Sovereignty of God - Responsiblilty of man

Matthew 10 and verse 2, now the names of the 12 Apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Over in Mark's Gospel, please, chapter 3. Mark 3, verse 14, it mentions, and he ordained 12, that they should be with him.

Verse 16, and Simon he surnamed Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James. And he surnamed them Boanerges, if that's correct, which is the sons of thunder. Now, we're going to read some other portions, but what I want to just introduce to you from what we've looked at here, is a subject which, ideally, I hope, will be a help to us, whatever generation we're a part of, particularly those that are younger, I think it will maybe be applicable, but those of us that are along the way a little bit further still need to hear this at times.

What we're going to be looking at is the sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man. We hear that constantly, relative particularly to the Gospel, but now in service for Christ as well. Sovereignty of God, responsibility of man, and the distinction of persons and the results that come from that.

These two portions, Matthew and Mark, that we have looked at here just introduced to us four of the disciples. So I've purposely not read the rest of them, and perhaps then you notice that what we have read of is the fact that there were two pairs of brothers. Now, as I look at the audience here, there are some literal, I shouldn't say just literal, there are some physical brothers here.

I refrain from saying literal because when we're in Christ, we're as much brothers, and actually we've heard about the displacement of the physical family of the Lord Jesus, was it Brother Lavey was just mentioning this, he looked at that home full of people and said, my mother and my brother. So be that as it may, if we're in Christ, we're literal brothers as much. So I do see some physical brothers here today.

These were physical brothers. I have two older brothers, I'm the youngest of the three boys. Terrible potential for competition between brothers in a home.

Fortunate, misfortunate, whichever way you look at it, my two older brothers were very close in age, and I'm a fair bit younger than the middle one, so I was more like an afterthought, and I said at other times I was their football to my two older brothers. So there wasn't a whole lot of competition between myself and my brothers. But what we have here is the sovereignty of Christ in calling twelve, but there are two pairs of brothers then, and the interesting thing is when you notice in both of these lists, Simon's listed first, and we've read how the Lord Jesus surnamed him, gave him a change of name to Peter.

Don't read about other names of the disciples besides the two who are also going to notice a name being given to them. And you begin to think, maybe you're one of the other eight. Why do they get name changes and I didn't? Remember that Andrew was the brother, as we have noted, of Peter, and he followed the Lord before Peter was ever a disciple.

In fact, he was responsible for bringing Peter to Christ. You'd wonder about preference. Then you get James and John, and a name is given to them, Sons of Thunder.

For whatever reason they got that name. I mean, John is sort of perceived in my mind as being a fairly gentle fellow near to Christ, but be that as it may, a name was given to him. The other eight, no mention particularly of name changes.

Christ called his disciples. He had particular purposes through and for those disciples. How did things unfold in the future? You will remember then that James, he was martyred, Acts 12.

That's John's brother. What about Andrew? Not a whole lot said about Andrew, is there? But look at Peter, how prominent Peter becomes. In fact, his name would be first in the list that we've looked at.

So you have this sovereignty, but you have responsibility. Now, I want to take you back to Matthew 17, and we see one of those occasions when the Lord Jesus, who was it that was speaking of threes, and mentioned, was it Brother McCandless, mentioned the three disciples that the Lord particularly kept close. The last verse of Matthew 16 says, Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

Chapter 17 verse 1, After six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. Most of us should be familiar with how this occasion unfolds. Verse 8, And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.

And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. So in a sense, again, we see the sovereignty. He chose those three particular disciples.

He took them up this mountain with them, with him rather, and they saw this tremendous vision, the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. On the way down from the mountain, he gives them this charge, Don't tell anybody what you've seen until after the Son of Man is risen from the dead. Now, just let your imagination, as Mr. Maxwell used to say, take that sanctified imagination and put yourself in the shoes of those three disciples.

I think I would have been biting my tongue an awful lot. I think you've had a privilege to go somewhere that the others couldn't go, but you have seen something that is beyond human experience. And what they have seen, as we would appreciate it, is a preview, if you would use that term, of the kingdom of Christ.

And as they're coming down the mountain, I can imagine they'd just be itching. You can see, humanly speaking, how they would drift into the company of the other eight and say, you should have seen, well the other nine, you should have seen what we saw. And just start, you know, spilling it out and maybe they would be inclined then to want to elaborate and tell the story over and over again.

And you know how our stories grow as we use them and our illustrations take on, well, we don't read a thing of either one of these three disciples being sad about this event. They obeyed the Lord. Tremendous privilege, but great responsibility.

And they obey the Lord in sovereignty. He chooses the twelve that he wants, but he takes particular notice of four, or three rather, with name changes. And those two pairs of brothers are there in the picture, but there are things that are going to be taking place.

And there's a tremendous potential for, as you say, competition, jealousy, and the friction. And how does it unfold? James is faithful. James is martyred.

He's out of the picture. Andrew, no reason to question his faithfulness. Probably what's consistent all along, we read no record of Andrew stumbling in any way.

Kind of just drifts out of the picture. Takes us down to two different men, John and Peter. Sovereignty, the Lord chose them.

Responsibility, he commands them. They obey. I just want to relate to you in a few minutes what I think something then is the result of this.

I'm persuaded, and we'll look at it for a bit, that John chapter 1, John writes about what he saw. Second Peter chapter 1, Peter definitely writes about what he saw, what he experienced. But there's tremendous distinction between the record that these two men record, what they write about this event.

And that's something that at times we need to be reminded of. And when we're younger, we need to get a sense of a grip on ourselves that there is distinction among God's people. He calls, he saves, and he uses us, yes, ultimately to a common purpose, his honor.

But he uses people in distinct ways and according to their distinction of persons. Don't let what others are doing become an irritation or a frustration to you. But wait on God.

We've been hearing about learning through the trials of life and grow with God and be used as he wants to use you. The sovereignty of Christ, the responsibility of men, the distinction of persons, it's a tremendous thing to see, really. We need to accept it.

And the results, well, they just can't be compared. John chapter 1, please. We're just going to read verse 14.

And I would suggest to you that this is John's brief record of that day on the mount. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

And we didn't read it, but in the record, particularly in Matthew's gospel, is that Luke as well, as they were on that mount, they heard that voice from heaven. And this is what was said. This is my beloved son.

He stands in absolute distinction from the two Old Testament worthies that were there and seen with him as well. This is my beloved son. Hear ye him.

And so what does John take away from that tremendous experience? In his obedience of restraining his voice, we don't really read whether John audibly communicated this message of the mountain. Once the Lord was raised from the dead, and there may not be a particular record of it, but he's certainly writing about it, declaring this one. John, who lost a brother, writes with an emphasis about the family of God, and in so doing communicates the only begotten son like none of the other writers do.

John, who lost a brother, emphasizes the deity of the man that was seen in all his uniqueness and the wonder of that scene on the mountain that day. We beheld his glory. And you know how the scene unfolds.

The Lord's face shines like nothing that's ever been seen before, and then this voice is heard. This is my beloved son. They saw his glory, they saw the vision, and they heard the voice.

And so John says, we beheld his glory. The glory of who? You know, it amazes me that John hasn't used any names here other than the word. He's introduced in verse 1, the subject of his gospel, in the beginning was the word.

He puts that label, if you would, on the person of the Lord Jesus. He hasn't used the term son. He hasn't used any names, Jesus Christ, or anything of that nature.

He just says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Who was the word? The word was the one that was at the beginning when things happened in creation, the word already was. He's eternal.

And John then, as he saw that vision on the mountain that day, was overwhelmed with the nature of the man that they're associated with. He's God's unique son from eternity. And this is the core of his message.

We beheld his glory. What glory? The glory is of the only begotten of the Father. It doesn't say the only begotten son, the only begotten of the Father.

This is my beloved son. The Father turning in the focus of these disciples on this man. I'm not going to jettison what those Old Testament worthies had written and what they had spoken.

I'm not doing that. But he's elevating him. He says, hear him, hear him.

And John, if I can just put those things together, John just loves to put the label on him, the word. This is my son, hear him. He is the communication.

He is the full unveiling of the eternal God. Hear him. The only begotten of the Father.

And right, really, when you see that the name word goes back to verse 1, and he's the only begotten of the Father, you have the eternal son established in just these early verses of John. That's what John saw in brief comments. That's how he responded.

So John, who lost a brother, writes about this family. But the relationship that he first conveys, communicates, is the only begotten of the Father. And he is God, the son, the word who communicates anything and everything you'll ever know of God.

Hear him. Let's go to 2 Peter. 2 Peter, just to pick up from verse 11 of chapter 1, it says, For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so I would suggest to you that as Peter is beginning this, particularly this 2nd epistle, his emphasis is the certainty of the kingdom. And you remember how chapter 16 of Matthew concluded. The Lord said to the audience, the disciples at large that day, there's some standing here and they won't taste of death until they have seen the kingdom.

And what did they say? The kingdom is the person. Ultimately. Yes, there's going to be dimensions to it and experiences and material things in this world.

But the kingdom is the person. And they saw the Lord Jesus, his deity, the glory of his person shining that day. And this is what Peter will emphasize.

John, he was taken up with the tremendous truth, eternal son of the Father. Peter, what's he taken up with? The certainty of the kingdom. He's writing to suffering saints, people that were bearing great reproach, persecution because of their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.

And they were seemingly beginning to wonder, you know, as the expression goes, we've been sold a bill of goods. Something's missing here. Peter says, no, the kingdom is sure.

How's Peter so sure about this kingdom? Verse 15, moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease. Interestingly, that's the same word that was used of the Lord Jesus on the Mount is Exodus. Curious thing, isn't it? That Peter uses that expression.

After my decease to have these things always in remembrance for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we're eyewitnesses of his majesty. Seems to me then that Peter, though he obeyed, he waited till the post resurrection.

He's been verbally communicating. He says, we made known to you. We made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus.

He said, but how am I so certain about this? Now I know that I might part ways with some. Verse 19, some would suggest, no, I won't go down there. I'll just tell you what my wife keeps telling me.

She says, don't tell everybody two or three different things and then tell them what you prefer. Tell them what you're convinced of. I obey my wife today.

I am persuaded that Peter will communicate to us in these portions, in these few verses, that the experience of the Mount was a confirmation of what the prophets of old had foretold. If we suggest that Peter will tell us in verse 19 that what was written before was far more certain than what he had seen and communicated to them, we dismiss the testimony, the witness of New Testament apostles. Not just Christians, apostles.

And it was their word that was communicated post resurrection. This is a little bit of a side note. I am finding today, and it might be because of some association, but I am finding today and somewhat, I think this is running through the evangelical world, that what is recorded of the words of Christ in the Gospels is something, okay, we'll buy that.

But what was spoken by his apostles and recorded in New Testament following letters is taking second place. And there's no basis to even consider that. When the apostles spoke, they spoke the words of Christ.

Nonetheless, of the things that were spoken by him in the world and recorded in the four Gospel records. Let's stand with that and be convinced of that because we'll lose a lot of things that are precious to our God in heaven. So be that as it may, I take it that Peter is going to tell us that we saw something.

We saw a vision. We heard a voice. It was God from heaven.

And it was every bit as much of a man, a holy man of old carried by the Spirit of God speaking in Old Testament times. And he says the things are totally in harmony. The kingdom he's telling us is certain.

The reproach, the suffering, the family that dismisses the member that takes Christ for and to their upbringing or whatever. The workmates, the classmates that may sneer at your position in this present world. That doesn't diminish our certain future.

He says there could be an abundant entrance. My understanding is that our dear brother Peter Orsak was exhorting Christians to be careful how they prayed in his later days as he was suffering and it was looking like there wasn't going to be a turn that time for Peter. He says, I hope you're not praying for an abundant entrance into the kingdom.

He says, I'd like to hang around a little longer. But of course, you know, there is reward. This world is becoming more and more hostile.

That doesn't change one fact of what lays before. Peter says we heard it, we saw, and we are sure that this kingdom is worth suffering for. So there is the sovereignty of Christ.

He calls, he chooses. There's a responsibility of us to carry out what we've been fitted for, whatever our situation. There's distinction of persons.

Let us never think everybody has to be the exact same person. And when there's distinction, the result, if Peter and John had tried to be the same, boy, we wouldn't have got these two portions of the scriptures. We wouldn't have got two different perspectives of what God has intended for us.

The son that puts us in the family and secures us and the same one who keeps us and preserves us for a kingdom, which is yet to be realized. These things are what we are called for.