to walk an aisle, raise a hand, go into a room. We've said the living Christ is before them in the Gospel, inviting them to Himself. And that in the Gospel nothing stands between the sinner and the nakedness of his need, and the Savior and the plenitude of His grace and saving power. All that the Father giveth Me, said Jesus, shall come to Me, and him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out.

19:52 This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. Now I believe any of you who have any acquaintance with what we've been and what we are and what we've preached will affirm in your conscience that indeed that's been the heart of our evangelistic and missionary endeavor as far as our message. It has not been a man-centered effort to get decisions for Christ.

20:22 It has not been an issue-centered effort to get people involved for Christ. It has not been an institution-centered effort to enlarge an organization for Christ. It's been a Christ-centered endeavor to proclaim Christ and Him crucified, to summon men to repent and to believe, and to set before them the Savior in all the plenitude of His saving virtue and power, in all the willingness of His large and unique power, yearning heart and urging men to flee to Him. That's exactly what we tell every sinner in this place this morning.

21:02 In Christ alone there is salvation. And in the light of what He's done, Almighty God commands you to repent and to believe. And the Savior Himself invites you to embrace Him, to throw the weight of your guilty soul upon Him in the promise that He will receive you. But, but, our efforts are not only Christ-centered in evangelism and missions.

The Church-Based Nature: Where Witnesses Are Equipped

21:31 They have been and are, and we are determined that they shall continue to be church-based. And you see, a lot of people, not everyone, but a lot of people have no problem with what I've just finished saying. Christ-centered evangelism and missions. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.

21:53 No hope but Christ and Him crucified. No message but Christ died, was buried and raised, and God summons men to repent and to believe. And the living Savior in the gospel Himself comes to men and invites them to Himself. They say amen, amen, amen.

22:10 And then they go out and form their own organization to proclaim that message. And they go out and form their own structures to get that message out. No, no. We are determined in our evangelism and missions to demonstrate the plain confirmation of this great truth that God has given to the church, a unique place in the purposes of redemption.

22:38 And so I ask these questions. Where are the people of God equipped and made ready to witness of Christ and made sufficiently like Christ to give credibility to their witness? Where has God been? Where has God ordained to bring Christians to a place of sufficient maturation to give a credible, intelligent witness for Christ?

23:05 It's in the church. It's in the church. For we read in Ephesians chapter 4 that it's in the context of the life and ministry of the church to which Christ gives these gifts of ministry. It's in that context that the saints are perfected unto the work of service, unto the building up of the body of Christ.

23:31 It is in the church that the saints are equipped for the work of service, even this work of evangelism and in some cases of missions. If it is incumbent upon all the people of God to do what Peter says in 1 Peter 3.15, sanctify Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, where does a child of God get armed with the knowledge of the truth of God that he can give a reasoned statement of his faith?

24:15 It is in the context of the life of the church. I ask again, where are people made the kind of witnesses Paul describes in Philippians 2 and verse 15 and 16? You may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. He does not envision anybody holding forth the word of life who is not first of all seen as light.

24:54 This idea that people with sloppy lives oozing with the world and carnality can be gathered into a seminar and taught ten little gimmicks to become effective witnesses is utterly unfounded in the Scriptures. He says you must become children of God without blemish, seen as lights, holding forth the word of life. And where does God carry on that work that rubs off our rough edges and exposes our sins and our blemishes and brings us to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness? Well, you say in my personal devotions, yes, thank God for personal devotions.

25:37 In family worship, yes. By other means, yes, but supremely He has ordained to do it in the fellowship of His church. These letters were written to churches, to congregations of the people of God and where then are the people of God equipped and made ready to be witnesses unto Christ both in their Jerusalem, Judea, and their Samarias and the uttermost part of the earth? It's in the church and therefore our evangelistic and mission endeavors must not only be Christ-centered but church-based.

Where Sinners Are Brought to Faith: The Evangelistic Power of the Gathered Church

26:13 Where are those awakened by the witness of the people of God most likely to be brought to faith? But as they come and see the new humanity and its corporate expression, in the church. And as they hear the word preached by the servants of God in the special presence of God on God's special day, where are sinners more likely to be brought to faith than in the company of the new humanity beholding their love one for another as Jesus said, validating the message by their corporate life and in the light of 1 Corinthians 14 under the proclamation of the word in the power of the Spirit

26:56 the thoughts of the heart of the sinner are laid bare and he falling down will cry out God is of the truth among you. If God is ordained by the foolishness of the thing preached to say then that believe. And if faith comes of hearing and hearing by the word of God where is it more likely that sinners will come to faith than in the context of the preaching of the word of God on God's special day in the special presence that is vouchsafed to his gathered people. It's a tragedy that in our day people have bought into this notion.

27:33 No, no, no. The saints are to go out and get decisions and then you bring the people you've decision into the church and they've set up a dichotomy between the vigorous, aggressive, bold, loving, knowledgeable witness of the ordinary church member and the proclamation of the word by the servants of God in the house of God on the day of God. We have never recognized that dichotomy. We've urged you to seize every bridge of contact with the unconverted at work, in your neighborhood, your children, relatives.

28:07 Pump into them books and tapes and witness of God's saving change in your own life. But all the while you're doing it make every effort to drag them out here on the Lord's day and get them under preaching. Why? It's not because you believe a person can't be saved unless he's in a building.

The Real Test of Faith: Incorporation into the Church

28:24 No, you've not had that superstitious notion. But it's because you've recognized the church-based nature of this work of evangelism and this work of proclaiming Christ. Furthermore, what is the real test of the faith a person professes but incorporation into the life of the church? You read through the book of Acts and it's very interesting.

28:49 When someone is said, to declare his faith in Christ that becomes synonymous with being incorporated into the church of Christ. Now I know some of you don't like me saying that but I have to say it and unless God comes back and rewrites his word I'll continue to say it as long as I believe and preach what's in this book. The day of Pentecost, Peter's preaching and men are stricken in the heart. Not when they hear everyone speaking in real tongues.

29:19 They had real tongues but it wasn't the real tongues that caused them to be cut to the heart. That just caused them to raise questions. Some of them thought they were drunk. Some thought they were crazy and Peter stood up and he began to preach.

29:30 It was the preaching God used for their conversion. Not the tongues. Not the rushing mighty wind. Not the cloven tongues of fire.

29:37 It wasn't physical phenomena that were the instrument of their conversion. It was Peter's preaching and when he preached what happened? They were pricked in the heart. Verse 37 of Acts 2 and cried out, what shall we do?

29:50 What did Peter say? Go on home and seek the Lord and when you are saved rejoice. He said no. Repent and be baptized.

29:59 Repent and if your repentance is real declare it in the open confession ordained of Jesus Christ in baptism. Repent every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins and it is not their baptism that brings remission. It is repentance in faith but real repentance and real faith that will be declared in baptism. The virtues in Christ you get to Christ in repentance and faith or I should say in a penitent faith.

30:35 We are never said to be justified by faith by repentance but justified by faith but it is always a penitent faith that brings us into union with Christ and in the virtue of His cross and His resurrection forgiveness of sins but Peter is not talking about notional repentance and notional faith so he gives them the whole nine yards repent and be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to you to your children to all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him and he didn't stop his sermon there with many other words he testified and exhorted saying save yourselves from this crooked generation then they that received His word went home rejoicing and told everyone they had received the word and were saved

31:20 that isn't what it says they that received His word were baptized and they were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls and they continued steadfastly in personal devotions well I hope they did I'm sure many of them did but that isn't what it says it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and the prayers and the Holy Ghost places the emphasis upon their incorporation into the visible church I didn't write it the Roman Catholic Church didn't rewrite it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it God the Holy Spirit did not write it but the Holy Ghost

32:04 moved Luke to write it and as we read on how do we know that these people received the Spirit no indication that they spoke in tongues heard a rushing mighty wind He simply describes their corporate life verse 44 and all that believed were together and had all things common all living sold their possessions in good parted to all as any man had need and day by day continuing steadfastly That isn't where the Holy Ghost puts the emphasis. Continued steadfastly with one accord in the temple. Breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them, day by day, such as should be saved.

32:50 All who were being saved were being incorporated into the church. I say, some of you don't like that. You know why? You're so crassly independent.

32:58 You say, what I do with God is my business. Well, I'm afraid God didn't structure things that way.

33:07 You see, God says if He's had genuine dealings with you, you're to declare the validity and the reality of those dealings by being prepared to be incorporated into His visible church.

33:22 And as one reads through the book of Acts, that emphasis comes through again and again and again. Chapter 4 and verse 4, But many of them that heard, the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000.

33:40 They even had a church roll so they could count. From 3,000 now, the visible church grew to 5,000 men. And all the way through the book of Acts, we see that emphasis. The real test of professed faith was incorporation into the life and ministry of the church.

34:02 When John wants to describe, men falling away from the faith, he says they fall away from the church. They went out from us, but they were not all of us. They went out from us, that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. When two hypocrites got in,

34:21 they were in the visible church. God said they didn't have the root of the matter in, so He killed them to take them out. And they carried them out, wound up in a sheet and buried them, Ananias and Sapphira.

34:31 That's an anomaly, to be in the visible church and not to be joined to Christ. But it's a gross anomaly to claim to be united to Christ and not to be in the visible church.

34:47 And therefore, in our evangelism,

34:50 we've measured the success of our efforts by incorporation into the church. And in our missionary endeavors, we've measured the success of our efforts in terms of fruit that we can visibly see in terms of the planting, establishment, and growth. Because that's exactly how it's evangelized. It's evaluated in the book of Acts.

35:14 The churches grew and were strengthened. Disciples were multiplied. This is the language the Holy Ghost uses. And then I ask a fourth question.

From Whom Preachers Are Sent: The Apostolic Pattern

35:26 Where is it that men are molded, proven, and recognized, and sent forth to be preachers of the gospel at home and abroad? Well, again, the Word of God is clear. Even a man who got saved by direct revelation from heaven, when it's time to be sent forth on his missionary journey, where do we find him? Acts 13.

35:45 Now there were at Antioch even the church that was there. Prophets and teachers, and then they're named. And in the context of the church, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I call them. Paul, with his great mind and with his tremendous organizational ability and all the other plesios and all the other gifts with which he was endowed naturally and by the grace of the Spirit, he could have concocted a mass evangelistic and missionary organization of his own, but he never once attempted it.

36:30 No sooner does he get converted and give his testimony and preach a little bit, but he goes down to Jerusalem and the first thing he attempts to do, according to Acts 9, is to become a church member. Remember, when he was come to Jerusalem, Acts 9.26, he attempted to, join himself to the disciples and they were all afraid of him not believing he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared how he'd seen the Lord in the way and how he'd spoken to him and how at Damascus he'd preached boldly and he was with them going in and going out at Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

37:08 Church-based evangelism in Jerusalem even by a man who got saved by direct revelation from heaven.

37:16 Now what are you going to do with those passages, dear folks? That's the Word of God. That's apostolic practice. You say, but that doesn't fit.

37:24 Well, I don't care if it doesn't fit you more.

37:28 Let God be true and every man a liar.

37:31 We must bring our practice into line with the Word of God. So we've asked the questions, where are the people of God equipped and made ready to be witnesses to Christ with a life that validates the witness? In the church, where are those awakened by that witness most likely to be brought to faith? But in the life and ministry of the church.

37:53 What is the real test of professed faith but incorporation into the life and ministry of the church? Where is it that men are molded, proven and recognized and sent forth but from the church? We could have added to that Acts 16 the testimony concerning Paul's companion Timothy. Why did he choose him?

38:13 It says because he was well reported of the brethren. He proved himself in the church. And among, the churches. And I ask a fifth question.

The Non-Negotiable Apostolic Goal: Established Churches, and Thornwell's Principle

38:24 What was the non-negotiable goal of apostolic preaching but the seeing of churches established and brought to stability? That was their non-negotiable goal. Look at Acts chapter 14, 21-23. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them, to continue in the faith and that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

38:57 And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, didn't have just little fellowship groups all over the place and say now that you're saved and you're on your way to heaven, our job is done. No! They became churches, but not merely churches. The apostles nurtured them until they became strong churches with their own residents, spiritual guides and leaders and teachers.

39:22 They appointed elders, leaders in every city. And when they had prayed with fasting and commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed, this was their universal goal that they would see churches established and brought to stability. And dear people, our efforts over the years as pathetic and poor and in many ways shamefully weak as they have been, our consciences are at rest that they have been both Christ's, Christ-centered and church-based. And by the grace of God, they're going to remain that way as long as we're in contact with this book and the Lord of this book

40:04 has a hold of our hearts. We have refused all the invitations to join the evangelical churches in bringing in the big-name gospel rock star. If I showed you the literature that comes across my desk, some of you would vomit. I've spared you showing, even showing it to you.

40:29 Get your young people out to hear the gospel. So and so, gospel group, and there's someone that looks surprisingly like some half stoned, whirling with hair all over the place or a gal looking like a sexpot. You're told to bring your young people and they'll sneak in the gospel while they're there banging their feet and blowing their minds on multi-decibel junk music. All in the name of evangelism!

41:03 The Billy Graham juggernaut is coming into our area. Hardly a week passes but when I don't get some information of some big evangelistic endeavor being held by this group and that group and this specialist, and we say no! We will not defile the noble task by giving it over to so-called rock groups and gospel puppeteers. And I got one the other day.

41:29 I got one the other day from a man in the area offering his services to do gospel magic, but then he says there is no real magic, but it shows him pulling a bunny out of the hat and he calls it evangelism. We've refused to go down the route of the end justifies the means. Sneak in the gospel. No, we've said it must be Christ-centered proclamation!

41:56 Whether one-to-one, whether with a tract, whether with a booklet, whether with a tape, a radio broadcast, bring them under preaching. Christ-centered preaching is God's means of evangelizing. And what have we sent out to the ends of the earth? The idea current in many places is you've got a guy who feels he's called of God and loves souls and he's got a spirit of sacrifice but can't preach himself out of a paper bag, send him to the mission field.

42:26 No, no. We've sent preachers! Men who can preach! And men who are determined to preach Christ and Him crucified.

42:36 Men determined to call sinners to repent and to believe! Men committed to seeing churches established and made strong that they may be the ongoing monument of the grace and power of Christ. We have refused to channel our endeavors by man-made structures and mission boards. We came to the conviction expressed eloquently, defended, I think unanswerably, by the great Southern preacher and theologian by the name of Thornwell.

43:16 When he stood in his own day, when the Presbyterian church was saying, well, the church ought to do the work of evangelism and in particular missions, but the church does not have the wherewithal to do that work! And they were setting up independent boards to do the work of missions and Thornwell reared back on his hind legs and with all of the burning passion of a prophetic conviction and insight, he thundered out in the debates in the Presbyterian church, the church is equipped to do all her Lord has commanded her to do. And if she cannot do it, either her Lord has not commanded her or it isn't his time to do it.

44:00 But we are not at liberty to create new institutions. And there the man stood. And when you read the 200 pages, and I've read it several times, it's thrilling. And the answer would come from Hodge that was pragmatic.

44:15 And old Thornwell would come right back to the issue and he'd catch it by the throat and he wouldn't let it go. Is the church made competent by her Lord to do what her Lord commands her? Yenne! Smoke would come up, smoke would come up, blow it aside, grab the issue by the neck and say, is the church able to do what Christ has told her to do?

44:38 There's the issue! And folks, that's the issue that is burned in our spiritual gut. Is the church mandated to take the gospel to the ends of the earth? If she is, then Christ will give her the grace to do what he commands her to do.

45:01 And so we have committed ourselves to a Christ-centered, church-based theology and practice, not only of the Christian life, but of evangelism and of missions. I had two other points, but I'm not even going to touch them this morning. I'm going to stop right there. But I want to make several applications, because I had some applications thinking I might not get any further than that.

45:32 And this stuff is so crucial, folks, that I'm determined not to run through it. I'm determined that under God, if the next generation moves from this vision, that I'll not be held chargeable before God for failure to articulate it clearly. As you sit here this morning, do you understand the distinctions I've been making from the Word of God between that which is church-based and that which is a man-made institution and structure? We do not question, I've not in any way questioned the motives of the men who make the structures.

46:08 I haven't even questioned the motives of those who want me to pass on to those who work with our young people the invitations to come and hear so-called gospel rock, groups to evangelize them. I'm not questioning the motives of Mr. Graham and his associates. I haven't begun to question them through his own Lord.

46:29 A servant's stands are false, but I do have a right to evaluate what they would press upon me as my duty in guiding you as God's people. I do have a right, and my fellow elders have a right, and we are exercising that right and that responsibility. Do you see? That this is not a matter of simply playing games with words.

46:59 For you see, if we establish a structure of any kind to do the work of evangelism and missions, and Christ has not instituted that structure, how in the world can we pray for His blessing upon our own invention? It's like making your own God and asking God to bless the creation of your hands. Why can we approach each Lord's Day, individually and corporately, and many of you and your families, and in our prayer meetings, and in our elders' meetings when we pray each Thursday night, why can we approach the Lord's Day and say, Oh God, in our stated meetings on the Lord's Day, we know that whatever theme is opened up, whatever passage, whatever subject is dealt with,

47:43 Christ will be preached. Oh God, save sinners. Why can we pray that way? Because God says He's ordained by the foolishness of the thing preached to save them that believe.

47:54 Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? And why can we pray for God's blessing upon the labors of those whom we send forth as missionaries?

48:09 Because we are committed to the idea found in the Word of God that they are going forth out of the church with the blessing of the church to proclaim the message of Christ and Him crucified with a view to seeing sinners converted and gathered into churches and made strong through a teaching ministry that they in turn may plant other churches even until the Lord comes again. Oh my friends, may God help us to see those distinctions and be deeply convinced of them. Now that has to do with your view of the church. Now I want to make it personal in my final application.

Personal Application: Does Your Life Confirm the Church's Unique Place?

48:53 This thing will live and burn in our hearts, in our corporate endeavors of evangelism and missions, only so far as it burns in our hearts as a personal conviction that shapes our personal practice and priorities. Now follow me closely. If someone were to judge whether or not the church is unique in the saving purpose of God by watching your life for a month, what would their judgment be? Would they judge from your life, that the church Christ-centered, church-based, I'm sorry, that your Christian life,

49:37 Christ-centered and church-based, would they judge that that was God's way of nurturing life? Would they see you arranging all your priorities around the stated meetings, all of your finances around giving God His portion off the top, even if you've got to wear a threadbare suit and eat beans and hot dogs for six days in a row? Would they judge from the way you handle your finances that you have a Christ-centered, church-based view of the Christian life? Would they judge from the values you're seeking to impart to your children by example and precept that the most important thing under God

50:20 next to knowing the Savior and next to knowing the will of God for their life partner is finding their lives settled in a solid, biblical church to live out their lives to the glory of God and to the advancement of His kingdom? Are you shaping your career priorities in terms of the centrality of the church in the Christian life? Are you? You see, friends, it's easy to talk about these things and get excited about them, but now we've got to ask, if it all depended on me, if everyone else were but the multiplication of my convictions, reaching out and touching the specifics

51:05 and the concrete of how I order my week and how I order my finances and my priorities, would anyone catch from your life that in the will and purpose of God the church was unique in the saving purposes of God? That's the only way the thing will live on for another generation. It won't live on if it's simply the conviction of those who stand in the pulpit and preach and have some people who nod their heads and say yes, until it's visceral, until it is all-consuming in your own life and pack. It's begun to die, and it's only a matter of time before the corpse will stink.

51:48 God's given the task to His church. He's given the task to us. And Jesus has promised, all authority is mine and lo, I'm with you each and every one of the days. And He who is with us has all power in heaven and earth.

52:04 He who is with us is seated at the right hand of the Father. And has promised His grace. May God grant that this church, till the coming of Christ, will continue to give a plain and undeniable affirmation and confirmation of its conviction of the centrality of the church and the purpose of God, not only by our theology and practice of the Christian life, but by our theology and practice of evangelism and missions. Let us pray.