Equipped by Christ — Major Ian Thomas

The Gospel Must Be Preached Where People Are

Acts chapter 5 and we'll pick up the threads where we Laid them down last evening at the close of our evening service. Dr. Gamaliel was right. I am you refrain from these men and Let them alone. If this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught.

But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it lest happily you be found even to fight against God. And our presence here tonight. Nearly two millenniums later. Testifies to the validity of his judgment.

They crucified God raised from the dead. Beaten placed under a total prohibition. Forbidden to speak in his name they departed we're told in verse 41. The council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

First of all in the most obvious place in the temple. The public place of worship. Where many were accustomed to come in a genuine? Sincere desire to find and know God and be instructed. Constantly offered only a stone.

That quite obviously is the first place to preach the gospel. People come who are religiously inclined because they feel a sense of need. For God, that's the best place to go. You could hardly suggest that the temple was a hotbed of conservative fundamental Bible believing evangelicalism.

Wasn't anything like that, but it was a place where people came together. Because they were hungry to find God it would have been quite wrong of course to Suggest that their motivations were altogether malicious and evil and hypocritical.

Religious Zeal Without Knowledge

Appalled to the Romans. He was deeply concerned for these his kith and kin whom he says Had a zeal of God. He had a zeal of God, but was still ignorant of the facts in the temple. And we should recognize Hundreds of thousands of men and women and and boys and girls who are religiously inclined who are not insincere in their desire to serve God, but are pathetically ignorant of the issues that are involved and it's your privilege in mine to go where they are and Enlighten them as To the fantastic provision that God has made for you and for me in the person of his beloved son the Lord Jesus.

There's nowhere in the Bible that says a person can only get converted in an evangelical constituency. I don't find anywhere in the Bible that everybody has to tow the evangelical line first before they're allowed to get saved you see.

This fellowship where we meet together to worship and to pray because we know and love the Savior of course is legitimate right and valid. Hmm, but the Word of God the command the commission that God has given to us is to go out To the world and preach the gospel.

We're not told to go and tell the world to come to church. The church is told to go and tell the world and very wisely. They went to where the world was in the temple the public place of worship. But in addition to that We're told that in every house Daily they cease not to teach and to preach that Jesus was the Christ.

Teaching and Preaching in Public and House to House

Added to their public ministry where they would reasonably suppose that people would come together to be instructed. Was their personal testimony home to home face to face man to man house to house sharing the tremendous things of their Once crucified now risen and Exalted Lord.

They cease not to teach and to preach that Jesus was the Christ and we haven't recognized. Of course the difference between the two. Teaching isn't the same as preaching and preaching isn't the same as teaching.

We're called to gone we're called upon to do both. You see teaching is an intelligent declaration of the facts. It's it's Laying before people the proposition. That's teaching making sure that they're intelligently aware of the provision that God has made and to the nature of their need.

For which that provision has been made. That's teaching. And it takes time. It may take weeks or months or years To lay the foundations upon which that moment of truth will come that will precipitate a spiritual Resurrection and let God loose in the humanity of a forgiven sinner and we've got to give God time.

Giving God Time to Bring Conviction and New Birth

Time is always on his side. We're always in such a holy unholy hurry. You see to make quite sure that somebody's impressed with the effectiveness of our ministry give God time. Plant the seed and allow the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the truth convict of sin and bring it to germination.

I Within a matter of 20 minutes or 30 minutes would come to know enough of the gospel to make an intelligent Moral choice and accepting Christ as Redeemer. It's possible. It could happen. But remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.

Although it was climactic in the in the way in which it happened Was the ultimate climax of a long period of time in which he had come under deep conviction of sin. The Lord Jesus described it as kicking against the pricks Trying to fight it off and then finally in the presence of his marvelous Lord he capitulate.

This to me is what makes the preaching of the gospel. So Fantastically exciting because you see you preach the word you you plan to see you lodge a time bomb and It just goes tick just for so long until suddenly under the mighty impulse of God In the regeneration of some precious soul boy girl man a woman.

Now you may be around when it goes bang or you may not but it doesn't matter too much. Doesn't matter a bit. So long as the end product is a healthy birth that Reconciliation with God that is the inevitable consequence of a genuine Repentance that derives from deep conviction and that faith in Jesus Christ That lets him move redemptively in the human experience.

A Danish Communist and the Seed of the Gospel

One of our torchbearer leaders up in Denmark Was at one time the youth in structure in the youth wing of the Communist Party of Denmark and He was unusually gifted. Of course, he'd thoroughly imbibed the philosophies of dialectic materialism.

He knew the all the answers to the normal thrust of Religion and When some young students from the University of Copenhagen witness to him of the Lord Jesus Christ He he very easily just tied them up in knots a few awkward questions hit them beneath the belt and they retreated in some confusion and Felt horribly embarrassed.

They felt that they had made an awful bundle of it, but they hadn't. Because they'd very faithfully testified to the person of the Lord Jesus and planted the seed and the Holy Spirit bore witness to that.

He didn't sleep that night. Point of fact, he didn't sleep for three months well now He ridiculed them. He just laughed them out of house and home. He just tied them up into little knots asked all kinds of questions that did nothing but embarrass them and he went off probably feeling thoroughly cocky.

But what does it matter what does it matter what a man says to your face if he can't sleep for three months. They didn't toss and turn. Very first time I ever went to Denmark. I got the ferry from northern Germany landed drove up to Copenhagen and a student conference was taking place over that weekend about 40 months 40 miles from the city and I Didn't know any of the folk there.

I'd never been there before. I wasn't speaking that evening. I arrived somewhat late just in time for that evening meeting the opening session and I I noticed this young fellow Hans Johan Torhalen was his name and I didn't speak to him, but somehow made a mental note next morning after I'd spoken I went up to him said you're Christian.

He said no, I'm not. Would you like to be he said maybe I would. He was converted within an hour. Now I had very little to do with that. All I had to do then of course was to tell him exactly how a person may be reconciled to God have his sins Forgiven and become the recipient of the Holy Spirit and begin an entirely new life by virtue of the fact that Jesus Christ as God Had come to inhabit his humanity.

He was in our Bible school. It was our joy to Sponsor him through his further training. He's now got a wife and about ten children. I can't remember how many he's got but he's gone a whole lot of them.

But what had happened. Well, you see some students had planted the seed and the Holy Spirit had borne witness to it and suddenly at Germany. My part in the process was very small. I was just at the end product of that process.

Great. Just before he came to that weekend He went to the Communist Party headquarters in Copenhagen. He as we walked past it one time he showed me exactly where it was and he went in there. He'd struck my name off the rolls.

I'm finished with comments hadn't been converted. But I'm in pretty sleepless. And that's all that really matter now. This is exciting. Always give God time. Teach teach teach teach. Keep exposing people to the facts.

The Spirit, Not Human Power, Gives Spiritual Life

It's it's you see. Not by might it's not by power. It's by my spirit said the Lord you see the natural man Receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness under him. Neither. Can you know them?

You'll never argue a person the king of heaven. You'll never convince them purely intellectually to become a Christian. You can teach them that way to embrace the Christian religion, but it won't make them Christians.

You can make them a member of a religious club, but there won't be any spiritual resurrection. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness on neither. Can you know them?

They're spiritually discerned and By nature were spiritually dead. So there's got to be that awakening of the soul that will bring about ultimately that conviction of sin that will turn to repentance toward God and finally Reveal itself in faith in Jesus Christ.

Then the Holy Spirit moves in and Gives that revelation in the moment of truth, and you wouldn't know that person the next day. They've been reborn. And that's exciting. So keep exposing people to teach but and preach.

Teaching Must Lead to Faith and Obedience

In other words when you've taught exhort to mix with faith. The word that has been proclaimed teaching is an intelligent declaration of the facts. Preaching is an Exhortation to mix those facts with faith.

In other words when you've taught a person the truth when you've exposed them to the provision that God has made. Make it abundantly clear to them that everything that they have come to know and everything indeed that they may now have come to believe.

Won't profit. Won't profit unless they actually mix it With faith. In other words it isn't enough to be instructed. It isn't enough to be schooled. It isn't enough to give an academic nod or a mental consent.

There's got to be that obedience to the gospel. That yields in genuine repentance toward God admitting yourself to be the sinner that you are. That faith in Jesus Christ that embraces him for the Savior that he is.

Teach and preach. They cease not to teach and to preach. That Jesus was the Christ. If you teach without preaching you just leave people academically schooled. But spiritually bankrupt of course. If you preach without teaching you don't produce men of faith.

You produce men of froth. If you preach without teaching you may solicit some response, but it won't be a response to Christ. It'll be a response to you. They may answer your invitation, but they won't have an intelligent idea as to what it's all about.

They may be wildly enthusiastic and jump on the bandwagon. But they won't be saved. Because they won't know enough. Teach and preach teach and preach and that tech let God take the consequences and he will and.

And all you will be then will be a spectator and There'll be only one person to congratulate. The one who does the job and that's Christ Himself the quickening spirit who raises the dead all right. Now we've introduced ourselves as I indicated yesterday to these early believers and it's quite a an exciting record but for our encouragement indicated last evening would take another look at the same people, but in a different context and Recognize that they weren't always of this ilk.

They went by nature of this caliber. They had to take place in their experience that revolutionary change. That derives from a spiritual encounter with a risen living law. There is something infinitely more than just a sentimental attachment there's something a million times more than just the crest of some emotional way or some heroic dedication to a call.

Peter’s Confession and the Need for Divine Revelation

No, it's that. It's that spiritual relationship. About which we began to talk on Sunday morning. I can't see him, but I know him. I Can't touch him, but I feel him. I Can't even hear him, but he talks to me.

And that's a mystery. It's such a mystery. That it baffled these disciples for three solid years until at the climax on That lonely hill outside a city wall they fled. Like a flock of sheep when the shepherd was smitten utterly dismayed in Confusion, let's turn then to the 16th chapter of Matthew's gospel.

Matthew chapter 16 same men. 13th verse. Matthew 16. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi He asked his disciples saying who do men say that I the son of man am. I'm perfectly convinced that the Lord Jesus had a marvelous sense of humor.

Because as our creator he gave us one and I don't see why he shouldn't have a sense of humor if he's given us one. And I'm quite sure that when intended have heaps of fun never flippant never familiar in his presence.

But I'm absolutely convinced that God enjoys a good joke. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made some of you. Or me. And I imagine that they had heaps of fun when he was with his disciples and in so many words I think the Lord Jesus was the latest.

What's the latest? Because every kind of quaint idea was on the market about the person of the Lord Jesus as indeed still today. Somebody said well, you'll never believe this. Some say that you're John the Baptist, you know the man who had his head cut off.

They say you've had your head put on again and you're back in town. They probably had a good chuckle about that. Then somebody said there are others who think you're Elijah, you know, the one who was caught up in a chariot of fire.

When he said farewell to Elisha and they say you've been in orbit all these centuries, but you've landed you're back in circulation. And they probably had another chuckle about that. Then some said no these say you're that prophet and some say you're this prophet.

Then said the Lord Jesus in verse 15, but whom say ye that I am. And Simon Peter answered and said thou the Christ the son of the Living God. Was he right? Oh Yes. Absolutely, right said the Lord Jesus.

Blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah. For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven. This is a divine revelation. Was he right? Yes. Absolutely, right. Did he know what he was talking about?

No. Hadn't got a clue. Not a clue what he said was right. But he hadn't a clue what he was talking about. Strange, but we do the same today if you've been perhaps brought up in a Christian family with dedicated parents.

Worshipping in a Christian community that is true and faithful to the Word of God with a deep love and sincere concern for the Lord Jesus and his kingdom you probably learned all the language of the evangelical faith and Learn to put it in its right place as we discussed the other day, but that doesn't mean you know what you're talking about.

You can talk about conversion redemption salvation new birth Jesus living in my heart Trusting God with my soul. Well, that's all good language. But what does the language mean? Jesus is the Christ son of the Living God.

What does that mean? It's absolutely true. But the fact that I've learned the language doesn't qualify me To be his disciple or to be commissioned to the task. That's why in spite of that revelation After which you might well have imagined the disciples were now highly qualified to go out into the highways and the byways and from the very Rooftops shout aloud and publish the fact abroad that Jesus the Christ Had come son of the Living God in the 20th verse.

We read that the Lord Jesus from that moment charged his disciples That they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Doesn't that strike you as a little strange in the Amplified New Testament rendered rather more accurately from the original he sternly and Strictly charged and warned the disciples to tell no one That he was Jesus the Christ.

The Difference Between Knowing Christ’s Identity and His Mission

They were placed under a stern and strict Prohibition. Strange that the Lord Jesus should gather to himself a dozen men Named to be Apostles and others who appeared equally dedicated to his cause and Having discovered who he was and Finally having made it articulate Thou art the Christ son of the Living God.

He immediately places this ban sternly strictly Commanding them and warming them under no circumstances to tell anybody anywhere that he Jesus is the Christ. Why do you imagine the Lord Jesus placed this prohibition upon his disciples?

Well, there's no real mystery to it. You see it was one thing to say Jesus the Christ son of the Living God another Quite another thing to understand the purpose which he as the Christ had come into the world.

It was one thing to affirm that he was the Messiah, but quite another thing to understand the messianic mission. And at this stage you see their understanding. They hadn't a clue. I Don't mean that they didn't love Jesus Christ.

They did. I don't mean that they weren't sentimentally attached to him. They were. I don't mean that they were not prepared for sacrifice. They'd left their homes and their families. They'd quit their jobs.

I don't mean they weren't prepared to hit the road and Identify them themselves publicly with him as his disciples. I Don't challenge their loyalty. But none of that you see is a substitute for that understanding of the truth from which derives Exclusively that disposition toward the Lord Jesus Bible calls faith that allows him to accomplish in their lives That purpose which as God he came incarnate into this world and at this stage at this stage.

In spite of their enthusiasm in spite of their sentimental attachment in spite of their dedication to the task. In spite of their willingness to follow him. They hadn't a clue what it was all about. They were Jesus people.

They'd have been covered with stickers if they'd lived around today. But they knew just about as much of what it was all about as many do today. Who are covered with stickers? No challenge to their sincerity dedicated to the last inch.

Except they're not quite sure to what they're Dedicated except Jesus superstar and He never came to be there. He came to be the Lamb of God That taketh away the sin of the world. Who would rise again from the dead to be given a name which is above everything?

That it is name every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ Jesus the Christ son of the Living God Is Lord now they hadn't a clue not a clue. So here they were Apostles with no apostolic mission.

Here they were evangelists with no message missionaries with no field. Preachers with no sermon. Because you see at this stage such was their ignorance of the issues involved. That they never could have gone out in the name of Christ and talk sense.

And so the Lord Jesus very wisely said if you can't talk sense don't talk. Otherwise you'll talk nonsense and you see though you may talk nonsense with the best will in the world and with the utmost dedication and as an evidence of your loyalty and love Doesn't interest him.

Not a bit. So the Lord Jesus wasn't in a hurry. To precipitate these people into an activity for which as yet they were abysmally unqualified. Now you might think that's a little tough on the disciples, but read the next verse.

Jesus Explains the Cross and Resurrection

Verse 21 from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and Be raised again the third day.

He gave them a panoramic preview of the messianic purpose. He said I'm going to the city of Jerusalem there. I'll be delivered into the hands of wicked men. I'll be done to death, but he said I got good news for you the third morning.

I will have vanquished sin death hell and the devil himself. I'll be raised and live. But they impressed not a bit. Not a bit. In point of fact if it went so tragic it would be almost funny you look at the next chapter 17 verse 22 and While they abode in Galilee Jesus said to them the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill Him but he said I've got good news.

Don't get alarmed. Don't get worried the third day. He shall be raised again alive next sentence and they were exceeding sorry. Well what they're sorry about that he was going to be raised again from the dead.

No, they didn't believe him. They just didn't believe. Because you at this stage although chosen to be apostles numbered amongst the disciples they neither wanted the cross. Nor did they believe in the resurrection?

None of them. Peter took him we're told in verse 22 of the preceding chapter 16 Peter took him and began to rebuke him. When it says Peter took him literally it means he drew him on one side Away from the others.

So that he could have a little counsel with him. He didn't want as it were to embarrass the Lord Jesus in the presence of the others. So he he drew him on one side and rebuked him and he said be it far from thee Lord literally pity yourself.

He said this can't happen to you. This won't happen to you. This mustn't happen to you and Furthermore, we're going to make absolutely certain it doesn't happen to you. He didn't want the cross and He didn't believe in the resurrection.

Peter’s Human Sentiment Opposes God’s Redemptive Purpose

Why didn't he want the cross? And why didn't he believe in the resurrection? Because he didn't know enough. He just didn't know enough. He didn't know the nature of his own case. He didn't know The condition that God had sent his son to remedy.

He'd not yet discovered the true nature of sin or its consequences nor of the radical Provision that God had to make for its cure. He was still abysmally ignorant of the issues to be faced in the proclamation of the gospel.

Said the Lord Jesus as he turned to Peter verse 23. Get me behind me Satan. Thou art an offense unto me if this is the only evidence of your dedication your enthusiasm your sentiment your loyalty your love.

It's offensive. It is offensive. Thou saved us not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. You see verse 14 tells us plainly as we just discovered they were not ignorant of what man had to say about Jesus Christ.

But at this stage they were abysmally ignorant of what God had to say about Jesus Christ and that was their problem. Thou art an offense unto me. Now don't misjudge Peter at this issue. What he said he said out of a deep sense of loyalty and love and concern for Jesus Christ, it was pathetically misguided.

But Satan was simply capitalizing upon mere sentiment in his attempt to stand between the Lord Jesus and that purpose for which he was born into this world to lay down his life a ransom for many. You see here was the Son of Man Jesus speaking with the mind of God and there was Peter Destined to become a son of God.

Still speaking with the mind of a man that was the difference the Son of Man speaking with the mind of God as opposed to the son of One time to be son of God speaking still with the mind of a man. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness unto him neither can he know them their spiritually discerned and the whole thing still to Peter was a mystery.

And His sentiment his enthusiasm his dedication his love his verve his activity and all this did not derive from a genuine true repentance. And The Christian life derives from repentance. The genuine Christian life derives from that revelation that only God can give to the human soul of its own inherent bankruptcy the remedy for which first is redemption on the grounds of his atoning death and that spiritual resurrection.

That takes place when the Holy Spirit comes again on the grounds of that redemptive Transaction to take up residence within the human soul and it isn't until a man recognizes that spiritual bankruptcy that demands the redemptive transaction that precipitates the regenerative purpose and is prepared to let the Lord Jesus move Redemptively and regeneratedly into his experience and let God be God that he can never begin to live the Christian life or once more become pleasing to his maker.

And Peter hadn't repented. Because Peter as he constantly evidences and the record that is given to us in the word was still Supremely convinced that he if nobody else was the one who had what it takes.

That's why he was always the first to open his mouth. And that's why he was always the first to put his foot in it. And he had a big enough mouth. For a big enough foot. He's a lovable character because he's like so many of us.

Peter’s Denial and the Discovery of Human Bankruptcy

When finally the Lord Jesus as you will remember in the 14th chapter of Mark warned them of what was going to happen. That he would be crucified as he had told them again and again and yet again and That when he the shepherd was smitten they the sheep would be scattered.

It was Peter who said aha. Aha. You misjudge me. That may be true of this gang. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. But man said Peter man if there's one that you can trust Peter's the name. P E T E R. He said you better write it in your diary and underline it in red and when you're in trouble remember me.

I'll be around. Was he insincere? Said Peter the Lord Jesus though all men forsake you I won't if needs be I'll die for you. And he meant every word of what he said if there'd been an invitation that moment even in the first to the front He'd had both hands up and both eyes open.

He would. Was Christ impressed? Not a bit he said Peter before the cock is crowned twice you will deny me three times. And that made Peter even more furious and vehemently he Reaffirmed that that could never happen.

Then a servant girl came in and he was almost within touching distance of his Savior and Denied him to his faith and a second time. Until finally to add color to his denial for a third time with curses and with oaths like the Galilean fisherman He had been he denied totally repudiate ever having known Jesus Christ.

And Jesus we're told Turn and looked upon. Never said a word the cock Crew and he fled out and wept now. That's the bitterness of self-discovery that's where a man graduates out of his own despair and Finally is prepared to admit his own inherent bankruptcy.

And the man who thought he'd got what it takes Discovered that he was the man who didn't. That's a great discovery to me. Marvelous, you know when the clock Crows for it heralds the dawn of a new day and what a day was to break.

The Resurrection Turns Sentimental Attachment into Spiritual Relationship

So soon now upon Peter and the rest in that transforming discovery that was so completely to revolutionize their lives. For it's quite obvious that something must have happened between Matthew chapter 16 and Acts chapter 5.

Because in Acts chapter 5 at the end of that chapter We read that daily in the temple and from house to house. They cease not to teach and to preach that Jesus was the Christ the very thing that they were strictly Forbidden to do by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16.

Something must have happened and of course something had happened. Something very exciting. They rediscovered the Lord Jesus. They rediscovered the Lord Jesus In the power of his resurrection. So that they no longer simply had a sentimental attachment towards them but a relationship a disposition that made the Christian life a working proposition.

And It's a marvelous thing when you trade your sentimental attachment for a vital spiritual relationship. There are countless countless members of our evangelical Constituencies who are not insincere but have little more than a sentimental attachment to Jesus Christ.

But know nothing of that robust healthy full-blooded Relationship that lets all God loose in terms of their humanity that healthy relationship. That makes every day of the adventure that God intended it to be.

Not just moments on the crest of some emotional wave when they cling to an old rugged crop. And tears trickle down their cheeks. That isn't the Christian life. He died for us that whether we wake or sleep in the body or out of it physically alive or physically dead on earth or In heaven here or there now or then in the body or out of it.

We should live together with him by virtue of that disposition that by his indwelling presence He can reveal through us by what we do and say and are that by our free consent He has reinvaded our souls and captured our personalities so that we become bodies wholly filled and flooded with God himself.

Living members of that living body of which he is the living head and through which today he communicates to the world around us. That life that now he shares with us himself. This was the discovery they had to make.

The Christian Life Depends on Christ’s Indwelling Presence

What basis is it upon which you live your Christian life. A sentimental attachment. So that only at particular moments of religious fervor. Are you conscious of Jesus Christ or God at all? That's why your Christian life.

Staggers from one meeting to another or from one convention to another or from one tape to another all of these can be helpful. There are means of grace. But please don't let your Christian life derive from meetings men preachings tapes.

Because none of them are valid as a substitute for Jesus Christ. Your Christian life if it is to be healthy your Christian life. It is to be genuine. Your Christian life if it is to be virile has got to be a spontaneous expression of the life of the Lord Jesus to whom you maintain a Disposition at all times that allows him as God to be God in action.

Then you've traded your sentiment. For disposition your attachment for relationship. Jesus Christ didn't live for 33 years on earth with a sentimental attachment to his father. It was something infinitely more robust than that.

It was a relationship whereby he could say the father that lives in me. He does the work and without him I can do nothing. That's why I daren't take one single step other than in the disposition toward him of utter dependence on and total obedience to out of my Love for that's why I speak no word make no decision engage in no activity that doesn't find its absolute Exclusive origin in my father who lives in me and by the way as my father sent me.

So send I you.