Well, good morning to all that are watching this morning. We thank you that you are able to be here electronically. We thank God for this technology. And I wanted to take a moment to remind us of one of the most difficult jobs, if I may use that term, that is fulfilled this day, and that would be motherhood. And oftentimes, mothers go unthanked. Oftentimes, we do not realize, especially men, do not realize the difficulties of motherhood, the blessings of motherhood, whether you have 10 children, one child, whatever it is. If you're a mom, we wish you Happy Mother's Day. Thank God for this day marked on our calendar to where we are reminded that all of us had or have mothers. And I would also speak to you children who may be watching right now or anyone who has a mom. Embrace your mother. Hug your mother this day. Wish her Happy Mother's Day if she is still alive on this earth. For you do not know the day when will be the last day that your mom will be here. I can speak as one who has lost his mother, one who has watched his mother pass away before my very eyes. So I would say, go to your mom if possible. Wish her happy Mother's Day. If you're not right with your mother this day, be reconciled to her to the best of your ability, especially you sons this morning. Be thankful for moms in your home that are taking care of you now. It's easy to not be appreciative when you are there, but when you look on the other side of things, when you're grown, you will be thankful then. Obviously, there are difficult situations with mothers and children, and everything is not always as it should be in this sin-cursed world. Nevertheless, We all had moms at one point. And we are thankful for the moms in this church body. And we are mindful of you today. So, Happy Mother's Day. As we look to the Word of God this morning, we will be in Ephesians 4. And we'll be summing through a few places this morning, but Ephesians chapter 4, as we look at the gifts that keep on giving, the gifts that indeed Christ has given to His church that keep on giving. Two things for us to look at this morning, and then I will pray for us. The required gifts to the church. That's first, the required gifts to the church. And then the reasons for the gifts. Some of the reasons for the gifts to the church. So as we think of those two headings this morning, as we look at Ephesians chapter 4, let me just read this for you of where we are this morning. In verse 7 and following, and then we'll pray. Paul writes, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens. so that He might fill all things. And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body until we attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried out by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." We're looking at required gifts to the church and reasons for the gifts. Let us pray. O God, as we look to Your Word this morning, Lord, I pray You would give me strength and power and accuracy from Your Word, O God. Lord, we pray that those listening electronically, Lord, those listening, O God, that You would give them ears to hear, hearts willing and able to change by the Spirit of God this morning. We ask that the name of Christ be honored and glorified in His name, we pray, Amen. Well, as Paul says here, he reminds us of the gifts that he has given to the church. Some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists and pastors and teachers. Well, in weeks gone by, I don't remember exactly where it was, but in chapter 2, we did look at apostles and prophets. Paul made mention of apostles and prophets in chapter 2, verse 20. It described them as being the foundation of the church and Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. The apostles, we were reminded that they witnessed the resurrected Christ. They witnessed Him post-resurrection. We see and we can read about them in the book of Acts and other scriptures. They were commissioned by the church to preach. And we mentioned why there are no apostles today. And then the prophets, as mentioned also in Ephesians 2, verse 20. Not to be confused with the Old Testament prophets, but prophets spoken about in the New Testament. Such as Agabus in Acts 11, verse 27. These prophets spoke under direct and immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A direct result of the Holy Spirit of God. These, we also mentioned and looked at reasons why, as they were part of the foundation, these prophets. They are no longer today these apostles and prophets. However, Christ did not just give apostles and prophets, but He gave evangelists and pastors and teachers. So we look at the third gift of the ascended Christ that He gave to His church. Evangelists. Now when we think of the word evangelist, it's used three times in the New Testament. It's used here, it's used in Acts chapter 21 verse eight, and in 2 Timothy chapter four verse five. So in chapter 21 verse eight in the book of Acts, it is a word that designates and identifies Philip as an evangelist. Let's think of this word evangelist. It's a function which apostles also exercised. Apostles also were evangelists, though not all evangelists, as we read in the New Testament, were apostles. The function of the evangelists was a lower one than the apostles in all three of the references that I mentioned. In the early church, the evangelists continued the apostles' work. Let's look at 2 Timothy 4 briefly this morning. As we continue in Ephesians, we also want to see 2 Timothy 4. what Paul writes, this letter. And he charges Timothy in 2 Timothy 4. He says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom. He says, preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. And that is for us today as well. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort Timothy with great patience and instruction. For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires." We see that all across our land today. And they will also turn away their ears from the truth. And they will also turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things. Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. As we think of what Paul wrote to Timothy there, as we think of 2 Timothy, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, these are manuals, inspired manuals for pastoral ministry. Timothy, he says, pastor, do the work of an evangelist. Every elder, every pastor is to do the work of the evangelist. It's one element of Timothy's ministry. And it is one element of the pastoral ministry. One description of the pastoral ministry. and other apostles evangelized. They shared the Gospel. And we see in Ephesians 4, Paul makes a distinction though. Evangelists, pastors, teachers. So we have the apostles and prophets, the foundation of the church. Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. The Lamb of God. And pastors and teachers for the local church. They are stationary. And evangelists, these were the ones who gave and brought good news, good tidings. Here's what Curtis Vaughan says about evangelists in New Testament days. We may think of them, he says, as missionaries to the unconverted. Itinerant preachers endowed with clear perceptions of saving truth and possessed of unusual power in recommending it to others. The Gospel. At the same time, we remember that Philip was an evangelist. Let's quickly go to Acts. We think of Philip as an evangelist. Acts 6, going back to Ephesians, as you're turning to Acts, Philip was one of the seven. A deacon chosen in Acts 6. We're actually going to be in Acts 8. Philip was one of the seven chosen. A deacon chosen. Acts 8. And he has spoken, this Philip, a deacon of good reputation. Full of the spirit of wisdom. And he deacons listening this morning. A deacon of good reputation. Full of the Spirit and of wisdom. Let's look at Acts 8. An Ethiopian receives Christ. So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the Word of the Lord, who those spoken about in Acts 8 before this, So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the Word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem. And they were doing what? They were preaching the Gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, here he is, saying, get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert road. So he got up and went. And there was an Ethiopian eunuch a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all of her treasure. And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot. And he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, this deacon, at least at one point, a deacon, the Spirit said to Philip, go up and join this chariot. So Philip didn't say, no, I better not. I'm concerned about what he may say or I'm concerned about being embarrassed. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, do you understand what you are reading, Mr. Ethiopian eunuch? Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, well, how could I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And we can look at this as well and see we see this man, Philip, and what he did. He evangelized. And we also see that this eunuch had the Word of God. He had Isaiah in his hands. And what did he need? He needed someone to teach him what it meant. Pastors, teachers, evangelists. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent. So he does not open his mouth. In humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will relate his generation? For his life is removed from the earth. The eunuch answered Philip and said, please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth. And beginning from the Scripture, he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe with all of your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. Back to Ephesians. So we see this evangelist Also known as Philip. Also known one time as a deacon of good reputation. Full of the Spirit and of wisdom. Evangelists. Itinerant preachers. But are not pastors or holding to an office in the local church. Yet, members today as we think of that person as an evangelist. Well, where do they go to church? That's a good question to ask first and foremost. First off, what's coming out of his mouth? Let's start with that. What is the man saying? And then, where does this man go to church? Because there are so-called evangelists today who don't even attend a local church. That ought not be the necessity of a local church. Missionaries. Hey, I want to support this missionary, this missionary, or this missionary wants support to do the Gospel ministry on the mission field. Okay, well, where does he go to church? Or what church sent him? Pause. That's a big issue today. Where does he go to church? Who is he accountable to? Who is this self-proclaimed evangelist today accountable to? These televangelists. Who are they accountable to? Well, they're accountable to God. Let us remember that. Let me speak a side note on missions this morning. Not all are called to go on the mission field. And a lot of times, we want to send people to the mission field for a one-week, a two-week mission, so to speak. But let's ask this question first and foremost. Who are they evangelizing where they live? Who are they sharing the gospel with at home? That's the uncomfortable part, is sharing the Gospel where you live. Sharing the Gospel in your own county, in your own state, in your own country. It's easier to go somewhere and say, hey, I did this for two weeks and I came back, and never share it again. Do we share the Gospel where we are? First and foremost. But if you're not called to the mission field, those of us who are not, we're called to hold the rope for those who do go. Let us remember missionaries in this time as well, especially. As far as evangelists, I tend to land where Martin Lloyd-Jones is on this. And this is what he says. Speaking of evangelists, as Paul describes in Ephesians 4, as mentioned three places in the Scripture, I agree with what Martin Lloyd-Jones says here. I think this is where I land. He says this. Evangelist was a man whose office was temporary. And as the churches were established and became more settled, this office likewise disappeared. Does not mean that there may not be men since then in the church today who are given a special call to preach the gospel in a particular way and manner. But strictly speaking, they are not evangelists in the New Testament sense of the word, Martin Lloyd-Jones says. He says it would be better to call them exhorters, as they were called at the same time, the same way as those in the evangelical awakening of the 18th century. That's what they were called, exhorters, he is saying, in the 18th century evangelical awakening. So does that mean we have to call when we go evangelize, oh, we're going exhorting. No, but we get Martin Louis Jones' point is that he holds to that this evangelist as Paul is speaking about right here is something that has likewise gone away. Now, does that mean we do not evangelize? No. When we look at church history, let's say the last few hundred years, when we think of those who were even evangelists, who comes to our mind? Evangelists in our vernacular, so to speak. Well, think George Whitefield, Charles Hayden Spurgeon. And some will say if you believe in predestination and election, then you will not evangelize. Or why evangelize? Well, tell that to George Whitefield, part of the Great Awakening, who multitudes and multitudes and multitudes got saved under his ministry. A Calvinist he was. Tell that to Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist, a 1689 Calvinist. Or Jonathan Edwards who wrote Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God where multitudes got converted. God uses and used sovereign grace creatures in the Great Awakening and in church history. What do we have now in more modern times? Not necessarily the same thing, unfortunately. We think of evangelists more modern, names come to our mind as well as those maybe we've seen on TV, where we cannot and should not, those who we may think of as, think of their motives, I'm not talking about the televangelists, I'm talking about those who hold the crusades and such. But yet what gets produced out of that primarily, and that's false conversions. Evangelism in church today, sinners prayer, altar call, raising your hand to pray a prayer, walking in aisle, what does that lead to primarily? False converts and false conversions. It's a tragedy. Now, with evangelists spoken of in Ephesians chapter four, as Paul speaks of, agreeing with Martin Lloyd-Jones that this is something like apostles and prophets, evangelists, as Philip done away with, but now for the local church we are speaking here, pastors and teachers. What do we have in the local church? Pastors. pastors. He gave some as apostles and prophets and some as evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Well, we don't have local churches, solid local churches today and say, oh, this gentleman here, he's a pastor of the church. These gentlemen here are elders. Oh, and this gentleman here, he's a paid staff member. He's an evangelist. That's what we call him. Yet all Christians are to evangelize. The gospel must be preached. That is our responsibility, to share the gospel with words. Sometimes you say, well, I'm just gonna live such a great life, and people are gonna see it, and they're gonna see the way I live, and they're gonna fall on their knees and say, whoa, I want Jesus Christ. No, we must preach with words and let our, the way we live, not contradict what we say. The way we live should be a no-brainer. Should be, this is how we live. We're Christians, we sin, but we live completely different from the world. And then when we open our mouths, it doesn't contradict the way we are living. Not we're preaching the gospel with no words. We use our words because that's how people get converted. Romans 1, verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Some as pastors and teachers, Paul says. Pastors, shepherds, teaching, instructing. There's two schools of thought here really with pastors and teachers. One school of thought says it's one category, a pastor teacher. The other school of thought considers two categories, pastors and then we have teachers. Speaking in the local church, not talking about school teachers or speaking of what Christ gave. Well, we do see teaching mentioned in the New Testament alone without pastor being attached to it. We see in Romans 12, verse seven, I'll just list these. He who teaches in his teaching. Hebrews 5, verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, the author of Hebrews says. And in James 3, verse one. Let not many of you become teachers. Okay, but yet this is not enough. to show that there's a separate category, a separate office, so to speak, for a separate category for teachers. One category Paul is referring to is where we can come down on a pastor teacher. Why? Well, first, the Greek grammar. Greek grammar. There is a the before all others except teacher, so it's, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers. No the before teachers. Secondly, in the New Testament, we do not find set-apart men for teachers that are not pastors. In fact, Pastors must be able to teach. Some translations say apt to teach. Pastors must be able to teach. In 1 Timothy 3.2, the word is actually episkopas. Episkopas, it's in the Greek. Where we get the word episkopalian, what does that mean? Overseer or bishop. So an overseer or bishop must be able to teach. And in 1 Timothy 5, I'll read this one for you. Speaking of elders, 1 Timothy 5, verse 17. The elders who rule well, so there's elders, presbyteros, where we get the word Presbyterian. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. So making a couple of observations here. First, we have pastors, elders, bishops, excuse me, we have overseers, Elders, pastors, and then we know we have deacons as well. So do we have four different, five different offices in a church? We have a bishop over here, this gentleman is an overseer, this gentleman is a bishop, and this gentleman is an elder, and this gentleman is a deacon? No, pastor teachers. The qualification for an overseer is to be able to teach. So elders are pastors. Pastors are elders. Overseers are elders. Bishops are pastors. Pastors are bishops. They're all the same. So I'm a pastor. I'm also an elder. Please don't call me bishop. I'm an overseer. The gentleman I serve with, we are overseers. We are elders. We are shepherds. We will not be called bishops. It's interesting, 1 Timothy 5, 17, as I was going through this, interesting to me, who work hard at preaching and teaching. We must not forget that there is a difference between preaching and teaching. So for the New Testament today, we have pastor-teachers, which you can call me pastor, you don't have to call me pastor-teacher, please don't, pastor. Overseer, elders, is one office. Deacon is another office. But we're not looking at deacons this morning necessarily, except for Philip. We have plurality of elders. Different measures of gifting. One elder is way gifted in this more so than another elder. Another elder may be gifted in this more so than the other. Pastor, teacher, shepherds, shepherds. Who is the model for shepherds? Jesus Christ. He is the model. He is the one true shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep. Ian Hamilton says this, the Lord Jesus is the prototypical shepherd teacher for the church and for those men especially set apart by the church. Prototypical, the Lord Jesus is the prototypical shepherd teacher for the church, and for the men, especially set apart by the church. So when we look to what is a shepherd supposed to do, and how is a shepherd supposed to be, we look to the model of Jesus Christ. Jesus knew his sheep, and he cared for his sheep. the shepherd teacher, the pastor, all one person, must be involved in the lives of church members. Now, this varies. There are some members who are more involved with others, and some will only let someone in their lives to an extent. But there must be some level of personal intimate, communicable contact with pastors and members regularly. This is difficult now with COVID as we are going through. But we have, there's three elders of this church and we reach out, you reach out electronically, an email here, a text there, a phone call. This is, in this circumstance, we're in face-to-face when we can, absolutely. Zoom. but there ought not to be on a regular basis, on a normal basis, if I can use that, there ought not to be social distancing from leaders of a church and members of a church. There ought not to be social distancing, if I can use that phrase, because it's in our ears so much. A pastor is not a CEO of a church. Too many times we see that. And let me couch what I'm going to say right now in, let me couch it in these specifics before I make this next point, if I may. We are living in an unusual time for us. I think we could all agree. Unusual time, a different time. This is not the norm that we're used to. A TV church, if you're watching, I'll use that phrase, that's not the norm. And there are shut-ins. Before this COVID started, those confined to their home or to a nursing home regularly, maybe even they're members of a church wanting to go yet cannot go. Big difference between wanting to go to the church and desiring to be there, but can't going, and not able to go, excuse me, wanting to go, but can't go, that's understandable. The desire is there. And in the COVID crisis, as we're going through now, if I weren't here preaching this morning, if this was not where God had me, if this is not what God called me to do, I would be in the same exact position as you are in right now. I would be home or probably at home watching online. I would be doing the same thing. in a normal situation, but not those who can't go to church for whatever reason, but for those who won't go to church. I want you to really consider what you are doing right now. If you're watching this right now, you're at home, you're sitting down, your family ought to be with you, your kids are there, husband and wives are there, or you're single, you're by yourself, maybe you have a cup of coffee, maybe you're in your pajamas still, maybe you got dressed up, and you're looking at a screen of some sort, or your phone, right now, and you're watching a man preach to you through a screen. Now, with what I said before, what I just mentioned about those who can't go to church on a normal basis, and those who can't go to church right now because of the circumstance we're in, but where you are right now, watching on a screen, to some people that is normal. That is the normal way of doing church. never seeing their pastor face-to-face. This is their Christianity. And to some, this is more desired than actually coming to church. And as we know, there are numerous multi-site churches where the pastor preaches from one location and people are at another location before this COVID thing started. And they're at another location and they listen, a screen comes down, and they listen to a pastor who's 500 plus miles away. And they never meet this pastor. He's on a screen. They never meet the teacher. That teacher is not a shepherd to them. He is not pastoring over them. A pastor is not a CEO. So if any other time, we can embrace this time. You can embrace this time where you are now at home. And you can see the difference between being there and being at church. Let that really marinate right now where you're at. Where you can say, no, I really want to be there, but X, Y, and Z, I can't be there because of everything that's going on. Like I said, understandable. But if you want easy going church, you've got it. Right now, this is what it looks like. This is what it looks like all over America. Before this COVID started, this is what it looked like. Online internet church. A me, myself, and I experience, not local church. We can call it what we want to, but let us not call it Christianity. that God would, in His mercy, clear this whole thing to where we can meet again as a local church. A pastor, a shepherd. We look to Christ as modeling sacrifice. Jesus says, I lay down my life for the sheep. I ought to have that type of mindset. That type of conviction. That type of heart. Of sacrificial love. Of weeping with those who weep. Of praying with those who need prayer. Of being there with those who need the company. Of listening, two ears, one mouth. Of watching for wolves and ready to take them out. Warning the flock, regardless of who says whatever it is. Warning a false teaching, regardless of the attacks that will come because of that. Willing to rebuke. Ready to encourage. And when someone looks at those which I just mentioned at a pastor teacher as a shepherd over a church, they say, I ought to live like that as well. This is what I must do as well. Impossible with a CEO mentality, impossible with a digital church. Again, we are in a circumstance right now, understood these last, I don't even know how long it's been, two months maybe. understand I am not condemning what you're doing now because I would be doing the exact same thing. I am just desiring with all of my heart that you embrace what you're doing right now and say, this is completely different than the local church which God designed. So what did Christ give these gifts for? Pastors. Well, it says here in verse 12, for the equipping of the saints, to bring an end to the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the work of ministry, to the building up or edification of the body of Christ. Let's look at for the equipping of the saints. for the conforming, assisting to conform others into the image of Christ by equipping them. You're being equipped, Lord willing, hopefully, by being taught expositionally, verse by verse, book by book. And what you're hearing is not just information to you, but it is transformation. Romans 12.2, the part of it, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, a continual process. And James 1.21.22, receiving the Word in humility, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the Word, not merely hearers of the Word who delude themselves. Hearers of the Word who are not doers of the Word are just deluding themselves. Think of a carpenter, those of you gentlemen who are in the trades, a carpenter, a plumber, even a landscaper or a mechanic, a handyman. Even if you're trying to do something around the house, you need the proper equipment to do the job and you need the proper equipping. Someone for the trade, someone has equipped you. Unless you're just born naturally, you can do it. That's great. But follow my train of thought. Someone equips you to be able to be that electrician in order to do your service. And your tools are required. There's nothing like trying to do a job with the wrong tools. But if you have the right tools and you are equipped you have the correct equipment, you can do the work of service. You can do what work is laid out for you. So now that you're equipped and you're being equipped, the question for us all is what are we gonna do about it? What do we do? How do we serve? The task or goal, pastors, is to equip the church for the work of service. The work of service can be done by the saints in the church when we serve, when we do the giftings that God has given us and we serve one another. The aim is building up the body of Christ. That is the aim. Glorifying God, building up the body of Christ, to edify, encourage, walk with, to help the body of Christ. Every believer is to contribute something. It is an all-hands-on-deck mentality. No sleeping quarters. No brig. Everyone serves. Until what? How long does this last? Well, until we all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. This goes back to the ministry of the Word. Pastor-teachers. Now a thought just came to my mind. Just because somebody can teach in a local church and not be a pastor, especially younger men who are being raised up to be pastors and they teach Sunday school or they come in. So don't misunderstand me on that. But let's go back to until. The ministry of the Word. must remain central for equipping the saints. To attain to the unity of their faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, the ministry of the Word must remain central. I stand in a spot where right now the pulpit is central. It's not central in the building, but it's central where we are. It's central of the church. The ministry of the word must be and must remain central. Not a sideshow. Not a music team, movie clips, and then some teaching. Not a drama team to pull on your heart. We're not here to entertain goats, but to help wounded sheep. Until we all attain the unity of the faith, to a mature man, to the measure of the statue which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Evidence, marks of maturity we see in verses 14 through 16, which we will just briefly, briefly look at. But the unity of the faith, striving for unity. We are being equipped to strive for unity of the faith, to grow in the unity of the faith. striving to grow in the knowledge of the Savior, growing in our knowledge and understanding of who the Son of God is. Ian Hamilton, again, as God's Word is ministered week by week, the exposition of Jesus Christ should be its epicenter and manifest passion. So Jesus Christ should be the epicenter Not felt needs. Not worldly things. Christ Jesus, the epicenter. The goal is spiritual maturity. That is the ultimate goal. And what does a mature man look like? Briefly here, as a result, no longer to be children. tossed here and there by waves and carried out by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love. As we grow and as we mature, we're not satisfied with just the milk. If we continue to just drink the milk, and milk is good for us, if we just continue to drink the milk, we will not grow. We will remain infants. We go for the solid food and we say, give me the meat so that I may, what's the result? What's the result? What does a mature Christian look like? Able to discern good and evil. Now there's other, of course, other attributes, there's other ways we can describe, but primarily right here, so that we may discern good and evil, so that we're not tossed here and there by waves and carried out by every wind of doctrine and trickery of men, which, Lord willing, we will take a look at next week, if the Lord does not come, and if I'm still standing here, or will be standing here. I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 14, 20. Brethren, do not be children in your thinking. So, let us not be children in our thinking. Yet in evil, we ought to be infants. But in our thinking, we ought to be mature. Colossians 1.28 says, So we do not want to no longer be children tossed to and fro And we don't want to be eating the garbage of the world. We want to be drinking the milk, yes, but we want to say, where's the solid meat so that I may know and discern good and evil, so that I may grow and mature. As I was going through this, I was reminded of Matthew 22, which we looked at the other evening on a Wednesday night when we're going through the parables. by Zoom, and we are looking at this, and I'm reminded that we, speaking of food, we are invited to the banquet of God. You who are listening now are invited to the banquet of God. You don't have to eat the buffet that the world gives you anymore. You can eat at the table of the Lord. The banquet of God. and to even grow in spiritual maturity, you must be sure you are seated at the right banquet table. Eating at the right feast. If you go to a banquet hall, you go to one of those big facilities that has different rooms, different names for these rooms, and they're huge banquet rooms, and there's an event going on here, an event going on there, and you walk down the hall, and you say, okay, I'm going to go to one of these banquet rooms. And you go in. You go to this one. You sit down at the table. Guess what? You're eating at the wrong table. The banquet's over there. You were having such a great time. And you thought you were in the right place. Let me read Matthew 22. Jesus spoke a parable of the marriage feast. And this is where I will end. So if you would grab your Bibles if you're sitting at home. Please look at Matthew 22. a parable of the marriage feast. Jesus spoke to them again in parable, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Stop right there for a moment. The king is making a wedding feast for his son. We can look at the king, we say that's God the Father. The son is Jesus Christ. And the invitation goes out to those who are out there. Those who are invited. Again, He sent out other slaves telling those. Tell those who are invited, behold, I have prepared My dinner, My oxen, and My fattened livestock. All are butchered and everything is ready. God says, come, I have sacrificed My one and only Son on the cross The wrath of God the Father poured upon Jesus Christ on that cross. So that if you place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, where God the Father's wrath abided on Him, and Jesus absorbed that wrath, and God the Father turned His face away because He cannot look at sin. If you place your faith and trust in that Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross, you may be saved. And He died on that cross, rose on the third day, and He conquered death and then ascended on high. The Father says, I sent My Son, and you are invited. But they paid no attention and went on their own way. One to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. You see, when we present the Gospel many times, there's a no interest. Let me just go about my own way. Let's close our Bibles now. Let's just go home, or I'm ready to do something else today. I've heard this, or when we preach the Gospel in the marketplace, people just walk by, going about their business, or when you try to share with a friend who you've shared with before. And they just, eh, I'm going about my business. But, the king was enraged. God is angry with the wicked every day. The king was enraged and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then He said to His slaves, the wedding is ready, but those who are invited were not worthy. Go, therefore, to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite those to the wedding feast." So He says, as this would be for us today, there's still room at the banquet table for those who want Christ. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all that they found, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. Be one of those dinner guests today. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes. And he said, imagine a black tie affair and you come, showed up in your oldest T-shirt and what is comfortable to you. You're dressed. This is what I want to wear. I think this is okay. And you go to this black tie affair. But this one was not dressed in wedding clothes. And he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? You see, he was already in there. He showed up. And he said, friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. He was not clothed with the proper clothing. You will only make it to the banquet table of the Lord. You will only make it to heaven if you're clothed with the right clothing. That is repenting and putting your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and being justified by God. Declared righteous. Are you clothed with Jesus Christ or your own filthy garments? That is the question you must answer this day for yourselves. And the king said to his servants, this man was speechless. He had nothing to say. And so it will be to all who have rejected Christ and think they're all good with God on that day. I plead with you who may be listening, The man was speechless. He had nothing to say. And the king said to his servants, bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness. In the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Wailing uncontrollably. Gnashing of teeth. Being angry with Satan for tempting you all those years. And being angry with God. Gnashing your teeth. For many are called. You are being called. I'm calling upon you now, pleading with you. But few are chosen. You have to ask yourself this morning, are you one of the few? You say, I don't know. I think so. Let me encourage you today to read 1 John. And ask God if you are one of His. and cry out to God until you know you are, until He saves you, if you do not know. There is a message out today that just rings in our ears from everything that's going on. Be safe. Be safe. This is what's the safest thing. Safe for this person, safe for this person, safe for yourself. You want to be safe. The only safe person is a saved person. And the only safe place you will ever be is in the saving arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in Jesus Christ today. Let us pray. O Lord, help us in this time, O God. We always need You, Lord. You are there for us. You never leave us nor forsake us, O God. Help us, Lord. We need You. We need You during this COVID time, O Lord. God, we need wisdom from You, Lord. God, that You would Help us where we are wounded, Lord. Help us where we are broken, O God. Lord, where there is sin that we need to repent of, O God, help us, O Lord. Have us to get right with You first and foremost, O Lord. You are mighty to save, O God. And we know, those of us who know You know that You hold us in Your hand as we go through this time, Lord. Let us not be cavalier. Let us not be arrogant, O God. Let us know that You have a purpose in this, O Lord. O God, let us be quick to love others, quick to share Your Word, quick to warn as well. Jesus, we need you. We need you every hour. You are merciful and gracious to us, O Lord. Revive our hearts, O Lord. Let us stick to the old paths, O Lord. Sticking to your word, O God. We praise your name, O Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all things. In your name we pray, amen.