Still in Matthew chapter 4, and last week we looked at verses 1 to 11, where Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
So we saw that it was of the Spirit, it wasn't something he just couldn't, you know, just a shame the devil managed to get in there.
No, no, he was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil.
And I showed, I believe last week, how they represent three different kinds of temptation.
And just to remind you, temptation number one was to stop trusting God.
Jesus' answer is to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Number two is to destroy yourself with willful, presumptuous sin.
Jesus' answer is to fear God.
Yeah, and number three was to covet the world.
And Jesus' answer is to worship and serve God only.
And that's what I believe they represent there.
Jesus answered, do you remember, we saw this all three times saying, it is written.
Yeah, and by the way, when Jesus said it is written, what was he quoting?
The Old Testament.
Yeah, Jesus Christ was quoting the Old Testament.
I don't think anyone could look at that story, any Christian, and say that that wasn't an example to us.
That was examples and showing us how to deal with that sort of temptation.
I think that's just like straight off the cart.
I think even the newest believer would see that and go, OK, that's quite interesting.
Each time he replies, it is written.
So is there anything wrong with using the Old Testament?
Of course, there isn't.
And of course, we know that, don't we?
But how often do you hear this sort of rubbish?
You hear so many people out there criticising, oh, the Old Testament, that's done away.
Jesus Christ quoted it three times to deal with with temptations of the devil, didn't he?
Because 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Yeah. And look, all scripture that is.
All scripture. And, you know, it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
It's not just the New Testament.
It's not just all the bits that, you know, well, that Jesus Christ verified.
Look, if it verified every single part of the Old Testament, then the New Testament would be a lot longer, wouldn't it?
OK. And he didn't need to because, you know, unless apart from the things which are clearly done away with,
the more law clearly stands, isn't it?
And, you know, he still wants us to follow that.
He still hasn't changed with any of that.
And that's why Jesus Christ quoted it all three times and continues to quote Old Testament as well in, well, in what is the Gospels anyway.
So let's go to the Lord and the word of prayer before we get started with the second half of this chapter.
Father, I thank you for your word.
I thank you for the great lessons we can get out of the second part of Matthew chapter four.
I pray that you fill me with your spirit and help me to preach boldly, accurately, help me to preach clearly,
help people to have open ears, open hearts, to want to listen as well, to want to not just listen,
but not just to be a hearer of the word, but do as well help them to want to go forward and apply what they learn to say into their lives.
In Jesus' name, pray all this. Amen.
OK, so let's have a look at verse 12. Matthew 4, verse 12 reads,
Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.
So John was cast into prison for reproving Herod for marrying his brother's wife.
Matthew 14, you don't have to turn there, says,
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
And like we were kind of talking about, I think last week or the week before,
no, the week before, what would have been what would be the replies we see in this liberal, wicked Christianity now would be something like,
Not very Christlike, John, to be reproving Herod.
Who made you judge, John? Who made you judge of Herod, John?
How dare you? You know what? Are you sinless, John? Are you sinless?
How dare you criticize him? Quoting Old Testament John, wouldn't it be?
Yeah, quote Old Testament laws, John.
Yeah, because marrying his brother's wife is adultery.
Yeah, and the seventh commandment says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, doesn't it?
OK, so again, where does that come from? The Old Testament?
Yeah, originally. And obviously we know that that's not done away with.
In terms of the moral law, then what that means now,
who do we think that John would have ignored it had it been sodomy?
Would John the Baptist had had just, well, I ignore that bit.
Yeah. Oh, well, Herod's in.
It's a bit sodomy, but I'll mention that because love is love.
Yeah. Well, I'm sure I'm sure he would have approved it hard, wouldn't he?
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah.
Well, you know, that bit, the adultery. Yeah, because that's bad.
Because the whole the whole council of God, isn't it? Yeah.
And John, John, look, John had to go out on a limb here, didn't he?
Yeah, John went out on a limb and he reproved a king who had some power.
Yeah. A king that, as we could see, was known to do some pretty crazy stuff
and to make stupid promises and offers to give people up to half their kingdom.
And the rest of it, as we see later on when he takes his head.
But John did what he's told to do, didn't he?
And that's to preach the whole word. Yeah.
And look, John preached the truth
because that's what a preacher of God's word is is called to do, isn't he?
Yeah. To preach the truth.
And look, when if and when people go out from here
and, you know, when we have other churches as well, look,
if you're going to preach the Bible,
you've got to preach the whole council of God, don't you?
And yeah, you have to get that balance right.
You're not your your job is it like standing and try and prove to everyone
how bold and full of, you know, courage you are and preach.
Just, you know, forget the rest of it.
But let's just preach stuff, which hopefully will get me into trouble
to prove myself week in, week out.
But on the other hand, you got to preach what you feel God wants you to preach.
Yeah. And you can't.
And look, that's something that a preacher has to do, don't they?
And everyone here has to know that if you want to preach,
you've got to be willing and prepared to preach the whole council of God.
Yeah. And look, for some, I don't think that's easy.
I've spoken to people before who said, look, they don't think that,
you know, that's why they know they like preaching.
But they don't feel like they can preach the whole council of God.
Well, then it's not for them, is it?
Because there are bits of it that look aren't going to be comfortable.
There are bits of it, which is not, you know, it's not just,
you know, I'm assuming we don't have any sodomites in here.
Yeah, I hope we don't. I'm sure we don't.
Yeah, that bit's the easy bit.
Yeah. OK, well, maybe someone is going to start doing, you know,
a mix up and cut bits of our sermons and everything else.
And maybe they will. I don't really know.
I don't really care, to be honest.
Because at the end of the day,
God tells us to preach the whole council of God.
But there are other bits that aren't so easy.
Bits of you preaching about sins in the church.
Behaviour of people in the church are preaching that.
And you've got to be prepared to do all of that, haven't you?
Because if you don't, you're going to end up with a pretty terrible church,
aren't you, a church which is running absolutely rampant,
a church which is just going to be destroyed.
And look, preaching is hard.
And John the Baptist is just a great example here,
because he stands up there and he preaches against Herod.
Clearly, he's preached to him.
He's told him either personally,
or he's preached it from behind his pulpit in the wilderness.
I don't know, but he's preached it.
He's made it clear and he's been banged up in prison for it.
But 2 Timothy 4.2 says,
And that's John's doing exactly what what Paul later tells Timothy
he must do as a preacher, yeah?
Well, one of those doctrines is adultery is wicked,
as are all the other serious sins in the Bible
that God commands the death penalty for.
Yeah, they're wicked sins.
And people try and mock, don't they?
And go, you know what?
Smiting your parent.
Yeah, that is wicked, isn't it?
That would be absolutely wicked if a child or adult smited,
hit, struck their parent.
That is wicked.
And yes, that does deserve the death penalty.
And it might be so against our nation now.
It might be so against what what our wicked world teaches.
You know, like somehow that's not a big deal.
And what you'd really kill?
Yeah, look, if everyone respected that,
then I'm sure there'd be a lot less smiting of parents, wouldn't there?
Cursing thy father and mother.
That is a serious sin, isn't it?
That is a serious sin which would have got the death penalty in two right.
Yeah, and I'll tell you what, you'd have a lot more respect
around children in this nation and other nations
if that law was still in place, because people look at it and go,
oh, you want to put in the death penalty for adultery?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I would love it
if our nation, if our government enacted every single one of God's laws.
Yeah, that would be amazing, wouldn't it?
Is it going to happen?
No. Would it be a shock to the system for everyone in this station?
It sure would. Yeah, yeah, sure.
They're going to look at it and go, how on earth could you?
But I tell you what, they could soon get in line, wouldn't they?
They would soon get in line.
I tell you what, kids would soon not be cursing their parents, wouldn't they?
They thought that they're going to have, you know,
they're going to end up being dragged out and stoned in front of everyone.
And I'll tell you what, people would soon quickly stop trying to buddy up
with the so-called friendly sodomite, wouldn't they?
Who aren't friendly, by the way, in case you're sitting there going,
oh, but they they just look so innocent.
Will and Grace, you know, they're just such friendly, lovely people
that know they're vile, they're disgusting, they're psychopaths.
Yeah, yeah.
The media love to promote the very camp little skipping around one
because, you know, that looks harmless.
How on earth could you have a problem with every girl's best friend?
Yeah. Who wouldn't want to be best friends?
They're so funny, aren't they?
They're so cute and quaint and, you know, they're vile.
They're disgusting.
And for everyone like that, there's one that would would do.
And I tell you what, even those ones would do anything
that they could get away with.
OK, and look, although and that's not the only death penalty sins.
There are quite a lot of death penalty sins.
I've also done a good sermon on that recently at Faithful World.
Look, there's a lot of death penalty sins.
Yeah. And every single one is for good reason, because God knows best.
Yeah. And look, adultery is one of those, though.
And adultery is a wicked sin.
Yeah, it is a wicked sin.
And look, at the end of the day,
he should have been put to death here, shouldn't he?
Should have been put to death and so should that woman.
OK, they didn't. But John still reproved them.
John didn't have the ability to put them to death, but he still reproved them.
And that's what we're called to do, aren't we?
So, yeah, I can't put every sodomite to death.
We don't call for anyone to do that other than the government.
We're calling that the government should do it.
We're not calling for vigilante squads.
We're not trying to preach anyone here to go and do the same.
But we're still going to preach it, aren't we?
Because we're told to preach the whole counsel to God.
Yeah, because it's the truth. Exactly.
So now we've just jumped forward, though, Matthew's Gospel.
So in case anyone's wondering here, because he's talking about John
the Baptist being arrested here.
Now, in case you're wondering, and I'll just give you a quick kind of recap
where we would have got to in John's Gospel.
And we did go through the Gospel of John as a church as well.
So Andrew, another disciple, and Simon Peter, we saw first meeting Jesus.
And remember that in a second.
Then Philip and Nathaniel.
This is in John chapter one, the marriage in Cana of Galilee in chapter two.
Jesus going to Jerusalem for the Passover, whipping them out of the temple.
It's a great, great bit of scripture there, isn't there?
Nicodemus coming to Jesus.
John chapter three, Jesus' disciples baptizing in Judea.
Then he travels to Galilee and meets a woman at the well on the way.
Yeah. Then we get to this point now.
OK, so that's happened now in between basically the baptism,
the wilderness, either side of that.
I would say probably that came straight before.
But again, there's a couple of views on that.
Then we get to here, verse 13 and leaving Nazareth,
he came and dwelt at Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast
in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim.
Now, this is the north side of the Sea of Galilee.
It's about as far as you could be from Jerusalem, pretty much.
It's like about 80 mile journey.
And bearing in mind, they ain't driving down there.
Yeah, they're not riding horseback in case anyone's thinking that.
They're basically walking everywhere.
OK, 80 miles is a fair old trek, isn't it?
Yeah. You see why he stopped for for a break at that
that well at Sycar, I think it's called, isn't it?
That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by his prophet.
Verse 14 saying the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim
by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people which sat in darkness saw great light
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death.
Light is sprung up.
Now, this is from Isaiah Chapter nine.
Yet and you don't have to turn it,
but yet again, another prophecy of Jesus Christ being fulfilled.
Now, Galilee was this northern region, which was formerly land.
This is what's talking about Nephthalim and Zabulon.
This is land inherited by the tribes of Zabulon and Nephthalim.
OK, now later there were 20 cities of Galilee
given to Hyrum, king of Tyre by Solomon.
I think that's why, again, that's my opinion,
why it's called Galilee of the Gentiles.
And I would then say with that it probably then had a more mixed population.
OK, so he gave 20 cities to to Hyrum, king of Tyre.
OK, this wasn't a Jew or any one of Israel at the point at that point.
OK, then it's known now as Galilee of the Gentiles.
Now, Hyrum wasn't happy with the 20 cities.
If you remember that story, we're not going to go there for sake of time.
But Galilee seems to be disrespected by others in the region, I believe.
So you don't have to turn there.
But Mark 1470 is talking about when Peter's denying Christ
and he denied it again a little after they that stood by said again to Peter,
Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean,
and thy speech agreeeth thereto.
So there's obviously some give away as well about the Galileans.
Probably how we look at northerners, maybe, you know, you know, they're just
you could just tell they're northern, can't you?
Yeah. And there's a lot of the time you don't even have to talk to.
You can just tell they're northern, can't you?
And it's probably that with the Galileans.
I'm kind of messing a little bit there.
But there's obviously some difference there, isn't there?
But the people there, it said, were blessed with that great light,
which was the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK, so regardless of whether they're looked down upon or not,
verse 16 says the people which sat in darkness saw great light
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death.
Light is sprung up.
Turn to Ephesians chapter five.
He was that great light, wasn't he?
John chapter one, verse nine says of Christ.
That was a true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
What an advantage to have Jesus Christ dwelling there, preaching, soul winning.
And he was he spent a long time up there as well.
And by the way, that's the way
we should look at it when we move town, shouldn't we?
Shouldn't we look at that when we move towns?
Because, you know, you can look at it and go,
you know, they're not going to like it there and everything else.
And when we're in Wickford and we're preaching the gospel there,
we're not going to be popular.
Yeah, we might not be popular, but I'll tell you what, what a blessing.
What a blessing for that town it's going to be.
And what a blessing we've been for South End, haven't we?
And we've been at like, what a difference this town will be left in
when we leave here.
We've literally hundreds more saved people
than they would have ever been had we not been here.
Yeah. And look, it's not just it's not just the fact
that we've been coming here and meeting and going out soul winning.
The fact that the word of God's been being preached loud and clear from here.
And there's a difference when God looks down on a town
with his church there, with the candlestick there,
preaching the word of God, preaching it loud and clear.
There's going to be a difference, isn't there?
Yeah. And I reckon if, you know, if the Russians invaded,
they'd probably be just said, just leave South End, you know,
got to just guide around and be like, even anyone there,
I don't know, this weird bit of kind of jutted out bit of land.
Let's carry on inland. Yeah.
I don't know something.
Something might, because I think there's a blessing.
I'll tell you what, actually, maybe they'd only invade South End
and we'd be under a more righteous government.
Maybe that would be more likely, actually.
In fact, the rest would be left alone.
South End would be rushing and we'd all be laughing
because at least they'd be banning the sodomites
because Putin doesn't like all that, does he?
But anyway, they're the bogeyman.
Yeah, they are the bogeyman. Sorry, I got that wrong.
They're the bogeyman.
I've got to keep up.
But what about what about when we when we do go out
soul winning in our new town?
Yeah. When we go out and preach the gospel there, be bold.
Yeah, be bold.
And look, like I said last week, be polite, be respectful,
but don't be going, oh man, this is going to be awkward now in a new place.
They're going to be thinking what I know, because look,
the people which sat in darkness saw great light
and to them which sat in the region, shadow of death, light sprung up.
And that's what happens when people of God go out and preach the gospel.
That's what happens when people of God plant a church somewhere.
They're blessed.
There's nothing to be ashamed of, is there?
Nothing to be ashamed of.
And Ephesians chapter five, where you turn, says from verse eight,
For you were sometimes darkness, but now you light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness
and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord
and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.
That's what John the Baptist did.
That's what that's what we're called to do.
Yeah, that's what we're called to do, like we just said.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
But and don't forget that some people kind of say, quote that verse
and it's kind of like, I better not talk about this. No, no.
But but all things that are approved
are made manifest by the light for whatsoever does make manifest is light.
Yeah, because we're called to reprove them.
Yeah, it's a shame to speak about them, but we should approve them, shouldn't we?
We have to speak about them to approve them because whatsoever is made manifest
that are approved are made manifest by the light for whatsoever
does make manifest is light.
Wherefore, he said, Awake thou that sleepest and ariseth the dead
and Christ shall give thee light.
And we're to shine that light.
But that's obviously not like some of these liberal churches.
Oh, you've got to shine your light by wearing maybe just a sparkly cross
and never actually opening your mouth or maybe, you know, mentioning God one time,
you know, in conversation or just slip the word God in, you know,
and then they might one day ask me about church.
I just kind of mention I go to a church on a Sunday and then,
you know, quickly scuttle off and make, you know, if God wants to say
they're going to ask me more, aren't they?
No, that's by opening our mouths and preach the gospel, isn't it?
OK, that's how we that's how we make manifest with the light, don't we?
The truth, we go out and we preach the gospel, preaching it loud and clear,
preaching it by and being direct with it and asking people,
do you want to know how to get saved?
Do you want to know how not to go to hell and go to heaven?
And there's not really, you know, there's a few different versions of that.
But that's ultimately the truth.
That's what you're bringing to someone.
And yeah, some people like a bit more small talk first.
Some people don't.
But either way, that's what you're looking to say, aren't you?
And that's what you're looking to get to is do you want to know how to go to heaven
and not go to hell?
And but but what what great news that is that we're bringing?
There's nothing to be ashamed of with that either.
Now, back to verse 17, where we are, it is about going out and preaching the gospel.
And that's what we see, verse 17, back in Matthew, chapter four,
where it says, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say,
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So Jesus starts preaching.
Jesus starts preaching and he says, turn from your false religion,
from what you're trusting to faith alone.
Yeah, that's what he's saying here,
as is clearly apparent when we compare scripture with scripture.
So we don't have to be nervous about verses like this.
It's a cold war. It does say repent, because sadly, it's got to the point
where the connotations of some idiot walking around going, repent.
We see a statement of faith where they just make this big point of repent,
repent, repent straight away.
Sadly, we're thinking, oh, man, it's another guy that's basically
trying to say the word repent means repent your sins.
Yeah. And then we and then you could get to the point
where you're kind of a bit uncomfortable,
but there's nothing to be uncomfortable with.
Don't let the world, don't let the wicked false prophets
and the works of racialists tell us what that means
when the Bible tells us what that means, doesn't it?
The Bible makes it clear what that means.
You can't just slip off your sins every time you see the word repent.
Otherwise, God is a wicked sinner
because he repents more than anyone else in the whole Bible.
OK, so it's absolutely ridiculous, isn't it?
And that would be a very sinful God.
But the Bible is very clear that he's holy.
Yeah, that he's the epitome of holiness that he cannot sin.
That Christ who knew no sin. Yeah.
So, look, again, look at verses like this, because I've seen
I've seen people go, well, they don't believe in repenting your sins.
Well, the first thing that Jesus says, the first thing he preaches.
No, he didn't preach repent your sins.
He preached repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
OK, it's ridiculous, isn't it?
But sadly, that's that's, you know,
they try and grab a verse and make it say something else.
Verse 18 says, In Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren.
Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, cast a net into the sea,
for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Right. So just to make this clear, in case you're wondering,
because again, it's a verse that's misused.
These guys are already saved.
OK, Andrew for sure is already saved.
You know, for me, I have no doubt that Peter is as well.
But but we know for sure that Andrew's already saved it.
Turn to John chapter one,
because again, this is another verse used to prop up false doctrine
and the doctrine, a lot of people will call it something like
lordship salvation, which I'm sure most of you have heard of.
People like to use verses like these and the ones following
to teach this lordship salvation, where you have to be willing to follow Jesus.
Or some version of. Yeah.
You have to be willing to give your life to Christ.
That's when I gave my life to Christ.
You'll hear the Pentecostal say.
Yeah, that's when I, you know, I chose to do what Jesus says.
I chose to, you know, and some can be a bit ambiguous.
That's when I chose to let him into my heart or something else.
OK, what do you mean by that?
And again, they'll use stuff like this.
Well, that's when I follow Jesus.
And for them, that's salvation.
But it depends what they really believe happened, because if and again,
don't be like, well, someone's saying those words.
That means they must be unsaved.
Does that mean they're definitely unsaved?
It doesn't. But you need to they need to make it clear
what they actually believe happened on that day that they believe they got saved.
Did they choose themselves to now give their life to Christ?
That's when I started.
That's what I knew was I'm going to give up all of this.
I'm going to do that.
Well, that doesn't sound like salvation to me because salvation is not of works.
There's any man should boast.
But they might be saying, oh, that, you know, they say some funny terms.
Then you ask you and they're like, no, it's that it's faith alone.
That's just I put my faith in Christ, you know, and then some people,
they just need that clear enough because they've heard a lot of false doctrine as well.
So just again, like be wary of just like casting everyone off as unsaved
because they've been poisoned by by by weird terminology.
But let's see what they really believe.
And it's quite easy to find out what they really believe.
Is it especially when you preach the gospel?
Because what's the next question?
Well, OK, what if you did this or what if you do that and then see what they say?
But OK, so you've heard this, this make him lord of your life and something with that.
One of the verses which is used for this is the false versions of Romans 10, verse nine.
So great verse of the Bible.
Yeah, that if thou shalt confess thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
But what does the NIV say?
If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved.
Now notice there's a little difference there, isn't there?
You declaring with your mouth Jesus is Lord again can be then used to say, well, you've got to decide he's your lord.
He's going to control your life.
You're going to do everything he says, et cetera, et cetera, or you're not saved.
Again, that's not salvation, is it?
And there are clear salvation verses and I think everyone here knows clear salvation verses.
And look, if you're out preaching the gospel,
if you're out preaching the gospel regularly, you're not going to get at least and it's not that you're going to lose your salvation,
but people will try and just put a bit of doubt in your mind or try and just make you feel a little bit unsure,
make you not as confident when you then eventually do preach gospel.
Maybe, you know, just make you a little bit confused or something else.
If you're out preaching the gospel.
Yeah, and that's your feature with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Then this stuff doesn't, it's like water off a duck's back because straight in your mind,
it's going to come the hundreds of verses that you preach to people week in, week out.
Yeah, that's why it's so important to be out preaching the gospel.
That's why people that aren't a lot of the time, even if they're saved, it's a bit sketchy, a little bit hazy, aren't they?
Just a bit like kind of a bit sometimes not as confident and sure.
Well, and again, that doesn't mean that they're necessarily definitely unsaved.
But clear salvation verses, Acts 16, 30 and 31, you know, that says,
what must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
I mean, it's such a great verse, isn't it? Such a great verse.
And it can get, I'm not saying it gets old because you use it, oh, I want a different one.
But that verse alone, that verse, you can preach the gospel of that verse alone, can't you?
I know. Yeah, of course, you're going to go to other verses.
But that verse alone just makes it so clear, doesn't it?
And so many others, pretty much the whole of John chapter, and in fact,
pretty much the whole of the Gospel of John, because it's written so men might believe and have life through his name.
So, and by believing they might have life through his name, that, you know, that there's so much.
Romans, the Book of Romans has gone through the Book of Romans, haven't we, Bible study?
Especially like the first half of that book, just verse after verse after verse after verse,
just making it so clear that we then don't have to see a verse where someone's saying, follow me.
Oh, whoa, actually, you have to follow Christ to be saved because that's what the false prophets say.
Well, let's have a look at this. So did you turn to John chapter one?
We see the first time that Andrew and Peter meet Jesus.
John chapter one and verse thirty five says, again, the next day after John stood,
this is John the Baptist and two of his disciples.
Now, this is, like I say, John the Baptist with his two disciples.
And being his two disciples, OK, that doesn't mean 100 percent, definitely.
But remember what John was preaching that we looked at the other day.
According to Acts nineteen four, it says then, said Paul, John verily baptised the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus. So that's what John's preaching.
These are two of his disciples. So we could assume that they're saved.
No, nothing's for sure because we see those 12 guys that weren't.
But look at verse thirty six and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said,
Behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
OK, so these guys have heard him speak. They go and follow Jesus.
Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, What seek ye?
They said unto him, Rabbi, which is, say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou?
They're following him. They're calling him Master. They're wanting to be with him.
He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day,
for it is about the tenth hour.
One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
So one of these two disciples of John's following Jesus, calling him Rabbi, staying with him is Andrew.
He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We have found the Messiahs,
which is being interpreted the Christ. Anyone wondering if Andrew is saved here?
OK, for me, the Bible's made it clear he's saved.
And he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.
Now he brings his brother to Jesus.
And look, some will call that as a picture of like soul winning or whatever else.
He's kind of he's he's clearly saved. He's saying we found the Christ.
He brings him to Jesus. Well, I think he's probably got saved there if he wasn't already.
Again, you know, Andrew at least was one of John's disciples.
You don't know about Simon Peter at that point. But look, either way, Andrew for sure is.
I believe Simon Peter is as well.
Now that was John chapter one. Now jump forward to chapter three.
And while you're jumping there, just just listen to me. We just read in Matthew four twelve.
Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.
OK, that's before we've now then see him find Andrew and Peter.
OK, so before that point, we're still before that point in John's gospel,
it's covered this meeting that I've just read to you in chapter one.
Then the wedding feast, the Passover in chapter two, Nicodemus in chapter three.
Then it says in John three and verse twenty two, John three twenty two.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea.
And there he tarried with them and baptised.
And John also was baptising in Aenon near to Salem because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptised.
So Jesus and his disciples were in one place doing baptisms.
John still doing baptisms in another. For John was not yet cast into prison at this point.
So all of this happened before Jesus returned to Galilee and find Simon.
Peter meaning stone that he's just said, Cephas and Andrew in Matthew four eighteen.
Now go back to Matthew four eighteen with that in mind then.
Matthew chapter four and verse eighteen.
And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
Because it's one thing getting saved and it's another following Jesus.
OK, it's one thing getting saved, it's another following Jesus.
If ye continue my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
But he was talking to those that believed on him.
OK, so here they're saved.
At least Andrew, I believe both of them, the way he's talking to them here.
And even in the presence of Christ, they've just met Jesus Christ.
He's brought Simon Peter to Jesus Christ and they're back fishing.
They're back fishing.
Like these guys aren't just following Jesus Christ in the flesh.
God in the flesh is walking amongst them and they're on their fishing boat mending nets and stuff.
And that must not have been saved.
Does that mean they weren't saved?
Doesn't mean they weren't saved.
How many people do we do we preach the gospel?
They've got a church in their town.
They've got a church sometimes literally a minute from their house that's preaching the word of God,
that's preaching the gospel, that's going out, getting people saved.
That's got a ton of people serving the Lord.
The light is shining full and they can't even step foot in here.
They can't even come and hear the word of God preached.
But does that mean they're not saved?
No.
Now, look, there will be people that aren't saved.
Yeah, and you are going to run into people that you preach the gospel to.
They've said it all.
They've done it, said exactly what you would expect someone to say you saved.
They might not be saved.
That's not a reflection on you.
OK, people, that's spiritual.
It is a spiritual thing and someone has to believe in their heart, don't they?
OK, but but there are many that do get saved and many that do get saved and don't come here and don't end up being in the word, in the word of God, i.e. Jesus Christ here.
But Jesus now says to them, follow me.
OK, so he says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Now, they've just heard now the clear call.
OK, and what is the clear thing that he says that following him entails?
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
He didn't say follow me and I will make you the calmest, soft spoken people ever.
Did he?
He didn't say follow me, I will make you the most unoffensive people anyone will ever know.
Yeah, that didn't seem to be the main part of following Jesus Christ.
Follow me and I will make you popular with everyone.
Follow me and I will make you give all your money to homeless drug addicts and alcoholics.
Yeah, because that's what a Christian should be.
Follow me and I will show you how to set up a soup kitchen in your church.
Yeah, he didn't say any of that, did he?
So follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
He said, follow me and you will save people.
Follow me and I will make you save people.
I will show you how to save people.
I will show you how to do the best thing you could possibly do as a Christian,
and go out and get people saved.
More important than being the meekest, calmest, most spiritual looking guy or girl around.
More important than being the holiest looking person.
More important than getting all that sin out of your life and walking on water.
More important than any of that is you follow me and I will make you a fisher of men.
What could be more important than that?
Because there's one way people get saved, isn't there?
And that's by people like us going out and fishing.
Now, did they say, did they say, well, I need to save up a bit more first though, Jesus.
I'm not quite there yet, just got a few things to sort out in my life first.
Just need to sell the fish first, Jesus.
In fact, in Luke's account, they get so many fish here that the net breaks, that the boat's sinking,
and they still just, and he's just giving us more info on this story, and they still just forsake all.
They forsake it all, they leave it all because Jesus Christ said, follow me.
They heard the clear call of Jesus to follow him to then get people saved,
because that's what it's about, isn't it?
That's what he's saying, and that's why all these so-called Christians around this nation
and other places and all these dead churches claiming that they're followers of Christ,
if they ain't going out and getting people saved, trying to get people saved,
they ain't going out and at least learning how to get people saved, they ain't following Jesus.
They're not following Jesus because he said, if you follow him, he'll make you a fisher of men.
Oh, well, that was just the disciples.
But was it just the disciples? We're going to look at that in a second.
Because I'm telling you now, if you're saved, Jesus is calling you to do the same, okay?
If you're saved, then he's calling you.
It's not just certain people.
Oh, well, you've got a talent for that.
I remember, I think my brother Adam telling me about this once in some false church,
where they're going, well, what's your skill?
And this lady's going, and then people go, you've got a really good smile.
Yeah, she's like, yeah, that's my ability, I've got a really big smile.
No, if you're, obviously they weren't saved.
Look, if you're saved, go out and preach the gospel.
Yeah, learn how to preach the gospel.
And look, you might not be that sort of person that's really outgoing,
you might find it hard, maybe you find it harder to get the conversation going in the first place.
Maybe you won't get that many people saved, but I'll tell you what, God's still going to use you.
Yeah, if you say, here am I, Lord, use me, God's still going to use you.
And God's going to give you that ability to get, it might be that you get, even if, yeah,
say you were just so tongue-tied, you just found it so hard.
Say you just froze every time you talked to someone.
Yeah, you just couldn't remember anything that you had to say,
and it went like that for your whole Christian life.
And you got one person saved, your whole life, you managed to get it together enough,
and you got one person saved.
Is that a shame?
You got someone saved.
And I've said it before, it can feel weird, kind of, not weird, but in a church like this,
we're generally getting quite a few people saved, yeah?
And it can for many, and it will, ultimately, because that's life,
it will lose that slight excitement, won't it?
But it's an amazing thing.
It's an amazing thing to go out and be used by God and get someone saved, yeah?
But it's what you're called to do, it's what you're told to do.
I remember being in a church where, I've said this story before, where they were,
so in fact, it was this one church, but then, I can't remember if I'd left there,
but anyway, they were basically giving out these New Testament Bibles, yeah?
10,000 Bibles, they were praying over it,
we're going to put them through every door in Sutton,
we're going to get all these people saved by reading the Bible.
Funny, because I had actually looked through the front, it didn't look too bad,
and I didn't check hard enough, because then when I checked through the back,
sure enough, there was some repent of your sins salvation thing on the back,
even though the pastor of this church was adamant he did not believe in repent of your sins,
yeah, I mean, he made it clear.
So anyway, who knows why he was giving out 10,000 Bibles in the back of them,
which apparently were to get people saved,
which had a key to them, you know, when you went to this verse,
you went to there to go, turn to Romans 10, 9, you know,
and turn to Romans 10, 13, and all of this, yeah,
yeah, yeah, anyway, they give out 10,000 of these,
and at the end, it tells them to repent of their sins.
So, they're putting them through doors,
and then this guy from this other church was kind of getting involved,
and I knew him, I'd known him for, you know,
been at this church, you know, before, a few years before,
and the kind of, you know, there's a few issues with it,
but we've kind of gone back, and I said to this guy,
said, you know, honestly, I wasn't doing it, you know,
like, the kind of cliché, you know, why aren't you preaching to God?
I just said to him, you know, you can maybe, like,
you know, maybe when you go down the drive,
it could be a good idea, like, knock on the door,
and maybe you might get a chance to preach in the gospel.
He said, yeah, I'm not ordained to do that.
I said, what do you mean you're not ordained to do that?
He said, I'm not, no, I don't believe I'm ordained to preach.
I said, if you're saved, you know, and again, I tried to do it,
I wasn't, like, you know, really obnoxious with it,
I was just saying, well, you know, I do believe that we are,
he's going, no, no, no, I think you have to be in a deigned position
in the church to preach the gospel.
Is that the truth?
No.
What a wicked cop-out that is, isn't it?
Well, turn to 2 Corinthians 5,
because if you're saved, you're given the ministry of reconciliation.
If you're saved, you have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
Romans 10.14 says,
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Who's that preacher?
Is it just me behind the pulpit?
Is it? No.
Is it only the guy that got brainwashed at Bible College for three years?
Unless you've done three years of Bible College brainwash, yeah,
modelled on the world, yeah, modelled on worldly, you know,
academic sort of teachings and university degrees and everything,
then you're not qualified to preach the gospel.
What a load of nonsense that is.
Is it, and how shall they hear,
without someone who's paid a lot to get taught the latest status-quying Bible college?
Is that what it says?
No? No?
You're that preacher, aren't you?
Everyone here, you're saved, you're that preacher.
Romans 1.17 says,
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
It's revealed from faith to faith.
It's God's people preaching the gospel, explaining the scriptures.
That's how people get saved.
That's how God's ordained it.
That's how it works.
So if it was only people that had gone to some worldly Bible college
to be taught whatever, like I said, the latest status quo in Christianity is,
whatever the latest teachings are, which generally are just full of heresies, yeah,
if that's the only people, well, there's not going to be many people getting saved, are there?
Oh, it's only if you're, you know, you're some sort of role, job, position, evangelist, something else.
Again, that's not many people getting saved.
But that's not what the Bible says.
It's revealed from faith to faith.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 14, where you are, says,
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because again, you talk to these people, they go, well, that was the disciples who had said,
preach the, you know, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Oh, no, but that's the apostles.
Well, let's see what 2 Corinthians 5, 14 says.
He's not talking to the 12 apostles here.
He's talking to the Corinthian church.
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
Okay, this is, he's talking about all the people that have been saved.
Yeah, they which lived, the saved.
But unto him which died for them and rose again.
Not just talking about himself being a preacher of the gospel here.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.
Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Okay, again, talking as a plural here about himself and all of them as saved people.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.
Everyone likes that bit, don't they?
Let's keep going, verse 18.
And all things are of God, who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Okay, still talking about the same plural of believers.
Yeah, that's the context here, believers.
To us, the ministry of reconciliation.
Believers have been given the ministry of reconciliation
because it goes from faith to faith.
Because how shall they hear without a preacher?
Verse 19 says to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us,
still the same context here, is saved believers, the word of reconciliation.
We have been committed the word of reconciliation.
It is the word, yeah, it's not about explaining in your own words.
Yes, we do need to explain the scripture, but it needs the word of God, yeah.
Now then, continuing.
We, again, same context, saved people.
We are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead,
be you reconciled to God.
Now, he's not talking to the Corinthian church here,
the whole, in terms of that's not the people he's saying,
we're praying you to be reconciled.
He's saying, this is what we say to people, us, the believers.
We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God,
for the unbelievers, for he had made him to be sin for us.
We like the us here, don't we, the we, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Okay, the whole context of that is talking about believers, isn't it?
Okay, and what we say then to the unbelievers.
Okay, we, plural, you, if you're saved,
you have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
And whether you're young, whether you're old,
whether you're married, whether you're single,
whether you have a lot of free time,
whether you don't have much free time,
whether you have one child, whether you have 20 children,
whatever it is, we all still have the duty
to go out and preach the gospel.
We have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
So I don't think there's any doubt that if you're saved,
your job is to get other people saved.
Okay, there's no doubt about that.
Okay, the Bible's clear about that.
Now, if you're saved and you're thinking,
well, I don't even know how to get someone else saved,
then part of that is going out and learning how to do that.
And the easiest way, the best way to do that
is to just go out as a silent partner at our church.
But if you go out as a silent partner,
look, if you're, and you could be,
like I've said many times,
you could be a silent partner 15 years, yeah?
That's not a problem.
You're still going out and getting people saved.
But if you're a silent partner,
you are learning how to preach the gospel.
So please don't go out as a silent partner
and have a gas at the end of the driveway
with whoever else you might be with.
Don't go out as a silent partner
and it's like, now time to just kind of be in my own world,
get on my phone and start doing stuff,
surfing the internet,
thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow.
That's not the point, yeah?
Silent partners should be in prayer.
And if you're silent,
there's no reason why not to be in prayer.
And don't just please get saved, please get saved,
please get saved.
That's not being a silent partner, yeah?
Pray for, like, you should be listening,
tuning into the conversation
and work out what those stumbling blocks might be.
And if everything's going well, please, please,
if you're a silent partner,
pray for those distractions not to come.
Pray to be ready to deal with them.
Pray for whoever it is,
it's usually a lot of time coming in
and trying to distract them
and pray for something to happen to them.
Pray for something to distract them.
Pray for something to get in the way.
Pray for that kid's mum or dad not to suddenly turn up.
Pray for all the anything that you can.
Pray for that phone to just lose reception
because it seems like it keeps going off in their pocket.
Pray for practical things.
Don't just either be praying,
yeah, please get saved anyway.
Yeah, I don't really like their driveway
and everything else.
Yeah, whatever it is.
Look, you're a silent partner to learn though as well.
And if you're doing that, you're going to be in tune,
you're going to be learning.
Not, you're not obviously,
especially because sometimes you'll have to have
twos, threes, fours,
sometimes you'll have someone with kids.
There's a silent partner and then all you can hear,
you preach the gospel
and someone's trying to have a gas with your kids
or something, you know?
It's like, come on like this.
Look, it's an important thing, isn't it?
Being a silent partner is an important job, yeah?
Pray, be involved.
You know, and you'll learn how to preach the gospel
and that's ultimately what you're doing as well, aren't you?
You're learning how to preach the gospel.
And like I said, there's no time limit on that,
but we want you to learn how to preach the gospel.
But our job is to get other people saved, yeah?
Part of that is going out as a pair.
The question is, are you hearing
or are you ignoring the call?
That's the question, isn't it?
To everyone around, to anyone that listens in on this,
to anyone sitting here,
are you hearing the call or are you ignoring the call?
Because look,
Andrew and Peter there, okay?
Andrew and Peter, they heard Jesus Christ say to them,
but follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
But every single person who's listening
to this preaching now has just heard me say,
but we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
They've heard me basically say that Jesus Christ,
the word of God is saying, follow me
and I will make you fishers of men.
He's commanding us to do it.
Now we can reject that command
and sadly there are Christians the world over
that reject and ignore and shut our ears off,
but he's commanding every single one of you here, yeah?
To follow him and become a fisher of men.
Now, like I said, you might be thinking,
well, I don't know where to start.
Well, then follow him to be made a fisher of men.
Yeah, follow him, follow his word.
Listen to how he preaches the gospel in the gospels.
Gospel of John, keep reading it through.
See how Jesus Christ does it.
Listen to other people who do it.
Read the rest of the word of God.
Read clear salvation verses
and work out how you would explain them, yeah?
You know, we'll have to explain the same way.
You know, it should be, look,
sometimes, you know, there's a difference in there
between just being a carbon copy of someone else
and actually thinking, no, I like this verse
because this is how I like to explain that, yeah?
And as long as you explain the key points of salvation,
then look, you're following him, aren't you?
Now, is that okay, brother Ian?
I'll go home and think about it today.
Okay, brother Ian, when I switch off YouTube,
I know we've got members that can't make it tonight,
or okay, brother Ian, when I walk out of this building,
I'm going to go home and have a little think
about how I do that.
Well, Andrew and Simon heard the call
and what did they do?
Straight away, straight way,
they threw down the things of the world, didn't they?
Verse 20 says, and they straight way,
sorry, back in Matthew 4, verse 20,
and they straight way left their nets and followed him.
Okay, and that's what we should be doing, shouldn't we?
If you haven't heard the call, you're hearing it now.
And if you have heard the call before,
you're still hearing it now,
and look, we should straight way,
straight way leave our net, shouldn't we?
Straight way, maybe it's your extra hours
to work or earn more money to put into your storehouse.
Yeah, to lay up more things in your storehouse, yeah?
Just forsake it.
Yeah, I'm not saying you have to give up your whole job,
but I reckon you can afford to go soul winning.
I think you can afford to turn up at church.
I think God will make sure that you can.
I think you can afford to go out soul winning.
I think you can afford, you can,
you are able to go out soul winning on a Sunday.
Straight way, they left their nets.
Maybe it's your hobbies.
Maybe it's the hobbies of getting away for people.
Yeah, the thing is, if I go on a Wednesday,
then I can't do this, or maybe if I go on this day,
maybe if I go to that soul winning marathon,
I don't know, because I'm not gonna be able
to do whatever hobby it is.
I like to do on a Saturday.
Just straight away, leave it.
Your favorite TV shows.
That's for, sadly, that's for many, isn't it?
That's why they leave straight after Sunday service.
Super Sunday.
So super, isn't it?
Watching just some over-hyped, glorified morons
acting like idiots with rainbow laces
kicking a ball around, yeah?
Yeah, and it's all hyped up,
and if you weren't staring at the TV,
you wouldn't even care about it, would you?
Because you wouldn't have watched all the adverts
telling you what a great game it was gonna be,
when it invariably never is.
Yeah, Super Sunday, or whatever else,
and there's so much stuff, isn't there,
that gets in the way.
And then everything else backs up,
because people are staring at whatever it is all night,
or Netflix or something else,
and then they don't, then they're too tired,
or then they've got other things on their plate,
oh no, I can't come because I've got to do this,
but what are you doing the rest of the week?
Can't come because I've got to do my study
for whatever it is I'm doing, my qualification,
my coursework, my schoolwork, or whatever,
but what, you know, have you really used your time right?
What about your unsafe family
that want you on a Sunday?
Because I tell you what,
part of following Jesus Christ being at church, isn't it?
Yeah, part of following Christ is being at church.
If you're not at church, invariably,
the soul-winning's gonna drop out in the end, isn't it?
But how many people, years ago, four or five years ago,
all met up, all in Woolwich, soul-winning, 60-odd people,
where are they all?
Where are they all?
Where are they all now?
Not in church, you think they're soul-winning?
You think they're meeting up, going,
oh yeah, well, yeah, I don't really fancy that church,
but they might not fancy it.
They might be like, look, I don't want to go to the South,
and I don't want to go to that church.
I don't like the preaching, I don't like whatever.
Do you think they're out soul-winning, though?
No.
They might've done for a little bit,
yeah, they probably had a little bit,
because you need to be sent, yeah?
How should they preach except they be sent, yeah?
Because, look, you need sending sometimes, don't you?
Because sometimes your lazy backside doesn't want to go.
Sometimes, the excuses come out,
sometimes you need someone behind a pulpit saying,
you've been given the ministry of reconciliation,
go out and preach the gospel.
Sometimes we need that, don't we?
All of us need that, yeah?
And look, where are those people now?
I'll tell you what, the vast, vast majority of them
aren't preaching the gospel, and that is sad, really.
And I'm not like having a go at them,
it's sad, really, because what's the result?
More people going to hell, less people getting saved.
That's the way it works.
And you go, oh, well, God will find it,
no, no, we need to go out and preach the gospel.
Yeah, that's the way it works, that's the way it works.
It's always worked, it's faith to faith, yeah?
Okay, so, the unsaved family that want you on a Sunday,
back to that point, and how many people
will not be at church on some Sunday, Sunday evening,
maybe, because the unsaved family have got in the way?
The family, friend, there's someone,
oh, but, you know, we want to do this on a Sunday.
How do you think Jesus feels about that, yeah?
How do you think he feels when you're making
whatever excuse it is to not be in his house,
not listening to his word, preaching,
not going out and preaching the gospel?
Oh, well, Sunday morning, but not Sunday evening.
Yeah, because, what?
Oh, well, I've got stuff to do.
Oh, well, look, but again, is that person,
do you think out there, just burning up the streets,
preaching the gospel every minute they're able to?
Are they really making time for it?
No, they're not.
So, what do they do?
Straightway, they left their nets and followed him.
Leave your nets and follow him, yeah?
That's what we should all be doing.
Verse 21 says, and going on from thence,
he saw other two brethren,
James the son of Zebedee and John his brother,
in a ship with Zebedee their father,
men in their nets, and he called them.
And they immediately left the ship
and their father and followed him.
And sometimes that's what following the Lord results in,
doesn't it, yeah?
Sometimes it results in having to leave family members.
Sometimes you have to leave them behind.
Sometimes you have to move away from it.
Sometimes the distance has to be made
because they will pull you back into the world.
They will pull you back into Egypt,
and they want to, don't they?
Don't they?
Try their best to do that.
And when you think about it, isn't it wicked, really?
And we try and get out, well, they probably don't really,
they want to pull you back.
They know what they're,
oh, do you have to go this Sunday?
Or do you have to do this?
Or really?
Like, oh, what, you have to go all the time?
What, a whole Sunday?
What, a midweek?
Midweek service?
Oh, what, a soul-winning marathon?
Like, you know, what's wrong with you?
What sort of cult is this?
What sort of, they all try it, don't they?
They all try it.
And what happens to their father here?
Well, James and John heard the call.
They chose Jesus above their father, didn't they?
And by the way, that's the only time
that we see their father in person in the gospels.
So they're mentioned
because that's the way they're recognized
as the sons of Zebedee.
We don't see Zebedee again, unless I'm wrong there.
I haven't seen him mentioned anywhere else.
Well, other than, you know,
reference to them being the sons of Zebedee.
Now, can you imagine though,
turn to Luke chapter 12.
Like, Zebedee here, they're mending their nets.
He called them, they're with their father,
mending nets at this point.
They're probably like holding one end.
Like, the other guy's probably holding the other,
Zebedee's mending it and they just drop it.
And he's like, whoa!
And they're like, we're off.
See you later, Dad.
You know, like that was probably quite, quite,
quite hard for him.
I can imagine him calling out, you useless sons,
what sort of sons are you?
But who comes first?
The Lord.
The Lord comes first, isn't he?
They're in a business with their father.
Yeah, they've left their father in their business
and that could be hard for people, can't it?
I bet a lot of people here,
you can see kind of parallels in your life there
where maybe you'd find that really hard
to leave that unsaved family member to follow Jesus.
Look, I'm not saying you have to never talk to them again.
I'm not saying you have to cut them out of your life.
That's it.
That's not what you're saying here.
But when you choose to follow Jesus,
that means leaving behind the world, doesn't it?
Because invariably, if they don't get saved,
that gap's going to widen like this, isn't it?
And that's what happens.
Well, you have to be prepared for that, yeah?
Oh, look at Luke 12.
We're going to see that.
Because verse 51 says, Luke 12, 51.
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth,
I tell you, nay, but rather division.
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided,
three against two and two against three.
The father shall be divided against the son
and the son against the father,
the mother against the daughter
and the daughter against the mother,
the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And that's what the truth does, doesn't it?
That's what the truth does.
Now, you're not going to get that down
at the wishy-washy non-denom church, are you?
You're not going to get that separation
when you're going once a week to the new evangelical
and you're going along and everything else is normal
other than that two hours that you're in church,
if you're even there for two hours,
because the sermonette will probably only be 20 minutes long
and you'll probably have a couple of nice worldly hymns,
a little 20 minute talk,
and then afterwards you can have a tea and biscuit,
go home, tick the box, done church, I'm a Christian.
Is that separation going to come?
Is there going to be division from going down the non-denom,
from going down the charismatic, from any of that?
No.
Why does it come?
Why did Jesus...
And when he says, did he say peace on earth?
Yeah, peace on earth between men and God through salvation,
through the reconciliation that comes to Jesus Christ's blood
but not peace between men.
That's not what he came to bring.
He said, nay, but rather division, for from henceforth
there should be five in one house,
divided three against two and two against three.
And again, look, the truth is it's not automatic
your family's going to get saved.
It's not automatic.
It's not, you can't just assume.
And when I'm talking about father, look,
you should assume that with your kids, okay?
You should, if your kids, you know, are young enough
and look, when I say young enough,
because the older they get, the harder it's going to get.
Yeah, they're going to get poisoned by the world.
But if you preach them the gospel young,
I'm not talking about that, but I'm talking about
when you start hearing the gospel and you're older,
kids are hearing it older,
family members are hearing it older.
There's no guarantee there, is there?
And it's a sad truth,
but it's something that you have to deal with.
And then it comes to the point where it's like, what?
Am I going to be pulled back by my unsafe family?
Am I going to be poisoned by,
am I going to have them ruining my kids?
Am I going to have them whispering
to them being a bad influence?
And I'm not saying you have to cut them off,
but you have to be aware of what is it that, you know,
what are they saying to your kids when you're not there?
What are they trying to poison, put in your kids' heads?
What are they, you know, what are they,
are they undermining you?
Are they undermining your faith?
And that's why the father should be divided
against the son, the son against the father,
the mother against the daughter,
the daughter against the mother,
the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law,
the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.
And why? It's not just the gospel,
it's the truth that comes with the word of God as well,
isn't it?
And the more you start living for God,
the more they start to be divided against you, don't they?
Yeah.
Okay, and it's a sad truth,
but that shouldn't stop us, should it?
And that could be a temptation for some, can't it?
Temptation to go back on to just a little bit,
well, okay, well maybe I'll just cut down church a bit.
Maybe I'll kind of go back to the worldly clothes
when I'm with them.
Maybe I'll go back to the worldly music
and the worldly ways when I'm with those family members,
because, you know, we want to be, you know,
we've got to be in the world, not of the world,
but in the world, yeah?
So maybe I need to appeal to them,
but no, that's not how it works, does it?
Yeah?
Look, live for God, live for Christ, follow Jesus,
and you'll become vicious of men.
And that is the ultimate thing, isn't it?
And that's where we want to then go to heaven
and see that tally of all those people.
Can you imagine all those people?
Imagine all those people that you've been,
you got saved just since this church began.
When you go to heaven and they're like,
and they're coming up to you and shaking your hand
and saying, praise God, you know,
you went out and you did what God told me to,
told you to do.
And that's going to be a great time, isn't it?
That's going to be a great reunion, isn't it?
And just to think, wow, yeah, you know,
those people got saved and yeah, Jesus Christ,
yeah, I'm sure they're going to be more looking forward
to seeing Jesus Christ,
so we should be more looking forward to that
than the people we got saved,
but it's going to be a good time, isn't it?
It's going to be a great time,
a great time rejoicing up there.
Well, look at verse 23,
and Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom
and healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people.
He did some amazing things to Jesus Christ as well.
We're going to go into some of this,
obviously, in later chapters,
but it wasn't just, oh, he's just preaching the gospel.
He was showing who he was,
he was fulfilling prophecy, he was doing miracles,
he was healing the sick,
he was healing all these sorts of diseases.
No one could do this except for God himself.
And verse 24 says,
And his fame went through all Syria,
and they brought unto him all sick people
that were taken with diverse diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils,
and those which were lunatic,
and those that had the palsy and healed them.
Now, palsy is paralysis, lunatic is madness.
Apparently, it was thought to be affected
by the moon as well.
Some people that seem to be a bit affected by the moon,
sometimes you knock on their doors,
they seem like they howl at the moon at night, don't they?
But not always, just quickly,
because we were talking about this earlier,
we just had like this,
you ever go in a place where it's like,
it was like the sun was just shining on it.
We've gone there last week as someone who got saved,
and then we went there this week,
and about the second door,
and everyone was just friendly.
Everyone was happy, happy rejections,
happy just for you to knock on their door.
Oh, no, no, not really into church.
See, yeah, you know, that sort of thing.
This is weird, yeah?
And we were laughing,
because there was this young girl, she got saved,
and even like talking to the dad,
it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, yeah,
you could preach,
I'm just going to leave the door on the latch.
You know, it's like, cool.
Yeah, because usually when you preach to young kids,
you're thinking, oh, I'm going to get some grief in a minute.
And everyone's just happy, the kids are happy,
that, you know, and then even,
even the sodomites were happy.
Even, it was that bizarre,
that even two sodomites came past,
even they wanted to hear the gospel.
Obviously they didn't get saved,
and they started telling us how much they,
they were basically saying, you know,
how great the devil was by the end of it,
and just proving what wicked, vile sodomites they really are.
But they did it with a smile.
They even shook hands after,
I think they were like, see, yeah, you know,
and all of this, everyone was just happy in this place.
Yeah, it was a bizarre place.
But anyway, point being that, look,
going out preaching the gospel isn't always,
it doesn't always have to be like,
oh man, it's so stressed.
Sometimes you do just get these times, don't you?
Where you just get this area,
like it's just this happy little estate
where everyone was just happy.
And then someone else got saved after as well, I think,
and literally just a few doors,
and a couple more salvations,
and no, I'm not giving the address to anyone else,
because I'm going there next week, it's mine.
It's all mine.
But I'll tell you what, that place is good.
But then next road down, and people are like,
man, I'm getting door slams in my face, you know.
It's just a funny little area, just, you get that.
But anyway, point being that, yeah,
there are some lunatics, but some people,
some people are still happy,
and some people are still even polite in this world,
and polite to even be offered the gospel.
And here, Jesus Christ's fame
went throughout all Syria, didn't it?
We see that there.
He said his fame went throughout all Syria,
which was, by the way,
the bordering country on the east of Galilee.
So yeah, there were probably Jews there,
but look, it went throughout all Syria, okay?
So people were just hearing about Jesus Christ
far and wide, verse 25,
and it followed in great multitudes of people from Galilee,
and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem,
and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.
So they're basically coming in from all around, yeah?
They're coming from all around, hopefully,
and we've already seen that already here, haven't we?
We've got people coming from all around,
people coming from not only this nation,
but all over Europe,
who are coming to this church at times,
and they're coming to hear the word of God preached,
aren't they?
They're coming to be around other saved people,
to be around the light, you know,
that dwells within every single saved person here.
They're coming to be in a church
that's going out and preaching the gospel,
and that's gonna continue,
and we're just gonna keep doing things properly.
Jesus Christ here,
they've followed in great multitudes of people
from all over,
and we're gonna see then what he starts preaching to them
in the next chapter.
And that, for me, that's a great chapter of scripture,
but really, what's the overriding message in those,
in that second half that we've just read,
we've just gone through there?
Preach the gospel, yeah?
Yeah, follow me and I'll make you fish to men.
That's the command there, isn't it?
Follow him, and ultimately the main thing there,
and yeah, we don't wanna neglect the rest of it,
yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying,
as long as you preach the gospel,
then live in absolute carnal wickedness
the rest of the time.
I'm not saying that, but what I am saying
is that the ultimate thing for a Christian
is to be preaching the gospel, yeah?
And that's what we should all continue to do,
whether when you get those hard times,
and you get times and you start to feel like you shouldn't,
that's the time to go out and preach the gospel, yeah?
On that, let's pray.
Father, thank you for a great chapter of the Bible there.
Thank you for making it clear that, you know,
that with just a little bit of study
that we can see that, you know, at the least,
we know that Andrew, I would say Peter,
I would say James and John as well,
these are saved people and you're telling them,
you're commanding them to follow you
to then go out and get people saved,
and that's what you want all saved people to do,
that's what you're commanding all saved people to do,
but whether or not they hear that command
and then that they respond to that command,
that really comes down to them.
And we pray that all those people that come here
will respond to that command,
but also those people that were getting saved,
that they will also respond to that command as well,
and it might not be straight away,
it might not be in the next year or two,
but hopefully, we're praying that they will do
in years to come, that they'll wanna tune in to preaching,
and they might have to go into the spiritual wilderness
a bit like many of us did when we were first saved,
and it might take them a while to come back
to sound biblical preaching to the word of God,
to the King James Bible, to, you know, clear preaching
with the whole counsel of God being preached,
and we pray that when they do, when they come back to that,
and hopefully they will come back to that,
that they'll then feel convicted as well
to go out and preach the gospel,
so we just end up with an army of soul winners
in this nation, and that everyone we get saved
will encourage to do the same,
we'll encourage them to come to church,
we'll encourage them to get baptized,
encourage them to follow you,
and we pray that we'll do that going forward now,
going into this weekend, that we'll all return
safely and soundly on Sunday,
not only to come to church, but also to go out
and preach the gospel for the last couple of times
in Southend for probably a long time,
help us to just finish off here with many more salvations
to really leave this town in a much better state
than when we first started here,
and we pray all of these things in Jesus' name, amen.