We're turning again to this letter to the
Romans, and that's chapter fifteen again this evening.
Romans, chapter fifteen.
Now we're going through tonight from verse thirteen
right down to the end of verse twenty
-one.
We have just nine verses this evening, just
the short portion, but I felt that there
were so many wonderful things from these nine
verses that we simply couldn't go on and
take the rest of the chapter.
We'll finish the chapter in the will of
God next Tuesday while the mission goes on
at Grange.
Michael will be going next Tuesday to Grange,
and I'll be back here in the class.
Now I want you to notice that we're
starting, as it were, a new idea just
now in these chapters.
If you notice these nine verses, verse thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen, down to the end of twenty
-one, you will find that there are nine
capital I's in these verses.
Nine capital I's, all referring to Paul, of
course.
And so this is a very personal part
of the epistle.
You will find it's a very practical part,
because here we are going to find Paul,
Paul preaching, Paul praying.
We're going to find Paul filled with power,
Paul with practical things.
I've called it Christianity in true love, and
this is Paul practicing now what he has
been preaching right along.
Now I embrace verse thirteen again this evening,
because it's a sort of launching pad for
me into the portion before us.
We did it last week, but we look
at it once again.
This is Paul's prayer for these Gentiles.
You remember how we touched this last week,
verse thirteen, Now the God of hope tell
you, with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope through the
power of the Holy Ghost.
For you will notice that it's Paul praying.
You can see that this is one of
the prayers of the great apostle for these
Gentile believers in Rome.
You remember I put it like this to
you last week, it was supplication for saved
ones.
You'll notice that he says, with all joy
and peace in believing.
He's praying for believers, so that it's supplication
for saved souls, and it's supplication that saved
ones might be satisfied.
He says, now the God of hope tell
you.
He wants these saved souls that he's supplicating
for to be absolutely satisfied.
He's praying for them to be saved.
And he says, now the God of hope
tell you.
You see, he's praying or supplicating that these
saved ones might be satisfied through the Sovereign.
He's looking up to God, now the God
of hope.
The God who launches hope.
The God who sustains hope on the sea
of life.
The God who will bring hope to its
consummation and haven.
My, that's the one he's looking up at.
He's looking up at the Sovereign of all.
And he's supplicating that these saved ones might
be satisfied through the Sovereign that he's looking
to.
Now he's not only supplicating that they might
be satisfied, but that they might be satisfied
with these sensations.
It is a powerful prayer.
Now the God of hope tell you, first
of all, with all joy and then peace,
and then that ye may abound in hope.
It's a being filled with joy, filled with
peace, filled with hope.
My, that's what he's praying for.
That these sensations may indeed satisfy these believers
that he's praying for.
And then you'll notice this little phrase, this
is why I put this verse in, because
we're going to meet it once or twice
in this portion this evening.
Through the power of the Holy Ghost.
The only way it can be done, you
know, he was perfectly sure of that.
If our minds are to be continually filled
with peace, if our hearts are to continually
be filled with joy, if our breaths are
to continually be filled with hope, it can
only be done by the power of the
Holy Ghost.
No other way it can be done.
But we'll have more of that in the
chapter receiving.
Now that's what I'm calling Paul's prayer for
these Gentiles.
And then we come to verse 14, and
I'm calling this Paul's persuasion of these Gentiles.
He was persuaded about something.
He says, and I myself also am persuaded
of you.
I love the way that Paul uses not
only the personal pronoun, but the emphatic pronoun.
He says, I, my faith.
And how often Paul uses the emphatic pronoun,
and we can't go into the passages this
evening.
You remember he said, the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with us out.
And he's always using the emphatic pronoun.
But here was the persuasion that they had
of these.
He says, I myself also am persuaded of
you, my brethren.
Isn't it a lovely little touch?
You know, I love Paul for this.
Because it doesn't make a matter how much
his heart is moved, or how thrilled he
is about something.
You know, it always takes time to get
brethren, or my brethren, or my beloved brethren
into it.
And you know, I think we should keep
this more often than we do.
I think we forget, you know, sometimes that
we're brethren.
That we're in the one family.
And this is where trouble shows up among
us.
Just because we absolutely forget this thing.
My dear friends, let's always remember that we're
brethren.
And he says, I am persuaded of you,
my brethren.
Watch it.
That ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge.
I tell you, this is some people, isn't
it?
You know, I want you to get this
altogether now.
You know, he's persuaded that these saints at
Rome, that they're full of goodness, he's persuaded
about that.
And he's persuaded that they're filled with knowledge.
And he's saying that they might be filled
with joy, and peace, and hope.
Oh, I tell you, if we could only
be filled with peace, and joy, and hope,
and goodness, and knowledge.
Tremendous thing, isn't it?
You know, he had very high standards, hadn't
he?
When I expounded verse 13 last evening, Pastor
Irvine said to me when I sat down,
he said, You know, this man really loved
this thing, didn't he?
He really lived this thing.
And he really longed that others would live
it.
Sometimes I feel, he said, that we're a
long way behind this.
But he sees that they're filled, full of
goodness, and filled with knowledge, and he's saying
that they might be filled with joy, and
peace, and hope.
Now, let's get this settled once and for
all.
This can only be done through the power
of the Holy Ghost.
We want to get this settled.
You see, this is what he said to
the Ephesians.
He said, Be filled with the Spirit.
And do you know, the proper phrase of
the Greek there is this, Be ye constantly
being filled with the Holy Ghost.
That's what it is.
You know, there's not a once and for
all filling preached in this book.
Now, the disciples were filled with the Holy
Ghost on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter
2.
And if you like to go to Acts
chapter 4, they were filled again.
And you can go through the Acts of
the Apostles, and again, and again, and again,
with the Holy Ghost.
And it's only as we yield ourselves to
God, and by faith, let the Holy Ghost
take command of our lives, and be constantly
being filled.
And you know, the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness.
Now, the very things that he's naming here,
this peace, and this joy, and this hope,
and this goodness, and this knowledge, I'll prove
that in a moment.
My, these are all the productions of the
Holy Ghost.
Remember, Jesus said, When he is come, he
will take of the things of Christ, and
reveal them unto you.
He shall glorify me.
And you know, I think this is the
knowledge that's here.
My, they knew some of the wonders of
the Lord.
They were filled with all knowledge, knowledge of
the Lord.
I think it's the work of the Holy
Ghost.
And so, friends, this is the bit that
we ended with last week.
My, if we're grieving him, or if we're
quenching him, or if we're resisting him, you
cannot have this joy, or this peace, or
this hope, or this goodness, or this knowledge.
Are you quenching the very producer?
And so he's thus saying to them, Be
ye constantly being filled.
And this is the production.
He was absolutely persuaded about this.
Now, we've touched Paul's prayer for these Gentiles,
and Paul's persuasion of these Gentiles, and now
we come to Paul's picture of these Gentiles,
and this is a little bit more difficult.
But we'll take what I'm with us.
We're at verse 15 now.
He says, Nevertheless, brethren, there he is again.
He's very particular about this, you know, when
he's got something to say, he starts to
take a breath and gets this tender word
in between.
And I think that we should learn here,
and that we should follow suit.
He says, I'm persuaded that you're full of
goodness, and that you're filled with knowledge.
I should have stopped with the other phrase,
able also to admonish one another.
You know, that's a very lovely thing, isn't
it?
You know, we ought to be able to
admonish one another.
It's just gently reproving, or gently rebuking, if
you must.
That's what admonition is.
And you know, that's the way we ought
to bring up the children, in the admonition
of the Lord.
And we ought to be able, if we've
got the knowledge and the love and the
peace and the joy, we ought to be
able to admonish one another, just gently, you
know.
Sometimes somebody comes along and says, well now,
I don't like the way so-and-so's
doing the meetings.
I don't like that.
I said, well now, who are they?
The judges, another man said.
Not looking for you, do you know?
Well that's just what you call gently admonishing
the brother.
And it's usually enough.
And it ought to be.
You know, if we would mind our own
business, we wouldn't get admonished.
But these saints, they were able to admonish
one another.
Remember the bit we were at about the
rules.
Know them that have the rule over you
and admonish you in the Lord.
And if you're going to have the sergeant
major, he'll have to give the order sometime.
And you need to have rulers.
We went in through this and we know
all about them now.
But look, he says, nevertheless.
And that simply means that although you're full
of goodness and filled with all knowledge and
able to admonish one another, nevertheless, brethren, I
have written boldly unto you in some thought
or in some thoughts, as it should be.
It says you know ourselves that I should
write too.
I'm putting you in mind because of the
grace that has given to me of God.
That I should be the minister of Jesus
Christ to the Gentiles.
You know, there were two things that weighed
very heavily with Paul.
And one was gifts, and the other was
grace.
And do you know he was the gift
of man?
Well, of course, he was the great apostle
of the Gentiles.
You know, apostle is a gift in the
church.
And he was the great gift of God
to the Gentiles in the church.
And he never forgot that.
It weighed heavily with him.
And it didn't matter how they had grown
in grace or how much they knew or
what knowledge they had.
He felt that he was actually responsible to
admonish them too.
And to preach to them.
God be ridiculous.
And just because God had given them grace
to do so.
And so he's weighing these two things, gift
and grace.
And so just because God had given them
grace and gift, well, it doesn't make a
matter how much.
You know, I'm in the position where I'm
responsible to admonish you and to talk to
you also.
That's how he felt about it.
And all gifted people ought to feel like
this, that God has given you gifts.
Well, you're responsible, you know.
Some people may not like it, but that
doesn't matter.
Now, here's what he's saying.
At the end of the scene, because of
the grace that was given to me of
God, that's why I'm righteous.
Secondly, that I should be the minister of
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel
of God.
Now, here was the whole idea behind the
ministry to these saints in this fashion, and
speaking to them because of the grace of
God upon them, that the offering up of
the Gentiles might be acceptable to God.
You know, he had got a great picture
of these Gentiles.
That's what we're at now.
You know, he pictured the whole Gentile world
just like a great harvest field.
And all the Gentiles that were being brought
into the church, mighty were like the grain
or the sheep from the harvest field.
And he was making it an offering to
God.
The idea is the old Hebrew offering in
the Old Testament.
And he's just taking all the grain, and
he's lifting it in the arms of his
face, and he's placing it on the altar
of God.
That the whole Gentiles, God again, might be
acceptable to God.
That's what he saw.
It's a great vision, you know.
I think that we need to learn here.
Sometimes I'm wrong here by the way I
utter things, but they're not wrong in my
heart.
Sometimes I say we had six saved last
week in Bangor.
It's not the proper way to say it,
you know.
I know it thrills you, and it's the
sort of language we use.
But always we should only remember that there
were souls brought out of darkness.
And how they pleased God.
They were for the glory of God.
Not for our boasting.
Not for the putting up of hands.
Not for the boasting of the evangelist.
We ought to keep that always.
We should use the language like that.
This is how Paul saw it.
My how God was being glorified in the
offering of all the Gentiles called out of
darkness into marvelous light.
And then he went just that little bit
further, didn't he?
He said there in the middle of verse
16 that the offering up of the Gentiles
might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy
Ghost.
And there's a great phrase for you.
Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
You can see, and you will see tonight
that you know Paul was depending on the
Spirit of God for everything.
Would these saints are to be killed?
Would their minds are to be filled with
peace and their souls filled with joy and
their breath filled with hope?
Then it can only be done by the
power of the Holy Ghost.
If this entire offering is to be acceptable
to God then it must be the work
of the Holy Ghost.
It must be the Holy Ghost that's setting
them apart.
You know this word sanctified and this word
sanctification my, it gets a lot of talk
in the churches that to me is complete
nonsense.
Oh, I know that will upset one or
two of you but I'll rattle it into
you harder than that in an interlude.
Because there's a great lot of nonsense talked
about sanctification.
Let me ask you, Point Bletch.
Don't be afraid of me.
What do you think sanctification is?
Go on, turn it over in your mind.
Exactly now what you think it is.
Let me show you one or two verses
now.
Come to 1 Corinthians chapter 7 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 verse 13
Paul speaking about woman married to unsaved husband
and he says in verse 13 And the
woman which hath an unhusband that believeth not
and if he be pleased to dwell with
her let her not leave him for the
unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.
Oh, there you are.
There's an unbelieving husband sanctified.
Is he sanctified?
I thought the book said that.
And what did you think sanctification was?
Because whatever you thought it was, this fellow's
got it.
I'll put some of you in the fix
now.
Because I know that some of you think
that sanctification is the second blessing.
Has the unbelieving husband got the second blessing?
You answer.
I'm tackling you now.
Oh, I know you talk a lot of
trite but you never come to the citrus
to find out, do you?
I can take you to John 10 now
and find the Lord Jesus sanctified.
The Father sanctified the son.
Did he get the second blessing?
Well, no.
I'm robbing it in.
I'm only teaching.
You know, when I do this, I always
find somebody at the end of the meeting
and they say to me, Mr. Moran, you
know, that's terrible.
I had an experience years ago and they
brought me to the Lord.
There's nobody talking about your experience, please.
Nobody in the world talking about your experience.
I mean, God, if you've had an experience,
some of the old dead doctors could do
with it.
But if you're going to make your experience
a doctrine and call it sanctification, I'll have
to rap your knuckles for you.
Because you're talking brothers then.
If you had an experience and it brought
you nearer to the Lord and you got
away from canality and worldliness, then praise the
Lord for it.
Shout hallelujah, man, and don't be afraid.
But don't go starting teaching about sanctification because
you'll have to say it's unbelievable.
Isn't that common logic?
Ah, you're off the subject.
There's nobody talking about your experience.
Bless God for your experience.
But if you start to teach it as
a doctrine for everybody else and call it
sanctification, then follow me in the Scriptures and
see where you are.
This unbelieving husband is sanctified.
Isn't that right?
And the English language just means what it
says, you know.
Some of them when they get at their
tight corner they say sanctification means one thing
over there and it means another thing over
here.
God pity you.
Does blue mean blue one day and red
the next one?
You'll be in a fix with the English
language.
Sanctification just is the word sanctification.
It's got the same root meaning the whole
way through.
And I'll prove it to you in a
moment.
Now we've got to see into this, haven't
we?
Are you settled now that I'm not up
against your experience?
I'm not up against your experience.
I'm praising God that you've had an experience.
But I'm trying to teach you that you
mustn't call your experience sanctification because it won't
work.
Because this fellow's got these unbelieving husbands.
Have a look at the verse again.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the
wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by
the husband.
Elsewhere your children are unclean but now are
they holy.
Holy is the same word.
They're sanctified too.
My dear friends, this is putting things in
the picture, isn't it?
Now let's go to Corinthians.
First Corinthians.
The first verse of the very first chapter.
First verse of the very first chapter.
And Paul, the apostle, and his professors is
writing on to the church which is at
home.
For them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.
Now tell me this.
Are these Corinthians sanctified?
Of course they're sanctified, don't be afraid of
it.
It's what the book says.
Well I'll show you how they're living.
Have a look at the third chapter.
Verse one.
He says, And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual but as unto
carnal, even as unto beds.
In Christ I have fed you with milk
and not with meat.
Further to you were not able to bed
it, neither yet now are ye able, for
ye are yet carnal.
Whereof there is among you envying and strife
and divisions.
Are you not carnal and walk as men?
That's the sanctified boys there.
That's them.
I like to say that's the second lesson.
These fellows could have done with something, I
can tell you.
What the book says, they're sanctified, isn't it?
Sanctified in Christ Jesus.
Ah, but they're yet carnal.
Will you see this again?
Have a look at Hebrews.
And the third, the last chapter will do
us.
Hebrews, chapter thirteen, verse eleven.
For the bodies of those beasts whose blood
is brought into the sanctuary by the high
priest for sin are burned without the camp.
Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the
people with his own blood suffered without the
gate.
How were they going to be sanctified?
By his blood.
Is it said, are the people sanctified by
his blood?
Of course they are.
Then are you depending on the blood?
Are you sanctified?
Of course you are.
Sanctified by blood.
Now I'll put it all together for you
in a moment.
Have a look at this one.
John seventeen.
John gospel chapter seventeen.
And verse seventeen, that's easily remembered, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus is praying here for believers.
And he's praying this first.
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
Isn't that tremendous?
And here's another one.
Have a look at this one.
Second Thessalonians.
And we're at the second chapter.
I don't know why I'm doing this because
I didn't intend to do it.
But nevertheless, we're led this way.
Second Thessalonians and we're at chapter two and
verse thirteen.
But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord.
Because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth.
Now God chose them, didn't he?
From the beginning to salvation through what?
Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
the truth.
Which one came first there?
You think the Bible printed it wrong?
I know a fellow who argued with me
once and he said Paul was wrong on
that.
He should have put it the other way
around.
He should have put it the other way
around and understood him, of course.
It says they were chosen to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth.
Did the sanctification come before the belief?
Oh, thank God it did.
Thank God it did.
Now we have played about with it enough,
haven't we?
Look, friends, this is a tremendous subject.
One of the ones that really fills me.
The word sanctification simply means supplication.
That's the basic meaning.
And the word sanctify and the word holy
and holiness it means to set apart.
You can't say holy for it so you
say sanctify.
And, friends, it's all the same basic root
meaning.
It just means to set apart.
Now, whether you've seen me doing all the
all the texts, we've touched them.
So let me tell you this.
You know, God the Father set apart God
the Son to be the Lamb of God
and to be the Savior of the world.
He was sanctified, He was set apart to
be the Savior.
So it fits there.
And just because these Corinthians had their faith
in the finished work of Christ they were
set apart by the blood of Christ.
They were set apart.
They were sanctified in that sense.
And then, friends, we come to this tremendous
one in 2 Thessalonians.
You know, it's the work of the Spirit
of God to set people apart for God.
You see, last week I pitched in Bangor
night after night while this great audience would
rise and render way out and I would
sit on the platform and gaze down.
You know, I would see a man or
a woman sitting still with her head down.
You know what's happening, don't you?
At least I do.
It's the Holy Ghost has gripped them and
they're being set apart.
What do we need now?
Belief in the truth, what do you think?
Oh, that's just an improper place.
And this is the work that Paul that
makes this Spirit of God that's setting them
apart for God.
And he's working that they might be acceptable
to God as an offering to God.
Now, that leaves the unbelieving husband.
Now, what about him?
This has always been a problem, hasn't it?
Well, it's no problem at all.
You know, we find that in Corinthians chapter
7.
And Paul went down to Corinth one day,
didn't he?
And I have no doubt that Paul preached
all around Corinth, not only in the great
city, but Paul preached in the district.
And you know, it's quite possible for us
to think the night of Paul entering into
a little village.
And for our clarification, let's say there are
20 houses in the ring.
And they're all heathens, they're all pagans, they're
all idolaters.
He stands out in the middle of this
little village.
And he said when he went to Corinth,
I'm determined to do nothing among you if
Christ and Him crucified.
And he starts to preach the gospel.
You know, he's preaching from this little bunch
of houses.
And we'll say a wee woman in this
little thatched house, she's listening and she gets
saved.
Well, now, her husband doesn't get saved, then
there's nobody else in the village gets saved.
But another soul, only one soul gets saved.
Well, now, inside that little house from that
moment forward, there is a light that is
not in any of the other little thatched
houses.
There's a wee woman who knows the Savior.
And that just separates her house from every
other one.
It's different.
It's intolerant.
And that separates her man from every other
man.
He's got a seed woman, another woman, so
that in that sense he's separated by the
light.
I didn't need to tear it and stretch
it to do it, did I?
Oh, I wish you'd read your Bible.
I'd have left trouble with you.
For me, you come and argue, you know,
and I just get so fed up listening
to your nonsense that I leave you alone.
I get letters from wee fellows who can
hardly spell their own name and they want
to teach me about sanctification and they don't
know two verses about sanctification in this book.
And I just leave the wee cretins alone
and to think they have won the battle.
Just leave them alone.
Now, you'll please remember that while I took
you through that for your edification, I didn't
say one word about an experience you've had.
Don't you make your experience a doctrine and
we'll have nothing to say to you.
Because some of you try to make your
experience a doctrine to teach you all the
things that you can't find in the book.
Your doctrine's not there.
You've had your experience.
Well, go on and bless you for it.
The day that you've got back to the
Lord you should be shouting hallelujah forever.
There's nobody taking it off you.
But don't start to just take words out
of this book that won't catch.
Because you're only getting yourself into a fix.
You're only fiddling about with God's truth.
And you're making a complete mess of it.
And you can't answer the questions when they're
turned up to you.
You know I only need to turn up
1 Corinthians 7 verse 14 to the whole
bunch of them and the sound gazing at
it and they turn white and then they
turn blue and then they turn yellow and
they are yellow anyway.
Alright, let's get on with it.
We'll get back to it.
1 Corinthians.
We're at Romans 15.
Now, let's get the hold of this.
This is very important.
We've had two phrases now.
Verse 13 ending with the Holy Ghost.
And we have verse 16 ending with the
Holy Ghost.
That these wonderful things should only be brought
out by the power of the Holy Ghost.
That's what Paul does.
And so that was Paul's picture of the
Gentiles.
Now we come to verse 17 and 18
and part of 19 and we're at Paul's
performance among these Gentiles.
Paul's performance.
Now this is very thrilling and you want
to watch it carefully.
Verse 17.
I have therefore whereof I make glory through
Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to
God.
You know, Paul was very particular about glory.
But he never hesitated to glory in things
pertaining to God that were wrought by Christ.
And I follow suit.
You know, if the Lord deems to come
down and fill a thing like me and
move through me and people who came will
ask these are things that pertain to God
and they're wrought by Christ and we have
a right to talk about them so long
as we keep level-headed.
And so that's what Paul's saying here.
You see, that's Paul's glory.
The thing that he gloried in.
And then watch this verse because this is
a very, very well done.
Verse 18.
For I will not dare to speak of
any of those things which Christ hath not
wrought by me.
You see, there were many Gentiles saved before
Paul was saved.
You know, actually Peter was the first to
go to the Gentiles.
He went down to the house of communion.
You should remember that.
Oh, and the great company were wrought in
and brought in by other preachers.
And Paul says, now I'm not boasting about
the things that have not been wrought by
me.
I'm not doing that at all.
This is his humility.
He's quite prepared to admit that why he
is the great apostle of the Gentiles that
there were many things wrought among the Gentiles
that were not wrought by him and Christ
didn't take care.
So that's very humble, isn't it?
I love Paul for that sort of thing.
Now, you've seen his glory and his humility.
Now, I think that that phrase in the
beginning of verse 18 should be a rather
emphatical one.
Because you should read on from verse 17
and those things which pertain to God to
make the Gentiles obedient.
You know, that was his victory.
God wrought through Paul to make the Gentiles
obedient to the gospel.
Boy, that was his victory.
He had gone over the whole known Gentile
world and he'd seen God working.
Those things that pertain to God Christ had
wrought and the Gentiles became obedient to the
gospel and he's praising the Lord for it.
Now, I want you to watch this bit
because this is a very important bit.
He says, Christ, verse 18 in the middle
of the verse, to make the Gentiles obedient,
now watch, by word and deed, through mighty
signs and wonders.
Now, these four words sum up the ministry
of Paul.
And remember only of Paul.
That's the bit I want you to get.
Oh, I know he used words.
He was a great preacher.
And I know he used deeds.
And I know he used signs and wonders.
And this is where some of the poor
preachers get off the rails trying to follow
the great apostle.
You know, signs and wonders belong to the
gifts of an apostle.
That's what they are.
They belong to the gifts of an apostle.
So God asked me to be doing signs
and wonders because I am not an apostle.
And all who claim to be an apostle,
or apostles, claim to be an apostle, or
apostles, will have to have the signs of
an apostle.
Because an apostle has signs.
It belongs to the gifts.
Let's go into 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
Now, while Paul went to Corinth and did
mighty things, remember some of the Corinthians, after
he had gone, they doubted his apostleship.
And in these last chapters of the second
letter, he's proving indeed that he was an
apostle.
Verse 11.
2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 11.
I am become a fool in glorying, he
says.
Ye have compelled me.
For I ought to have been commended of
you.
And they didn't commend him.
You know, they were talking behind his back.
He says, for in nothing I am behind
the very cheapest apostles, though I be nothing.
Then he comes out with it now.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, in signs and
wonders, and mighty deeds.
Ah, but they belong to an apostle.
For the boys that are looking for signs
from boys who are not apostles are in
a wee bit of a fix here.
Because these happen to be the signs of
an apostle.
And I honestly believe this is the trouble
with expounding Mark 16.
This is the trouble.
Ah, we'll take a night out of it
when we're here.
All right, let's go there.
We're at Mark 16 now.
This is something that puzzles people at times,
and I don't know why.
Verse 14.
Mark 16, verse 14.
Afterward he appeared, that is the Lord Jesus,
unto the eleven, that's the apostles, as they
sat at meat, and upbraided them with their
unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they believed
not them which had seen him after he
was risen.
Now they were eleven unbelieving apostles.
And he upbraided them for their unbelief.
Eleven of them.
Oh, they were really gifts to the church.
And let me tell you, it doesn't make
a matter what sort of a gift you
have.
I believe I've got the picture.
And I believe I've got the gift of
evangelists.
But I should tell you this, that if
I haven't faith in God the whole way
through, it will be no use to me.
For without faith, it's impossible to please God.
And it doesn't make a matter what gift
you have.
And don't forget that.
These unbelieving apostles will be no ghosts enough
to knock this unbelief out of them.
But of the good thoughts of them here,
is any commission.
Verse 15.
And he said unto them, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe.
What's the signs?
There are five of them.
In my name shall they cast out devils.
They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents.
And if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover.
There are the signs.
Notice the phrase in verse 17.
These signs shall follow them that believe.
Does it mean that these signs will follow
all believers?
Actually, some people read into it anyway.
Well, I can tell you that that's nonsense
to read that into it.
Because the Bible just teaches the very opposite
so clearly that you could have no mistakes
about it.
I'll have to do that bit for you.
Let's go back to 1 Corinthians.
And we're at chapter 12.
1 Corinthians.
And we're at chapter 12.
And he's teaching them here about the body,
the church, and all its members, and all
the gifts that's in it.
What a wonderful chapter this is.
We would need to really do the whole
chapter, but we'll just do a part of
it.
Now, we'll go down to verse 27.
Verse 26.
Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it, or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it.
Then he comes to sum it up.
Now, ye are the body of Christ, and
members in particular.
And God hath set some in the church
first.
Apostles.
I had an argument with a man not
so very long ago about the church.
And he said to me, Willie, you know,
you've missed.
The church began in the Old Testament.
The church began in the Garden of Eden.
That's what he told me.
And I said, now, if the church began
in the Old Testament or in the Garden
of Eden, will you explain to me how
the apostles got first?
He hath set some in the church first.
Apostles.
Let's come down that way.
And he was stuck, you know.
Just stuck.
Bowled out first of all.
Now, watch this.
And God hath set some in the church
first.
Apostles.
Secondly, prophets.
That's New Testament prophets, mind you.
Thirdly, teachers.
Why the teachers come up the line a
bit.
After that, manacles.
Then gifts of healings, health, government, diversities of
tongues.
Tongues are lost.
Now, he starts asking questions.
Are all apostles?
What's your answer?
No.
Are all prophets?
No.
Are all teachers?
No.
Are all workers of miracles?
No.
Have all the gifts of healing?
No.
Do all speak with tongues?
No.
Then, if the Bible clearly teaches that all
the believers do not speak with tongues, then
you can't meet Mark 16, say the deuce,
can you?
Come on over to your corner, so I
get a quote back here.
Oh, I don't know why the Lord has
led us this way, but there's somebody here
getting it this evening.
This is a line of things that we've
got into.
Never mind, it's the Holy Ghost in charge.
Let's go back to Mark 16.
So then this phrase doesn't apply to all
believers.
Verse 17 again, the Lord speaking to these
unbelieving apostles.
These kinds shall follow them that believe.
My name shall recast out devils.
They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall kick up serpents.
If they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick and
they shall recover.
Now these signs, these are signs.
Oh, but these are the signs of a
believing apostle.
You just go down to them and say,
My ears, Paul.
Look at this first one.
In my name they shall cast out devils.
Didn't Paul do that?
Yes, you remember the woman in Acts 16?
Look at this.
They shall speak with new tongues.
Didn't Paul do that?
They shall kick up serpents.
Didn't Paul do that?
Remember the scorpion?
He's the only one recorded that we don't
have any record of Paul fulfilling.
Not to my knowledge.
And if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them.
The last one.
They shall lay hands on the sick and
they shall recover.
These are the signs of a believing apostle.
And these signs were not by Paul.
Now don't let us follow on there because
we're not the Pope.
Let's go back to Romans.
He says, Christ wrought through them in bringing
the Gentiles as an offering to God by
word and deed through mighty signs and wonders.
Yes, he was an apostle and he got
the signs and wonders.
And I'm just a poor preacher and I've
only got the Word.
And I'm taught, you know, to preach the
Word.
That's what I've been doing all night.
That's what I do every night.
That's what I do every night of my
life.
Preach the Word.
Sure, this is a great thing.
Oh, I'm just a third.
I'm only running third in the race but
I'm content with where God put me.
And you don't need to come around to
try to get me to work medicals because
I know nothing about it.
Do all work medicals?
That's what I say to them.
A fellow came in the other night and
he said, You know, you'd be a great
man, Mr. Moore, if you could only work
these great medicals.
I wouldn't have.
Of course I would be a great man.
I knew that.
Poor wee critter.
Friends, let's get the hold of it.
Call the apostles talking.
And he was used to Christ.
To bring the Gentiles as an offering to
God.
Through the Word.
Through deeds.
Through signs.
Through wonders.
What's the next bit?
Why the power of the Spirit of God.
He thought it again.
Why doesn't he keep to it?
He comes to lighten these little verses.
We've had this.
Now, friends, this should teach you something.
You know, when Paul was going out to
preach the gospel, or to work the gift
that God had given him, he was absolutely
dependent entirely upon the Spirit of God.
And he prayed that the same Spirit would
work in the hearts of them that he
had brought to the Lord.
That they might be filled with peace and
joy and hope.
And he prayed and he depended that the
very same Spirit would thereby make them acceptable
to God.
God working through him.
God working among them.
God working in them.
By the Holy Ghost.
So that we could get back to trusting
the Spirit of God.
Paul was a man who depended absolutely on
the Spirit of God.
You can see that from these wonderful verses
this evening.
Now, that's Paul's performance.
Now, watch the middle of verse 19.
He says through, by word and deed, through
signs and wonders, by the power of the
Spirit of God.
So that from Jerusalem and round about unto
Elevicham.
I tell you, that's a mighty thing you
know.
You remember we did the footsteps of Paul
here once and I came to the church
for it.
And you remember way down in this corner
of the church we found Antioch.
That was the church where Paul was sent
to.
And you remember Paul went all through Asia
Minor.
Oh, what a vast country he traveled.
He went right through Asia Minor.
Covering thousands of miles and foot.
And then he covered the whole continent of
Asia Minor.
And he came to a place and he
had a Macedonia.
And then he went down into Thessalonica.
He went on down to Covenants and then
to Athens, where Athens and Covenants.
And when he was here in Macedonia traveling
the district, he was on the border of
Elevicham.
And he said, from Jerusalem and round about
unto Elevicham.
Oh, what countries he covered.
My tonight, you know, it's Syria and Turkey
and Greece.
And Elevicham is Yugoslavia tonight.
I covered them all.
My, what a country.
You know, this really shocks me sometimes.
I've done 26,000 miles in the last
nine months.
For the Lord, 26,000.
That's pretty good going.
Paul hadn't got a triumph 2000, you know.
Not at all.
Paul was on foot.
Paul had got no society behind him.
Paul had got no people at home keeping
him on the door.
Paul was writing and pending all the time
on the Spirit of God.
He puts us in the shade, you know.
Puts us in the shade.
My, sometimes when you look at this mighty
man of God, you feel like putting your
hand in your face and blushing.
We do feel it.
And such he covered almost the entire known
Gentile world in those days.
That's Paul's pathway among the Gentiles.
Now watch this, we bet.
Paul's preaching among the Gentiles.
He says that, Oh, I
tell you, friend, this is where we need
to wait for a week and preach.
I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.
You know, friend, you young people going out
preaching, you need to get down into the
New Testament, especially into the letters of Paul.
And you need to restudy with every fiber
of your being what the Gospel meant to
Paul.
Yes, it was the preaching of the cross.
God forbid that I should gloriously be in
the cross.
My, we have some preachers on a Sunday
night who will preach for three quarters of
an hour, and they never get near the
cross.
It's a great pity of them.
They've been at the wrong school.
You remember that when he was going to
Carinthia with Pamarina?
Christ and him crucified.
Get back to that.
You remember even Philip, when he went down
to Samaria, he preached Christ onto them.
Oh, friend, what we need is a new
school of teaching people how to preach the
Gospel.
But Paul had fully preached.
You know, it's not that bit of the
phrase that really struck me today.
Watch this phrase.
I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.
Here's a study for you young fellows.
The I have's of Paul.
The I have's.
Now, if they show you one or two
of them, go back to Romans 9.
Remember, we spent time at this, didn't we?
Verse 2.
He says, the Holy Ghost bearing me witness
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in my heart.
I have's.
You know, friend, that's where you'll need to
begin, won't you?
You know, I can see this as clear
as anything.
That unless I've got the burden for sinners,
I won't cover the ground, you know.
I won't do it.
I'll need to have this I have first.
I have great and continual sorrow in my
heart.
Now, you remember one in the Philippines, and
I'm not sure you do, it's a plot
between me.
You remember he said, I have suffered.
And unless you have this burden in your
heart, you'll not be prepared to suffer the
loss of all things.
You're left keeping coming from the missing things.
You've lost the vision of souls.
That's your trouble.
You don't care who goes to hell.
That's your bother.
And if you have the burden, you wouldn't
be afraid of sacrificing.
I have great evidence.
I have suffered the loss of all things.
I have fully preached the gospel.
I have fought a good fight.
I have kept the faith.
I have finished the course.
There's a sermon for you sometime.
Great I have.
Lovely one.
Yes, you don't want it.
Yes.
I want you to get this picture.
This is a very important picture we're up
now.
It's Paul's practice among the Gentiles.
Verse 20.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the
gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I
should build upon another man's foundation.
Because it is written, to whom he was
not spoken of, they shall see, and they
that have not heard shall understand.
See the word, lest, in there.
Lest I should build upon another man's foundation.
You know friends, Paul was afraid of something.
He was afraid of going somewhere and taking
over something that really belonged to somebody else.
The preachers were not just so afraid today,
I can tell you.
They not only would take your place, they'd
take your sermons to take your place.
You know, it's the funniest thing in the
world if you ever sat in a meeting
and listened to somebody preaching the message that
you had battered out for months.
Ah, they don't know you're in sometimes.
And maybe they didn't know that I made
it.
Maybe they copied it from somebody else who
copied it from me.
But I've had the experience of sitting in
the meeting, listening to a fellow preaching my
sermon, and making a message to a preacher.
Friends, let's work for God.
Don't be afraid to steal.
Some of us are not afraid to steal,
you know.
Go home and get down with God if
you're a preacher.
I never stole a having in my life.
Why would I?
Aren't I the Holy Ghost?
You'd think some of you would know God.
If you would spend less time flitting about
with the world, and more time with God,
you wouldn't need to steal sermons.
Paul was afraid of things.
He was afraid, lest I build on another
man's foundation.
When you go into the current, he says,
I'll not eat flesh when the world lasts,
lest I should offend.
My brother, he was afraid of offending.
Do you remember how he kept his faith
in the wind?
He said, lest I should become a castle.
He was afraid of going where God never
meant him.
He was afraid of doing anything that God
never wanted him to do.
He was afraid of becoming something that God
didn't want him to become.
These are the fears of Paul.
What a portion this evening.
This is what you call Christianity in she
-leather.
This is a man who can pray.
This is a man who can preach.
This is a man filled with power.
This is a practical saint.
This is Christianity.
She-leather.
God, help us to follow our great part
in the chapter for next week.
Let's bow together.
Dear Lord, we bow in Thy presence.
And, O Lord, we ask Thee that Thou
wilt burn it into us, that we need
to continually depend on the Holy Ghost.
O God, fill us continually with Thy Spirit,
that these minds might be filled with peace,
that these hearts might be filled with joy,
that these breaths might be filled with hope,
that these hands might be filled with goodness,
and that this brain might be filled with
the knowledge of our wonderful Lord.
And, O Lord, by the Holy Ghost bring
man through us to the Saviour.
And by the Holy Ghost, make those that
are being called out an acceptable offering to
God.
Though God may not be able to say
to thee, Where are you, leader?
We will follow.
Give us the vision of souls perishing, whose
heaviness in our hearts, until we let go
everything for Christ, and go and preach Thy
gospel.
Lord, make us afraid of taking another man
through, or offending another brother, or ever becoming
a castaway.
Lord, bless this great portion to all of
us.
Part us in our fear, with Thy blessing,
for Thy name's sake.
Amen.