The fellowship

We'll read in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we'll just read one verse here. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to touch on some things that I trust are surely believed amongst us. So we'll read verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9. God is faithful.

By whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we're coming over to the second chapter of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 2. And we'll read verse 41.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

And you know that Mr. Newberry puts the article in front of this. And the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We'll come back to that in a moment.

Now come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Because I'm going to make a few references to this chapter. God is faithful. And I don't suppose that anyone here would dispute that.

We were hearing this morning that there are truths in the Bible that are very clearly stated. And very definite. And that cannot be argued against or discussed.

God is faithful. And you'll find that expression five times in the word of God. Repeat it five times over.

That God is faithful. The word faithful here means that God can be trusted. He is reliable.

And that statement is in contrast to an assembly that was not faithful. And so it's interesting that Paul commences right at the commencement of this epistle. And reminds the Corinthians that God is faithful.

And he's going to touch upon a number of issues in the assembly accordant in which they were not faithful. In contrast to the faithfulness of God. Faithfulness of God is confirmed in verse 8 of the chapter.

As the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. Because God is faithful. The testimony of Christ was established in them.

Initially through the preaching of the gospel. And then the word of God was presented to them. And so Paul wants to remind them that God is faithful.

By whom you are called. That is called by God. God has called them into a fellowship.

Into a place of rich blessing. And a place of communion with God. And it is indicated here that this place belongs to His Son.

The fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. You notice that there are four identifications of the Lord Jesus Christ in this statement. You notice first that He is called His Son.

And so this place of fellowship is a place that believes wholeheartedly in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you'll notice His Son, Jesus. That's the humanity of Christ.

And so this is a fellowship that embraces wholly the humanity, the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then His Son, Jesus Christ, the Anointed. That all of the purposes of God will center upon His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to the saints at Corinth who were unfaithful. While God was faithful to them. Now, perhaps I've said enough already that you know what I'm going to say about the fellowship of His Son.

Now I know that there are some brethren who would teach this is a fellowship of life. I don't take it that way. I take it that the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is the assembly at Corinth.

And so this is a place where the Corinthian believers have been called to. Notice that the context indicates that this fellowship can be destroyed. Notice the very next verse, verse 10.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. And so this fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, can be destroyed.

And the Corinthians needed to be exhorted that they would be perfectly joined together. And so from the context we see that there were divisions in the assembly at Corinth. There's danger.

The Apostle Paul indicated to the Ephesian elders, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw away the disciples after themselves. When you come to verse 11 of this chapter, For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the household of Cloyd, that there are contentions among you. And so this fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord here was in danger of being torn apart.

I'm going to illustrate that in just a moment. They were divided on at least three different grounds. They were divided on the grounds of carnality.

Carnality had entered into their midst. They had not judged a sin of fornication that had come into the assembly at Corinth. They were taking in chapter 6 of the epistle.

They were taking others to a court of law. Carnality, worldliness, had crept into the assembly at Corinth. They were divided as well on the grounds of personality.

They were following men. Some were following Paul, some Peter, some Paul. So they were divided on the grounds of personality.

They were divided on the grounds of prosperity. And at the Lord's Supper, they had the emblems for the Lord's Supper present, mixed in with their love feast. And so Paul tells them they could not discern the Lord's body.

Which part of this was the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that love feast, some were wealthy. They brought much to feast upon.

Others didn't have that much. And so some ate and others did not eat. They were divided on the grounds of personality.

And so they are reminded here of the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, that is very precious. And I hope all of us view that as a precious thing. You'll notice we're going to come to Acts chapter 2 for a few moments.

In Acts chapter 2, it is the fellowship, not a fellowship. Fellowship here is an indication of the assembly of God. The assembly of God is the fellowship.

It's not just one of a number of places. It is the only place. In my Bible, the only place that I can find is a company of believers gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the fellowship that is in view in the two passages that I have read. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, that is the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Here in Acts chapter 2, that's the fellowship that the believers in Jerusalem are being reminded of.

So here, we have the seven pillars of the assembly. I'm not going to touch in detail upon all of them for a few moments. I'm going to touch a few of them.

Wisdom has made her seven pillars, and so there are seven pillars here. I want to know this for a few moments with you. The first one, they that gladly receive His Word.

I would take that to be the preaching of the gospel. I believe that the gospel meeting is a meeting of the assembly. I know that we have all kinds of arguments today that it's not an assembly meeting.

It is an assembly meeting. And all of the principles that apply, apply to that gospel meeting. I know that they want to do away with the head covering in a gospel meeting.

Maybe you don't have that issue here. I don't want to introduce it to you here either. But the head covering is something that should be evident in a gospel meeting.

I've had a number of years spent in tent meetings. I say a number of years, I suppose maybe 30. And only on one occasion, just one that I can recall or that was drawn to my attention, was there a woman who didn't come to the tent because of the head covering.

But it was interesting, when the meeting started, she made her way slowly over to the tent and stood outside the tent and heard everything that was said anyway, and probably took in more than if she had been sitting in the tent. And so the gospel meeting, Paul says to the Thessalonians, from you has sounded out the word of God. And so the responsibility of the assembly is a good, old-fashioned gospel meeting.

In some places that is being reduced in time from a half an hour, from an hour to a half an hour. And now in some places to just a few minutes, kind of tacked on, that's the gospel meeting. But the assembly needs to be very exercised about a good, old-fashioned gospel meeting.

And so he says here, they gladly received his word. There are a number of things that can take place in a gospel meeting. Of course a soul can be saved, that's a blessing to the assembly.

That's an encouragement to the assembly, to have a soul saved in a series of gospel meetings. The witness, God moving, and the spirit of God moving, and souls reached and saved. But there are other things that can take place in a gospel meeting.

The backslider can be restored. And the way back to God is the same way that a sinner takes back to the cross. And so there's no place like a gospel meeting to bring the backslider back to the cross.

And the saints, of course, are encouraged. Those who know it best seem hungry and thirsty to hear it like the rest. The Lord Jesus gave that great commission, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.

Well, you might say, I can't go into all the world and preach the gospel. But the gospel may be your neighbor over the back fence. It may be the person that you're sitting beside in a school classroom.

It may be the person that you're working with. That might be the world for you to preach the gospel. We have some neighbors that Mr. Trump maybe doesn't think too much of.

They are Muslim neighbors, young couple. Muslims have a soul. And Muslims need to be saved.

And so my wife particularly has tried to win the confidence of this young Muslim woman. A number of things that we have done for them. And we've got to the point now where we are quite confident when we are away to give them the keys to our house.

And they will come in and check the furnace, gather the mail, and so on. And so when we returned one time that we were away. And I said to my wife, we have to do something for this couple now.

So we decided that we would buy a bouquet of flowers. And the florist delivered them to the house. And within 30 minutes we had a knock on the door.

And a young Muslim woman was standing at the door. Tears flowing down her face. And she said to us, no one has ever given me a bouquet of flowers before.

Seek to win their confidence. And perhaps someday we will walk into it, maybe a tent, maybe a gospel meeting with a young Muslim couple that could be saved. We believe that that woman has been touched with the gospel.

She came to the door another time when she was flying back to her native land. And she didn't like to fly and she didn't want to go back to the particular area of that land. And she said to my wife, will you pray to your God for me? So we believe that we're making a little headway.

That's the world. That's the world right next door. And so when you have a series of gospel meetings, then there should be those that you already have contact with.

One of the great weaknesses today, brethren, not only north of you, but here. And when you start a series of gospel meetings and you have no contact with anyone. It's the believers that are bringing souls to the gospel meeting.

I could go around and knock on all kinds of doors. They're not coming because of me. They will come when you knock on the door because you live in the area and you have befriended them.

So he says, they have gladly received the gospel. And then they were baptized. I had the privilege two weeks ago of speaking at a baptism.

Four teenagers were being baptized. Two of them happened to be my grandchildren. One of the other girls that was being baptized had brought an unsaved boyfriend to the baptism.

And we were hearing that this morning. That's treading on dangerous ground. Because the Bible is abundantly clear.

And that young woman needs to understand that she is not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. She's on the wrong course already. And it's a marvel to me that the brethren never spoke to her before she was baptized about her unsafe boyfriend.

And so they were baptized. And then they were added. They were added to the fellowship.

They were added to the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I was at a Bible study at a conference and they were talking about the fellowship. And the question was raised, how much should a person know before they are received into the fellowship? And the brethren were tossing this back and forth.

And one brother said, well, we didn't know anything. Well, that was true for the speaker. Sadly.

And so after they had discussed that for a while. I said to the brethren in the conference about this size. I said, brethren, they should know a lot.

If you want to know why young people are leaving the assembly, it's because they don't know what they should know. And so in the group of people that we have been working with for ten years, we insist that before a person gets baptized, particularly younger people mostly, they have to sit down with us for two or three nights and go over baptism. And before they come into the assembly, they have to sit down for a number of nights and go over what the assembly is, what the assembly means from the word of God.

So that when they come into the fellowship of the assembly, they have some understanding, some grasp of truth as to what they are doing and what they are coming into. And then hopefully they will come in with some understanding and they will stay. He says the Apostles' Doctrine.

I don't know how many Bible readings you have in the assembly that you are part of. Could I just suggest to you that if you have only one Bible reading, you are limited to the epistle to the Romans to the book of Revelation, the Apostles' Doctrine. If you have two Bible readings, maybe you can go someplace else.

But you have to keep at the Apostles' Doctrine. Sometimes when we are traveling, we stop in unexpectedly to some of the assemblies that are close to home. I stopped in unexpectedly one day.

There might have been ten to twelve teenagers who all professed to be saved sitting there. And the brethren made the comment, now we are going to read in Deuteronomy. And he said the chapter.

And then he said, Brother Steers will be a help to us in this chapter. And I thought, Brother Steers will be no help in this chapter. And the brethren never did their homework.

And there wasn't really too much in that Bible reading. And I sat there and wondered, what keeps these young people coming? Because they are not getting anything here. And so the Bible readings have to be instructive, have to be interesting, have to set before the believers continually the Apostles' Doctrine.

And so he says the Apostles' Doctrine and then the fellowship. I'm just going to say a few words on the fellowship. That's one of the reasons why I have read this.

The word fellowship here is the word partnership. It's no right that you have. But it's a privilege that God gives us to be part of the fellowship of the assembly.

And so he says the fellowship, the privileges and the responsibilities of the fellowship. It has been my privilege for a number of years to interview a number of people. First as an overseer in an assembly.

And then in the Lord's work to interview a number of people, a fairly large number of people, with my brethren who have requested fellowship in the assembly. We go over a number of details of the assembly. I've already stated that.

And after my brethren have asked all the questions that they want to ask, and they think that the interview is over, I always have one question to ask. And so I ask the person that wants to come into the fellowship, now, when you come into the fellowship, what are you going to contribute? Well, the first time I asked that question, my brethren kind of shook their head and wondered, well, how do they know what they're going to contribute? I didn't ask the question for that reason. I asked the question so that they would be exercised and thinking that I have to make a contribution, a scriptural contribution to this fellowship.

I'm coming in as a partner into this fellowship. And so there has to be a contribution. Everyone makes a contribution.

No one sits and does nothing. I hope that every one of us have that in mind. We make a contribution to the fellowship of the assembly.

There is a statement in Colossians chapter 2. I'm not going to read it, but I'm going to quote it. When the apostle in writing to the believers at Colossae referred to them being knit together in love, I just wanted to think of that word knit together for a moment. I was visiting an older sister, perhaps known to a good number here, Mrs. L.K. McElwain.

She was staying in a home. I walked into her room. She was sitting in a rocking chair.

She had two baskets, wicker baskets with knitting yarn on each side of her. And she was knitting something with her glasses down on her nose. And I thought to myself, this would make a beautiful picture if I could only take a picture of Mrs. McElwain.

And I decided that I'm going to watch those knitting needles, and I'm just going to see how she's putting that yarn together. And it wasn't very long that I gave up on that because they were going so quickly that my eyes couldn't keep on them to discover how she was knitting the yarn together. But she was knitting it together.

That's the picture that Paul has in Colossians chapter 2. Knit together, a fellowship that is knit together. I don't know. We'll say that Mrs. McElwain was knitting a scarf.

And so I could get the two of the strongest men in this gathering today. And if I had the scarf that Mrs. McElwain was knitting, and I got one man on this side and one man on that side, I said, OK, pull it apart. You pull, but that's knit together.

And you couldn't pull that apart. If you were to take one strand of that yarn, I could have broken that myself. But all knit together, it could not be taken apart.

The purpose of God is that an assembly should be knit together, that all of the believers together. Satan wants to cause the assembly to be torn apart, to cause a rupture in the assembly. God wants all of the believers in the assembly to be together all the time.

Not segregated into little groups, but knit together. This is the fellowship. This is the partnership, all together, all contributing to this partnership.

So there's no such thing in my Bible about a sister meeting. And I can't find anything in my Bible about a young people's meeting. And there's nothing in my Bible about the brethren meeting.

It's knit together. It's all in the assembly, all together. That's the fellowship of the assembly.

And that's what Paul said to the Colossians, that they might be knit together. That's fellowship. But when that fellowship is ruptured, when it's taken apart, when it's divided into little groups, it's not knit together.

Knit together, and the strand that's holding it together is the love of one believer for another and for the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says, the breaking of bread. I sat with a woman a while ago, and I asked her, what was the meeting in the assembly that she missed most? Because she was contemplating leaving.

And immediately she said, the breaking of bread. Breaking of bread when believers come together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ is a high point of the week in the assembly. When we are gathered together around the person of Christ, and there is the bread and the cup before us.

And we are remembering the one who died for us on the cross. The bread will remind us of that body that is given, and the cup will remind us of his precious bloodshed. Those are precious moments.

When an assembly that is knit together, gathers together, and all the believers are there to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. Corinth wasn't like that. Corinth was divided.

They weren't all of one mind. And so Paul had to remind them over and over in this epistle to be of one mind. To speak the same thing.

And to be together. That there be conditions of unity, of oneness in the assembly. And so the breaking of bread and the prayers.

I wonder sometimes why it is that one of the meetings of the assembly that is likely the poorest attended is a prayer meeting before a gospel meeting. Here in Blue River, and perhaps in La Crosse. I told one night how I got saved.

I'm not going to tell you all of that, but I'm going to say this. Raised in a gospel hall, gospel hall Sunday school. Sat in gospel meetings trying to get saved.

Trying to believe and couldn't believe, never got saved. Came to the point where if I can't get saved, I might as well have a good time in the world. So for five years I was never in a gospel meeting.

Without going into all the details, I was coerced to attend a gospel meeting in the Pape Avenue Gospel Hall in the city of Toronto. The two speakers, two men in my life at that time, I had never heard of before. One was Mr. Albert Joyce and the other was Mr. Harold Paisley.

When I was taken into that hall, the brother who took me to the hall that night, I was staying in his place. Arrangements had been made for that. And he informed us that everyone in my house goes to the gospel meeting tonight.

And I had very little choice, but I had to go. And he took me down to the basement of that building. I will never forget that sight.

There must have been 40 brethren in a large circle. And they were praying. And behind them there were that many sisters sitting in chairs praying.

And this man is pointing to an empty chair in that circle. I think that chair was reserved. I think I was put up for this.

And he's pointing to me to get down on my knees. I'm not saved. So I got down on my knees.

And the first man I heard, now some who have some background for the Pape Avenue Gospel Hall might know the name. Mr. Alec Walker was praying that God would save that young man that's coming to the meeting tonight. I thought, that's me.

And then Mr. Saunders prayed for the young man that was being brought to the meeting tonight. Several brethren prayed for that young man. That was me.

And I'm in that prayer meeting. I'm listening to those men pray urgently for my soul. And that spoke very loudly to me that night.

And if I had my way, I know the brethren aren't going to give me my way, but if I had my way, I would take a sinner to a good prayer meeting before a gospel meeting. And I would have them listen to men cry to God that they might be saved. They would sense a little of the urgency in the matter of salvation.

I never got saved that night. I listened to Mr. Paisley. I told him a number of times later that I didn't really appreciate him the first time I heard him.

He preached hellfire. But Mr. Elder Joyce is different. And when Mr. Joyce was speaking that night, I sat and I listened.

And I was listening to a man who had a love for my soul. That was very evident as he was speaking. I got to know Mr. Joyce very well after that.

I got saved a year or two later, but not that night. But I appreciated Mr. Albert Joyce that night. From the prayer meeting to the gospel meeting, listening to Mr. Joyce preach, Brethren, we need to pray before the preaching of the gospel.

And so the prayer meeting. And then he says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine. I admit, they continued steadfastly.

There was the assembly, the fellowship, where all the believers are present. All working together. All of one mind.

All putting an effort into the assembly. Trying to get souls to come out to the gospel meeting. That's the assembly that God is going to bless.

And that's why Paul was reminding the Corinthians here that they were in danger. Think of that fabric again. They were in danger of being torn apart.

Because of little cliques in the assembly and personalities that were against each other. And they were in danger of losing the value and the tremendous character of the assembly. And the fellowship of the assembly.

Coming back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We love Matthew chapter 18 and verse 28. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

But there are other passages that teach the same thing. Tomorrow morning here we will be gathered to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. At the Lord's supper.

It is the Lord's supper. And the Lord is present at his supper. In that upper room he was bodily present.

They were looking at him when he introduced the emblems. But sometime later. And we're not told when.

But likely very soon later. They gathered again. He's not there bodily.

But he was there. And they appreciated something now. That they never appreciated when he introduced the emblems.

And I'm certain. That when they gathered together for that first time. After he had gone back to heaven.

There were tears shed as they looked at that bread. And looked at that cup. And they remembered the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some of you know Mr. Albert Joyce. Not Mr. Albert Joyce. Mr. Bert Joyce.

My brother would know him. Others would know him. Mr. Guy Burrow would know him.

Mr. Joyce was saved on a Sunday morning. In a gospel hall that doesn't exist now. Approximately 100 believers had gathered together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was 12 years old. He was sitting in the back seat that Sunday morning. And they were singing Isaac Watts' beautiful hymn.

When I surveyed the wondrous cross. On which the Prince of Glory died. My riches gained I count but loss.

And poor contempt on all my pride. Notice what Mr. Watts wrote. In that beautiful line of that hymn.

See from his head. His hands. His feet.

But you notice he never said soil and blood. The only reference to blood at Calvary. Is the side that was wounded.

Sorrow and love flow mingled down. And as Mr. Joyce was watching. The believers sing that hymn.

Brother, we're kind of cold aren't we? Maybe kind of hard hearts. Mr. Joyce if he was alive today telling you. He saw believers weep.

When they were singing. See from his head. His hands.

His feet. Sorrow and love flow mingled down. That air is such love and sorrow meet.

And thorns compose so rich a crown. And Mr. Joyce. That Sunday morning.

Sitting in that back seat. At the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was saying to himself.

If this means so much. To these believers. That they would sing that hymn and weep.

It must mean something to me. And sitting there. He got saved that Sunday morning.

May God preserve to us. The fellowship of the assembly of God. And I'm taking.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9. As the fellowship of his son. Jesus Christ our Lord. As the fellowship.

Of the assembly.