Dmitry Bespalov. Sermons
Dmitry Bespalov
SUBMITTING TO GOD
“… what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17)
“… for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft…” (1 Sam. 15:23)
Submission is great in the eyes of the Lord. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “Your obedience to the faith is known to all” (Rom. 16:19), and this was a joy for the apostle. It is true that it is often said that it makes no difference which church you belong to, as long as you are in a church, that God is one and we are all God’s creation. Yes, God is one and all people are God’s creation, but it is important that the church stands firm in the truth, not in word only but in substance. Scripture says: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
Great words: “A people for His own possession.” God’s own possession. But this election must still be submitted to, so that the grace of God may not be in vain. God has put all things under Christ, but the people whom He has chosen often do not submit to Him, and much depends on what is preached in the church. There are many churches, but unfortunately, not all preach salvation. Where salvation is not preached, Christ cannot save, because faith comes from hearing. He said to His disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). The gospel is the Good News of God’s salvation for sinners. God saves people where salvation is preached. There is only one way for man to be reconciled to God — the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. There is one Mediator between God and men — Jesus Christ. Glory to Him! The church is the body of Jesus Christ, for which He died. The Head of the Church is Jesus Christ, and this is the truth.
The Lord desires that in every church Christ be the Head. And that in the assembly the people be fed with the Word of God. Why is salvation not preached in every church? Why? Because the leaders of these churches perhaps do not have salvation themselves, because they know it only by doctrine, but not by surrendering to Christ. But how can you give to another what you do not have yourself? Peter and John were going into the temple and saw a lame man who looked at them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter, seeing that he had faith, said to the lame man: “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have I give you” (Acts 3:6).
I repeat: a person cannot give what he does not have. How can a person speak about forgiveness, about salvation, about eternal life, about the Kingdom of God, about heaven, if he himself has not received it deeply into his heart and does not actually know about it. God sends to preach salvation those who themselves are saved, who have been washed by the blood of Jesus and whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Saul at first persecuted the church because he had no personal encounter with Christ, but as soon as he met Jesus, he began to preach the One he had persecuted. I believe that most believers have had a personal encounter with Jesus. And for those who have not yet met the Lord, He desires that this encounter take place. Those who have had this encounter are commanded to preach. John writes: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life” (1 Jn. 1:1).
Not in every church is the baptism of the Holy Spirit preached. If the Holy Spirit is not at work in a church, it is dead. In a living church the Holy Spirit is at work and breathes, and He brings the life of God. Where the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not preached, where people do not thirst and do not ask, the Lord does not pour out this gift upon them. But how can they preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit if they themselves are not baptized? And they are not baptized because they do not accept what is written in the Gospel and do not ask.
Three periods have passed on earth: the patriarchal — 2,000 years, the period of the law — 2,000 years, and the third — the period of the Church, when Jesus Christ came, as it is written: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn. 1:17).
The Day of Pentecost (as all churches acknowledge) was the birthday of the church on earth. The Holy Spirit was poured out on one hundred and twenty people who were with one accord in prayer, and they became the first members of the church. The age of grace began. It will end with the taking away of the church from the earth. He who now restrains will be taken away, as it is written. Satan will come down to earth with great wrath, but today he does not have total power even over the godless, and if he had, he would destroy everyone. The Holy Spirit is at work on earth. Glory to the Lord! God sent the Holy Spirit to build His Church. First, the forgiveness of sins is preached, which Christ obtained by His sacrifice when He died for us on the cross. He washed us with His blood and saved us. Christ rose from the dead and gave us life, because if Christ had not been raised, our faith would be in vain (1 Cor. 15). And then the baptism of the Holy Spirit is preached. This is a promise for all believers who will thirst, pray and ask the Lord. Amen!
Not in every church is healing preached, even physical healing. The preaching of the Gospel has always been closely linked with gifts, including healing. Jesus healed many. In His Church the Lord saves, baptizes with the Holy Spirit and heals. Glory to Him! There are many people whom the Lord has healed physically. Blessed be His name! We preach this according to Scripture. Unfortunately, this is not done in all churches.
Not in every church is the second coming of Jesus Christ preached. The age of grace will end with the rapture of the church. The second coming of Christ is very near. The Lord warned that His coming should not catch us unawares. We must be ready, because no one knows the day or the hour: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me” (Rev. 22:12).
Christ tells us to be ready, for our sins to be forgiven and washed by the blood of Christ, for us to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, and for our names to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Not every church preaches that Christ will come. If the Rapture of the Church is not preached, then there is no preparation for it.
The path after the Lord is not preached everywhere. Just as the Lord said to the first disciples, “Follow Me,” so He says to us. This path is narrow and thorny, and only on it is there salvation. We are saved in hope, and we must hold firmly to the end the life we have begun. It is no secret that many turn aside to worldly paths, abandoning submission to the gospel they received. This is very dangerous. We must not be careless. Christ paid dearly for each of us, and we must be submissive to Him, because we belong to Him, and remain faithful to Him to the end.
In conclusion, I will cite the Scripture passage about the Rapture of the Church: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:13-18). These are words of hope. Christ will come to take His own from the earth. This is the difference, and it is very serious. Is your soul ready, if He comes today?
Dmitry Bespalov, missionary, Canada (word shared in Germany)
———————————— Rumors
And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Gen. 18:20-21).
Dear brothers and sisters, and all those present, we have a very important word before us. Therefore, let us be attentive to what we hear.
Our topic today is rumors. Rumors reached the ear of God. God knows everything and sees everything; He does not need anyone to persuade or dissuade Him. Nevertheless, He says: “I want to know for certain whether it is so, that which reaches Me.” Rumors can bring good and they can bring bad, but as a rule, they distort what was originally said.
We live in a time when there are a great many rumors in the world. And when a rumor comes, we need to be very careful, because what is passed on increases during transmission, and great slander arises.
An experiment was conducted in one place. Eighty people were seated in a circle. One was asked to compose a phrase of 10-12 words and quietly whisper it to a neighbor, and so on around the entire circle. The last person spoke this phrase aloud. It had changed so much during the transmission that the one who composed it simply did not recognize it. Yet there was nothing in that phrase that anyone could have deliberately subtracted or added to. That is how rumors arise. Therefore, one must be very careful when passing on any information.
In the 39th chapter of Genesis we read how Potiphar’s wife, in order to conceal her actions, slandered Joseph, and her husband, without investigating the matter, believed her and put Joseph in prison. In the Bible, we find descriptions of many similar events. Joseph’s brothers, who sold him, lied to their father and even presented evidence, as if Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild beast. Because of this lie, Jacob suffered his entire life. Therefore, we must be very vigilant when passing on any information.
The Word tells us: “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people…” (Lev. 19:16). This is a very serious instruction, because information often turns into a rumor, and this brings much harm. Unfortunately, today, even among believers, many different rumors are spread. The Word of God tells us: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7). Not what the slanderer says, but what Christ says, what the Holy Spirit says. Therefore, it is very important to remember this and not to go about as a talebearer among your people. It is just like harmful insects that bring terrible diseases. In Africa, very many people die from such insects. From the bite of the tsetse fly, people fall ill with sleeping sickness, and cattle perish from this fly’s bite.
And people perish from bad rumors; it is not such an innocent thing: here you add a little, there you take away a little, and as a result, disaster comes. It is written: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). As we see, the transmission of all kinds of false rumors is the work of the enemy. And the Word tells us how to guard ourselves against this. First, we must test the spirits, and besides that — and this is the main thing — we must listen to the Lord. Let us read about what happened on the day of the Transfiguration: “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’” (Matt. 17:1-5).
Pay attention to what the Father says to us: Hear Him, Jesus Christ. The fact that we must listen to Jesus was perhaps one of the first things His mother understood. When Jesus was at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, there was a shortage of wine. They told Mary about this; she asked Jesus and said to the people: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). Hallelujah!
“Hear Him,” “Whatever He says to you, do it.” We must listen to Jesus because He speaks the truth. And we must not listen to all kinds of rumors, for they poison a person’s soul; rumors can be spread in a distorted form, and that too is a sin. We must listen to what the Spirit says, because He speaks what is good for us! Glory to Him! A story was told. One pastor, a young man—I don’t know whether he was married or not—once heard a knock at his door. He opened it, and on the doorstep stood a young woman holding a little child in her arms. Before he could ask anything, she threw the child to the ground; he caught it so it wouldn’t fall, and the woman immediately disappeared. And a rumor spread through the city. A bad rumor about the pastor. Something like this can happen to any minister. And you really want to defend yourself, to justify yourself. I went through something similar when I lived in Argentina. A man slandered me, and I wanted to justify myself. Our nature always wants to justify itself. There was an old pastor there, and he said to me, “Don’t fight back, Dmitri, because you will defeat him, but he will smear you.” I listened to him, and I thank God for that.
So then that pastor, into whose arms the woman had thrown the child, took the child and raised him. But the ugly rumor did not stop. The Holy Spirit said to him, “If you endure this, bear it, and do not defend yourself, I will bless your ministry.”
Children of God, brothers and sisters! All of us can go through something like this, and do not think it happens by chance. We must go through much and endure it all. I listened to that old pastor back then, and the Holy Spirit said to me, “Do not defend yourself! I am your defense.” And the day came when God defended and God justified. Christ is our justification. Glory to Him!
In our days there are so many rumors, even among believers. Even God said, “I will know for certain whether it is so or not.” Take these words to heart, brothers and sisters. Let us verify what we have heard before passing it on. Let us really see if it is so. But if we pass it on without being sure it is true—may the Lord preserve us! The holy God, who knows everything and sees everything, even He says, “I will examine whether it is really so.” And yet we often do not act that way. There are so many rumors that come straight from hell, and believers pass them on.
Not long ago I met a brother, and he said, “I heard you were lying paralyzed.” Later I met some believers in Ukraine, and they said to me, “Well, we were told that you had died.” And here I am, preaching today. Where did these rumors come from? And people, without checking, pass them on.
I have seen people whom God uses, and uses in great power. And praise God that He uses them. But these people paid a price. Do you understand? They paid a price.
When our children were still little, my wife, to save our family budget, baked bread at home herself. One day I saw her kneading dough: sweat was running down her face, and she kept kneading and kneading. I watched and watched, and then I asked, “How do you know when to stop kneading?” She answered, “When it stops sticking to your hands.”
Brother preachers, do you understand what I’m trying to say? I’m speaking about myself: “kneading, kneading,” and what happened? They “kneaded” a missionary. But trials had to be endured.
We read in the Word of God that when Esther was found worthy to become queen, she had to undergo a certain process: six months with ointment of myrrh (a compound of bitter herbs). Six months—half a year! And when she had endured that, six months with aromatics. And who among us has not experienced these “rubbings”? Sometimes “your sides ache.” But we must endure. Endure, and God can use us. Praise the Lord! It is not as easy as some think. This is God’s path for a minister.
Let us read this passage: “Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, ‘You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!’ But Peter began to explain it to them in order, saying…” (Acts 11:1-4). Rumors about Peter reached Jerusalem—that such and such had happened. This was the apostolic church; all the gifts were present there, yet it had not yet been revealed to them that God had prepared salvation for the Gentiles as well. In the Old Testament, you see, the Jews were not permitted to fellowship with Gentiles; they awaited the Messiah and thought they could have nothing in common with Gentiles. But God saw things differently and revealed this through the apostle Peter. And Peter told how the Lord sent him to the Gentiles and gave him a revelation that he should not call anything impure that God had made clean. And then, in the house of Cornelius, for the first time the Holy Spirit fell on the believing Gentiles while Peter was preaching. Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus!
People brought back a report about what was happening in Antioch: “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go to Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 11:21-24).
Here we read: “news came.” Barnabas went there and examined the matter.
Dear ones, I have recently returned from Ukraine. I visited various churches there. There are churches where the spirit of prayer is present, and there are those where the spirit of prayer is absent. And I tell them, if the spirit of prayer has died in your church, then that church is dying. And at yesterday’s meeting, when the spirit of prayer visited us, I thanked God. Even if I preach with blessing, but there is no prayer after the sermon, I say this: “There was thunder and lightning, but no rain.” It is good when a good sermon is followed by good prayer. Then we see grace in action.
Recently I met a brother. He is a minister. I was about to preach. He sat down next to me and started telling me about the church—only negative things. There are people who see only the negative and speak about it. And I ask, is there really nothing positive among you?
We know it is written that the whole world lies in wickedness. There is evil, and there is good. There is hatred, and there is love. There is darkness, and there is light. And no matter what the darkness is like—I don’t know if you have known it, but I worked in a mine, and there I saw tangible darkness. — And however dark it may be, darkness cannot stand against the smallest light; it cannot overcome the light. Light has power to dispel the darkness. Praise the Lord!
Beyond the fact that the whole world lies in wickedness, brothers and sisters, we have good news: God has overcome! Hallelujah! Hatred is everywhere. But love will win. Death is everywhere, but life will win. Hallelujah! I vote for life. Do not heed empty rumor! When a rumor spreads, know for what purpose: it wants to rent your ear. But our ear belongs to the One who is in heaven. Hallelujah! Brothers and sisters, I have no time to look at evil. I am very busy and I see so many good and kind deeds. Why would I need the bad ones? Praise God. And if there is something bad, well, not everything in me is good either; I have my own problems, and no one can handle them on his own. But Christ takes all problems upon Himself and sets them right—glory to Him! Amen?
Dear children of God! Whatever rumor comes to you, do not be quick to pass it on. Do not hurry. Examine whether it is true or not. And if it is true, tell the Lord. He will not spread what is bad. Do not heed empty rumor!
This is a message from the Lord today! We all need not to pass on what is displeasing to God. The Gospel is good news, glad tidings. It brings good things. Dear ones! May God bless you! God is my Witness; the Holy Spirit urges me to say this, so that we may be very careful when we hear something. May God help us!
Dmitry Bespalov,
Missionary, Canada
(Word in Germany)
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