of the scriptures, I encourage you to open them
to Matthew chapter 10. We're just going to look
at four verses. I told my wife last night, I
said, this is probably in the top three most
difficult studies. Not that this text is hard
to understand. But sometimes, I don't know if
other preachers go through this. I assume they
do. There are some times you're preparing a sermon
and you're praying and you feel like things just
come and it's effortless. It's almost like there
is something moving you. And there are other
times where I'm fighting for every word that
I write. I mean, it's like every single word.
I'm like, is that misplaced? This was one of
those. I'm like, Lord. I mean, even last night,
I'm like, ah, I was moving things around. So
we'll see. I'm just asking God for his mercy
this morning. But the text is Matthew 10, verses
1 through 4. I didn't want to go further because
when we cover too much, I feel like I jam -packed
it in there and I don't do justice to it. But
I don't know that we actually had enough. So
let's see this morning. But it says, and when
he, that is Jesus, had called his 12 disciples
to him, He gave them power. If you have a newer
version, it says authority. That's the Greek
word, exousia. He gave them authority over unclean
spirits to cast them out, to heal all kinds of
sickness and all kinds of disease. Now, the names
of the 12 apostles are these. First, and he's
not just saying first, by the way, in the list.
That's obvious because he's saying foremost.
Peter became the leader of the apostolic man.
First, there's Simon, who's called Peter, and
Andrew, his brother. Then you have James, the
son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. Then you
have Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew,
the tax collector, the one who wrote this gospel.
James, the son of Alphaeus and Labaius, whose
surname was Thaddeus. Simon, the Canaanite, and
you might have Simon the Zealot. And Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed him. Let's ask the Lord to
help us this morning. Heavenly Father, Lord,
we humble ourselves before you, Lord God, and
it's right to do so. Lord, this is your word.
Lord God, you have given it to your church so
that we can be instructed and edified from it.
Lord, would you help me this morning, Lord? Father,
I desperately desire, Lord, to bring glory to
Christ. Lord, I pray that, Lord, your people
would be in awe of who he is, Lord. God, that
we would grow in our appreciation of Christ.
our risen Lord, our living head, all things,
Lord, to him and for him and by him. Lord, I
ask that now for your spirit. Would you graciously
give that? Lord, I believe that you will. And
I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. The Lord Jesus
promised to his people, he said, I will build
my church. And he said, hell itself will not
be able to stop me. The gates of hell. will not
be able to prevail. So how is the church going
to stand? Well, we all know that the structural
integrity of a building is only as good as its
foundation. Foundations and buildings are always
going to be critical because they are going to
determine not only the stability, but the longevity
of a building. For example, and we all know this,
you can have a very good building, but yet if
it is built on a weak foundation, it's not going
to last long. If it's going to have any structural
integrity that's going to have life to it, it
must have a solid foundation. And Jesus said
this as much when he was ending his great sermon
on the mount back in Matthew 7. He said this,
everyone who hears these sayings of mine and
does not do them, he's going to be like that
foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Well, what happened? A storm came. The rain descended.
The floods came. The winds blew. And it says
it beat on that house. And it fell, and Jesus
said, and great was its fall. Any structure that
is built upon shifting sand cannot survive the
storm. Now the Bible uses many different metaphors
to refer to the church. There are many of them.
You have the church as the body of Christ, the
bride of Christ, the family of God, the temple
of God, the flock of God. Peter calls it a holy
nation. But it's also referenced as a building.
In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, the Apostle Paul
says, The church is God's building. You see it
there. For we are God's fellow workers. You are
God's field. You are God's building. Now Paul,
also who wrote the book of Ephesians, he used
that same imagery in chapter 2. Now therefore,
you are no longer strangers and foreigners. Speaking
to Gentiles. but fellow citizens with the saints
and members of the household of God, having been
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom the whole building, being joined together,
grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom
you are also being built together for a dwelling
place of God in the Spirit. So the church is
not just any type of building. We read here it
is a temple. It is a holy temple. It is a spiritual
temple, meaning it's not made of brick and mortar.
When we're talking about the church, we call
this the church, but that's not how the Bible
references it. Instead, what makes up this spiritual
temple are the people of God. When you read Peter
and when you read Paul, both of them alike, talk
about how the believer, whether he be Jewish
or Gentile, are living stones joined together,
coming together, fashioned together into one
holy temple in Christ. 1 Peter 2 .5 says, you
also as living stones. Now that doesn't make
sense unless the metaphor is of this temple hill,
temple. You are being built up a spiritual house.
I said we have a house, we have a building, we
have a temple, we have a structure. And this
structure is built upon a foundation. What is
the foundation? The Lord Jesus Christ himself.
1 Corinthians 3 .11. Paul in verse 9 says you're
God's building. Verse 11. For no other foundation
can anyone lay than that which is laid, which
is Jesus Christ. That's good news. Thankfully,
the church of Christ is not built upon the shifting
sands of time. It's not built upon the shifting
sands of culture. But rather, it is built upon
the solid foundation of Christ Jesus himself.
This is why the promise is made. Because the
church is built upon Christ, the gates of hell
cannot withstand it. Christ had come and he's
taking back all enemy territory. But we see a
little dilemma here. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul
said Christ is the foundation of the church.
Same author, the Apostle Paul, he says in Ephesians
2, the church is built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets. So what does he mean?
What is Paul referring to when he says the church
is built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets? He is referring to their teaching
and not to the people themselves. Now when he
talks about the prophets, some say he's talking
about New Testament prophets. I don't think so.
He's talking about the prophets of Old Testament
who preached and spoke of Christ beforehand.
Men like Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 53, that great
Christological passage. So the Old Testament
prophets, they proclaimed Christ beforehand.
And then you have the apostles, the original
eyewitnesses, known as the Twelve, and later
on the Apostle Paul. These men had been specifically
chosen and commissioned by the Lord himself.
So you have the prophets and the apostles. Together
they received God's word, which they then delivered
to the people. And today we have their witness
in the holy, sacred scriptures that most of us
have in our laps this morning. So we'd say the
Old Testament prophets, they anticipated Christ.
The New Testament apostles proclaimed Christ.
And together, both of them laid the foundation
upon Christ, who is the chief cornerstone. Now
that's important. In ancient construction, the
cornerstone was the very first stone that was
laid, and it set and aligned the whole building.
So when you think about a cornerstone, it was
the most crucial stone to be laid because when
it was determining the building foundation, it
also not only would determine the alignment of
the building or the structure, whatever's being
built, but also the stability. And that's what
Paul is saying. The foundation, the cornerstone
is Christ. But we have the witness of the apostles
and the prophets. They laid this foundation,
the foundation of the church, that it is Christ
himself. It is Jesus Christ himself who is that
foundation. Then you have men like John Chrysostom.
He was a 4th century theologian. So think back
to the 300s. He said, it is not they, prophets
and apostles, who support the building, as though
they were the foundation apart from Christ. No.
It is that they laid Christ as the foundation,
for they themselves were built upon him. Now
why is this important? Because in today's passage,
what we have, Matthew 10, verses 1 through 4,
we see our Lord starting or beginning to build
his church. And he did it by calling 12 men who
he would call apostles. Now remember, chapter
and verse divisions never existed in the original
manuscripts. Matthew would have been written
on a scroll. So last week, we saw where the Lord
had asked his disciples to pray. He's praying
that the Father, the Lord of the harvest, would
send out laborers into his harvest. Chapter 9,
verse 37 and 38. The harvest is plentiful. The
laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of
the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
That's where chapter 9 ends. Now, presumably,
the disciples prayed. Jesus asked them to. We're
assuming they did. And we're talking about disciples.
We're not talking about 12 men here. There's
a great crowd of people who are following Jesus.
But we also know that Jesus prayed as well. How
do we know that? Because Luke tells us that Jesus
actually prayed all night. You don't have to
turn there, but in Luke chapter 6. Now it came
to pass in those days that he, Jesus, went out
to the mountain to pray. Notice he continued
all night in prayer to God. And when it was day,
he called his disciples to himself. And from
them, this group of disciples, He chose 12 men
whom he also named apostles. So what do we have
here? Jesus asked his disciples to pray. But
he too is going to pray. He prays all night.
God gives him the answer. And he gives him the
answer by giving him these 12 men whom he would
then send out as apostles. Verse 1 of our text.
And when he had called his 12 disciples to them,
he gave them power. over unclean spirits to cast
them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and
all kinds of disease. I want you to notice something
in Matthew 10. In verse 1, they're called disciples,
but verse 2, he calls them apostles. This is
the only time you're going to find that word
in Matthew. It's the only time the 12 apostles
are referred to as apostles. So the question
I want to ask you this morning is, what is the
difference between a disciple and an apostle?
I mean, do they mean the same thing? No, they
do not. When I talk about disciple, the word,
if you're just looking at etymology, it simply
means student, learner. But in the New Testament,
a disciple was one who followed the Lord. They
saw Christ as the rabbi, the teacher. They were
students of Christ, and they sought to live out
his teaching. Jesus had many disciples who followed
him. But that's not the same as an apostle. The
apostle, Greek word apostolos, Literally means
one who is sent. A sent one. But in the New Testament,
the way the apostle is used, it's an official
representative. If you can think of like an ambassador,
he is sent out by Christ and, here's the key,
empowered with his authority. Now there are 12.
Now later on, the apostle Paul, after he was
converted, he also referred to himself as an
apostle because he too had been officially commissioned
and sent out by the risen Christ. In fact, in
Romans 11, Paul refers to himself as the apostle
to the Gentiles. So you have a distinction here.
A disciple is any student, any follower of Jesus,
while an apostle is a messenger specifically
chosen and sent by Jesus. With divine authority.
Now let me just say this today. Regardless of
what you see on Christian TV, particularly in
charismatic circles, there are no apostles today.
Now, people will use that title. But there are
no apostles today. An apostle, if you were going
to serve as an apostle, you had to have personally
seen the risen Christ. You had to be personally
chosen and sent by him. Let me show you this.
First of all, they had to be chosen by Christ.
Matthew 10, 1, Jesus called them. But they also
had to have seen the risen Lord. Do you remember
in the book of Acts, after Judas had fallen,
and Judas is no longer an apostle, he had killed
himself, they're looking for someone to replace
him because they're like, someone has to replace
him because we need 12. And we'll get to that
in just a moment, by the way. But notice the
qualifications in Acts 1. Therefore, of these
men who have accompanied us all the time that
the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, so they
had to be hanging around Jesus, beginning from
John's baptism to the day when he was taken up
from us all the way to the ascension, one of
these men who fits the bill must become a witness
with us of his resurrection. They had to have
seen Christ alive. Do you remember when Paul
had to defend his apostleship to the church at
Corinth? He says in chapter 9, am I not an apostle?
Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord? He's defending his apostolic credentials
there. So you had to have been chosen by the
Lord. You had to have seen him personally alive
with your own eyes. And you had to be given authority.
Authority to teach, to preach, and to work signs
among the people. We see that in 2 Corinthians
12. Truly, the signs of an apostle were accompanied
among you with all perseverance, notice, in signs
and wonders and mighty deeds. These apostles
could prove their credibility. You say you're
sent by Christ and you're endued with his authority?
Well, prove it. And they could. And lastly, whatever
they said was authoritative. In Acts 2, this
is how you determine orthodoxy. This is how we
determine orthodoxy today. They continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. What the apostles
taught is the same thing we better teach. We
can't get off base from that. That's how you
determine what's right. So we have an apostolic
testimony in scripture, but no man today carries
with him any apostolic authority. Now, that's
important. Because there are people, there are
clergy members, there are pastors and missionaries
and elders and bishops and others who claim an
authority that is not theirs. Any authority that
any teacher, elder, pastor, whomever he may be,
has is only the authority as he rightly divides
and teaches the word of God. of God, which is
the apostolic testimony, is the authority, not
man. I have no authority over you whatsoever,
except as what we preach here correctly. That's
it. Now I want you to notice something. Jesus
called 12 apostles. Why? I mean, there were many
more disciples who were following than just these
12 men. So why did he only choose 12 to be his
apostles? Well, he's Jewish, right? You're a
Jewish man. Twelve is reminiscent of the twelve
tribes of Israel. So what we find here, and I'm
going to hope to prove this to you, Jesus is
symbolically reconstituting God's people. What
he was doing, he was demonstrating that his ministry
is the continuation and the fulfillment of God's
covenant with Israel. In other words, Jesus was
forming the new Israel. Now you may be thinking,
Pastor, I understand 12, but are you not over
-extrapolating a little bit from that one verse?
Yes, you'd be right. But we're going to look
at other scriptures, and this is what I think
gives the proof here. I want to first take you
to the Apostle Peter. The Apostle Peter, when
he refers to the church, pay close attention
to the language he uses. 1 Peter 2 .9 But you,
he's talking to the church, not talking to Jews.
He's talking to the church. He says, you are
a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now that language
is very familiar. Where did Peter get that language
from? He got it from the book of Exodus. He lifted
it from the book of Exodus. Notice Exodus 19
written to Israel. Therefore, God says, if you
obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then
you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above
all people, for the earth is mine. And you shall
be unto me a kingdom of priests. Peter says royal
priesthood. A holy nation. Peter says holy nation.
These are the words which you shall speak unto
the children of Israel. Okay, look at the words.
We have peculiar treasure. We have a kingdom
of priests. We have a holy nation. All of that
originally referred to Israel in the book of
Exodus. But the apostle Peter deliberately lifted
that language and uses that same language, but
he's now using it to refer to the church of the
Lord Jesus. It's not by accident. The church
is the fulfillment and the continuation of the
covenant that God made with Israel. We see that
even in the way... That the Lord has described
in Luke chapter 1. At his birth. And behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bring forth
a son and shall call his name Jesus. Yahweh saves.
He will be great and he will be called son of
the highest. But notice the language here, folks.
And the Lord will give him, that is Jesus, the
throne of his father David. He's the true seed
of David. We've talked about that many times.
And he will reign over the house of Jacob. Israel
forever. And of his kingdom, there's not going
to be any end. That's the second Samuel promise
when God made that promise to David. Hey David,
one of your descendants is going to come and
he's going to be the true king. His kingdom will
never end and he will reign forever over my people.
Jesus is that seed. And God the Father gave to
Jesus the throne of David from which he would
rule over the house of Israel forever. In Matthew
19, verse 28, you don't have time to look there.
He talks to his 12 disciples, excuse me, apostles,
and he says, you will sit on 12 thrones, Matthew
19, 28, cross -reference me, judging the 12 tribes
of Israel. One final point, and I could go on.
There's a lot here. In Galatians chapter 6 verse
16, as Paul is bringing that book to a close,
he refers to the church, Galatians 6 verse 16,
and he says, peace be upon the Israel of God.
He's talking about the church. Look at it in
context. Why am I making a big deal about all
this? In Christ, the Old Testament prophecies
find their fulfillment as the kingdom of God
had come, as the king had been born. This is
important. Our Lord, when he chose 12 men, symbolizes
those promises that were given to Israel are
fulfilled in Christ. He's the true Israel. And
the blessings of Israel, the seed of Abraham
had come, and the blessings will be given to
his people. Who are his people? The church. For
these reasons, Jesus chose 12. Just as there
were 12 tribes, so he also called 12 apostles.
There were 12 sons of Jacob who became the 12
tribes of Israel. Jesus has his 12 apostles.
He's forming the renewed Israel, the new people
of God. But this Israel will not be based on
ethnicity. It will not be based on ancestry.
But it will be based upon God's calling. And
we see that even the way he called the apostles.
Now, it says he gave them authority over unclean
spirits. Notice, he gave them, if you're looking
at King James or New King James, he gave them
power. But the word is exousia in Greek, not
dunamis. Exousia means authority. So the Lord
gave these 12 men and these 12 men only, not
all the disciples, authority over demons and
over disease. Why? How did Jesus do that? Notice,
it says he gave them authority. Jesus gave them
authority because he alone possessed all authority
in himself. The ability that he had to give them
his authority shows his divine nature. Jesus
gives authority to whomever he wills. See, the
truth is, the only one in the entire cosmos,
the only one who has inherent, absolute authority
is God himself. That's it. Every other authority
figure from Trump and Putin and Zelensky and
Macron and whomever else you want to put in there,
they only have a delegated authority. Meaning
they have authority only as God has willed them
to have it. But God has inherent authority. It's
all his. And it's Jesus's. And he's giving these
12 men authority. What are they going to be able
to do? Cast out demons. Heal the sick. But why
those two things? They're showing this ministry
of restoration. The ability to cast out demons
and heal diseases demonstrates something. The
kingdom of God was breaking into the fallen world.
The king had come. His ambassadors are going
out with his authority and they're demonstrating,
yes, the kingdom is here and it's breaking in.
Because what did Jesus come to do? He's reclaiming
all the lost territory that had been usurped.
by Satan in the garden when Adam fell. So no
longer will this world be tied or lie in bondage
to Satan. Jesus said the strong arm comes and
binds him. Jesus, the strong man, has come. He
has bound Satan. He has bound the demonic hordes,
and his message of salvation is going out, and
the nations are no longer being deceived. His
church is growing. These 12 men, they get sent.
With authority. And their authority is to set
free the suffering ones and to preach salvation
to the masses. Praise God for that. Well, who
are these men? Look at verses 2 through 4. I'm
not going to read the list of names again. Now
these list of names, you're going to find 12
names. They're going to mention three other times
in the scriptures. There's going to be some slight
change of order. Some name change of sight. Name
changes like Simon the Canaanite versus Simon
the Zealot. But every single time, the Apostle
Peter will be mentioned first. He is the leader
of the apostolic band. He's the leader of the
early church. And Judas Iscariot will always
infamously be placed last as the one who betrayed
Christ. Now there's 12 of them, but we've already
met 5 of them in the Gospel of Matthew. Remember,
if you think back to chapter 4, we see Jesus
call Peter and Andrew, James and John, to himself.
In chapter 9, Matthew wrote of his own calling
to be a disciple of Jesus. In this list of 12,
we have two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew,
James and John, and those four men were all fishermen.
Now we know Matthew's occupation as well. He
was a tax collector. But we have no idea what
the other seven did. There is some speculation,
but we can't prove it, and the scripture doesn't
say it. But we do know these five. Four of them
are fishermen, one's a tax collector. And by
the way, the tax collector would have been hated
by any Jew. But as you examine the list, now
notice something. There's nothing particularly
outstanding or noteworthy about these men. There's
nothing that really stands out. There's nothing
that's striking here. The thing that is striking,
if you will, is that Jesus chooses 12 ordinary
men whom he would use to turn the world upside
down. I love this. Jesus did not call the power
brokers of Israel to be apostles. He did not
choose any men from the Sanhedrin, the ruling
body of Israel at that time. None of these men
were scholars. None of these men were priests.
They were common men. So common in Acts chapter
4, notice how they referred to Peter and John.
It says, now when they saw the boldness of Peter
and John and perceived that they were uneducated
and untrained men, they marveled. How do you
have these uneducated, untrained men? They're
not scholars in any way. Oh, they realized that
they had been with Jesus. They had been trained
in the best rabbinical school at the feet of
Jesus. So Jesus chooses 12 ordinary men who will
do extraordinary things. And why ordinary men?
So that God alone gets the glory. This is the
way God always works. It is so very clear that
their power, the power of the apostles came from
God, not from any human ability, for they had
none. They weren't influencers, if you will.
And the lesson for us is that the kingdom of
God is not built on human prestige or human power.
We need to be careful in the church. I sometimes
see churches and they will have some really famous
person who had recently come to Christ and they'll
get an invitation to speak at a large event.
And they want to do that because they want to
platform them so that we get more people drawn.
I understand that. But the kingdom of God is
not built by human prestige. That's not how God
structured it. He uses basings and he uses the
foolishness of preaching. Zechariah said it correctly.
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
says the Lord of hosts. It's not by human effort.
None of this is. The kingdom of God is built
by the spirit of God who uses ordinary men and
ordinary women to confound the world. Think about
God's kingdom. Everything about it is antithetical
to the world. God's king was born in a stable
to a poor peasant couple from a humble town.
When we talk about a humble town, we mean a nowhere
town. Poor Nazareth. They grew up, this king
grew up in obscurity. He wasn't famous. He did
not go to the most well -prestigious schools.
And he saved his people by dying for them. He
rises again. He sends out 12 exceedingly flawed
men to preach about his saving reign. And through
these men's preaching and teaching, the good
news of salvation would be spread around the
world. Now let's just think about this. The choosing
of these 12 men to start a worldwide movement
sounds like a fool's errand. I mean, how does
it ever even get off the ground? You're thinking,
if we're choosing 12 men, they've got to teach,
and they've got to reach the entire world. These
men aren't going to do it. It's not even going
to get off the ground. Yet today, here we are.
Some 2 ,000 years later and thousands of miles
removed from where they were, here we are. The
church continues to grow and spread across the
globe. Why? Because it's not by might. It's not
by power. It's God's spirit is building God's
church. And we see the Lord Jesus spent the entire
night in prayer and God said, hey, here's the
answer. Call these 12 common flawed men, one
of whom was a thief and a traitor. That's Matthew.
The other. denied the Lord, that's Peter, and
the other betrayed Christ, that's Judas, call
these twelve men to be your ambassadors. And
these men would spend their lives, apart from
Judas, preaching the good news of Christ's saving
reign to the world. And all of them but one would
die a martyr's death. The one who would not would
be John. But what do we see here? Once more,
our God uses foolish things to destroy the wisdom
of this age. So don't try to be wise in this
age. God uses foolish things. 1 Corinthians 1,
he says, But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world, like these twelve men, to put to
shame the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world, like these men, to put to
shame the things which are mighty. Why? So that
not one person will ever glory in the presence
of God. Our salvation is owed entirely to him.
You and I don't contribute anything. God hates
human arrogance. He hates pride. So what does
he do? He chooses these 12 men to ensure that
he will get the glory for it. I love the fact
that today, here we are, the church has gone
and it is around the globe. You look at the success
of the church, look through the pages of church
history, and you cannot possibly conclude that
the church has been successful because of human
effort. It's not that Peter and John were so
winsome. All the credit of the triumph of the
church belongs to God alone. So what do we learn
as we close? Friends, the church's foundation
is unchanging. you are anchored to that which
is ancient. It cannot be relayed. There's no
other foundation, Paul said. The apostles and
prophets, they were unique, once for all witnesses,
and they were handpicked by Christ. And the church
today is built, here's how we build the church
today, by proclaiming Christ and living out that
same gospel. That same faith, that same message
has not changed. It's the same message that the
apostles preached. And the same message that
they handed down for us today. So this means
you and I can have confidence. We have confidence
because our faith is not based on the shifting
sands of human idea or philosophy. Praise God
for that. Our faith is solid. It rests on the
unchanging bedrock testimony of Jesus Christ
and him crucified, buried, and risen again. And
it has been passed down through human messengers.
From the earliest of time. But I would be remiss
if I stopped there. We, as we close this passage,
we must remember it's not about the greatness
of these men. It's not about the greatness of
the apostles. It's not about the greatness of
Peter. It's about the greatness of Christ. It
is the Lord who called them. It is the Lord who
equipped them. It is the Lord who sent these
men out. He, Jesus, possesses all authority.
In heaven and earth. That's why his church is
successful. He laid the foundation of the church
through weak men. Why? How does he show his strength?
Through the weakness of men. Our confidence,
church, can never, ever rest in who we are, but
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who calls,
the one who equips, and the one who sends. I
want to close. I don't know. There's a song in
our hymnal, and we're not going to sing it because
I don't think we know it. I sing this at conferences.
A lot of conferences I go to, they'll sing this
song. It's called The Church is One Foundation.
How many of you all know that song? About seven
of us. Good. That's why we're not singing it.
It's hymn number 354. You don't have to turn
there, but if you want to. Let me just read the
lyrics. I love this because the songwriter just
really captured it well. The church is one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation
by spirit and the word. From heaven he came and
sought her to be his holy bride. With his own
blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
Verse 2. Elect from every nation, yet one over
all the earth, her charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she
blesses, partakes one holy food, and two one
hope she presses. with every grace endued. Let
me go to the last verse here, last stanza. Yet
she on earth hath union with God the three in
one, praise the Lord, and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is one. O happy ones and
holy, Lord, give us grace that we, like them,
the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee.
The church is one foundation, folks, is Jesus
Christ her Lord. This is our boast. And this
is what Matthew is showing us. His church will
never fail because his spirit is there giving
the grace that it might continue to be proclaimed
throughout all the world. Praise God. Praise
God that it has reached us here in Southern Ohio
on this beautiful Lord's Day morning. Let's pray.
Father, Lord, we get to commune with you in sweet,
mystic communion in ways that we don't know.
with our risen Christ, with the living head.
We are his body and he is our head. Lord, thank
you for this. Thank you for this word. Thank
you for the table, Lord, that we now come to.
Lord, we anxiously, Lord God, desire to share
this meal with Jesus. Not just remembering, although
we do, we remember his suffering. We remember
that by his stripes we have been healed, but
also by participating in the body and blood of
Christ. Thank you, Father. for this sweet mystic
communion. We give you praise and glory for it
in Jesus' name. Amen.