Pastor, teacher, and author, Adrian Rogers, has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ, and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. Do you have the feeling that God is giving the church one last, mighty urge for the revival of all revivals before the night of all nights comes? I have that feeling. I also have a feeling that the world is looking at us one more time. They have tried everything, every form of government, every kind of leader, every excess of pleasure, everything that money can buy, that heart's desire, that minds can conceive, and they've found nothing satisfies. And they're wondering one more time, do we have the answer?
And the answer is yes. But when they look at us, I wonder what they're going to see. Nietzsche was a cynic, an atheist, an ungodly, lascivious man. He looked at the church. He considered Christianity. Do you know what he said? He said, if you want me to believe in your Redeemer, you're going to have to look a little more redeemed.
Now, you think about it. This world gets the idea of Jesus Christ, not from the Word of God, because they don't read it. They get that from us. Now, I'm going to give you now a description of a church triumphant, and we're going to ask God to make our church that kind of church. Found right here in the second chapter of the book of Acts, you know, we talked about the principles of power and the Holy Spirit of God. But now, once we have that anointing, that power, what do we do?
What is our purpose? Well, number one, we are to exalt the Savior. Now, begin now in verse 22 of this chapter. The day Pentecost has come, all of these signs and wonders have been done. The Holy Spirit has come and baptized that motley crew into the body of Christ, and Peter stands up to preach the gospel.
And here's what he says in verses 22 through 26. Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore, did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad.
Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope. Now, Peter preached the message and it is simple to see that it was a plain Christ-centered gospel message. The church grew because they lifted up Jesus.
Jesus said and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. No church in my estimation is going to be a growing vibrant church that does not exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Some churches reserve Sunday morning for God the Father, Sunday night for God the Son and Wednesday night for God the Spirit.
Now, not really, but you know, there's sort of an emphasis like that. On Sunday morning, they just want to speak of God and there's nothing wrong with that. Of course, we should magnify God the Father, but every service, every service must exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that? I do because he is the attracting power of the church. I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. Now, notice the message that Peter preached concerning Jesus. First of all, he preached about the manner of his life.
Look in verse 22. He says there that he was a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him. Somebody wrote this about the manner of Jesus' life and I love it. He said, I am far within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever marched and all of the navies that ever were built and all of the parliaments that ever have sat and all of the kings that ever have reigned put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as the one solitary life, Jesus of Nazareth.
Think about that. Here was a man born 2000 years ago and tonight this building is filled with people who say, I love him with all of my heart, including the man who is preaching. Jesus Christ is real to me. And so first of all, Peter preached about the manner of his life and then he preached about the meaning of his death. Look in verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God have ye taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now, what's he saying here? He's saying that Jesus Christ's death was not an accident. It was not an incident. It was planned before the foundation of the earth, the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
Nothing went wrong. God was not up there in heaven wringing his hands and saying, Oh, how terrible that this has come to pass. And the purpose of the cross, as we learn from this message is substitution. The just for the unjust Christ died for us. He took our place and we must not only speak of his sinless, spotless life, but his vicarious death that he died upon that cross to pay the sin debt. Take that message out and forget the rest. And yet there are many who want to take the message of the cross of Jesus Christ out.
Why that's like taking water out of a well, blew out of the sky, notes out of music and numbers out of mathematics. You don't have anything left. If you take the death of Jesus Christ far sins out, but not only as he exalted the savior, did he speak of the manner of his life and the meaning of his death, but he also spoke of the miracle of his resurrection. Continue verse 24, whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Death cannot keep his prey.
There's no way possible that death could keep Jesus in the grave. I read years ago about a spider who saw a great massive lion with a great mane go into a cave to sleep. And the spider thought, I will imprison that lion in that cave. And so he said, I will spin a web to keep the lion in the cave. And so he crisscrossed the mouth of that cave with his web and he spun and he spun and he spun and he spun.
He almost spun himself away. And there was the spider's web. Then came the time when the old lion awoke from his nap and he gave a roar that caused the mountains to tremble, shook the dust off his old mane, walked out of that cave, never knew the web was there. Friend, I thought of the resurrection of our savior and old death says, I'll keep him in.
We'll put him there and he will not rise. But up from the grave he rose, the mighty triumph for his foes. And what Peter preached on this day of Pentecost anointed with the Holy Spirit was Jesus, the manner of his life, signs, wonders, miracles, the meaning of his death by the predetermined counsel of God, the miracle of his resurrection, and then the magnificence of his reign. Look, if you will, in verse 33 now. Therefore, being on the right hand of God exalted and having received of the father, the promise of the Holy Ghost, which he has shed forth this, which ye do now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on my right hand until I make thy foes, thy footstool. Not if, when, or maybe, but until.
Thank God for the until. Where is Jesus right now? He has ascended the high hills of glory.
Where is he? He is seated on the right hand of the majesty on high and he is waiting till that time when God gives the signals and he shall step from his throne back down to this earth to rule and reign. But Peter preached on that day that Jesus is exalted, that he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And I'm going to tell you something. You may not be a believer, but I can tell you with all of the authority of the word of God and function and emotion of my soul, one day you will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
I don't care who you are. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. And so what do we do as a church? What is our duty? What is our privilege? What is our joy? What is our mandate? It is first of all, to exalt the savior.
Now, until we do that, we have not done anything. But secondly, not only must we exalt the savior, secondly, we must evangelize the sinner. Now, continue to read now and look, if you will, in verse 37 through 41 in this passage of scripture.
Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what must we do or what shall we do? Let me tell you what true evangelism is. Let me tell you what true salvation is. Let me give you the marks of it there right here.
What are the steps in a true conversion? First of all, people must be convicted by the spirit. Verse 37. Do you hear this?
Do you see it? When they heard this, they were pricked in the hearts. I've preached enough to know that their services where there is no conviction, my heart grieves and I wonder, Lord, is it me? Am I the one that has failed to pray and seek your face?
Is there coldness? Have you been in a service where you just couldn't explain it, but people begin to weep or tremble? There's the moving of the spirit of God. Don't just saunter in here and sit down and chatter a little bit without praying and saying, oh God, send your convicting power. See, first of all, they must be convicted by the Lord and then they're converted to the Lord. Look now in verse 38. They said, what shall we do?
They said that because they were pricked in the heart. Now verse 38, Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. To repent means to change your mind.
I told you the Greek word metanoia, which means a change of mind, a change of mind about what? Change your mind about sin. In my estimation, you've never been saved if you have not changed your mind about sin. Jesus said in Luke 13 three, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. But not only is it a change of mind about sin, it's a change of mind about self. You say, I don't have what it takes to overcome this sin. And you have completely no more confidence in the flesh. And not only is it a change of mind about sin and a change of mind about self, but is the change of mind about Jesus Christ, about God himself.
You're saying he is my only hope. I put my faith where God has put my sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is a conversion. You say, Pastor Rogers, this verse doesn't say anything about faith.
No, it doesn't. But faith is there. Repentance and faith are the heads and tails of the same coin. Are you cannot turn to God without turning from sin?
You cannot turn from sin truly without turning to God. One time I was preaching and one of these seminary students came up to me. He hadn't been a student very long, but he wanted to rebuke me a little bit. And he said, now you were telling people how to be saved. But he said, you never mentioned repentance. I said, oh, that's interesting. I said, do you know what book in the Bible, the whole book tells us how to be saved? What book is that? These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and believing you might have life through his name.
He wasn't quite sure, so I told him. It's the gospel of John. I said, now son, go home and read the gospel of John all the way through and see if you can find the word repent one time.
It's not there. But how to be saved is there. You cannot turn to God in faith without repenting. You cannot repent without turning to God in faith.
But it is a conversion. It is a turning coming to God. You must be convicted by the Lord. You must be converted to the Lord. And thirdly, you must make a confession of the Lord. Look, if you will, in verse 38, and he says, repent and be baptized. Not some of you, every one of you. Now, does baptism save you?
No. But if you repent and you're truly saved, you ought to be baptized. Baptism is the outer expression of what takes place in your heart.
I am not convinced that anybody is truly saved who says, I know I ought to be baptized, but I'm not going to. Jesus asked a good question. He said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the thing that I say? How can you say that Christ is your Lord when he has commanded baptism and you are nonchalant or oblivious to it? His great commission says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the age. Do you know what New Testament confession of Jesus Christ was? Not coming down a carpeted aisle and shaking hands with a preacher. Nothing wrong with that.
I'm going to ask you to do that tonight. But that is the precursor to the real confession of Christ, which is baptism. That is the confession of Christ. That open public baptism is the way that you acknowledge and you confess the Lord Jesus Christ. You identify with Christ in the water of believers' baptism. By what right do you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ if you've not had believers' baptism?
I didn't say sprinkling. I said baptism. Sprinkling is not baptism. And I said believers' baptism. That happens after you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. If you were baptized before you're saved, that's like having your funeral before you die.
You've gotten it backward. The Bible never says be baptized and believe. It's always believe and be baptized. There is a confession of the Lord.
It says I belong to him. I read somewhere years ago about a little boy who got saved in the children's church, not the big worship service, but in the children's church service. The pastor of the children's church service said to the little fellow, now you need to go over and tell them over at big church that you've been saved and you need to get baptized. Well, he didn't quite understand what we understand. So he went and told the pastor I've been saved and I need to get advertised.
That's very true. Once you get saved, you get advertised. You're saying here I belong to Jesus Christ. I want everybody who sees me to know that I have been buried with him by baptism into death and raised to walk in newness of life. I am identifying myself with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What is the conversion, the evangelization of the sinner?
Number one, listen to me again. It is the conviction by the Lord. It is conversion to the Lord. It is a confession of the Lord and it is controlled by the Lord. Look again in verse 38, if you will here, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
That is he comes into you to control you. The Holy Spirit takes possession now of the person who has been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Real salvation is not just to believe something or to achieve something, but to receive someone. The Holy Spirit of God comes in to you. Real salvation is not just going to heaven when you die.
That's a byproduct. Salvation is not getting man out of earth into heaven. It is getting God out of heaven into man. First of all, there's conversion, then there's conversion, then there's confession, and then there is control, and finally there is continuance.
Look, if you will, in verse 41 and 42 of this same chapter. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly. Jesus did not call us to make decisions. He called us to make disciples.
They continued steadfastly a continuance with the Lord. Now that's what we're about in evangelizing. That's why we preach. That's why we teach that people might be convicted, that they might be converted, that they might make a confession of Jesus, that they might be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and that they might go on and on with God in continuance and continue steadfastly. Now here's the third thing that we want to do, not only exalt the Savior, not only evangelize the sinner, but we want to enlist the saints.
Once we get them saved, what do we do? We'll begin now in verse 42 again and look, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. The little boy again didn't understand what the word doctrine meant. Somebody asked him, what is doctrine? He said, that's what folks need when they're sick.
I say, amen, we need a lot of it. Great churches are Bible-centered. They continued in the apostles' doctrine. That's just another way of saying they continued in the Word of God because the Word of God came through these apostles. How do we enlist the saints? Well, first of all, we get them in Bible study. You say, well, Pastor Rogers, I just don't need it.
Yes, you do. That's how they know you by name. That's how they miss you when you're sick. That's how they pray for you when you're sick.
If you go to the hospital, come over and cut your grass and minister you. That's where you have fellowship. That's for prayer, care, share there in that class. We're going to enlist people in Bible study, but also we're going to enlist them in fellowship.
Notice, if you will, in verse 42 again, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Watch this, and fellowship. Now, there's some people who think that fellowship is incidental. No, fellowship is absolutely fundamental. The Bible does not teach a lone ranger Christianity. I need you.
You need me. I was reading an interesting passage of Scripture concerning the apostle Paul. Do you think the mighty apostle Paul had such a walk with Jesus? Did he need fellowship? Listen to this verse.
It's Acts 28, verse 15. Paul has been through a shipwreck. He's been trying to get to Rome. Finally, he lands on the shores of Italy, and this is what it says, and from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as the api forum and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, and when he saw these brethren, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage.
I love that. Here's the mighty apostle Paul. These brothers go out and meet him now.
He's tired, worn, bedraggled, and when he saw him, he said, oh, thank God, and he took courage. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25 says, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more. We need fellowship. Now, people say that big churches are cold.
Well, be reasonable. If big churches are cold, how do they get to be big churches? No, big churches don't have to be cold. Big churches can be full of big love, but there's a danger with a big church, and the danger is that we can have wonderful programs, and we can become program-centered rather than man-relationship centered. Now, friendliness is a sine qua non, a prime requisite for any growing church, and I can't do that by myself. I can say with a full heart, you're so welcome here, but people, listen to me.
It is up to you. If you're not friendly, this will not be a friendly church, and we have to grow in fellowship. I was reading some statistics about what causes people to come to churches. What do you think causes people to come to churches? Well, here's what the statistics say. Nearly 50% of people who filled out these surveys said they went to this or that church, number one, because of friendliness. Number one, nearly 50%. 15% said they came because of programs. 12% said location.
12%. Well, let me ask you a question. Your friends that you choose, do you put a point on a map and then just kind of draw a circle around it and say, I won't have any friends except in this circle?
No. Not with the day of automobiles. People drive across town to restaurants. They go to ball games. They go here or there. People do not come to churches anymore because it happens to be in the neighborhood.
A few may, but they do not come primarily because of location. Only 12% said location, and 12% said belief. Now, you would think it is. Doctrine doesn't seem to make that much difference. I'm not saying that it's not important.
It is very important. I'm just saying, how do people's minds work when they're looking for a church? Only 12% said belief and 12% said location.
7% said denomination. What? Again, almost 50% said friendliness.
That's just another way of saying fellowship. Let me tell you folks, we need to work at this. When people come in here, they need a look. They need a nod. They need a word.
They need a touch. All right, now listen. When those people come into that fellowship, they are very apprehensive. Now, listen. Suppose you were invited, you had neighbors, and they invited you to a Buddhist temple.
They're Buddhist. They kept after you and after you and after a while, you said, well, honey, we just got to go, so we go. They said, well, we'll pick you up. You say, well, I'll tell you what, we'll just take our car. When you say that, why? Because you won't be able to leave when you want to leave and so forth. When you go there, you'd be wondering, am I going to do something wrong? All these people looking at me, wonder what they're thinking about me.
What are they going to do next? Friend, fear is a terrible thing, and what we need to do is to reduce the fear element. The most attractive part of you is your smile.
A smile is a passport almost to anywhere. We are to enlist the saints. We enlist them in Bible study. We enlist them in fellowship, and we enlist them in worship. Look in verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers. Now, most exegesis believe breaking of bread here refers to the Lord's Supper, and prayers obviously is worship as they're praying together. We need to always maintain the worship service.
We must enlist them also in stewardship. Look, if you will, here in verses 43 through 45. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, now watch this, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. You know about Bible stewardship, there it is, folks. None of them said, what I have is mine.
Lord, if you want it, you can have it. There was an emergency. There was persecution there. Some people think this was talking about communism.
It was not communism for a number of reasons. Number one, it was temporary. Number two, it was based on belief in God. Number three, it was church controlled.
And number four, it was voluntary. But the point is this, that everything that they owned was at the disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is everything you own at the disposal of Jesus?
I mean, honestly. If he asked for your last penny, would you give it to him? I'm not saying he will, but if he did do good, it all belongs to him. Perhaps the last thing that we want to release is our finances, our material possessions. It all belongs to God. Don't get the idea that one-tenth belongs to God and the rest is yours for your pleasure, for your squandering. It all belongs to God. One-tenth is only a sign that it all belongs to God. Don't get the idea that one day belongs to God and six are for you. Every day belongs to God. And he is to be the Lord over it all. And we're to teach this kind of stewardship.
So many of us are afraid we're going to over give or you can't out give. God, you shovel out, he shovels in, he's got a bigger shovel. Two men were talking. One said, do you tithe before or after taxes? The other man said, I tithe before taxes.
He said, why is that? He says, God gets more away. And I'll tell you something, I believe that man gets more also because God loves the man who can trust him with his finances. Now I'm not trying to tell you to give things God doesn't tell you to give.
That's presumptuous. I'm just simply saying, hey, you tell the Lord, Lord, whatever you want me to do. What you do not willingly and joyfully give God neither needs nor wants. We don't go around to wringing people's arms and trying to make them give. Listen, you can't fall in love with Jesus and not want to give. I mean, you cannot love the Lord and not want to give.
You cannot have the Christ that Peter was preaching about when we said, exalt the savior. You can't have that without wanting to give, to give. And so we have to enlist people in stewardship and we have to keep giving and keep giving.
You say, well, when we get our buildings built, then we can stop. Oh, that's when we really start because now we're going to be reaching out and out and out and out, sharing Jesus Christ with this community and sharing Jesus Christ with this state and sharing Jesus Christ with this world. And we're going to be pouring more and more money into reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that brings me to the next one. Not only do we enlist them in stewardship, but we enlist them in evangelism. Notice here again in verse 46 now, and they continued daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.
Now watch this. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. This church was a growing church. There's nothing wrong with a small church, nothing wrong with a big church. There's something wrong with any church that's in an area where there are a lot of lost people and the church is not growing. The church is to grow. This early church was perhaps in size the greatest church in church history. Are you ready to do a little arithmetic?
Let me show you something. You just get your Bibles now, lick your fingers. Look in Acts chapter one in verse 15. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, and now here's the parentheses in the word of God, the number of names together were about 120. All right, so we start with 120.
The 12 had become 120. Now look in Acts two, verse 41. Then they, they gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3000 souls. Pretty good church growth.
Now they're 3120. But now go to Acts chapter two, verse 47. It speaks of them praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Now we don't even know how many this was, but every day, every day souls are getting saved more every day, not just on Sunday.
Now go to Acts chapter four and look if you will in verse four. And they had another service and the Bible says here, how be it many of them which heard the church received and the number of men was about 5,000. Now it doesn't say 5,000 were saved. It says the number of men that were saved were 5,000. So let's just give each man a wife and two children. That's 20,000 right there.
If the rest of the family came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now the church that's been growing every day takes this 3,120 plus that those which came in every day, which probably now they have 20,000. That's 45,000 members in just a few days. And then look if you will now in Acts chapter five and look if you will now in verse 28, they are rebuking the disciples for the preaching. And here's what they said to them. Did we not straightly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. By the way, that's what I'm calling the church to do is to fill this city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is our Jerusalem. They said, you have filled this city. They literally saturated the city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now look in Acts chapter six and verse seven and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.
Remember what I said there in Acts two and the Lord added to them daily such as should be saved. No more addition now. Now it's multiplication. The church is growing exponentially.
B.H. Carroll, the founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said that this church had a membership in excess of 65,000 members in the first six months. 65,000 in the first six months.
G. Campbell Morgan said no. It was more like 250,000 in the first six months. Talk about big churches. Listen, do you think God wants everybody to go to hell?
Do you think God just doesn't want people reached for Christ? We're not going to get 250,000 in this building, but we can build some other building somewhere. We can help some other churches to grow. We can send some workers to other churches if they're not growing and we can find places to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ if we will enlist the saints. Here's what we exist to do to exalt the savior, evangelize the sinner and enlist the saints. Not complicated is it?
Not complicated at all. Question, does this excite you? Would you like to be a part of that or you just want to draw your breath, draw your salary, drag into heaven with a wasted life? Would you say, Lord, make me a part of that vision? Lord, I don't want to be just a drone. I don't want to be just a Sunday night bench warmer. I want to be a part of that vision. Show me, Lord, what part I'm to have. .
