Well, turn with me, if you would,
please, to Luke's Gospel and the third chapter. Luke's Gospel,
chapter three. Three weeks ago, I think it was,
with the snow stopping us last week, but three weeks ago, we
were looking at the birth of John the Baptist, the time when
Zacharias, his father, was struck deaf and dumb for nine months
to teach him to believe God. that was about the birth of Jesus.
Today, I want to look at his preaching ministry, or at least
the start of his preaching ministry in Luke chapter three. Look at
the situation with me, just look at the first two verses. It was
the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, real man. Note, not fictitious, real. Pontius Pilate, real man, was
governor of Judea. Herod, the king, was Tetrarch. figurehead ruler. They let them
have a king to keep them happy, but the Romans were in charge
really. He was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, tetrarch
of Atteria, and of the region of Traconitis, and Lysanias,
the tetrarch of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were the high
priests. Where in the word of God did
it ever say there should be two high priests? Never did. Never, never in the word of God
were there to be two high priests. It's just a symbol of the state
of degeneration that had happened in that situation there in Judea. Annas and Caiaphas, both high
priests, related. They had a sort of a corrupt
deal set up whereby they governed things. That was the situation. It was set in the world and its
politics, and so it is. God does what he does, he works
out his purposes in a real world of politics and real people arising. We think, we look at the stage
of world politics and we think the only thing that matters is
that Barack Obama's been inaugurated as president of the USA for the
second time. Well, so be it, all well and
good, but God is on the throne. There's a real political situation,
but always God is on the throne, whoever it might be, whoever
our prime minister is, whoever anybody else's president is.
They're real people, and there's a real political world, but God
is on the throne, and God is accomplishing his purposes. And
none of these things get in the way of God's purposes. In fact,
God ordains all of these things to fulfill his purposes. At the
time that this happened, It's 30 years or so since the birth
of John and of Jesus, they were born less than a year apart.
There had been 400 years of prophetic silence. You'd think that's a
long time. How long ago is 4,000? It's the
early 1600s, isn't it? 1613, when the King James Version
of the Bible was first published. 1613, 400 years ago. That's the
length of time there had been of prophetic silence, since Malachi
wrote the last words of the Old Testament, and those last words
promised Elijah would come as the forerunner of Christ the
Messiah. That's the last two verses of
the Old Testament. Elijah is coming. someone with
the mantle of Elijah. You know like Elisha took on
the mantle of Elijah. A prophet's coming with the mantle
of Elijah. That was what was promised but
400 years had passed. In God's timing the fullness
of the time had come. You know we read in Galatians
4 verse 4, when the fullness of the time had come God sent
forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem
those that are under the law that they might receive the adoption
of sons. When did it happen? When the fullness of the time
had come. The fullness of whose time? The fullness of God's time. All worked out in his purposes.
Now, in this time, the Roman Empire was at its height. Previously,
the various ones, you remember the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that
Daniel interpreted, the dream of the head of gold, which was
Nebuchadnezzar, and then the silver, which was the Medes and
the Persians, and then the bronze, which was the Greeks, and then
we're now in the realm of the Iron Legs. The Iron Legs. Haven't quite got down yet to
the feet of clay, but we're in the Iron Legs realm. Roman Empire,
iron, strong. very very strong very hard but
what did it do for the situation you know like that uh... famous
old comedy line what did the romans do for us anyway when
they're trying to think they haven't done anything and then
they string out all of these things that uh... actually law
and order Law and order was pretty widespread in the Mediterranean
world, all around there, law and order from the Roman Empire.
It was relatively, and I stress relatively, we probably wouldn't
think it was safe today if we traveled in those circumstances,
but there was relatively safe road and sea travel. It was already
so that Paul could go on his missionary journeys around the
Mediterranean. Prior to this, there hadn't been
the law and order and the relative safety that the Roman Empire
brought. There was a common Greek language that was spoken throughout
the Mediterranean. The gospel could go. Do you know
that at the Tower of Babel the languages were confused and that
was a curse of God on mankind trying to build his own way to
heaven. You know, tongues, languages, is a symbol of cursing. But there
was a common language so that the gospel could be spread. And
as Paul said, I would far rather speak five words in a tongue
that someone can understand than five thousand words of gibberish
in an unknown tongue that nobody can understand. All of these
things were in place. The Jewish power to execute the
power of Herod, of Philip, of Lassanias, the power of these
people of Annas and Caiaphas to execute, the law says the
woman's caught in adultery. What does the law say should
happen? And you look back in the books of Moses and it says
she should be stoned to death. They couldn't do it. Why? Because
the Romans were in charge. These were just titular heads.
These were just tetrarchs. They were only symbolical heads.
They didn't have the power to execute by stoning, which was
the Jewish way of execution. The power of execution was in
the hands of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. And what
was the Roman way of execution at the time? To hang upon a tree. To hang upon a cross of wood.
And that's what the scripture said. Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. and Christ was to be hung on
a tree. The Romans had to come. It was all done so that scripture
would be fulfilled. These didn't just arise like
this, it was all in the plan and purpose of God. Thirty years
earlier, John the Baptist and Jesus had been born. Amazing
things had happened. They'd been witnessed by a few.
The shepherds on the hillside, seeing the angels, praising God,
glory to God in the highest. The magi coming from the far
east, having seen the star and having known the scriptures and
having read Daniel's prophecy, and they'd come to see and to
worship the one who is to be born King of the Jews. and Zacharias
and all the people seeing him made dumb and then given his
speech back and prophesying and speaking and preaching the gospel
of grace. All of that happened and was
seen by a few and then again there's a silence of thirty years.
And then we come to verse two. Annas and Caiaphas were the high
priests. In that situation The Word of God came unto John the
son of Zacharias in the wilderness. The Word of God came to John.
This one, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness, John began
to preach. At God's initiative, John began
to preach, because this is God's man for God's time. In God's
timing, he raised up his man to preach a message of preparation
for the coming of Messiah. It was God's timing, God's initiative,
God's message, the word of God came to John. The word of God
came to John, there he is, he's clearly prepared, he's clearly
been prepared by prophecy and by his upbringing and his situation,
but in the wilderness the word of God came to John. It was anointing
in the place of God's choosing, in the wilderness. Don't think
necessarily about barren desert places, it just means the common
country around Judea. That's where it came to him.
The word of God came to him. He knew the Word of God. He knew
the scriptures he'd have been taught. But in a special way,
the Word of God came to him and overwhelmed him such that he
just had to go and preach. He came into all the country
about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. He just had to preach the message
that God had given him. He didn't get this message in
a Bible seminary, in a theological college, anywhere else. God gave
him this message. and the Word of God came to him.
What was it that came to him? Oh, he said, the Word of God.
The Word of God. It was the Gospel of Christ that
came to him. It was the Gospel that's about
the salvation of a people from the just consequences of sin
by the work of a perfect substitute. That's what it was. That's what
came to him. The Word of God came to him.
The Gospel of God's grace came to him. Here what I'm saying
because there's a lot of confusion about what John the Baptist preached.
It's as if John the Baptist didn't really know the truth. He was
a bit of a forerunner who had one type of message but then
Christ came and told the real... No, John preached the gospel
of God's grace. This was the word of God that
came to him. The gospel of Christ, the gospel of salvation of a
people from the just consequences of sin by the work of a substitute. The gospel of justice satisfied
by infinite blood sacrifice. That's what it was. The Old Testament
scriptures That's what he had. The Word of God. These are they,
said Jesus, that speak of me, of Christ. They speak of Christ.
They speak of his saving work. They speak of how can a man be
just with God on the basis of substitutionary atonement, of
blood sacrifice, of another one paying the penalty, of making
satisfaction to the justice of God. As Isaiah 53 verse 11 says,
He, God, the Father, the Just, shall see the travail, the work,
the labor of His soul, His Son, His Son, the Son of God, God
become man. And He, God, the Father, the
Just, shall be satisfied. And by His knowledge, by knowing
him intimately, by an intimate union knowledge with him, that's
what that word means, an intimate union knowledge, by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant, Christ, justify many, not all, but many,
all of his people. How will he do it? For he shall
bear their iniquities. He made him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. This is the prophet that God
had promised. This is God's man for God's time. And he comes with the word of
God upon him, the gospel of Christ, which was the Old Testament scriptures
as they were given then. It's as clear, although implicit
in so many places, absolutely clear, this was the gospel of
Christ, of substitution, that he came with, that he was burdened
with, and this is what he came preaching. He is the prophet
that God had promised. Look at verses four and five.
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, this
is just the translation from the Greek as opposed from the
Hebrew. The words of Isaiah the prophet saying, Isaiah chapter
40, verses 3 and 4, I think, thereabouts. The voice of one
crying in the wilderness, John the Baptist. Prepare ye the way
of the Lord. Make his path straight. Every
valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought
low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
way shall be made smooth. And all flesh shall see the salvation
of God. The picture is one of the monarch
in ancient times when there weren't good roads. And a party would
go ahead in front to prepare the way, to hack down the obstacles,
to smooth out the road, to make it that the carriage would run
smoothly. That was the purpose of going before. And this is
what John the Baptist was doing. Going before the one who was
promised to come. in Malachi chapter 4, which is
the last two verses of the Old Testament, God says this through
the prophet, behold I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. That's who he's
going to send. Elijah, literally? No, Elijah
had lived and was gone, but he's talking, you know when Elisha
became the prophet in the place of Elijah, what he prayed for
was that the mantle of Elijah should fall upon him, that that
spirit of prophecy, that that spirit of the Word of God should
come upon him, that he should pick it up and that he should
go on in that mantle of Elijah, and so it is. The mantle of Elijah
would come on this prophet, John the Baptist, before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord when God would come
to save his people from their sins and he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children
to the fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse
and that was the last word that God said for 400 years before
this prophet came and preached. He was the herald for Christ.
He was the one who came clearing the obstacles. What are the obstacles?
Obstacles in the hearts of men and women. There are obstacles
in your heart and mine by nature. There are obstacles which stop
me from believing. They get in the way of me believing
the truth of the gospel. He comes and he removes those
obstacles. He fills the valleys. He lowers
the mountains and the bumps and the things that are in the way.
and makes it smooth. You know we have the Wellyn Viaduct,
Digswell Viaduct, very close to us, and that was opened in
1850 by Queen Victoria, I was reading just the other day, and
apparently she was so frightened of it, because it's about 100
feet tall in the middle, down to the Mimram at the bottom,
she was so frightened that when she came to open it, she refused
to ride in a train over it. And she got in a horse-drawn
carriage and went down, I don't know what the roads were like
then, but it must have been quite tortuous to get to the other
side, up to where Welling North Station is. Think about it now,
you wouldn't dream of it, would you? You just glide across it
on the train in a matter of 30 seconds or so, and you're there,
every valley exalted, and the mountains removed out of the
way. Nice and smooth. This is what he came to do. to
prepare the way. He was God's gift, God's man
for God's time, burdened with God's word, which was the gospel
of God's grace. And what was his message? Let's
look in detail. Verse 3. He came preaching. Preaching is so important. Preaching
is vital. It's by the foolishness of preaching
that it pleases God to save his people. That's how he saves.
Don't ever despise preaching. Test preaching to see if it's
true preaching, and despise that which isn't, and flee from it
and have nothing to do with it, but if you hear the true shepherd's
voice speaking to you through the voice of a man, then listen
to it, because that's what God has anointed. This is God's man
sent to preach, but what's he preaching? What is it he's preaching? Verse 3, he's preaching the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Now that is greatly
misunderstood. The ministry of John the Baptist
is greatly misunderstood. I used to think like this. This
is what is commonly thought about the ministry of John the Baptist.
They say this, sin will condemn you to hell so you had better
set about moral reformation in order to redeem yourself. Absolutely
not. That is not what John the Baptist
preached. It's often portrayed, this crowds
coming out to John the Baptist at the Jordan to be baptized,
it's often portrayed like a mass signing of the pledge, you know
when people used to sign the pledge that they wouldn't drink
anymore, 150 years ago. It's often portrayed that John's
preaching and them coming out to his baptism was a mass signing
of the pledge to stop being sinners. I'm going to stop being a sinner.
I'm turning over a new leaf. I've got a New Year's resolution.
I'm going to be baptized and I'm going to stop being a sinner.
I'm determined to wash my sins away in baptism. That's not what
John preached at all, even though people say it today. Where it
says repentance for the remission of sins, read there instead,
because of. Not for, but because of. Repentance
because of the remission of sins. Repentance, he preached repentance
because there is the remission of sins. Because remission, sending
away. Send them away. That's where
it comes from. Putting away. Because there is
the putting away on account of the Christ of whom he was the
forerunner, repent of your sins because here is one who is coming
who is putting away sins. Repent because of the putting
away of sins that Christ will accomplish. I know this because
this is what Paul said, he preached. Acts chapter 19 and verse 4,
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying to the people, that they should believe on Him which should
come after Him. That is, on Christ Jesus. He baptized them with the baptism
of repentance saying, you must believe on Christ who is coming
to take away sins. This baptism won't wash away
your sins. This baptism won't stop you being
a sinner. But Christ is coming. It's Him
you should believe on. Look to Him. A true preacher
doesn't tell you what you should do. Beware of those that tell
you what you should do. Dig deeply, hear what they're
saying. A true preacher shouldn't tell you what you should do,
he should tell you where to look. Look to Christ. This is what
John the Baptist did. Look to Christ. How can a man
be just with God? He can be just with God by his
sins being put away by Christ. But But, this is what John said,
he said, that and that alone, you must look to Christ. That's
where your sins will be put away, in the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as savior of his people. But, you can't continue in sin,
we've been looking in Romans chapter 5 and 6, You can't continue
in sin that the grace of salvation from sin may abound. No. A clear mark of those whose sins
have been put away by Christ is that they repent of their
sins. Not that their baptism gets rid
of their sins. Christ and what he does gets
rid of their sins, puts them away, but they repent of them. You cannot believe Christ and
his gospel without repenting of your sin. Repent comes from
the French. Pense, to think. Repent, think
again. You think again. You turn around
in your thinking. You change direction. You determine
to no longer be slaves of sin, as Romans 6 tells us. You desire
to be washed in the blood of Christ from its filth and its
defiling nature. You desire to delight after the
law of God according to the inner man. You desire to put away sin
and not be slaves to it and not yield your members as servants
to unrighteousness. not to procure your own righteousness,
not to procure your sanctification in any way whatsoever, absolutely
not, for Christ is made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. No, not to procure it, but to
testify to a commitment to God's service on the basis of the fact
that he has saved his people from their sins. No, John didn't
preach moral reformation. Let's get rid of that false notion. He didn't preach moral reformation,
but he did preach repentance from sin's dominion because Christ
has put away his people's sins. John knew this, that Christ was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He knew this, that
that Lamb had come into the world, and that three years after this,
He would go to the cross in time at Calvary, and He would be made
a curse for all His people. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree. He went to that cross, bearing
the sins of his people. Because of that, said John, because
he has put away his people's sins, he preached repentance
from sin and the baptism of repentance. And then how did he preach? That
was his message. This is God's man for God's time. How did he preach? You know,
we're always being told how preaching ought to be in order to be effective
in speaking to people. But I want you to look at the
directness of John the Baptist. Look at his directness, look
at verse 7. Then said he to the multitude
that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Multitudes
came to hear him and to be baptized. Multitudes. The scripture is
very economical with its words. If it was a modern day novelist
writing this, there'd be about 20 or 30 chapters devoted to
this event. Multitudes came out to hear John
of what sort of people. We read about them, didn't we?
The ordinary people, the people asked him, the ordinary people,
what shall we do? The publicans, the tax collectors, the civil
servants, they came to be baptized. And he said to them, the soldiers,
Roman soldiers came to hear this man preach and be baptized with
him. All sorts of people, multitudes
of them. How did he get them to come?
What sort of a show did he put on to get them to come? What
did he do? Surely he must have done something.
How did he entice them to come out? He must have offered them
a meal, didn't he? They won't come in here, but
if we offer them a meal they'll come out and hear preaching. No, he didn't offer them a meal.
how about sitting around and having a cozy discussion let's
make it comfortable you know people don't like sitting in
pews these days and people's attention span is is only about
three minutes according to the media so no we won't preach to
them we'll just have a cozy discussion around a cup of tea is that what
we'll do that will get them to come won't it and oh if they
come they'll start to believe won't they oh I know what we
need to do I know what we need to do illnesses, right? Look, we'll have a healing ministry.
We'll have a big tent and we'll get some big evangelist who's
a healing minister and he'll come out and people will be slain
in the spirit and they'll all come flocking out to the front.
That will do the trick, won't it? Or we'll offer people help
with their domestic problems and we'll get closely involved
in all of that sort of thing and that will get the crowds
to come out. John didn't do any of that. Surprise, surprise.
That'll be a shock to you to hear that, won't it? John didn't
do any of that. No. What did John do? He preached
God's word. That's it. He preached God's
word. You know, I remember hearing
years ago about Henry Mahan being asked, what do you do for your
young people? I think it was you that told me. What do you
do for your young people? You must do something to keep
them all happy. Preach the gospel to them. That's it. Preach the
gospel to them. This is what John did. He preached
God's word. He preached from the book of
Isaiah. You know, I am this one coming, crying in the wilderness,
prepare the way of the Lord. And what's the verse just before
that? Because Christ is coming to save
his people from their sins. Isaiah 40 verse 2 talks about
speak peaceably, comfortably to Jerusalem and tell her she
has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Do you know what I take that
to mean? I think this is the best explanation of it I can
give. You know when you look in a perfect mirror you see a
perfect mirror reflection of what you're looking at. Perfect
mirror reflection. What does every sin that you've
ever committed require? Payment. The mirror reflection
payment for that sin. That's what that means. God in
Christ has given double. He's given the perfect payment
for every sin that you've ever committed. And this is the fulfillment
of prophecy. That imminently, He's coming. God's promise to save his people
from their sins is imminently going to be fulfilled. He's saying,
get ready. Make way. Prepare your hearts. God is coming. Look at verse
17. Verse 17, he's talking of Christ, he says, his fan is in
his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and will gather
the wheat into his garner. You may say, I don't understand
that old language. Well, you know, the way they used to separate
the chaff from the grain before they had thrashing machines like
they do now, is they would have a floor, a smooth floor, where
all the grain with all of its husks would be put down on it.
And the way you separated was you blew a wind with a fan at
that, and it would blow the chaff away. And what he's saying is
this, that God is going to separate his people, those that he chose
in Christ, those who believe on the Son of God from those
who refuse to believe. And he's saying to them this,
which he says to us today, where will you be in that great division? He's coming to separate. He talks about it in other places
as separating the sheep from the goats. He talks about the
great division that he will make. Where will you be? He preached
this and God moved the multitudes of all sorts, the civil servants,
the soldiers, the ordinary people, to sit up and take notice. And yet he bluntly confronted
them with their sin. Oh, go and tell them what nice
people and how delighted we are that they've graced us with their
presence. Let's go and tell them all these
nice, soft, soapy things. What does John the Baptist do?
Verse seven. He said to the multitude of soldiers
and publicans, civil servants, and ordinary people, oh generation
of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
You've come out here because you've been warned. Who has warned
you to flee from the wrath to come? I would imagine that there's
a prayer in that, that it's the spirit of God that has moved
you to come and hear. He's not just talking to Pharisees,
you generation of vipers, he's talking to all of them. Because
that's what we are, by nature. We're a generation of vipers.
There's the poison of vipers throughout us, the poison of
sin. We're filled with the corruption of sin. And he says this, if
you are to be saved by Christ who is coming to take away the
sins of his people, you cannot cling on to your sin. You can't. You must bring forth fruits worthy
of repentance. Verse 8, bring forth therefore
fruits worthy of repentance. Don't go saying look what we
are, look what our traditions are, look what our heritage is.
He says this, God is able to turn your ideas completely on
their head. If he wants to, he can raise
up sons, children to Abraham from the very stones of the ground
all around. No, if your faith in Christ and
his work is genuine, it will genuinely work. This is what
James says. James 2 verses 14 to 18, what
does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have
not works? He says, I believe, I'm a believer,
but he has not the works that go with it. Can faith, that sort
of empty faith save him? The answer, no. If a brother
or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you
say to them, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding
you give them not those things which are needful to the body,
What does it profit? Even so, faith. If it hath not
works, is dead being alone. Just a mental faith is not saving
faith. True faith works. Yea, a man
may say thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith
without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. This was his directness. God's
man for God's time came preaching the gospel of God's grace, the
baptism of repentance, the need to prepare, to get ready, for
salvation is coming, to know that not only is he coming to
save, but after this is the judgment, when there will be that great
division. His fan is in his hand, he's separating the wheat from
the chaff. He preached with great directness the gospel of God's
grace, with the word of God that God had put upon him as a burden
that he had to share with others. What was his status as a preacher? What is the status of true preachers
of God? Verses 15 and 16. The people
were in expectation and all men mused in their hearts of John
whether he were the Christ or not. Is he the Christ that should
come? And John answered saying unto
them, I indeed baptize you with water But one mightier than I
cometh, the lachered of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. Jesus said of John that of all
men born of women, there was not one greater. Matthew 11,
verse 11, he said, I tell you the truth, there's never been
greater than John. He was a great preacher. He was
God's man for God's purpose. But John knew his true place,
that he was merely the messenger. What did John the Baptist say? In John's Gospel, chapter 3,
verse 30, John the Baptist says, he, Christ, must increase, and
I, the preacher, the messenger, must decrease. Look to him, look
to him. What must I do to be saved? Look
to him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
That's the message. Christ alone, he says, I can
baptize you with water as an outward symbol, but he alone
can baptize you with the Holy Ghost. He alone can give you
truly the Spirit of God within. He truly alone can make you his
children. Not me, says the preacher, the
true preacher. I can't make you the children
of God. All I can do is prepare the way. and be the messenger,
but he must increase and I must decrease. This treasure of the
gospel, the true preacher knows that he possesses treasure, but
only in a very earthen vessel. And I tell you, a very earthen
vessel. You know, men walk around as
if they're floating several feet above the ground compared with
the rest of us. No, they're ordinary earthen pots, earthen pots, every
single one of them, in the flesh, every single one of them. But
if they have the treasure of the gospel of grace, yes, respect
them, yes, honor them, yes, listen to them, for the sake of the
message they preach and for no other reason. And what was his
reward in this life? I'll finish with this. Verse
20, Verse 20, what did he get for all of this? You know, this
greatest man that ever lived according to Jesus, none greater
born of women. Verse 20, what a concise little
statement. Added yet this above all, this
is what Herod did, that he shut up John in prison. And we know
later that he chopped off John's head and presented it to Salome
on a plate at the banquet that they were having. in this life
he was shut up in prison and brutally executed but in that
which is to come this is his reward this is his reward it's
the same as Paul says about the Thessalonians first Thessalonians
2.19 what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not
even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming
the people that had heard him the people that had been saved
the people that had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, for ye, these ones that have believed, are our glory
and joy. That's the preacher's reward.
Some of the multitude, the soldiers, the tax collectors, the ordinary
people, to whom John the Baptist had preached Christ, and therefore
the repentance, the baptism of repentance because of the remission
of sins, Some of those, that multitude, were indeed those
whose sins Christ had taken away. In this life, he and all true
preachers are content to be a mere instrument in God's hand because
there's the promise of life before us. Now compare that with so
much that calls itself preaching today.