WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 of the scriptures, I encourage you to open them 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:17.079 to Matthew chapter 10. We're just going to look 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:22.039 at four verses. I told my wife last night, I 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:25.300 said, this is probably in the top three most 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:28.679 difficult studies. Not that this text is hard 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:31.250 to understand. But sometimes, I don't know if 00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:33.409 other preachers go through this. I assume they 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:36.450 do. There are some times you're preparing a sermon 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:38.289 and you're praying and you feel like things just 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:41.609 come and it's effortless. It's almost like there 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:44.289 is something moving you. And there are other 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:47.030 times where I'm fighting for every word that 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:49.509 I write. I mean, it's like every single word. 00:00:49.590 --> 00:00:51.750 I'm like, is that misplaced? This was one of 00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:54.429 those. I'm like, Lord. I mean, even last night, 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:57.729 I'm like, ah, I was moving things around. So 00:00:57.729 --> 00:00:59.969 we'll see. I'm just asking God for his mercy 00:00:59.969 --> 00:01:03.750 this morning. But the text is Matthew 10, verses 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:06.469 1 through 4. I didn't want to go further because 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:09.069 when we cover too much, I feel like I jam -packed 00:01:09.069 --> 00:01:12.370 it in there and I don't do justice to it. But 00:01:12.370 --> 00:01:13.870 I don't know that we actually had enough. So 00:01:13.870 --> 00:01:16.909 let's see this morning. But it says, and when 00:01:16.909 --> 00:01:19.150 he, that is Jesus, had called his 12 disciples 00:01:19.150 --> 00:01:22.560 to him, He gave them power. If you have a newer 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:24.120 version, it says authority. That's the Greek 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.760 word, exousia. He gave them authority over unclean 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.859 spirits to cast them out, to heal all kinds of 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:34.280 sickness and all kinds of disease. Now, the names 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.859 of the 12 apostles are these. First, and he's 00:01:36.859 --> 00:01:38.599 not just saying first, by the way, in the list. 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:40.500 That's obvious because he's saying foremost. 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:42.519 Peter became the leader of the apostolic man. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.359 First, there's Simon, who's called Peter, and 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:49.170 Andrew, his brother. Then you have James, the 00:01:49.170 --> 00:01:53.250 son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. Then you 00:01:53.250 --> 00:01:56.930 have Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew, 00:01:57.010 --> 00:01:59.250 the tax collector, the one who wrote this gospel. 00:02:00.310 --> 00:02:03.010 James, the son of Alphaeus and Labaius, whose 00:02:03.010 --> 00:02:06.590 surname was Thaddeus. Simon, the Canaanite, and 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:10.430 you might have Simon the Zealot. And Judas Iscariot, 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:14.629 who also betrayed him. Let's ask the Lord to 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:19.150 help us this morning. Heavenly Father, Lord, 00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:21.610 we humble ourselves before you, Lord God, and 00:02:21.610 --> 00:02:24.750 it's right to do so. Lord, this is your word. 00:02:25.449 --> 00:02:29.430 Lord God, you have given it to your church so 00:02:29.430 --> 00:02:32.169 that we can be instructed and edified from it. 00:02:33.270 --> 00:02:36.250 Lord, would you help me this morning, Lord? Father, 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:38.289 I desperately desire, Lord, to bring glory to 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:41.229 Christ. Lord, I pray that, Lord, your people 00:02:41.229 --> 00:02:44.069 would be in awe of who he is, Lord. God, that 00:02:44.069 --> 00:02:46.490 we would grow in our appreciation of Christ. 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:50.650 our risen Lord, our living head, all things, 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:54.669 Lord, to him and for him and by him. Lord, I 00:02:54.669 --> 00:02:57.550 ask that now for your spirit. Would you graciously 00:02:57.550 --> 00:02:59.629 give that? Lord, I believe that you will. And 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:04.370 I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. The Lord Jesus 00:03:04.370 --> 00:03:07.610 promised to his people, he said, I will build 00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:12.069 my church. And he said, hell itself will not 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:15.599 be able to stop me. The gates of hell. will not 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:18.639 be able to prevail. So how is the church going 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:21.860 to stand? Well, we all know that the structural 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:24.620 integrity of a building is only as good as its 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:27.560 foundation. Foundations and buildings are always 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:29.719 going to be critical because they are going to 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:32.379 determine not only the stability, but the longevity 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:35.419 of a building. For example, and we all know this, 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:38.419 you can have a very good building, but yet if 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:41.039 it is built on a weak foundation, it's not going 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.689 to last long. If it's going to have any structural 00:03:43.689 --> 00:03:46.590 integrity that's going to have life to it, it 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:50.610 must have a solid foundation. And Jesus said 00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:53.129 this as much when he was ending his great sermon 00:03:53.129 --> 00:03:56.349 on the mount back in Matthew 7. He said this, 00:03:56.469 --> 00:03:59.270 everyone who hears these sayings of mine and 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:02.229 does not do them, he's going to be like that 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:04.069 foolish man who built his house on the sand. 00:04:04.250 --> 00:04:07.289 Well, what happened? A storm came. The rain descended. 00:04:07.490 --> 00:04:09.770 The floods came. The winds blew. And it says 00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:14.240 it beat on that house. And it fell, and Jesus 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:18.519 said, and great was its fall. Any structure that 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:22.279 is built upon shifting sand cannot survive the 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:25.480 storm. Now the Bible uses many different metaphors 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:27.800 to refer to the church. There are many of them. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.800 You have the church as the body of Christ, the 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.699 bride of Christ, the family of God, the temple 00:04:34.699 --> 00:04:39.120 of God, the flock of God. Peter calls it a holy 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.879 nation. But it's also referenced as a building. 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:46.660 In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, the Apostle Paul 00:04:46.660 --> 00:04:49.459 says, The church is God's building. You see it 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:52.860 there. For we are God's fellow workers. You are 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:57.740 God's field. You are God's building. Now Paul, 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.480 also who wrote the book of Ephesians, he used 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:04.060 that same imagery in chapter 2. Now therefore, 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.399 you are no longer strangers and foreigners. Speaking 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:10.350 to Gentiles. but fellow citizens with the saints 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:13.769 and members of the household of God, having been 00:05:13.769 --> 00:05:16.709 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:20.430 Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:24.649 in whom the whole building, being joined together, 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:28.350 grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom 00:05:28.350 --> 00:05:31.209 you are also being built together for a dwelling 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:35.889 place of God in the Spirit. So the church is 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:38.370 not just any type of building. We read here it 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:43.870 is a temple. It is a holy temple. It is a spiritual 00:05:43.870 --> 00:05:46.730 temple, meaning it's not made of brick and mortar. 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:49.069 When we're talking about the church, we call 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:50.889 this the church, but that's not how the Bible 00:05:50.889 --> 00:05:55.290 references it. Instead, what makes up this spiritual 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:59.209 temple are the people of God. When you read Peter 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:02.029 and when you read Paul, both of them alike, talk 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:03.889 about how the believer, whether he be Jewish 00:06:03.889 --> 00:06:08.569 or Gentile, are living stones joined together, 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:12.649 coming together, fashioned together into one 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:17.230 holy temple in Christ. 1 Peter 2 .5 says, you 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:22.129 also as living stones. Now that doesn't make 00:06:22.129 --> 00:06:24.670 sense unless the metaphor is of this temple hill, 00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:29.389 temple. You are being built up a spiritual house. 00:06:30.509 --> 00:06:32.569 I said we have a house, we have a building, we 00:06:32.569 --> 00:06:35.850 have a temple, we have a structure. And this 00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:39.810 structure is built upon a foundation. What is 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:42.850 the foundation? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. 00:06:43.410 --> 00:06:46.430 1 Corinthians 3 .11. Paul in verse 9 says you're 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:49.389 God's building. Verse 11. For no other foundation 00:06:49.389 --> 00:06:53.509 can anyone lay than that which is laid, which 00:06:53.509 --> 00:06:57.670 is Jesus Christ. That's good news. Thankfully, 00:06:57.750 --> 00:07:00.230 the church of Christ is not built upon the shifting 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:02.949 sands of time. It's not built upon the shifting 00:07:02.949 --> 00:07:06.509 sands of culture. But rather, it is built upon 00:07:06.509 --> 00:07:09.250 the solid foundation of Christ Jesus himself. 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:13.290 This is why the promise is made. Because the 00:07:13.290 --> 00:07:16.949 church is built upon Christ, the gates of hell 00:07:16.949 --> 00:07:20.490 cannot withstand it. Christ had come and he's 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:24.250 taking back all enemy territory. But we see a 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:27.060 little dilemma here. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:29.000 said Christ is the foundation of the church. 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:32.740 Same author, the Apostle Paul, he says in Ephesians 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:35.560 2, the church is built upon the foundation of 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:39.600 the apostles and prophets. So what does he mean? 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:42.300 What is Paul referring to when he says the church 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.439 is built upon the foundation of the apostles 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:49.920 and prophets? He is referring to their teaching 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:54.620 and not to the people themselves. Now when he 00:07:54.620 --> 00:07:56.939 talks about the prophets, some say he's talking 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:58.480 about New Testament prophets. I don't think so. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.240 He's talking about the prophets of Old Testament 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:03.660 who preached and spoke of Christ beforehand. 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:09.259 Men like Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 53, that great 00:08:09.259 --> 00:08:11.620 Christological passage. So the Old Testament 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:13.759 prophets, they proclaimed Christ beforehand. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.819 And then you have the apostles, the original 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:20.420 eyewitnesses, known as the Twelve, and later 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:23.300 on the Apostle Paul. These men had been specifically 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:25.920 chosen and commissioned by the Lord himself. 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:30.720 So you have the prophets and the apostles. Together 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.960 they received God's word, which they then delivered 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.559 to the people. And today we have their witness 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.799 in the holy, sacred scriptures that most of us 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.440 have in our laps this morning. So we'd say the 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:46.539 Old Testament prophets, they anticipated Christ. 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:49.279 The New Testament apostles proclaimed Christ. 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:53.220 And together, both of them laid the foundation 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:58.080 upon Christ, who is the chief cornerstone. Now 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.519 that's important. In ancient construction, the 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.740 cornerstone was the very first stone that was 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:06.500 laid, and it set and aligned the whole building. 00:09:07.629 --> 00:09:09.610 So when you think about a cornerstone, it was 00:09:09.610 --> 00:09:12.610 the most crucial stone to be laid because when 00:09:12.610 --> 00:09:15.570 it was determining the building foundation, it 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:18.309 also not only would determine the alignment of 00:09:18.309 --> 00:09:20.350 the building or the structure, whatever's being 00:09:20.350 --> 00:09:23.669 built, but also the stability. And that's what 00:09:23.669 --> 00:09:25.690 Paul is saying. The foundation, the cornerstone 00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:28.850 is Christ. But we have the witness of the apostles 00:09:28.850 --> 00:09:30.990 and the prophets. They laid this foundation, 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.889 the foundation of the church, that it is Christ 00:09:34.889 --> 00:09:39.139 himself. It is Jesus Christ himself who is that 00:09:39.139 --> 00:09:42.720 foundation. Then you have men like John Chrysostom. 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:44.879 He was a 4th century theologian. So think back 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:48.059 to the 300s. He said, it is not they, prophets 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:51.299 and apostles, who support the building, as though 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:54.500 they were the foundation apart from Christ. No. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.600 It is that they laid Christ as the foundation, 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:03.120 for they themselves were built upon him. Now 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.960 why is this important? Because in today's passage, 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.220 what we have, Matthew 10, verses 1 through 4, 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:12.860 we see our Lord starting or beginning to build 00:10:12.860 --> 00:10:17.620 his church. And he did it by calling 12 men who 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:21.019 he would call apostles. Now remember, chapter 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:23.740 and verse divisions never existed in the original 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:25.899 manuscripts. Matthew would have been written 00:10:25.899 --> 00:10:29.460 on a scroll. So last week, we saw where the Lord 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:32.279 had asked his disciples to pray. He's praying 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:34.519 that the Father, the Lord of the harvest, would 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:38.340 send out laborers into his harvest. Chapter 9, 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:42.120 verse 37 and 38. The harvest is plentiful. The 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:45.919 laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.059 the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.480 That's where chapter 9 ends. Now, presumably, 00:10:51.539 --> 00:10:54.120 the disciples prayed. Jesus asked them to. We're 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:55.759 assuming they did. And we're talking about disciples. 00:10:56.059 --> 00:10:57.960 We're not talking about 12 men here. There's 00:10:57.960 --> 00:10:59.799 a great crowd of people who are following Jesus. 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:05.240 But we also know that Jesus prayed as well. How 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.039 do we know that? Because Luke tells us that Jesus 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:11.519 actually prayed all night. You don't have to 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.320 turn there, but in Luke chapter 6. Now it came 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.039 to pass in those days that he, Jesus, went out 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:19.720 to the mountain to pray. Notice he continued 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:23.279 all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:27.019 he called his disciples to himself. And from 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:30.529 them, this group of disciples, He chose 12 men 00:11:30.529 --> 00:11:35.190 whom he also named apostles. So what do we have 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:38.509 here? Jesus asked his disciples to pray. But 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:40.929 he too is going to pray. He prays all night. 00:11:42.049 --> 00:11:45.409 God gives him the answer. And he gives him the 00:11:45.409 --> 00:11:48.690 answer by giving him these 12 men whom he would 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:52.769 then send out as apostles. Verse 1 of our text. 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:55.470 And when he had called his 12 disciples to them, 00:11:55.490 --> 00:11:58.610 he gave them power. over unclean spirits to cast 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:01.669 them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and 00:12:01.669 --> 00:12:04.649 all kinds of disease. I want you to notice something 00:12:04.649 --> 00:12:07.490 in Matthew 10. In verse 1, they're called disciples, 00:12:07.830 --> 00:12:12.009 but verse 2, he calls them apostles. This is 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:13.370 the only time you're going to find that word 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:14.850 in Matthew. It's the only time the 12 apostles 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:18.289 are referred to as apostles. So the question 00:12:18.289 --> 00:12:20.830 I want to ask you this morning is, what is the 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:22.750 difference between a disciple and an apostle? 00:12:23.330 --> 00:12:26.029 I mean, do they mean the same thing? No, they 00:12:26.029 --> 00:12:29.259 do not. When I talk about disciple, the word, 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:31.720 if you're just looking at etymology, it simply 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:35.940 means student, learner. But in the New Testament, 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.320 a disciple was one who followed the Lord. They 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:41.860 saw Christ as the rabbi, the teacher. They were 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:44.240 students of Christ, and they sought to live out 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:48.600 his teaching. Jesus had many disciples who followed 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:52.120 him. But that's not the same as an apostle. The 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:56.090 apostle, Greek word apostolos, Literally means 00:12:56.090 --> 00:13:01.250 one who is sent. A sent one. But in the New Testament, 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:04.070 the way the apostle is used, it's an official 00:13:04.070 --> 00:13:06.789 representative. If you can think of like an ambassador, 00:13:07.210 --> 00:13:10.710 he is sent out by Christ and, here's the key, 00:13:10.850 --> 00:13:15.769 empowered with his authority. Now there are 12. 00:13:16.169 --> 00:13:18.690 Now later on, the apostle Paul, after he was 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:21.700 converted, he also referred to himself as an 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:25.139 apostle because he too had been officially commissioned 00:13:25.139 --> 00:13:29.440 and sent out by the risen Christ. In fact, in 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.440 Romans 11, Paul refers to himself as the apostle 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:36.080 to the Gentiles. So you have a distinction here. 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:40.000 A disciple is any student, any follower of Jesus, 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:44.580 while an apostle is a messenger specifically 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:49.889 chosen and sent by Jesus. With divine authority. 00:13:50.549 --> 00:13:53.289 Now let me just say this today. Regardless of 00:13:53.289 --> 00:13:55.610 what you see on Christian TV, particularly in 00:13:55.610 --> 00:14:00.309 charismatic circles, there are no apostles today. 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:03.730 Now, people will use that title. But there are 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:06.610 no apostles today. An apostle, if you were going 00:14:06.610 --> 00:14:09.210 to serve as an apostle, you had to have personally 00:14:09.210 --> 00:14:13.169 seen the risen Christ. You had to be personally 00:14:13.169 --> 00:14:16.090 chosen and sent by him. Let me show you this. 00:14:16.370 --> 00:14:18.029 First of all, they had to be chosen by Christ. 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:20.970 Matthew 10, 1, Jesus called them. But they also 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:23.669 had to have seen the risen Lord. Do you remember 00:14:23.669 --> 00:14:26.090 in the book of Acts, after Judas had fallen, 00:14:26.190 --> 00:14:28.350 and Judas is no longer an apostle, he had killed 00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:30.830 himself, they're looking for someone to replace 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:32.730 him because they're like, someone has to replace 00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:35.710 him because we need 12. And we'll get to that 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:37.970 in just a moment, by the way. But notice the 00:14:37.970 --> 00:14:41.039 qualifications in Acts 1. Therefore, of these 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.500 men who have accompanied us all the time that 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:46.360 the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, so they 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.820 had to be hanging around Jesus, beginning from 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:52.399 John's baptism to the day when he was taken up 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:55.659 from us all the way to the ascension, one of 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:59.139 these men who fits the bill must become a witness 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:02.460 with us of his resurrection. They had to have 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:05.600 seen Christ alive. Do you remember when Paul 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.519 had to defend his apostleship to the church at 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:13.190 Corinth? He says in chapter 9, am I not an apostle? 00:15:13.629 --> 00:15:18.629 Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our 00:15:18.629 --> 00:15:22.309 Lord? He's defending his apostolic credentials 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:25.570 there. So you had to have been chosen by the 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:27.850 Lord. You had to have seen him personally alive 00:15:27.850 --> 00:15:31.529 with your own eyes. And you had to be given authority. 00:15:32.509 --> 00:15:35.649 Authority to teach, to preach, and to work signs 00:15:35.649 --> 00:15:38.169 among the people. We see that in 2 Corinthians 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:43.120 12. Truly, the signs of an apostle were accompanied 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:47.460 among you with all perseverance, notice, in signs 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:50.840 and wonders and mighty deeds. These apostles 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.539 could prove their credibility. You say you're 00:15:54.539 --> 00:15:56.500 sent by Christ and you're endued with his authority? 00:15:56.659 --> 00:16:01.399 Well, prove it. And they could. And lastly, whatever 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:04.500 they said was authoritative. In Acts 2, this 00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:06.620 is how you determine orthodoxy. This is how we 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:10.360 determine orthodoxy today. They continued steadfastly 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:14.039 in the apostles' doctrine. What the apostles 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.360 taught is the same thing we better teach. We 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.720 can't get off base from that. That's how you 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:23.700 determine what's right. So we have an apostolic 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:28.139 testimony in scripture, but no man today carries 00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:32.820 with him any apostolic authority. Now, that's 00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:35.500 important. Because there are people, there are 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:37.659 clergy members, there are pastors and missionaries 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:42.059 and elders and bishops and others who claim an 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:46.100 authority that is not theirs. Any authority that 00:16:46.100 --> 00:16:49.759 any teacher, elder, pastor, whomever he may be, 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:55.379 has is only the authority as he rightly divides 00:16:55.379 --> 00:17:00.789 and teaches the word of God. of God, which is 00:17:00.789 --> 00:17:05.529 the apostolic testimony, is the authority, not 00:17:05.529 --> 00:17:08.710 man. I have no authority over you whatsoever, 00:17:09.029 --> 00:17:12.230 except as what we preach here correctly. That's 00:17:12.230 --> 00:17:15.910 it. Now I want you to notice something. Jesus 00:17:15.910 --> 00:17:20.589 called 12 apostles. Why? I mean, there were many 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:23.190 more disciples who were following than just these 00:17:23.190 --> 00:17:27.890 12 men. So why did he only choose 12 to be his 00:17:27.890 --> 00:17:32.400 apostles? Well, he's Jewish, right? You're a 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.960 Jewish man. Twelve is reminiscent of the twelve 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.000 tribes of Israel. So what we find here, and I'm 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.500 going to hope to prove this to you, Jesus is 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:45.960 symbolically reconstituting God's people. What 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:48.819 he was doing, he was demonstrating that his ministry 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:52.819 is the continuation and the fulfillment of God's 00:17:52.819 --> 00:17:57.319 covenant with Israel. In other words, Jesus was 00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:00.359 forming the new Israel. Now you may be thinking, 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:04.000 Pastor, I understand 12, but are you not over 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.480 -extrapolating a little bit from that one verse? 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:10.140 Yes, you'd be right. But we're going to look 00:18:10.140 --> 00:18:11.640 at other scriptures, and this is what I think 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.519 gives the proof here. I want to first take you 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:17.420 to the Apostle Peter. The Apostle Peter, when 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:19.559 he refers to the church, pay close attention 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.339 to the language he uses. 1 Peter 2 .9 But you, 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:25.319 he's talking to the church, not talking to Jews. 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:27.440 He's talking to the church. He says, you are 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.299 a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood, 00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:36.940 a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now that language 00:18:36.940 --> 00:18:40.119 is very familiar. Where did Peter get that language 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:43.640 from? He got it from the book of Exodus. He lifted 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.480 it from the book of Exodus. Notice Exodus 19 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:51.119 written to Israel. Therefore, God says, if you 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:53.779 obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then 00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:56.660 you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above 00:18:56.660 --> 00:18:59.220 all people, for the earth is mine. And you shall 00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:01.980 be unto me a kingdom of priests. Peter says royal 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:04.619 priesthood. A holy nation. Peter says holy nation. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.299 These are the words which you shall speak unto 00:19:07.299 --> 00:19:11.160 the children of Israel. Okay, look at the words. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:14.599 We have peculiar treasure. We have a kingdom 00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:19.680 of priests. We have a holy nation. All of that 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.619 originally referred to Israel in the book of 00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:26.759 Exodus. But the apostle Peter deliberately lifted 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:29.500 that language and uses that same language, but 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:32.440 he's now using it to refer to the church of the 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:36.079 Lord Jesus. It's not by accident. The church 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.819 is the fulfillment and the continuation of the 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:45.380 covenant that God made with Israel. We see that 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:48.000 even in the way... That the Lord has described 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.980 in Luke chapter 1. At his birth. And behold, 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:55.740 you will conceive in your womb and bring forth 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.619 a son and shall call his name Jesus. Yahweh saves. 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:01.819 He will be great and he will be called son of 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:04.420 the highest. But notice the language here, folks. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:06.960 And the Lord will give him, that is Jesus, the 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.000 throne of his father David. He's the true seed 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:10.900 of David. We've talked about that many times. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:17.460 And he will reign over the house of Jacob. Israel 00:20:17.460 --> 00:20:21.079 forever. And of his kingdom, there's not going 00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:23.440 to be any end. That's the second Samuel promise 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.299 when God made that promise to David. Hey David, 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:28.079 one of your descendants is going to come and 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:30.140 he's going to be the true king. His kingdom will 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:32.519 never end and he will reign forever over my people. 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:37.299 Jesus is that seed. And God the Father gave to 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:39.900 Jesus the throne of David from which he would 00:20:39.900 --> 00:20:45.009 rule over the house of Israel forever. In Matthew 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:47.569 19, verse 28, you don't have time to look there. 00:20:47.869 --> 00:20:50.849 He talks to his 12 disciples, excuse me, apostles, 00:20:51.009 --> 00:20:55.509 and he says, you will sit on 12 thrones, Matthew 00:20:55.509 --> 00:20:59.990 19, 28, cross -reference me, judging the 12 tribes 00:20:59.990 --> 00:21:03.809 of Israel. One final point, and I could go on. 00:21:03.849 --> 00:21:06.279 There's a lot here. In Galatians chapter 6 verse 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:08.859 16, as Paul is bringing that book to a close, 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:12.039 he refers to the church, Galatians 6 verse 16, 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:16.160 and he says, peace be upon the Israel of God. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:18.619 He's talking about the church. Look at it in 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:21.380 context. Why am I making a big deal about all 00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:26.339 this? In Christ, the Old Testament prophecies 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:29.240 find their fulfillment as the kingdom of God 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:32.539 had come, as the king had been born. This is 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:36.609 important. Our Lord, when he chose 12 men, symbolizes 00:21:36.609 --> 00:21:39.170 those promises that were given to Israel are 00:21:39.170 --> 00:21:42.289 fulfilled in Christ. He's the true Israel. And 00:21:42.289 --> 00:21:45.130 the blessings of Israel, the seed of Abraham 00:21:45.130 --> 00:21:47.970 had come, and the blessings will be given to 00:21:47.970 --> 00:21:52.690 his people. Who are his people? The church. For 00:21:52.690 --> 00:21:56.019 these reasons, Jesus chose 12. Just as there 00:21:56.019 --> 00:21:59.220 were 12 tribes, so he also called 12 apostles. 00:21:59.700 --> 00:22:01.779 There were 12 sons of Jacob who became the 12 00:22:01.779 --> 00:22:04.039 tribes of Israel. Jesus has his 12 apostles. 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:09.740 He's forming the renewed Israel, the new people 00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:15.579 of God. But this Israel will not be based on 00:22:15.579 --> 00:22:19.319 ethnicity. It will not be based on ancestry. 00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:24.029 But it will be based upon God's calling. And 00:22:24.029 --> 00:22:25.369 we see that even the way he called the apostles. 00:22:26.170 --> 00:22:28.569 Now, it says he gave them authority over unclean 00:22:28.569 --> 00:22:30.910 spirits. Notice, he gave them, if you're looking 00:22:30.910 --> 00:22:32.730 at King James or New King James, he gave them 00:22:32.730 --> 00:22:35.769 power. But the word is exousia in Greek, not 00:22:35.769 --> 00:22:39.049 dunamis. Exousia means authority. So the Lord 00:22:39.049 --> 00:22:41.470 gave these 12 men and these 12 men only, not 00:22:41.470 --> 00:22:44.009 all the disciples, authority over demons and 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:48.930 over disease. Why? How did Jesus do that? Notice, 00:22:49.049 --> 00:22:53.829 it says he gave them authority. Jesus gave them 00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:57.869 authority because he alone possessed all authority 00:22:57.869 --> 00:23:03.849 in himself. The ability that he had to give them 00:23:03.849 --> 00:23:08.349 his authority shows his divine nature. Jesus 00:23:08.349 --> 00:23:12.349 gives authority to whomever he wills. See, the 00:23:12.349 --> 00:23:14.970 truth is, the only one in the entire cosmos, 00:23:15.269 --> 00:23:19.009 the only one who has inherent, absolute authority 00:23:19.009 --> 00:23:22.940 is God himself. That's it. Every other authority 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:26.460 figure from Trump and Putin and Zelensky and 00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:28.480 Macron and whomever else you want to put in there, 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:31.759 they only have a delegated authority. Meaning 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:35.559 they have authority only as God has willed them 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:40.680 to have it. But God has inherent authority. It's 00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:45.000 all his. And it's Jesus's. And he's giving these 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.819 12 men authority. What are they going to be able 00:23:47.819 --> 00:23:52.000 to do? Cast out demons. Heal the sick. But why 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.119 those two things? They're showing this ministry 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.700 of restoration. The ability to cast out demons 00:23:58.700 --> 00:24:01.980 and heal diseases demonstrates something. The 00:24:01.980 --> 00:24:04.759 kingdom of God was breaking into the fallen world. 00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:08.339 The king had come. His ambassadors are going 00:24:08.339 --> 00:24:10.319 out with his authority and they're demonstrating, 00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:13.000 yes, the kingdom is here and it's breaking in. 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:16.859 Because what did Jesus come to do? He's reclaiming 00:24:16.859 --> 00:24:19.400 all the lost territory that had been usurped. 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:23.359 by Satan in the garden when Adam fell. So no 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:27.440 longer will this world be tied or lie in bondage 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.980 to Satan. Jesus said the strong arm comes and 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:34.359 binds him. Jesus, the strong man, has come. He 00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:37.359 has bound Satan. He has bound the demonic hordes, 00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:40.940 and his message of salvation is going out, and 00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:43.420 the nations are no longer being deceived. His 00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:48.500 church is growing. These 12 men, they get sent. 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:52.740 With authority. And their authority is to set 00:24:52.740 --> 00:24:54.799 free the suffering ones and to preach salvation 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:58.460 to the masses. Praise God for that. Well, who 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:01.400 are these men? Look at verses 2 through 4. I'm 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:03.619 not going to read the list of names again. Now 00:25:03.619 --> 00:25:05.140 these list of names, you're going to find 12 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:06.799 names. They're going to mention three other times 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.759 in the scriptures. There's going to be some slight 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:13.079 change of order. Some name change of sight. Name 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:15.420 changes like Simon the Canaanite versus Simon 00:25:15.420 --> 00:25:19.109 the Zealot. But every single time, the Apostle 00:25:19.109 --> 00:25:22.289 Peter will be mentioned first. He is the leader 00:25:22.289 --> 00:25:24.789 of the apostolic band. He's the leader of the 00:25:24.789 --> 00:25:28.930 early church. And Judas Iscariot will always 00:25:28.930 --> 00:25:32.869 infamously be placed last as the one who betrayed 00:25:32.869 --> 00:25:35.930 Christ. Now there's 12 of them, but we've already 00:25:35.930 --> 00:25:38.930 met 5 of them in the Gospel of Matthew. Remember, 00:25:39.029 --> 00:25:41.130 if you think back to chapter 4, we see Jesus 00:25:41.130 --> 00:25:43.950 call Peter and Andrew, James and John, to himself. 00:25:45.099 --> 00:25:48.319 In chapter 9, Matthew wrote of his own calling 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.700 to be a disciple of Jesus. In this list of 12, 00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:54.400 we have two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:57.599 James and John, and those four men were all fishermen. 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:00.559 Now we know Matthew's occupation as well. He 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.700 was a tax collector. But we have no idea what 00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:06.460 the other seven did. There is some speculation, 00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:08.279 but we can't prove it, and the scripture doesn't 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:10.890 say it. But we do know these five. Four of them 00:26:10.890 --> 00:26:12.829 are fishermen, one's a tax collector. And by 00:26:12.829 --> 00:26:14.349 the way, the tax collector would have been hated 00:26:14.349 --> 00:26:17.470 by any Jew. But as you examine the list, now 00:26:17.470 --> 00:26:21.190 notice something. There's nothing particularly 00:26:21.190 --> 00:26:25.130 outstanding or noteworthy about these men. There's 00:26:25.130 --> 00:26:26.829 nothing that really stands out. There's nothing 00:26:26.829 --> 00:26:30.109 that's striking here. The thing that is striking, 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:33.170 if you will, is that Jesus chooses 12 ordinary 00:26:33.170 --> 00:26:37.369 men whom he would use to turn the world upside 00:26:37.369 --> 00:26:41.720 down. I love this. Jesus did not call the power 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:45.059 brokers of Israel to be apostles. He did not 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:47.660 choose any men from the Sanhedrin, the ruling 00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:50.500 body of Israel at that time. None of these men 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:53.579 were scholars. None of these men were priests. 00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:57.859 They were common men. So common in Acts chapter 00:26:57.859 --> 00:26:59.720 4, notice how they referred to Peter and John. 00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:02.099 It says, now when they saw the boldness of Peter 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:04.819 and John and perceived that they were uneducated 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:08.829 and untrained men, they marveled. How do you 00:27:08.829 --> 00:27:11.630 have these uneducated, untrained men? They're 00:27:11.630 --> 00:27:15.730 not scholars in any way. Oh, they realized that 00:27:15.730 --> 00:27:18.589 they had been with Jesus. They had been trained 00:27:18.589 --> 00:27:20.670 in the best rabbinical school at the feet of 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:25.410 Jesus. So Jesus chooses 12 ordinary men who will 00:27:25.410 --> 00:27:28.190 do extraordinary things. And why ordinary men? 00:27:28.329 --> 00:27:30.880 So that God alone gets the glory. This is the 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.539 way God always works. It is so very clear that 00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:36.019 their power, the power of the apostles came from 00:27:36.019 --> 00:27:38.519 God, not from any human ability, for they had 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:41.619 none. They weren't influencers, if you will. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:45.039 And the lesson for us is that the kingdom of 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:49.140 God is not built on human prestige or human power. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.180 We need to be careful in the church. I sometimes 00:27:52.180 --> 00:27:54.740 see churches and they will have some really famous 00:27:54.740 --> 00:27:57.279 person who had recently come to Christ and they'll 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:58.980 get an invitation to speak at a large event. 00:27:59.630 --> 00:28:01.049 And they want to do that because they want to 00:28:01.049 --> 00:28:03.269 platform them so that we get more people drawn. 00:28:03.589 --> 00:28:06.670 I understand that. But the kingdom of God is 00:28:06.670 --> 00:28:09.849 not built by human prestige. That's not how God 00:28:09.849 --> 00:28:13.829 structured it. He uses basings and he uses the 00:28:13.829 --> 00:28:17.849 foolishness of preaching. Zechariah said it correctly. 00:28:18.569 --> 00:28:23.970 Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, 00:28:24.009 --> 00:28:26.680 says the Lord of hosts. It's not by human effort. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:29.839 None of this is. The kingdom of God is built 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:33.599 by the spirit of God who uses ordinary men and 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:37.259 ordinary women to confound the world. Think about 00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:40.200 God's kingdom. Everything about it is antithetical 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:45.759 to the world. God's king was born in a stable 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.000 to a poor peasant couple from a humble town. 00:28:52.430 --> 00:28:55.069 When we talk about a humble town, we mean a nowhere 00:28:55.069 --> 00:29:00.309 town. Poor Nazareth. They grew up, this king 00:29:00.309 --> 00:29:04.089 grew up in obscurity. He wasn't famous. He did 00:29:04.089 --> 00:29:06.130 not go to the most well -prestigious schools. 00:29:06.970 --> 00:29:11.609 And he saved his people by dying for them. He 00:29:11.609 --> 00:29:15.230 rises again. He sends out 12 exceedingly flawed 00:29:15.230 --> 00:29:19.680 men to preach about his saving reign. And through 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:22.799 these men's preaching and teaching, the good 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:24.799 news of salvation would be spread around the 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.619 world. Now let's just think about this. The choosing 00:29:27.619 --> 00:29:30.640 of these 12 men to start a worldwide movement 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:33.500 sounds like a fool's errand. I mean, how does 00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:35.500 it ever even get off the ground? You're thinking, 00:29:35.539 --> 00:29:38.000 if we're choosing 12 men, they've got to teach, 00:29:38.180 --> 00:29:40.839 and they've got to reach the entire world. These 00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:42.539 men aren't going to do it. It's not even going 00:29:42.539 --> 00:29:45.400 to get off the ground. Yet today, here we are. 00:29:45.930 --> 00:29:48.789 Some 2 ,000 years later and thousands of miles 00:29:48.789 --> 00:29:51.289 removed from where they were, here we are. The 00:29:51.289 --> 00:29:54.309 church continues to grow and spread across the 00:29:54.309 --> 00:29:58.069 globe. Why? Because it's not by might. It's not 00:29:58.069 --> 00:30:01.549 by power. It's God's spirit is building God's 00:30:01.549 --> 00:30:05.170 church. And we see the Lord Jesus spent the entire 00:30:05.170 --> 00:30:07.170 night in prayer and God said, hey, here's the 00:30:07.170 --> 00:30:11.950 answer. Call these 12 common flawed men, one 00:30:11.950 --> 00:30:14.529 of whom was a thief and a traitor. That's Matthew. 00:30:14.670 --> 00:30:17.289 The other. denied the Lord, that's Peter, and 00:30:17.289 --> 00:30:21.069 the other betrayed Christ, that's Judas, call 00:30:21.069 --> 00:30:26.109 these twelve men to be your ambassadors. And 00:30:26.109 --> 00:30:27.950 these men would spend their lives, apart from 00:30:27.950 --> 00:30:32.910 Judas, preaching the good news of Christ's saving 00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:36.029 reign to the world. And all of them but one would 00:30:36.029 --> 00:30:38.829 die a martyr's death. The one who would not would 00:30:38.829 --> 00:30:42.880 be John. But what do we see here? Once more, 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:47.779 our God uses foolish things to destroy the wisdom 00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:50.599 of this age. So don't try to be wise in this 00:30:50.599 --> 00:30:54.460 age. God uses foolish things. 1 Corinthians 1, 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:57.160 he says, But God hath chosen the foolish things 00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:00.460 of the world, like these twelve men, to put to 00:31:00.460 --> 00:31:03.400 shame the wise. And God hath chosen the weak 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:06.140 things of the world, like these men, to put to 00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:11.190 shame the things which are mighty. Why? So that 00:31:11.190 --> 00:31:13.289 not one person will ever glory in the presence 00:31:13.289 --> 00:31:17.289 of God. Our salvation is owed entirely to him. 00:31:18.049 --> 00:31:22.890 You and I don't contribute anything. God hates 00:31:22.890 --> 00:31:27.690 human arrogance. He hates pride. So what does 00:31:27.690 --> 00:31:31.089 he do? He chooses these 12 men to ensure that 00:31:31.089 --> 00:31:33.869 he will get the glory for it. I love the fact 00:31:33.869 --> 00:31:36.390 that today, here we are, the church has gone 00:31:36.390 --> 00:31:39.720 and it is around the globe. You look at the success 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:42.339 of the church, look through the pages of church 00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:45.640 history, and you cannot possibly conclude that 00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:47.680 the church has been successful because of human 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:50.740 effort. It's not that Peter and John were so 00:31:50.740 --> 00:31:55.380 winsome. All the credit of the triumph of the 00:31:55.380 --> 00:32:00.019 church belongs to God alone. So what do we learn 00:32:00.019 --> 00:32:04.000 as we close? Friends, the church's foundation 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:07.710 is unchanging. you are anchored to that which 00:32:07.710 --> 00:32:11.569 is ancient. It cannot be relayed. There's no 00:32:11.569 --> 00:32:14.089 other foundation, Paul said. The apostles and 00:32:14.089 --> 00:32:16.509 prophets, they were unique, once for all witnesses, 00:32:16.710 --> 00:32:20.130 and they were handpicked by Christ. And the church 00:32:20.130 --> 00:32:22.450 today is built, here's how we build the church 00:32:22.450 --> 00:32:26.349 today, by proclaiming Christ and living out that 00:32:26.349 --> 00:32:28.849 same gospel. That same faith, that same message 00:32:28.849 --> 00:32:32.069 has not changed. It's the same message that the 00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:34.799 apostles preached. And the same message that 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:37.960 they handed down for us today. So this means 00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:40.640 you and I can have confidence. We have confidence 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:43.559 because our faith is not based on the shifting 00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:47.380 sands of human idea or philosophy. Praise God 00:32:47.380 --> 00:32:52.180 for that. Our faith is solid. It rests on the 00:32:52.180 --> 00:32:56.519 unchanging bedrock testimony of Jesus Christ 00:32:56.519 --> 00:33:00.339 and him crucified, buried, and risen again. And 00:33:00.339 --> 00:33:02.200 it has been passed down through human messengers. 00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:06.680 From the earliest of time. But I would be remiss 00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:10.660 if I stopped there. We, as we close this passage, 00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:12.859 we must remember it's not about the greatness 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:15.279 of these men. It's not about the greatness of 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:17.259 the apostles. It's not about the greatness of 00:33:17.259 --> 00:33:21.039 Peter. It's about the greatness of Christ. It 00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:24.839 is the Lord who called them. It is the Lord who 00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:26.839 equipped them. It is the Lord who sent these 00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:31.380 men out. He, Jesus, possesses all authority. 00:33:32.300 --> 00:33:34.900 In heaven and earth. That's why his church is 00:33:34.900 --> 00:33:38.259 successful. He laid the foundation of the church 00:33:38.259 --> 00:33:42.220 through weak men. Why? How does he show his strength? 00:33:43.140 --> 00:33:46.240 Through the weakness of men. Our confidence, 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:49.519 church, can never, ever rest in who we are, but 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:52.539 in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who calls, 00:33:52.779 --> 00:33:56.680 the one who equips, and the one who sends. I 00:33:56.680 --> 00:33:58.819 want to close. I don't know. There's a song in 00:33:58.819 --> 00:34:00.079 our hymnal, and we're not going to sing it because 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.730 I don't think we know it. I sing this at conferences. 00:34:02.930 --> 00:34:05.049 A lot of conferences I go to, they'll sing this 00:34:05.049 --> 00:34:06.990 song. It's called The Church is One Foundation. 00:34:07.769 --> 00:34:11.969 How many of you all know that song? About seven 00:34:11.969 --> 00:34:14.110 of us. Good. That's why we're not singing it. 00:34:15.010 --> 00:34:16.869 It's hymn number 354. You don't have to turn 00:34:16.869 --> 00:34:18.070 there, but if you want to. Let me just read the 00:34:18.070 --> 00:34:20.889 lyrics. I love this because the songwriter just 00:34:20.889 --> 00:34:24.190 really captured it well. The church is one foundation 00:34:24.190 --> 00:34:28.670 is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation 00:34:28.670 --> 00:34:32.210 by spirit and the word. From heaven he came and 00:34:32.210 --> 00:34:35.210 sought her to be his holy bride. With his own 00:34:35.210 --> 00:34:38.389 blood he bought her, and for her life he died. 00:34:38.650 --> 00:34:42.789 Verse 2. Elect from every nation, yet one over 00:34:42.789 --> 00:34:46.030 all the earth, her charter of salvation, one 00:34:46.030 --> 00:34:50.530 Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she 00:34:50.530 --> 00:34:55.369 blesses, partakes one holy food, and two one 00:34:55.369 --> 00:34:59.199 hope she presses. with every grace endued. Let 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:02.079 me go to the last verse here, last stanza. Yet 00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:05.119 she on earth hath union with God the three in 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:07.940 one, praise the Lord, and mystic sweet communion 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:13.079 with those whose rest is one. O happy ones and 00:35:13.079 --> 00:35:17.079 holy, Lord, give us grace that we, like them, 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:20.360 the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee. 00:35:20.659 --> 00:35:24.679 The church is one foundation, folks, is Jesus 00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:29.059 Christ her Lord. This is our boast. And this 00:35:29.059 --> 00:35:32.480 is what Matthew is showing us. His church will 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:37.260 never fail because his spirit is there giving 00:35:37.260 --> 00:35:40.099 the grace that it might continue to be proclaimed 00:35:40.099 --> 00:35:43.320 throughout all the world. Praise God. Praise 00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:45.980 God that it has reached us here in Southern Ohio 00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:49.059 on this beautiful Lord's Day morning. Let's pray. 00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:52.980 Father, Lord, we get to commune with you in sweet, 00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.119 mystic communion in ways that we don't know. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:58.079 with our risen Christ, with the living head. 00:35:59.139 --> 00:36:01.519 We are his body and he is our head. Lord, thank 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.639 you for this. Thank you for this word. Thank 00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:05.699 you for the table, Lord, that we now come to. 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:11.480 Lord, we anxiously, Lord God, desire to share 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:14.840 this meal with Jesus. Not just remembering, although 00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:17.780 we do, we remember his suffering. We remember 00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:21.179 that by his stripes we have been healed, but 00:36:21.179 --> 00:36:23.519 also by participating in the body and blood of 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:26.670 Christ. Thank you, Father. for this sweet mystic 00:36:26.670 --> 00:36:28.489 communion. We give you praise and glory for it 00:36:28.489 --> 00:36:29.849 in Jesus' name. Amen.