The chimes of time ring out the news, another day's through, someone slipped and fell, was that someone new? You may have longed or had it strayed, your courage to renew. Do not be disheartened, I have news for you. It is no secret what God can do; what he's done for others, he'll do for you. With arms wide open, he'll pardon you. It is no secret what God can do. 

There is no night or any slight; you'll never walk alone. You'll always be at home, wherever you may roam. There is no power that can conquer you, while God is on your side. Take him at his promise, don't run away and hide. It is no secret what God can do; what he's done for others, he'll do for you. With arms wide open, he'll pardon you. It is no secret what God can do.

Thank you, Ray, for that good song. That's really the message we have to bring: good news for people to believe and be saved, and that's what the book of Acts is all about. That's what we're going to be studying over these next several months—how the apostles went out in obedience to Christ and preached the gospel to every creature.

We're going to be looking at verses 9 to 14 today, and I've titled the message, "The Obedience of Faith," and I want to talk to you today from our text about the importance of the obedience of faith. The book of Acts, and particularly this first chapter, drives us to the very heart and purpose of the Christian life for the time that God leaves us here on this earth.

In John 17, Jesus prayed the high priestly prayer for the disciples and for us, because he said those who would believe in him through their words. He prayed that the Father would keep us from the evil one, but he did not pray that he would take us out of this world. Rather, that he would leave us in this world, and he said for a very express purpose: that the world may know that Jesus is the Christ.

In the first chapter of Acts, we see that Jesus gave the disciples commandments. He taught them and instructed them concerning their ministry in the kingdom of God that would now exist in the intervening time between his ascension and his second coming, where God would rule in the hearts of the believers and work through them to accomplish his will of bringing men to Christ.

Verse 8, as we talked about last time, is a central verse—the foundational verse of the book of Acts and Christ's intent for his people in this age. He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, all Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Jesus said, "You shall be witnesses to me." This is our commission. This is why God has left us on this earth. This is our purpose, and this is our privilege each day of life. 

God has made provision for us through his indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to accomplish this mission. God has given to us his Spirit, and he has come to make his home in us, to help us, to comfort us, to give us confidence and security, and to guide us into truth, lead us into opportunity, and to energize our witness to men through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. 

At the same time, the Spirit works on the hearts of men who hear that truth to convict them of sin, to show them their need, to point them to Christ, and to lead them to faith. My friends, we have an amazing power working in us. Paul said it's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. 

In Romans 6:17, speaking of our individual conversion, Paul writes, "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." Paul here equates faith with obedience. He says you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. What's Paul saying in this verse? He's saying that when you heard the doctrine of Christ, the gospel, you obeyed from the heart; you believed. Obedience and faith are linked. Hearing and believing, obeying the truth, is what faith is all about. 

In 1 Peter 1, Peter said, "An apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ's grace to you, and peace be multiplied." We are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. We have been set apart by the Spirit. And Peter says, "for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 

He uses Old Testament language here, speaking of sealing—the sprinkling of blood, the sealing of a covenant. But notice, it is God who chose us. It is the Spirit who set us apart, and then we were obedient. Again here, it's synonymous with faith—believing, trusting, obeying the gospel. 

And then we were sealed. I'd like for you to look with me at how Paul ends the great epistle to the Romans before we get to our text. In Romans 16, after giving us this tremendous doctrine all through the book of Romans, explaining the gospel in an expanded version, he writes a doxology. He says, "Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. To God alone, wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen." 

The scriptures continually link obedience with faith. And the idea of obeying the gospel, obeying the commands of Christ, obeying the Word, is the essence of faith. If we believe, if we trust, if we depend on Jesus, if we trust in Him, then we'll do what He says. 

I've used this illustration before, but maybe not for a long time. It's been a long time since I embarrassed my friend Mr. Heft. But it always makes me think of the construction questions I've had by multitudes over the years. I wasn't much of a carpenter when I met Ron, but I was still building all kinds of stuff. And perhaps I've come a little ways under his guidance and instruction and some experience. 

But I can remember many times asking Ron what I needed to do in this situation or in that. And usually, I didn't like his answer because it meant more labor or it meant more money to do things right. And Ron does things right. Over time, I've learned the value and importance of doing things right. Things don't fall down; they don't wear out. And I've come to understand that Ron gives good advice on these things. 

So when I would ask him a question concerning some building method or another, and I would say that I trust Ron, that I believe Ron, the proof was really in the pudding. That I do what Ron said. If I trust him and believe him, believe what he says, then I will obey his advice. I will do what he said. If not, then that really means I don't believe him; I don't trust him. 

I thought that maybe I knew a better way. Do you see the idea of obedience to the faith? The importance of doing what Jesus says—believing him, trusting him, and obeying him. 

What I want to do in our message today in this first chapter of Acts is to show the importance of the obedience of faith. I want to relate this from the time even before the inception of the church in Acts 2 to the chief purpose of the Christian life on this earth, found in verse 8 in the Great Commission. 

According to the Gospels, in verse 12 of Acts 1, the ascension took place on the Mount of Olives, actually toward Bethany, on the backside of the Mount. After the ascension, the disciples returned to Jerusalem, and Jesus had given them a commandment to go to Jerusalem and to wait, to wait for the Holy Spirit, who would come upon them and empower them to carry out this Great Commission that Jesus had given them. 

Here's a question I want you to consider. I think it's a very important question. I think it's a very applicable question for me and for you in our time and our culture in the church today: How important was it that the apostles obeyed what he said? How important was it that they believed Jesus' words? They trusted that he would do what he promised, that he would send them his Spirit. And how important was it that they were obedient to that faith? 

They believed him, they knew his word, they knew his command. How important was it that they were obedient to that faith? That they actually went back to Jerusalem and waited in that upper room for the time when the Holy Spirit would come and empower them for the ministry that Jesus had given them? They could have just gone out and started preaching, started witnessing. 

You could see Peter leaving the Mount of Olives, Jesus having ascended into heaven and left them. You could see Peter saying, "I have an idea. I think we should do ministry this way. I think we should get right out there and start this work. Why should we wait?" How important was it that they knew God's word, that they knew the command of Jesus? How important was it that they believed him and that that faith resulted in their obedience to what he said? That's the question before us. 

And the application is profound for us in our life and ministry today as we trust the Lord to show us through our study in the book of Acts this morning.

Let's look at verse 9, please, in Acts 1. 

"Now when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.' Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."

I've given you three points on your outline this morning. First, we're going to look at the person. Second, we're going to look at the promise. And third, we're going to look at the prayer. 

Well, first, we see in our text the person—who Jesus is. In verse 9, it says, "Now when he had spoken these things, while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." After Jesus gave to the disciples their final instruction, the essence of their ministry, and his command to them to be witnesses to him, to preach and teach about him and his gospel of grace, and salvation through faith alone in him alone, and what he finished at the cross, Jesus ascends into heaven. 

Think with me for just a second about the gravity of this moment in time in the life of the apostles and the course of their ministries. Their minds must have gone back to the time that he chose them. They were just going about their business—fishing, tax collecting, whatever they did, living their lives, thinking about their families, their livelihood, their hobbies, their desires, their dreams. 

And along comes Jesus, and he commands them to drop everything, to leave the nets, to leave the tax table—all that they had, all that they were—and follow him. What a day! What a drastic change in their lives when they began to follow Jesus! And all that they had been through, all that he had taught them, all that he had done over those years where they walked with him, and ate with him, and slept with him, and rarely ever were apart from him. 

And the works that he did—amazing works, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, causing even the waves to obey him. All the crowds, all the controversy, the signs and the wonders, the feeding of the 5,000, the raising of Lazarus—what a day that must have been! There was the hope of the kingdom, of the exaltation of Israel in the earthly kingdom, anticipating Jesus taking over and giving them positions of power. 

They were gazing up into heaven, looking at where Jesus had just disappeared, and I wonder what they had thought. Then came that night, not long ago, at the Last Supper where they ate together, fellowshiped, and Jesus instituted the New Covenant in His blood. What did this mean? And what about the betrayer? And then out to the garden in prayer and slumber, and then coming of Judas with the guards in the time when they each had deserted him? 

And then the cross. The cross. What an agonizing day! What a profound disappointment to these disciples. What sadness they endured in his death and his burial. How disappointing, how filled with doubt and despair they must have been after spending three years with him, putting all their hope in him—looking for the Kingdom. 

All these thoughts must have filled their minds as they stared into heaven, looking at the clouds that Jesus just disappeared through. But then there was the glorious resurrection—so hard to believe at first, but then so many infallible proofs. The realization that it was true: he did what he had promised; he was alive! And what did this mean? Did this mean the Kingdom now? "Lord, will You bring the Kingdom now?" 

Their minds must have been racing as Jesus ascended out of their sight, and as they thought about all that they had experienced with him, and as they turned and walked down that mount, they must have been wondering, what would they do now? Jesus was gone. He was no longer with them. What would they do? How would they proceed? What would they do? And this is the same question for us so many times in our lives: uncertainty, doubt, fears, despair. 

What is the answer? The answer is the same for us as it was for them on that day when they walked down from the Mount of Olives. The answer is the Person of Jesus Christ. There was no doubt that Jesus is God. He had risen from the dead, showing Himself to be the Son of God and Savior of the world, fulfilling His own words. 

He just now had ascended back to the Father in Heaven, being taken up before their eyes. He is God. He is Lord of lords. He is Savior, and he tells the truth. He does what he promises. So the answer to our doubts and our fears and our discouragement and our not knowing is to believe his words, to abide in him, to obey what he says.

And the key point in our text that I want you to see is this: this is exactly what the disciples did. They obeyed Jesus' words, his command. They chose to believe him and do what he said—to go to Jerusalem and to wait. And waiting can be so hard. And I'm guessing it was especially hard for some of those guys, like Peter. Peter was not much of a waiter. He was not really characterized by calm patience. 

But he chose to believe Jesus and wait as he had commanded, and this was of utmost importance to believe and obey his command. I hear Christians talk often of non-essential doctrines, and I understand this sentiment, and sometimes there are areas where good men disagree. 

However, I mostly hear this talk when Christians don't want to deal with hard sayings of Scripture. When they don't want to make the necessary applications of truth in their life and ministries. When we think about the person of Christ, the focus of our lives, our hope, our salvation, our provision, our promise, our power for accomplishing our purpose on this earth—which of his commands, his teaching, his doctrines are non-essential? 

When he told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and to wait, was that an essential doctrine to be obeyed? Jesus is our Savior. He's our Lord. What he tells us in his Word is to be known. It is to be studied and meditated upon, to be believed. And my friends, it is to be applied—to be obeyed—because God knows what is best. He knows best how to accomplish His will through our lives. We don't know best; He knows best.

I remember years ago, when I had only been saved for maybe a year or so, I was invited to a meeting of the elders of a Bible church. The reason I was invited was that I was fresh; I had just been saved. Their thought was that I could bring some fresh ideas to their ministry—some insight on how to reach the lost. The thrust of the meeting was that the men were frustrated that they were not reaching their community at the rate they desired. People were not being saved in numbers they deemed prudent, and the church was not growing in the way they thought it should. 

So they were sharing their ideas of doing ministry in a new way—new methods to reach the lost in their community. You know, I really shouldn't have even been there. I was a piker—a novice. And they wanted me to be put into some position so that I could grow. That was their words. 

Rather, the likely result would have been falling into pride—the snare of the devil. As I listened to their brainstorming of ideas, it became clear to me that they were considering going outside the means that God has prescribed for reaching the lost—his way of preaching the gospel to lost sinners. 

So I asked this question: "Do you believe that the ends justify the means?" Because the things you're saying are not biblical. And the assistant pastor said, "Well, that depends on the ends." In other words, "We'll do whatever it takes to put people in the seats." 

My friends, God has given to us the means! The means of being witnesses to Christ is at the core of preaching the gospel message of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection—sharing that gospel with the lost. The ends belong to God; that is not my responsibility. I am to preach the truth; I am to speak the truth in love. To bring that good news message and appeal to men to believe.

But the ends belong to God. We must focus on—we must trust in and obey the commands of Jesus. And he said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." He's the one that we trust; he's the one we look to and depend on. He's the person, the focus of our faith and obedience—Jesus Christ—as we see him ascending as Lord and Savior to the Father's right hand in our text here this morning.

Well, next in our text, we see the promise of verse 10. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.'" 

Here we have a promise from the Word of God. These two men in white apparel—presumably angels—tell the disciples that the time will come when Jesus will come back to the earth and will set up his kingdom. 

This reference is to the second coming. Notice they said, "in like manner." And the parallels are compelling. Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:4 tells us that at the second coming of Christ, Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives and set His feet on the earth there. He ascended personally. Malachi 3:1 tells us that he will return personally. He ascended visibly. Matthew 24:30 tells us he will return visibly. He was received up in a cloud; he will come on the clouds of heaven. He ascended gloriously, and he will return with power and great glory, as we see in Matthew 24 and Revelation 19. 

The promise given to the disciples here is in light of their sadness and disappointment that Jesus would not bring the kingdom now. He just told them that it was not for them to know the timing of the coming of the kingdom. You know, that's an interesting and important point to notice in verse 7. 

Jesus does not say to them, "Oh, you misunderstood. There is no literal, physical kingdom for Israel. No, you see, the Jews rejected me and crucified me, so now there will only be a spiritual kingdom and the church will be Israel, and there will not be anything for the Jews. God has forsaken Israel forever." 

My friends, Jesus does not correct them in this way. They were looking for the physical kingdom. They wanted to know if it would come now. They wanted to know if God would fulfill His promise to Israel. And Jesus tells them, "It's not for you to know when that kingdom will come, when I will come back and set it up and give it to Israel." 

But for now, you have a different ministry in a different time—preaching the gospel, being witnesses in the church age. And then he ascended. And they're looking up there to where he just was—gazing, wondering, saddened about the kingdom not coming now, perplexed about this new age, this time without Jesus. 

And the angels come and they comfort them. They give them a word of promise—assure them that they need not worry. God would keep his promise to Israel, and Jesus would come back in the same way that he went up. 

And he will come back to this very Mount of Olives, and he will come as conquering King and fulfill all those kingdom promises of the Old Testament to Israel. And as we talked about last time, if God doesn't keep His unconditional promises to Israel—the unconditional promises in Genesis 12, He said, "I will, I will, I will." He made no condition; it wasn't like the law covenant where he said, "If you, then I will." 

They were unconditional promises to Israel. If he does not keep those promises, my friends, as Paul lays out in Romans 11, then why do you think he would keep his promise to you in Jesus Christ? God keeps his word. God keeps his promises. And the angels wanted these disciples to understand and know that. He doesn't correct them; he tells them it's not time. 

This is such an important truth for us to understand—that God keeps his word. And there are so many today in the realm of Christendom who deny this very important fact. They say that God has forsaken his people Israel. It's amazing to me in light of Romans 11:1 and Romans 11:11. Has God forsaken His people? By no means! No way! Have they fallen and they can't get back up? "Meginatah!" No, no, no, no, no, no, no! 

That's pretty clear, isn't it? The fact is, according to the word of God in so many places, that during the tribulation—the time of Jacob's trouble—and at the second coming of Christ, Israel will look on the one whom they pierced, and they will mourn; they will repent; they will receive their Messiah. And Paul says in Romans 11:25, "All Israel will be saved." He says to the Gentiles, "I don't want you to be wise in your own opinion." God will make good on his promises. 

And he will keep his promise to us in Jesus as well. So we see the person—Jesus—and we see the promise—his sure return to set up his kingdom. And last this morning, we see the prayer of the believers—their dependence on him. Look at verse 12. 

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas, the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." 

The followers of Jesus gathered together in that upper room, believing, obeying, waiting on the promise of the Spirit, as Jesus had instructed, and were continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication. They were praying for the will, for the Word of God to be done, for the Spirit to come. 

And what we see here in these verses is a total trust in and dependence on God. They knew their need for Him. Jesus was no longer with them. Now they could not talk to him face to face. They had to go to him in prayer to bring their desires, their cares, their worship and praise, and their need—their faith—their utter and total dependence on the person of Jesus Christ. 

And this is what we see manifest here as an example to us. They were obeying; they were waiting; they were believing and trusting in the Lord, and their total dependence on Him was shown in a continual, consistent, communal prayer. 

All the disciples were with one accord in their desire and purpose, and they prayed together with the anticipation of the promised Spirit in the beginning of their new ministry. We need to have such dependence on and trust in Jesus—to go to him in continual prayer to express to him our thanks and our worship, and especially our need for him, and our passion for his will to be done in our lives, as we trust and abide in him. 

And I want to just wrap this all around to the central verse in verse 8. “You will receive power and be witnesses to Me.” This is our purpose, our commission. This is why God has left us on this earth—to be witnesses to Jesus. What does that mean? First, it means that our witness is to all creatures—all men—because all men are born sinners in Adam and have a need to be saved from the wrath of God for their sin. 

It means that our witness is about Jesus, the truth of who he is and what he has done— the sufficiency of his substitutionary sacrifice in our place for our sins. We preach Christ crucified. We preach the gospel. We preach the good news available to all men by God's grace through faith. We must have the right message, and we must have the right method. 

The message is the gospel; the method that God has chosen is preaching—speaking the truth in love—so that men might be saved. And all this works; this all comes to pass—God's will is accomplished in our lives, and we are witnesses to Jesus when we exercise obedience to faith. 

When we know God's Word, when we believe Him, and then we trust Him to fulfill His will in our lives. As we began this message, the doctrines of Christ and his commands, his teaching, the whole of his Word, as we discussed, are essential. Everything he tells us is essential. It was essential the apostles go and wait for the Spirit in Jerusalem. It was essential that they trust Jesus to send the Spirit and give them this great power. 

And it was essential that they take the right message to the right people—through preaching, having been endowed with that power. And the same is true for us today, my friends. 

And I want to just try to illustrate this for us in the last words of our text. I want to drive home the absolute importance that you and I, as believers in Jesus Christ here at Living Hope Church, living in these surrounding communities—in the context of our work and our families and our hobbies and our going about among lost men—know the Word of God. 

And that we know the need of men. And that we know the commandments of Christ and the message he has given to us, and that we speak that clear truth so that men might be saved. And I believe for us here in this culture in which we live, in this place, in this time, we see something most fascinating at the end of our passage in verse 14. 

It says, "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." The apostles are all named here. But we also see some others named—the women. These are the women who had followed Jesus for so long and who are mentioned so often by name. 

And then it says, "and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." Now, this may not strike you as it did me if you grew up in a Baptist church or a Bible-believing family. But the fact for us in this part of the world is that the vast majority of our ministry is to people who did not grow up in the context of biblical truth. Who did not live in homes or churches where the Bible was taught, but rather, as I did, in a false Christian denomination that had an anti-Bible and anti-truth view of the gospel and particularly of the mother of Jesus. 

It tells us here that Mary, the mother of Jesus, prayed with one accord to her risen Lord and Savior. And with her—his brothers. Now, I was taught all my life that Jesus had no brothers because Mary was a perpetual virgin. Let me ask you, my brothers and sisters: does this doctrine matter? The doctrine that is—Mary prayed in Luke 1: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior." Does the teaching of the Scriptures that Mary was a sinner born in Adam and that she needed a Savior matter? 

Does it matter that Jesus had four brothers? Is this information in the Word of God important? Here it says his mother and his brothers were in that upper room. They were praying to Jesus, depending on him as their Lord and Savior, waiting for his promises. He commanded the coming of the Spirit. 

They had individually come to understand their sin and their need, and they had turned from unbelief to Jesus Christ. We see in John 7, verse 5, that at that time in his ministry, it tells us that his brothers didn't even believe him. But that changed. Sometime after the resurrection, his brothers turned to him in faith—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. The Bible gives us his four brothers' names. They were real men who grew up in a carpenter shop, who needed to learn their sin, who needed to know their need for a Savior. 

And they had to learn that it was their older brother that was that Savior. They had to humble themselves and come to him in faith to save them from the wrath of God that was to come. And no one was praying to Mary in this room. She had no prominent position among them in that sense. 

Certainly, she was a faithful servant of God and given a special blessed role in bringing the Savior into the world, but she is not special in a saving sense. She is not co-redeemer with Christ. She is not sinless. There was no immaculate conception, no assumption bodily for her into heaven. She is not the Queen of Heaven, and she in no way participates in the saving work of Jesus Christ, who alone obtained our redemption at the cross in his one-time death in our place for our sins. 

I know this makes some in evangelical Christianity uncomfortable, but here is my point: Does it matter that we, as believers in Winchester, Wisconsin and Ironwood, Michigan know and believe all that the Bible teaches? That we believe correctly about who Jesus is and what he has done? Does it matter that we are obedient to the faith and apply it in our lives? Are these things important to the central purpose of our lives as followers of Christ on this earth each day? 

Do they relate to verse 8 in Acts 1? And I would submit to you that these kinds of details in the Word of God are often overlooked. They're often under-emphasized or cast aside, but it is the whole of the Word of God—the revelation that God has given to us in this book, cut straight and fit together—that causes us to understand who Jesus is. That allows us to believe correctly about what he has done and what he wants us to do and what he has for us in store in the future. 

And it is a careful, diligent study of the words of God and believing and obeying them that results in a life of dependence on and trust in Jesus and an effective witness to him in this world. Why should we be confused about the false denominations that call themselves Christian in our community? Those who say that when they sprinkle water on their baby's heads, it saves them and regenerates them. 

Why should we be confused about that? Why should we think that they are believers? That they know Jesus? That they're just a little off in their doctrines? Won't this kind of non-biblical thinking result in a failure to preach a clear message about Jesus to these lost people? 

You will not find in the Bible the doctrine of the deity of Mary. You won't find in the Bible anything that would even hint at the idea that Mary accomplished or participated in accomplishing our salvation. Yet, go down to Brazil today and see Mary on the cross. I remember when one of the missionaries came to my home, and we were having lunch, and I asked him, "Are people confused about this, where you come from? Confused about what?" he said. "What do you mean?" 

"The Catholic church is killing us. No one's confused." 

"Why are we confused?" 

You'll not find that she should be prayed to, worshipped, or adored as co-mediatrix. All of these things come from a mother-son cult that originated in pagan Babylon all the way back in Genesis 10 under Nimrod in the Tower of Babel. We don't have time to go into all these details. I'd love to—trust me. I'd preach a couple hours on this because it's fascinating. 

But the Word of God does speak clearly to this issue, and historical documents make clear where all these doctrines came from. And my friends, it's not the Bible. 

Here's what matters to you and to me today in this world in which we live: We need to know the Word of God. And growing in grace and truth, we need to be discerning concerning truth and error. And we need to be willing to apply that truth—to speak that truth—to dispel the error because the souls of men are at stake. 

Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it makes us uncomfortable. But if we, as believers at Living Hope Church, in the context of the opportunities that God gives us each day in our lives—the good works that he has prepared in advance for us to do—if we are not clear about the Gospel, if we are not clear about the truth of God's Word and the lies that come against us, and the people that we know and love are caught up in these lies, if we aren't clear about the truth, then how are we going to make the truth clear to them? 

How will we ever fulfill the commission to bring that truth—that glorious truth of Christ's full, sufficient, atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world for each and every man—the good news of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone—in what he accomplished and finished on that cross? 

How are we going to bring that to those who God brings into our lives, across our paths? Obedience to the faith. That is what we want. That is our deep heart's desire—to live for Jesus, to depend on him and trust in him one day at a time, and to fulfill the commission that he has given to us so that men might be saved, my friends, and that God might be glorified. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for the truth. We thank You that You tell us the truth in Your Word and that You illuminate that truth through Your Spirit. Help us to believe You. Help us to know Your Word, to study, to seek to know Jesus more and more through Your truth revealed to us. And help us to believe You—to reckon what You say is true. And then, Lord, help us to yield to You in our lives so that You can work through Your power—the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Jesus Christ living in us—to accomplish Your will in this world. It's in Jesus' name we pray.