Foundation Stones #2: The Lord with the Apostles — Christ Within You

Now, have you ever heard of the term exclusive? And do you know the term exclusive Christians? Do you know what it means to be exclusive Christians? That means you exclude everyone else because you are so cotton-picking perfect, right or something. I am about to show you the end of exclusiveness. These brothers have lived with Him, and you’d think they’d learn better and know better. Sometimes when I read the accounts, I think you guys never did learn, did you? I mean, he’s just not making any progress with y’all. I feel like grabbing the book and shaking it and saying, “Can’t you guys get any further along than this?” And yet, I see myself and I see you. I see all of us as Christians here.

What happened was that one day as the Lord’s ministry grew and more people became acquainted with Him and began a little bit to understand what He was doing, somebody successfully, some unknown human being successfully cast out a demon in the name of Jesus. And were they grateful? Why they were so grateful? Why they threw their hands up and praised God? They were overjoyed that someone else had cast out a demon in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were thrilled, weren’t they?

One night I was, well, I will just tell you the story. I went to seminary with a young man who later became a very well-known minister. And the first time he ever preached before the convention of some 15,000 people, he said, “You preachers, when you hear about the church, you know the other Baptist church that’s nearest to you, and you hear they had a revival and they had a hundred people who were baptized and in the last month another hundred people have come and moved, there, and had joined that church and that it is now the fastest growing church in the city. Aren’t you glad?” And, of course, the entire room broke out in laughter. Any Baptist preacher can give you the answer to that. Of course not. In fact, you’re about ready to say, “He’s growing that fast. He must have a demon.” No, you’re jealous. You’re in this and you start criticizing him for his methods. Sensationalism. That’s what it is.

He couldn’t do it. Well, it’s the community. It’s a new community. Lots of people are moving in there. They’re the young rich, and he’s built a church there with an image of what you have to be if you’re one of the young up-and-coming rich. Something to take away from the fact the guy’s up there doing something right. You won’t ever do this, will you? Will you ever do this? You go back to Beaumont and there’s another brother over there who, like Andy, pulls out of the religious system, and it just blesses and grows while your little group gets smaller and smaller. You’re really going to praise the Lord for that, brethren, for what’s going on over there, aren’t you? You’re going to do one or two things. You’re either going to pout or you’re going to leave and go join it. It’s what you’re going to do.

The Lord told those men something that none of us seems to have ever heard. He says, “If a human being is not against Me, he is for Me. If a human being is not against Me, he is for Me.” Do you realize what that means? That the only people who are against Jesus Christ are those who are against Him, that the neutral are automatically for Him. If somebody is not opposing the Lord Jesus Christ, as far as the Lord is concerned, that’s favoring Him. Yeah. Amen. What grace, what a what a wonderful big attitude on the Lord’s part.

And He said to those men, “Let him go. If demons are being cast out in my name, that’s fine.” Well, they went off and pouted. What they didn’t understand, or maybe I should say what was happening was, you know why they were pouting? Because they had tried to cast out some demons in the Lord’s name and hadn’t made it. And there’s some Neophyte over there who’s not paid the price they have paid. Just went out and said, “In the name of the Lord, come out, in the name of the Lord Jesus come out, and they came out.” Well, boy, that guy should know better. He’s got to fast and pray and he’s got to live with the Lord and he’s got to do all these things. Sectarian, theologically stupid. I just changed the subject. They cannot get through their thick heads what the resurrection is. Seems the whole Christian family cannot get through their heads the meaning the true meaning of the resurrection.

These men really weren’t, no I have to be careful here. Every one of us follow the Lord for two reasons. One because we love Him and the other one is because of what we’re going to get out of it. And sometimes this was so much more dominant in these men. They were really looking for a physical kingdom with 12 thrones and a 13th at the head. And every one of them were trying to figure out what was where His throne was going to be. And He is going to get His name carved on it. And how far away from the head throne would he be? These guys have got all the makings of another group of Sanhedrin, of Pharisees.

They’d be head-loppers. That’s what they’d be. Do you understand what a head-lopper is? They’d be lopping off heads pretty soon. This was their way. This is you. This is me. And this is what the Lord has to contend with. And this is just about what He has to contend with. And this is just about that’s what He got the in first 12 and that’s what He’ll get when He gets the last 12 He ever gets. You know where my gratitude rests, it rests here, that my Lord Jesus is already practiced in dealing with young dumb single brothers, with disciples that, when I came along and fell into the train, and He saw me and I became part of this great parade and the Lord saw me. He said, “Yes, I’ve seen that kind before and I know how to work with Him, deal with Him and relate with Him.”

Brothers, will you take a little courage in that? Okay. I’ve tried to give you some of their bad qualities and I want you to understand them. Now, can I tell you a few of their good points? As religious as they were, they weren’t religious. Not like most people. You know what else they were? They were layman. And throughout history, it is the layman who tears up the world, it is not the professional. It’s the unorthodox who have not been properly trained who come along. And you know the story told by Christian Anderson, the story of the emperor who had no clothes on, a little boy who didn’t know any better. Everybody else was wise. A little boy was just a little boy. And he and he alone have the courage to say that’s the king. Yes, sir. That’s king. Papa, he’s naked. He doesn’t have any clothes on. And the amateur comes along and looks at the system and says, “It’s naked. It doesn’t have any clothes on.” They were amateurs. They seem to have had a healthy disrespect for the system and that’s very important. If you don’t have a healthy disrespect for the system, you probably will not grow a great deal as a Christian. And there are exceptions, but those exceptions, if you will look underneath, you’ll find out that they were clustered rebels, secret revolutionaries.

You have to have a healthy disrespect for systemization. Well, you may feel that up until right now I have, by the way there’s something else there. They had a love for Him and that was about it. Those are all their good qualities. You may feel that I’m not quite following tonight what I have been following in the other meetings. But I’ve just been talking to you about who got called. They have not yet been sent. I want you to look at their qualifications. And now I want you before I go any further, I want you to be encouraged to believe if He can, if that’s the kind of people He chose to follow Him, and that’s the way they acted and that’s the that’s the pizzazz they had and that’s how much insight they showed, can you have a little hope for yourself? Can you have a little hope for yourself? I take a lot of comfort in how unqualified these men were. Unqualified to do what? That’s my question.

They’ve been called to a task. What is the task? What are they unqualified to do? Will you tell me? Sometimes I think that their task was greater than the Lord’s. When you look at who they were, their task is in some ways greater than the Lord’s because they’re fallen. Do you know what God has decided to do? He has decided to put in the hands of those 12 men the carrying out and the fulfilment of the very purpose of creation itself. I will repeat that, the Lord has decided to put in the hands of those 12 men the carrying out and the fulfilment of the very purpose for which He created the visible universe. It now rests with those, it will, in in three short years, it will rest with those 12 men.

Listen to me. If those 12 men had gotten killed by a bolt of lightning the day after the Lord rose from the dead, there wouldn’t be any Christians. There’d be no church. Everything rested with those men. Everything rested with those men. Everything. Do not think that the foundation of your faith is built on the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s built on those 12 apostles. You say the Bible says that the foundation of our faith is the Lord Jesus. That’s absolutely true. But the foundation of the new Jerusalem is those 12 men. He is the rock and there are 12 rocks sitting on top of that rock. And in, those 12 men was built the Christian faith. Without them, there would have been no Christian faith.