With Maker Ian Thomas speaking.
What a fantastic privilege it is to be
a Christian, to be a redeemed sinner, utterly
undeserving, completely unmerited, and yet at peace with
God our Maker, and excited to step out
into every new day, knowing that it's going
to be the sheer adventure of sharing life
with Him, our God, on Earth, on the
way to heaven.
What more can you ask for there?
And problems, marvels, difficulties, threats, trials, perplexities, all
of them providing our Lord Jesus with a
new and fantastic opportunity to demonstrate His adequacy
in deity.
That's what makes life so interesting.
Specific dialogues are no problem.
Wouldn't it be remarkable if it went to
difficulties, but every day, you see, is an
opportunity for Him to demonstrate afresh that He
in us is gloriously adequate.
No emergencies.
The Chinese word for emergency is dangerous opportunity.
That's a beautiful definition of an emergency as
far as God is concerned.
It's just a dangerous to ask opportunity to
Him.
That's all, and you and I have been
called upon to live that quality of life.
What is impact going to be?
Well, we believe that in the purpose of
God, in the measure in which we reconcile
to our Creator, indwelt by our Lord Jesus,
empowered by His Spirit, we make ourselves available
to Him so He will continue in and
throughout to discharge His ancient office of seeking
and saving that which was lost.
Let me read these few verses to you.
It's from the 10th chapter of the Epistle
to the Romans, Romans chapter 10, verse 30.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord, invoking all that he is.
Don't forget that definition of what it means
to call upon the name of the Lord.
That's the lovely way in which it's put
in the Amplified New Testament, invoking all that
he is.
The word invoke, as you know, simply means
to draw upon his resources and bring him
into action.
You invoke another person's activity, and when you
call upon the name of the Lord, you
invoke his activity.
By your attitude of faith that continues to
be whole, you release his activity in terms
of your humanity.
You let him loose.
You turn it over to him.
Calling upon the name of the Lord shouldn't
say that is to say every boy, girl,
man, or woman convicted by the gracious, loving,
holy Spirit of their need as sinners, turning
to the Lord Jesus for the sake he
came to be, invokes his redemptive activity, puts
him into action.
I'm one of the sinners.
You died to save.
Thank you so much.
I want you to get to work on
me, because I'm one of the sinners.
You died to save.
And the promise of God, his pledge, is
this.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved, without a shadow of
a doubt, absolutely without any ambiguity whatever, shall
be saved.
Saved in the fullest possible sense of the
term, because you see, when you call upon
his name, you not only invoke his redemptive
activity, you invoke his regenerative activity.
You recognize that he's not only going to
move into your experience to redeem you by
his death and reconcile you to God, he's
going to move into your experience and all
the power of his resurrection by restoring to
you his Holy Spirit, and by his presence,
credit you with his resurrection life, so that
you're going to be saved, you're going to
be being saved, and one day you will
be saved.
Saved from the penalty of sin, I am
saved.
Being saved from the power of sin, and
one day in his presence I'll be delivered
from the very presence of sin, so that
having been saved and being saved, one day
I will be saved, and then that will
be the final consummation of that salvation, that
so great salvation that he came to provide
to you and to me.
Then he goes on to say this, verse
40, How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed?
How are they going to invoke the activity
of somebody about whom they have not become
convinced?
How shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard?
How are they going to invoke the redemptive
and regenerative activity of one of whom, not
having heard, they cannot believe?
And, how shall they heal without a preacher?
Well, that's simple enough in the sheer logic
of what he's trying to tell us.
How shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed?
How shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard?
And, how shall they heal without a preacher?
And, the next question is very relevant, and
how shall they preach except they be sent?
Sent.
In the ark of the testament beneath the
mercy seat, in the holiest of all, the
mercy seat sprinkled with blood, that spiritual content
of our faith presented to us by the
Lord Jesus, that ark that had to be
carried on two pieces of wood borne upon
the shoulders of a man not less than
thirty, and not yet fifty.
Beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus outside a
city wall, bearing two pieces of wood upon
his shoulder, the cross upon which he died,
that you and I might receive by the
Holy Spirit, the one who seals us, the
one who sanctifies us, and the one who
sent us.
For whom he seals and sanctifies, he sent.
How shall they preach except they be sent?
Well, I'll tell you how they'll preach if
they haven't been sent.
It's going to be pretty awful.
You can nearly always detect a man who's
preaching who hasn't been sent.
You should never try to preach if you
haven't been sent.
And, of course, if you've been sent you
won't have to try to preach.
How shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
Have you got beautiful feet?
It says you can have beautiful feet.
Some of us have long since despaired ever
having of a beautiful face, but there's not
one single one of us here tonight who
can't have beautiful feet.
You've got beautiful feet?
Wouldn't it be nice to have a beauty
contest tonight to see who's got the most
beautiful feet?
This is what it says.
How beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
tidings of good things.
Who've been sent, and when.
Sent, and when.
Say, do you know what happens if you're
numbered amongst those who were sent and when?
I'll tell you, you're put.
You turn with me to the first of
Paul's epistles to Timothy.
The first epistle of Paul to Timothy, and
he bears this testament as he reminds us
again of those days when as Paul of
Carthage, in his fanatical religious bigotry, he was
the arch enemy of the early church.
In the first chapter of his first epistle
to Timothy, in the 13th verse, he says,
I was before a black female.
I was a persecutor.
I was in jury.
People got hurt when I was around.
I stood by consenting to the death of
Stephen.
I saw his blood run in the gutter.
I heard his bones snap as they stoned
him to death, and I licked my lips,
and I considered that I was championing God's
cause.
I was a black female.
I was a persecutor.
I was in jury.
As a woman saw Saul of Tarsus round
the corner, the last drop of blood would
drain from her soul.
She had raced home and warned her husband,
and slammed the door.
Little children would flee in terror the moment
they saw Saul of Tarsus.
But, he says in verse 13, I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorant, in unbelief,
in my abysmal ignorance.
Because I did it knowing God had mercy.
And, we reminded ourselves of that moment when
on the road to Damascus, with letters of
authority from the high priest, there accost all
who dared to name the name of Jesus
into jail.
And, how will the masseves be to their
death if by any means there might be
eradicated this heretical teaching of this fanatical free
creature?
And, on the road to Damascus, that light
brighter than the sun at noonday that cast
him blinded to the earth, and he had
that life-transforming encounter with the Lord Jesus.
Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?
Why, he says in the preceding verse of
that chapter, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12,
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath
enabled thee.
For when he counted me faithful, put it,
put it in the midst.
When blinded on the road to Damascus, I
said, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to
do?
He said, go, go to Damascus, go to
Damascus, and there it shall be taught thee
what thou shouldst do.
Go, he said, and I went, and being
sent, and because I went, he put me
in it.
Well, it's a wonderful thing to be put,
because, you see, the moment you're sent, and
you went, and you're put, nothing can frighten
you, because you know he's put.
What can frighten you then?
Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Let me know at any given moment that
I'm in the place where he's put, and
nothing from that moment can discourage me, nothing
from that moment can dismay me, nothing from
that moment can deter me.
Now, this of course is a secret, isn't
it?
This is what we've been talking about.
As you step out into every new day,
you relate every new situation to the fact
that the Lord Jesus is alive, that he's
come to take up by his Holy Spirit
residence within your humanity.
You trust in the Lord with all your
heart, your mind, your emotions, and your will,
that you make gladly available to him.
You don't now lean to your own understanding,
but in all your ways you acknowledge him.
You say, Lord Jesus, you have the right
to call the shot.
I submit myself gladly to your jurisdiction.
I'm at the receiving end of your instruction,
and you have promised that you will direct
my course.
You say I'm caught, and I'm put in
the place where he put.
This was the testimony of the Lord Jesus,
as we have already reminded ourselves.
Again and again, if you like to read
John's gospel, and I suggest that you do
this as a very healthy exercise, and every
single time that the Lord Jesus claims to
be sent to be one of the sent
ones, that the Father sent into this world,
ring it, ring it with a pen, and
you will find that in 14 chapters, some
45 times, the Lord Jesus testified to the
fact that he was dead, and the only
possible explanation that he ever gave at any
time for anything that he said, or did,
or was, or for being where he could
be found was this.
He said, what are you doing there, Lord
Jesus?
Then, I do only always those things that
please him.
You might gaze up upon a Roman gallows
and see God's incarnate Son nailed to a
cross, and you say, Lord Jesus, what are
you doing there?
Then, and the Lord Jesus said, if my
Father sent me, so send I you.
So, from now on, there will only be
one legitimate explanation for any place in which
you may be found, so that when challenged
as to why you're doing any given thing,
why you're saying any given thing, why you're
going any given place, with unshatterable confidence you
will say, I was sent, and went, and
so I'm put, and nothing can frighten me.
Are you put?
Are you a businessman?
Why are you in the business that you're
in?
This is valid as a question to a
Christian.
It wouldn't be valid as a question to
a non-Christian.
It wouldn't be valid as a question to
a carnal Christian.
But, if I'm talking to you as a
man or woman filled with the Holy Ghost,
if I'm talking to you as a man
or a woman who has become spiritually adult,
if I'm talking to you as a man
or a woman, or a boy or a
girl for that matter, who has grown up
in Christ, who recognizes that he gave himself
not simply to get you out of hell
and into heaven, but to get God out
of heaven into you, so that your humanity
on earth, 24 hours in every day, might
clothe his divine activity, if I'm talking to
you as that boy, to that girl, to
that man, to that woman, who in utter
abandon now to the Lord Jesus is prepared
to give him the place of utter absolute
and unquestioned supremacy, then it's a valid question.
Why are you in the business that you're
in tomorrow?
Did you just drift into it?
Did it just happen to be your father
and you were the next in line?
Is it just a way of earning your
bread and butter?
Or was it just an ambition that you
cherish from boyhood?
Or could you honestly look me straight in
the eyes and say, if you want to
know, I'll tell you.
Of course, because you see he sent and
I went.
That's why I'm living in Fort Smith, and
not in Memphis, or New York, or Los
Angeles.
It wasn't simply that I liked the climate,
it wasn't simply that my relatives were around,
or even just that the firm moved me
from A to B.
I'll tell you why I'm in Fort Smith.
I was sent, and went, and I'm put.
Now, that is the only legitimate explanation you
and I have the right to give at
any time for where we are.
When you go on vacation, are you put?
Are you planning next year's vacation?
Are you cherishing ambitions about where you're going
and how you're going to spend your time?
Did it ever dawn upon you that, as
a living healthy member of the body of
Jesus Christ, the only person who has the
right to call the shots as to where
you spend your next vacation is the head
of that body?
Has that ever dawned upon you?
Or have you successfully dichotomized your Christian life
from the business of living on earth?
So, you say, it's all very well for
this sort of sudden church, but please don't
meddle with my plans for next vacation.
This is how we dichotomize.
We have a faith life, a spiritual life,
all tidied up and put in a glass
case, and that has absolutely nothing whatever to
do with the way I spend my time
or spend my money.
Why do you live in the street where
you live the most?
Did it ever dawn upon you that you
were under a moral spiritual obligation as a
Christian to consult the only one who has
the right to determine where you're going to
live?
In what house, what street, what number?
Did it ever dawn upon you, or have
you successfully dichotomized, segregated your relationship to Jesus
Christ with the nitty-gritty of living on
earth?
Because that, if that is the case, is
why other people are likely to be very
little impressed with whatever profession of faith that
you may make.
Because, to them, you see your profession of
faith in Christ in that it is dichotomized
separated from the process of being an ordinary
human being on earth.
To them, it will just be a hobby.
That's all.
They'll say my hobby's God, your hobby's religion.
You have certain times for your hobby, I
have certain times for my hobby.
I realize that my hobby doesn't determine why
I'm going to live, and your hobby doesn't
determine where you're going.
So, we dichotomize.
I was sent, and went, and I'm put.
You're in college.
Why are you in the college, to hear
me come out?
Did it ever dawn upon you as a
Christian that only one person has the right
to put you in that college, and there
is only one college in which he is
likely to put you, the one he's choosing,
and no other?
Or, did it never dawn on you?
Did it never dawn on you that you
can tell everybody and everything and every fact
except Jesus Christ that it's probably very unlikely
that you're in the college at this moment
of his choice?
And, you see, it's only in the place
where he puts you can you have any
legitimate expectation of his blessing, because, as living
members of his body, we are to be
integrated into the total whole so that he
may unchallenged execute his divine end in terms
of Adam and Eve.
That's what I expect of my body.
Why shouldn't he expect that of his body?
I anticipate of every single member of my
physical body that it becomes totally available to
me by maintaining a relationship that allows me
as the head of that body to close
the shop every moment of every day.
Do you expect your hands to be on
duty just, say, so many hours a day,
often in the afternoons, and coming on again
at seven?
Have you got hands like that?
Now, this is practical Christianity, but we've long
since ceased, you see, to have this concept
of what it means to be a Christian.
We simply departmentalize our faith, and we use
God, and we use Jesus Christ simply as
a convenience, a means whereby we escape the
punitive consequences of our guilt, the means whereby
we make some sort of assurance for our
ultimate destiny when we've finished with this earth
and have done as we please in the
meantime.
Now, that's nothing to do with the Christian
life.
The Lord Jesus is the head of the
body of which every redeemed is a member
of sin, and each individual member of that
body in particular is to be subject to
the head under the direction of the Holy
Spirit so that 24 hours a day the
Lord Jesus himself can be where he wants,
doing what he wants, how he wants, where
he wants, in you and me.
Anything less than that is holiness.
Anything less than that is playing church.
Anything less than that is simply a superficial
veneer of religion that is calculated to make
you feel comfortable inside and past much.
But, so far as God is concerned, you're
all right, and in the last day when
the dust has settled, all that will be
found will be a heap of ashes, the
wood, the hair, and the scuttle of a
wasted life, and you'll look dismayed into the
face of your savior with awe.
Now, I expect with my hand that they're
available to me 24 hours a day.
I don't even anticipate that they'll have a
committee meeting under the joint chairmanship of the
two sons and decide what they will do
in my interest, no matter how sincerely they
might choose so to do.
All I ask of them is that they
may be restfully available to instantly obey me.
After all, I expect my feet to go
exactly where I tell them to take me.
I don't expect my feet to take me
for a walk for the good of my
health.
I expect them to serve my interest at
my command every moment of every day, and,
strange to say, the Lord Jesus, as the
head of the body, claims the right to
exercise the same social jurisdiction over his body
on earth which is his.
Thus, the fellowship of forgiven sins cleansed in
his blood in twelve bloody sins.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has
enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me in the ministry, and I'm happy
to say that if I am found at
this moment in this particular place, there's only
one possible explanation.
It just happens to be the place where
my Lord Jesus, to whom I have presented
my body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, happens to want to be, at
this particular moment, clothed with me.
Are you ready to settle for that quality
of Christian life?
If not, you'll get to heaven if your
sins begin, because you've acclaimed them as your
redeeming.
But, you'll never be put.
You'll never know that divine authority that releases
God's divine activity.
You'll just be a flabby Christian for the
rest of your days, and you'll wonder why
the Christian life is so incredibly boring, so
lustrous and callous and monotonous.
That's why, quite frankly, there are lots of
genuine, born-again, converted, saved, redeemed, on-the
-way-to-heaven Christians whose life is anything
but the adventure that God intended it to
be.
You see, the moment you and I are
prepared to be numbered amongst those who were
sent from where I am always put, the
moment we're prepared for that, every day is
the unfolding of this timeless purpose.
The littlest thing has a divine sickness of
which we may be totally unaware, but as
the unfolding of this riddle, that must last
until one day, as we look back, we
see the mosaic of God's perfect will laid
out as a perfect mass.
Now, this was the characteristic of the early
church, because this handful of untutored men and
women, unschooled, unaccredited, with none of the gimmicks
with which you and I are today so
lavishly provided, no jet planes, no satellites, no
telephones, no television, no electronics, no tape recorders,
just donkeys and their own two flat feet,
and yet they evangelize the then world in
one generation.
They turn the world upside down, and they
change the face of nation.
Why?
Well, because they were real Christians.
They were real Christians.
They were those who, as forgiven sinners, actually
presented their bodies to the Lord Jesus as
though he actually had the right, as God,
to see God in them as they were
expendable.
In early morning days, 25 hours a day,
and there was accomplished that which inevitably could
be explained only in terms of God.
They were sent, and they went.
But, granted, in the book of the Acts,
chapter 8, Acts chapter 8, verse
3, Saul, before he was sent and went,
and put, verse 3, made havoc of the
church, entering into every house and hating many
women he committed under Christ.
That was Saul of Tarsus before he was
convicted.
Saul of Tarsus, in his unregenerate condition, pathetically
religious, utterly unsaved.
Therefore, they that were scattered went everywhere preaching
the word, the living, aiding word of our
Lord Jesus.
And Philip went down to the city of
Samaria, and he preached Christ unto them.
Of course, the preaching of the word, and
the preaching of Christ are synonymous terms, for
he is the living word with the glorious
fulfillment of the written word.
You can't preach the word without preaching Christ,
and you can't preach Christ without preaching the
word.
Philip went down to the city of Samaria,
and he preached Christ to them.
And the people, with one accord, gave heed
to those things which set at stake.
Hearing and seeing the miracles which he did,
unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came
out of many that were possessed with him.
Many taken with houses, and that were lame,
were healed, and there was great joy in
that city.
The whole city was moved for God.
Tremendous!
And, in the power and energy and function
of God the Holy Spirit, the ministry of
this man, Philip, spread like a flame.
When they had testified, it says in verse
25, and preached the word of the Lord,
they returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel
in many villages of the Samaritans.
From wherever they went, their names made news,
and the angel of the Lord spoke to
Philip, saying, Arise, got a pencil?
Bring the word.
Arise and go.
Go towards the town, and to the way
that goes down from Jerusalem, and to God
who wishes this.
What did God say?
Go.
Where to?
To the desert.
And, you see, it's just at that point
that you and I are calculating to start
arguing.
For, here was a man whose name made
news.
He was the great evangelist.
He was the great city missionist.
He was the man to whom people flocked
to hear the gospel in the power and
function of God the Holy Spirit, and the
spirit of God said, Go into the desert.
Verse 27, and he arose and went.
He was sent and went.
Any questions, Philip?
No questions.
Why do we have no questions?
Well, because, you see, Philip was a man
filled with the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to be filled with
the Holy Spirit?
Simply that body, soul, spirit, mind, emotion, and
will, he was available to the Lord Jesus
as a healthy member of his body, so
that he, Christ, as head of that body
could hold a shot, and be in Philip,
close with Philip, where he, Christ, wanted to
be at any given moment.
Now, I can imagine that quite a lot
of people were very dismayed when they heard
that Philip was going to the desert.
They said, Philip, your name makes news.
Philip, we need you for our ministry.
We're going to have an evangelistic crusade.
We need you.
We've got nobody so well known as you
are.
We need someone.
Philip replied, sorry, I've been sent, and I
must go, because I'm not committed to evangelism.
I'm not committed to the lost.
I'm not committed to the world in which
God has placed me.
I'm not committed to the need.
That isn't my business.
That never has been the business of any
member of any body.
I am a member of his body to
whom alone I am committed.
I am not committed to evangelism.
I'm not committed to the need.
I'm not committed to sore winning.
I'm not committed to the world.
I'm committed only and exclusively to Jesus Christ,
to whom I belong, who involves my humanity.
I'm committed to him, and for all that
which he in me is committed.
And if to the desert I'm sent, to
the desert I go, and God takes account.
Sent and with, just as simple as that.
Maybe you wonder perhaps as a Christian, I'm
talking to somebody here, you wonder as a
Christian, why is it so right as yet,
though a child of God, and with a
deep desire in your heart to be of
value to him, has registered so little in
the life of us.
As you look back over your Christian life,
you say there's so little to show for
all my activities.
It isn't that I don't work hard at
it.
It isn't that I'm not sincere.
It isn't that I'm not prepared to sacrifice,
but somehow nothing ever happens.
So, maybe you were never sent and went.
So, you've never known the sheer adventure of
being put.
Did Philip know where he was going?
No.
Did he have to?
No.
Didn't he know what was going to happen?
No.
Didn't he have to?
No.
What did he have to know?
He was sent and went, simple, and put.
Who takes the consequences when you're sent and
went and put?
You're the one who's sent and put, because
you went.
That's all.
Isn't that simple?
How do we do balance to the sheer
logic of God's work?
If I'm utterly, unshatteredly convinced that God put
me here because he sent and I went,
how stupid it would be for me to
wring my hands and say, God, God, you
put me in this place.
What have you done?
Please bless me.
Please, please.
God is willing to take a picture of
this.
Don't you credit with me any intelligence?
I sent, you went, I put.
These are consequences of me.
So, bring your hands and ask me to
bless you.
I would never have put you there if
I weren't going to bless you.
So, you see, the moment you begin to
grasp the glorious principle that Jesus is alive,
lives in you, and you're available to him,
your whole prayer life, the whole structure of
your prayer, is radically changed.
In everything you give thanks.
You say, God, if you sent and I
went, I'm put, and if I'm put, you
take the consequence.
Now, that was the attitude.
I'm absolutely certain that, and in fact, when
he went to the desk, I'm sure he
was sort of chucking himself.
He said, of all the patients that God
has sent, seven.
Who do you think I'm going to preach
to?
The cactus bushels?
Who do you think I'm going to give
an invitation to?
But, I want to credit God with sufficient
intelligence to know what he's asked.
It's going to be exciting to discover what
a man will find in the desk to
preach at.
He arose and went, and behold, a man
of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority, and
the candidate queen of the Ethiopians, who had
the charge of all her treasure, and had
come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning
and sitting in his chariot and reading the
prophecy of Isaiah.
And then the spirit of God said to
Philip, go here and join myself to this
chariot.
As he went out into the desk, without
a clue as to why he was going,
or what God had in mind, there was
a man, a eunuch, chancellor of the exchequer,
and the queen candidate of Ethiopians, in a
caravan, reading a Bible he couldn't understand.
And the spirit said to Philip, go, join
yourself in this chariot.
And he went, and when he had said
he went, he put, and said, who is
calling the shots?
Who called him out of his city-wide
evangelistic ministry?
The Holy Spirit.
Who particularized the instructions and told him to
join himself to that particular chariot, and talk
to that particular man?
The Holy Spirit.
That's the normal Christian life.
You see, the Bible tells us how many
are going to become Christians, and the Bible
tells us exactly how many are going to
be the Christians they become.
Do you know how many are going to
become Christians?
The Bible tells us exactly, exactly.
John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 12, as many
as receive him.
To them gives he the power to become
the children of God.
That's exactly how many.
No more, no less.
As many as receive him.
And if you're not numbered as yet amongst
those who have received him, you have not,
nor until you do, can you become the
child of God.
That's exactly how many.
No more, nor less, will become the children
of God.
As many as receive him.
I say, how many are going to be
the Christians they become?
It tells you exactly in the Bible.
Romans, chapter 8, in verse 14, as many
as.
Not one single one more, not one single
one less.
As many as are led by the Spirit
of God.
They are the only ones, of those who
have become Christians, who have learned to be
the Christians they become.
As many as are led by the Spirit
of God.
Are you led by the Spirit of God?
Are you sharing that adventure with the Lord
Jesus, of seeing him fulfilled through you, by
your obedience to his instructions, that plan for
which, having created you, he's now redeemed you?
If not, your life as a Christian must
be incredibly boring, flat as a pancake.
But, if you know what it is to
be led by the Spirit of God, your
eyes will shine, you'll have a softening in
your heart, you'll be impatient for every new
day to dawn.
The Spirit of God said, go and join
yourself to that man, and that chariot, and
then it ran, he ran, he ran to
it, and he heard him read the prophet
Isaiah.
He says, understand this by what thou weest,
because, fantastic as it might seem, when having
run to that chariot, he listened to the
man reading aloud, he was reading of all
passages from the old testament scriptures to the
gospel according to Isaiah, that marvelous fifty-first
chapter.
That's why he had to run, because if
he hadn't run, he'd miss his test.
And, do you know what the man said?
Do you know what the man said?
It must have filled, it must have filled
Philip's heart to bursting with joy, and gratitude,
and thankfulness to God, that he wasn't pig
-headed enough to be wedded to his evangelistic
ministry as a popular preacher, and denied God
the right to appoint him where he wanted,
because he was sent and went.
Said the eunuch, how can I except some
man should guide me?
How can I?
You say, do I understand what I read?
How can I except some man should guide
me?
How shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed?
How shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard?
How shall they hear of him except there
be a preacher?
And, how shall they preach except they be
sent?
How can I except some man should guide
me?
And, he desired, Philip, that he would come
up and sit So, here we are, here's
the famous preacher.
He's hiding in the desert, and the eunuch
says, come, follow him.
So, go on, and the place of the
scripture which he read was this, verse 32,
he was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so open he not his mouth.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away,
and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth,
and the eunuch answers, Philip, and he said,
I pray thee, for whom speakest the positive
of himself, or of some other man?
Then, Philip opens his mouth into the damned
same scripture, and he preached unto him Jesus,
told him the lovely story of God's amazing
compassion in Christ, how this sinless son of
God, the word incarnate, walked this earth uncurried,
unblemished, like a lamb without cloth, and then
was given to be our partner, that sheltered
beneath the blast, crippled upon the mercy seat,
painted upon the doorpost and the lintel, all
the lovely Old Testament picture language, the truth
of a crucified redeemer, man of sorrows, what
a name for the son of God who
came ruining sinners to retrain.
Hallelujah!
What a savior!
Told him the story, and as they went
on their way, they came to a certain
water.
The eunuch said, see, there's water.
What's this?
Indemnity?
That's high!
For without a doubt, Philip explains, you see
the marvelous thing is this, that this Jesus,
about whom the prophet here speaks, not only
died horrid, he rose again from the dead,
so that we identified with him in death,
pictured in baptism, might now walk in the
newness of life, share in his resurrection, for
you see God has not appointed us to
walk, but to obtain judgment, but to obtain
mercy.
Not appointed to judgment, but to obtain mercy,
for he died horrid, that whether we wake
or whether we sleep, whether in the body
or out of it, we should live together
with him, and that light, that quality of
light which alone is eternal, begins the moment
we are prepared, humbly admitting ourselves to be
the sinners that we are, make our faith
with him in death, so that we may
walk with him in the power of his
resurrection.
And Philip, he got all excited about it,
and he noticed with Walker around, he was
talking about these things, when suddenly he looked
and said, what about you again, that time,
that time?
I think it really took Philip a little
bit by surprise, didn't it?
He said, that time?
Did he say that time?
He said, yes, that time, me, you.
Philip said, well, if I believe it with
all my heart, that means 110.
I believe that this Jesus that you're talking
about is the Christ, the son of God.
That's what I was waiting for.
All I was waiting for was for a
man to tell me that premise.
Now, wasn't that simple?
How difficult was it for Philip to leave
that huge cross?
He couldn't help it.
He almost pushed Philip in the water that
time.
Tremendous.
You see the wretchedness of it.
Why was it so wretched?
Why didn't Philip have to pray all night
and wring his hands and squeeze blood out
of it?
Why didn't he have to shake God and
say, please wake up?
There's a man here, and he's saying, come
and see, please do something about it.
God, I've got to carry this burden all
myself.
Come on, God.
That's the way we pray sometimes, don't we?
Nothing like that.
You see, Philip was bearing fruit.
He that abideth in me, and I abideth
in him, bringeth forth such fruit.
But, of course, without these, struggle as you
like, shout and scream, preach or pray, you
can do how much?
Nothing.
Have you ever seen a bind sweating to
produce grace?
It's been rising with the sheer agony of
its own self-exertion.
Oh, if only I could scream to break
that.
Oh, if only I could get a grace.
That's how Christians get their grace.
But they don't get grace.
The Lord sees.
I am the bar.
You're simply the branch.
You're just the branch.
This is what transformed the life of Hudson
Taylor.
Hudson Taylor, a dedicated, earnest man who loved
Christ with a passion for Paul, went to
China, and there he sorted it out for
God.
He sorted it out for Jesus.
Have I done my best for Jesus?
Until, in sheer abject misery of despair, he
came back utterly, utterly depressed, totally coughed up,
completely useless.
Fit to quit.
And then, from John 15 5, he suddenly
saw the truth.
I am the vine.
You are the branch.
And it dawned.
The vine includes the branch.
The branches aren't stuck onto the vine.
The vine is everything.
Branches and all.
I'm simply that part of Jesus who is
the vine called branch through whom he, the
vine, bears fruit.
That's all.
So, is that part of the vine Jesus
called branch through which he, the vine, bears
fruit?
All I've got to do is be the
vine.
Take my finger.
And he, the vine, bears fruit through me,
that part of him called branch.
That's it.
And a thousand missions went to China.
Who did it?
The vine.
Through whom?
The branch.
So, is that, Hudson Taylor, just a vine
allowing the sap, the life of the vine,
to flow through the branch and bear the
fruit?
Right.
It's so glorious, so restful.
Takes all the stress and all the stress.
It doesn't mean we're unconcerned, but we have
an unshatterable confidence that he's the one who
came, speaks, and says that which is right.
And he knows exactly where to ask.
He knows exactly how to cross that path.
He knows exactly how to introduce us to
them.
But the tragedy is this.
We've all suffered so long as Christians from
St. Vitus down.
We're busy as members of the body showing
the head how busy we are.
Wouldn't it be terrible if I had St.
Vitus down?
Maybe sometimes you think I have, but you
know, I really, my hands are saying to
themselves, I really want the head to know
that I'm on the job.
I really want, I want the head to
know I'm really enthusiastic about this business of
preaching.
Wouldn't that be awful?
Now, that's the kind of body the Lord
Jesus has to work with on earth.
And you know, when they have a heart
attack every now and again, he sighs with
relief.
He does.
So restful.
Why?
Because he was so, what are you doing
in the desert?
You're the great creature.
I went to Siberia where the whole city
was asking, what are you doing in the
desert?
You know what Philip said?
Put.
What do you mean, put?
Put, I'm put.
How do you know you're put?
I've sent wind.
And what do you expect to be doing
in the desert?
No, you're put.
I'm not put.
Aren't you concerned?
Oh yes.
You see, my concern is to be committed
to him, and to all that to which
he is committed in me.
And you see, as he is God's creator,
and I'm just man's creature, he doesn't have
to tell me everything he's doing.
See?
I'm just put.
But I'll tell you something, he never puts
me without something very exciting to do, whether
I know it, or whether I don't.
Afternoon.
Isn't that great?
You see, it doesn't matter to whom what
other people think about you.
What does it matter how they evaluate the
usefulness of your ministry, so long as deep,
deep, deep, deep, deep down in your heart,
you know, recognizing your own frailty, and your
own weakness, and your own stupidity, but deep,
deep, deep, deep down in your heart, you
know, God, as best I know my own
heart, as best I know how, I've made
myself available to you.
I believe I received your instructions to the
best of my understanding.
Somehow, deep down in my heart, I know
that I have obeyed your voice.
I couldn't give anybody any other explanation for
being here at this moment, but that I
was sent, and I went to you, and
I'm prepared to let you take the consequences.
I'm allowed time to vindicate your wisdom, because
I believe that time is always on your
side.
That's right, that's right.
God said go, and he went.
Philip commanded the chariots to stand still.
They went down, both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch.
He baptized them, and when they would come
up out of the water, the spirit of
the Lord called away Philip.
He came by donkey, went back by air,
that the eunuch saw him no more, and
he went on his way rejoicing.
What about the follow-up?
God took care of the follow-up in
this particular instance, and that eunuch went back
as the first to blaze the trail for
God to evangelize the nation.
I can imagine some very excited members of
the evangelism committee in the city of Samaria
all up around the neck, blaming Philip for
being so stupid as to go to a
place like the city.
But, you and I never have to prejudge
God's purpose.
You see, God had in mind not the
evangelization of one city, God had in mind
the evangelization of an empire.
So, it's best to trust God's judgment.
After the conversion of Saul of Tartin from
the road to Damascus, chapter 9, it says
verse 10, there was a certain disciple at
Damascus named Ananias.
To him said the Lord in a vision,
Ananias, he said, behold Lord, here I am,
all ready for service.
And the Lord said to him, arise, go
into the street, verse 11 of chapter 9,
which is called trace, inquire in the house
of Judas for one called Saul of Tartin.
I beg your pardon?
I said Saul of Tartin.
Did you get the name right?
Did you say Saul of Tartin?
Didn't you mean Saul of Memphis, or New
York, or Lafayette?
No, not Saul of Tartin.
Just look it up in your book.
I think you've got the name wrong.
Who was controlling Philip's activity?
The Holy Spirit.
Where did he send him?
The wrong place.
The wrong place?
He ought to have been in the book,
in the biggest biggest church in town.
He sent him to the desert.
Who was controlling Ananias' activity?
The Holy Spirit.
When did he send the wrong person?
Saul of Tartin.
Behold, he prayeth, he hath seen in a
vision a man named Ananias coming in, and
putting his hand on him that he might
receive his sight.
And Ananias answered and said, Lord, I've heard
by many of this man how much evil
he hath done for thy saints at Jerusalem.
He he hath authority from the chief priest
to bind all that call upon thy name.
He's a fax-seamer, he's a persecutor, he's
injurious, he's dangerous.
When you go to him, wouldn't you like
to send my sister?
She's already volunteered to be a missionary.
The wrong place, the wrong man.
Sure God must have made a mistake.
Saul of Tartin?
That's sticking my head right through the noose.
That's putting my neck on the block.
Saul of Tartin?
And God with a big big big big
grin.
Said, yes.
Saul of Tartin.
Verse 15.
Go, go, go thy way for he is
a chosen vessel unto me to bear my
name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the
children of Israel.
For I will show him how great things
he must suffer for my name's sake.
And Ananias, what does it say?
Went.
God said, he went.
He was sent and went.
And when you're sent and you went, he
entered into the house and putting his hands
on him, he said to this blasphemer, this
persecutor, this dangerous man with letters of authority
from the high priest, brother Saul, the Lord,
even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the
way of Thou camest hath sent me, that
thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled
with the Holy Ghost.
He said, Saul of Tartin.
Right.
To cleanse you from your sin, and indwell
you, and fill you in the power of
his divine spirit.
For brother Saul, he died for you, whether
in the body or out of his honor,
or in heaven, in time or eternity, sealed
and sanctified, you might live together with him.
Sent!
Scaled, and he received sight forthwith, and he
arose and was baptized, and when he had
received meat, he was strengthened, then was sold
certain days with the disciples which were at
Damascus and straightway.
He preached Christ in the synagogues, that he,
he is the Son of God, and all
that heard him were amazed, and they said,
is not this he that destroyed them which
called on his name in Jerusalem?
And he came hither for that intent that
he might bring them down to the chief
priests, but Saul increased them all in strength,
and he confounded the Jews which dwelt at
Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
He had mercy on me, he had mercy,
and accounting me faithful, because when he said,
go I went, he enabled me, and he
put an end.
How difficult was it for Anne and I
to get the arch enemy, the early church,
to say, how many city-wide prayer meetings
did they convene for the conversion of Saul
of Tarsus?
I don't think any of them really believed
that Saul of Tarsus could ever get converted.
That's why I think all the personal work
had to be done by the Lord Jesus
himself.
I think any believer in the city of
Jerusalem should have alleged that awakened, poor, bitter
-hearted man to Christ, but there were none,
none that the Lord Jesus met himself on
the road to Damascus, because he said, if
a man seeks, seeks, seeks, kicking against the
priest, hating himself, seeing still, by day and
by night, the face of Satan like the
face of an angel, knowing in his heart
he was right, I'm wrong, he was right,
I'm wrong.
If a man seeks, does what?
Does it finally God found one man, Anne
and I, who was prepared to go and
minister to him and call him Christ?
Said it?
Wrong place.
And it was a wrong man.
What?
Don't get wired, there are only 26 chapters
in the book of Acts.
We're nearly through.
An unsaved, unregenerate, unconverted Gentile, the dirty Gentile
God, but a good man, a good man,
a devout man, chapter 10 verse 2, one
that feared God with all his heart, which
gave much alms to the people and prayed
to God and God sent his angel and
said, go and send for a fellow called
Peter, he'll tell you what you ought to
do in order to get saved.
And do you remember in the meantime, God
marvelously appeared to Peter while he was snoozing
up on the roof while the folk below
were getting supper, and God lowered in the
vision a sheet with unclean, dirty beasts that
were forbidden for the Jews, and God said,
all right Peter, slay any.
Supper time.
And Peter was most indignant, he said, oh
that's dirty, that's unclean, I'm a Jew, I'm
half man, I'm segregated.
And the boys said, what God has planned,
that call not thou come.
While Peter doubted in himself what this vision
which he had seen should mean, verse 17,
behold the men which were sent from Cornelius
had made inquiries for Simon Peter out, and
he stood before the gate, and he called
and he asked whether Simon which was sown
in Peter were lost there, and while Peter
thought on the vision, the spirit said to
him, behold three men secretly arrived therefore, and
get thee thou and, what's the word?
Go, go, go with them.
Shouting that, I sent them.
Then Peter, what did he say, verse 21?
Went.
What's the story of the acts of the
party?
God said go, and they went.
They were sent and went.
And everywhere they were sent and went, they
found they were good.
And God said, come, come, come.
Philip, wrong place.
Ananath, wrong person.
Peter, wrong pedigree.
A dirty Gentile dark man, a Jew.
Contrary to all my racial prejudices and contrary
to all my religious convictions, he's not one
of our party.
But God said go, and he went, and
caught and he hid it, and he found
it marvelously safe, marvelously safe.
Lastly, we'll skip chapter 15.
That's a relief.
We're going to finish there too.
Verse six.
When they had gone through Phrygia and the
region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
who told them to keep their mouth shut
in Asia?
The Holy Spirit.
He made the Holy Spirit so free to
get their mouth shut.
Yes, but our public, we don't hear them
so often, and it's just a pity we
don't.
The Holy Spirit has as much right to
tell you to keep your mouth shut as
to tell you open.
Let's bear that in mind.
He forbade the Holy Spirit, forbade to preach
the word in Asia.
After they were come to Mytia, they are
paid to go into Mytia.
Well, if you want them to preach in
Asia, we'll go into Mytia.
But the Spirit prompted them not.
He told them to keep their mouth shut
in Asia, and when he said of Asia,
they rushed off to Phrygia, the Holy Spirit
said, say, who's causing the shock?
The mission board at home?
No.
No, it's extraordinary.
Holy Spirit, maybe he has something to do
with the Christian life.
Yes, he has a whole lot to do
with the Christian life, because he happens to
be the one through whom we live together
with him.
That's why you neglect the Holy Spirit at
your peril.
If you want an evangelical machine that grinds
its way week after week, and would still
be grinding its way if God were to
die tonight, 50 years from now.
Find a church, a good gospel, bible-believing,
bible-preaching church that neglects the artist, person,
work of the Holy Spirit.
Join it in their burial, in their own
grave.
There's no Christian life apart from the Holy
Spirit, for he is the one through whom
the Lord Jesus, our risen Savior, indwells our
humanity, through whom we give ourselves to him
as once he, through the same Holy Spirit,
gave himself to Christ.
As he gives himself to us by that
Holy Spirit through whom the Father gave himself
to him.
The Holy Spirit is the one called shock,
not the church committee, not the finance committee,
not the mission board.
We've long since, of course, superseded the office
of the Holy Spirit as the life of
our Lord, and we've long since superseded Christ
as head of the body.
We've organized it until now.
It's all gotten to us, and God is
on vacation.
We're taking care of it then, sir.
We'll keep it in business.
Now, isn't that nice, Hoss?
But not in the act of it, Hoss.
I want to tell you something.
This isn't academic.
This isn't just a study in a few
random scriptures.
This presents you and presents me tonight with
a moral obligation from which we cannot escape.
We either settle for God's terms of reference,
and see God let loose in the world,
and all the marvelous things that inevitably are
a consequence of God being in business, or
we settle for the prophetic parody of the
real thing that, alas, we've largely reduced our
Christian institution.
After they were come to Myseiah, they are
said to go into Bithynia, but the spirit
suffered them not.
And they, passing by Myseiah, came down to
Troas, and a vision appeared to call in
the night there stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonian
helpers.
And after he had seen the vision immediately,
we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us for to
preach the gospel under their name.
And so, from Penn, verse 12, to Philippi,
they went.
The chief city of that part of Macedonia,
Anacolon, we were in that city abiding certain
days, and on the Sabbath we went out
of the city by a riverside where prayer
was wont to be made, and we sat
down and spake to the women which reported
there.
Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax,
wouldn't you think?
Here's the Great World Missionary Statement, planning an
evangelistic crusade in the whole of Asia and
in Bithynia, and the Holy Spirit says, uh
-uh, Macedonia, Philippi, little women's prairie.
What has come down to the missionary statement?
A handful of women praying by the riverside.
God, I don't think you understand the urgency
of the situation.
For millions lost that mission, this is just
a handful of women.
Philip, wrong place.
Anania, wrong man.
Peter, wrong place.
Paul, wrong plan.
And a certain woman, verse 14, named Lydia,
a seller of purples of the city of
Tartarus, worshipped God, a God whom she didn't
know, and she heard it.
It was hot.
The Lord heard it.
But she attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul, and when she was baptized
and her household, she foresaw to say, If
ye have judged me to be faithful to
the Lord, come to my house.
And the five there, as she constrained her,
and in the house of Lydia, a stranger,
not even a native resident, lived 430 miles
away across the Adriatic.
In her home there was established a little
church of redemption.
How precious in the sight of God is
one single speaking soul.
So precious that he's prepared to take the
great world missionary statement, cancel out his world
mission program, and say, Paul, look at what
he's claiming, that one speaking soul.
Any questions, Paul?
No questions.
Assuredly gathered that the Lord would have us
go to Mecca.
I'm committed to Christ exclusively.
I'm committed to Him for that to which
He is committed in me, Asia, Bithynia, or
Bithynia.
That is not my corruption that exclusively.
So, what's the story of the Acts of
the Apostles?
Men who were sent and went, and put,
because they were prepared in their submission to
the Lord Jesus in the power and fullness
of His Holy Spirit, to be the right
man in the right place at the right
time, saying the right thing to the right
people.
And there's only one person who can organize
that, and that is God Himself.
What did it cost?
Philip, to be the right man at the
right place at the right time, saying the
right thing to the right person.
What it cost him was this.
He had to die for his own reputation
as he vanished, and settle for the dead.
What did it cost?
Adonai, to be the right man in the
right place at the right time, saying the
right thing to the right person.
He had to die for his own personal
sake.
Stick out his neck, go right into the
lion's mouth, look full of heart, and testify
the passing of any Jew.
Threaten the outcast and say, brother, it's all
right.
I'll be sent.
What it cost for Peter to be the
right man in the right place at the
right time, saying the right thing to the
right person?
He had to die for his religious prejudices.
He had to die for all his racial
discrimination.
A dirty Gentile's job.
For all not thou comest.
That was harsh of them.
What it cost Paul to be the right
man at the right place at the right
time, saying the right thing to the right
person?
A ruined friend.
He had to die for his own preconceived
notions of missionary service.
His own worldwide vision to evangelize the earth
had to die.
Feel and testify men who were sent.
That is the spiritual heritage that was formed
on a man's shoulder, not less than 30,
not more than 50, carried on two pieces
of wood.
On either side of the ark, in which
there was the golden pot of manna divinely
sealed, the tables of stones rewritten by the
finger of God divinely sanctified, an errand swab
that started when separated from the man the
ministry flounge divinely set.
On the side of that ark, two rings
through which there were thrashed two pieces of
wood which God said must never, ever be
detached from the ark.
For, if we are to walk in the
power of his resurrection, we can never stray
from that cross where we die with him
so that he may live ever.
I, a popular evangelist, bible teacher, missionary
statesman, true blue Jew with the right credentials
and pedigree, I am crucified in Christ.
Nevertheless, I live, not I.
Christ lives in me.
He's now the content of my being and
the life that is clothed by this body
that you see, I live through the faith
that lets Jesus Christ be who he is
in me in action.
Not I.
Christ lives in me.
You and I will go out with the
veil ripped from our faces, exposing ourselves to
the backdrop that we are apart from all
that he is, and we continue to live
on, invoking all that he is.
I am meant to reflect by everything we
do and say, ah his timeless aim, his
matchless purpose, his never-ending compassion.
Sleep, sleep, sleep.
As the signal of distress soared into the
sky, so the coastguards sounded the alarm, the
lifeboat crew came tumbling out, Man handled the
boat down to the water's edge as the
wind howled in the darkness, and mountainous waves
thrashed against the shore.
There was a man of about sixteen, he
had just joined the crew, he had never
ever been called to an emergency before.
And when he heard the howl of the
wind whistling around his ears and looked out
into the darkness and those great mountainous waves,
his heart failed, and he grabbed, he grabbed
the arm of the old bottom with his
wooden gnarled face, he said, Sir, Sir, we
can't go out of this, we can't go
out of this.
The old man, not unkindly, a veteran of
many such a call, flung his great big
arm around the kid's shoulder, he said, Son,
and as he pointed out into the night,
men out there are perishing.
The call has come, we've been told to
go, we must go out.
Son, come down, that's not our business,
our business is to answer the call, that's
all.
Then I went, I don't have to go
down, God takes the consequence, all I want
to know is that to his supreme satisfaction,
at this moment, now, I'm where he is,
that's all I need to know, he's
big enough for the rest.