Turn back with me, if you would,
to Matthew 10. The Lord had told his disciples,
as we considered in the last service, concerning the sending
of laborers into the harvest. Pray. Pray ye, therefore, the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into,
and listen to this, his harvest. The Lord is pleased to show mercy. Isn't that a miracle of God's
grace, that God would show mercy? Mercy is for unworthy, guilty
sinners. Mercy. Not giving us what we
absolutely deserve. and concerning these laborers
that the Lord sends. Verse 1 of chapter 10 says, And
when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them
power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Here's the
key to that verse. And when he had called. When he had called. We considered this verse in the
last service. I'm going to read two verses. Jeremiah 3, 14, 15. Turn. Now listen to this. Listen to
what the Lord has to say. Jeremiah 3, 14, 15, Turn, O backsliding
children, saith the Lord. Now what are they doing? Well,
they're backsliding. They're rebels. They're rebels. Now let's just go ahead and be
honest about it. There's not a little good in
all men. It's just not there. Turn! Oh, backsliding, but listen to
this. Children. Children. I got four kids. And it, it doesn't matter what
happens, what they fall into, what, what, they're still my
kids. I still love them. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord. And listen to what he says to
his children. For I'm married unto you. I'm married to you. I betrothed
myself. You, backsliding children. You that were given me, given
me by the Father. The Father chose and gave them
to the Son. That's His bride. And he betrothed
himself to her, eternally. I'm married to you, and here's
what I'm going to do. I will take you one of a city,
two of a family. That's what we talked about last
time. As a general rule, I'm so thankful that Almighty God
would have mercy on this unworthy sinner. Send me, give me, as
I said before, I've got four kids. I've got confidence in
all four kids. They know God. I believe that. And they have
believing spouses. What mercy. But as a general
rule, just one out of a family. One out of a city, two out of
a family. And I will bring you to Zion. I'm going to bring you
to the heavenly Jerusalem. You're going to be known that
you're mine. I'm going to show you to be the
called out. The beckoned. And I will give you pastors according
to my heart. And they're going to feed you
with knowledge and understanding. Ain't that merciful? I'm married to you. And I'm going
to call you. I'm going to call you where you
are. I'm going to bring you to Zion, and I'm going to send somebody
to teach you. I'm going to call a pastor, and
I'm going to give him a heart, and he's going to study, and I'm going
to teach him the gospel, and he's going to preach to you.
And I'm going to bless it. And you're going to know that
I've had mercy upon you. But of these that God calls, Let me tell you what He always
reminds them of. These that the Lord has raised
up to be preachers, He's going to teach them something. Don't
you ever forgot where I found you. You that stand and preach
the gospel. Don't you ever forget. You that
I've highly blessed, raised up, Preachers highest calling in
this world Highest calling a preacher of the gospel This Word that God's laborers
set forth is eternal Everything else gonna burn up everything
of it ain't nothing here worth anything He that hath my word But you're never going to forget
where you came from, where I found you. Look at verses 2 to 4. Now the names of the 12 apostles
are these. The first, Simon, who's called
Peter. Andrew, his brother. James, the
son of Zebedee. John, his brother. Philip, Bartholomew,
Thomas. Matthew, the publican. James,
the son of Alphaeus. Labaius, whose surname is Thaddeus. Simon the Canaanite, Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed him. Now that's what Matthew. Matthew
was one that the Lord used to pin this account of the gospel. And you know Mark, Mark and Luke
both pinned this. Look, just hold your hand right
there. Turn to Mark 3. Mark 3. Mark chapter 3, verses 14 to
19. Mark 3, 14. And He ordained twelve
that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth
to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses, to cast out
devils. And Simon, He surnamed Peter. James, son of Zebedee,
and John, his brother James, surnamed them. Boanerges, which
is the sons of thunder. And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and
Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed
him, they went into a house. That's what Mark says. And then
Luke, Luke 6. Turn over to Luke 6, 13. Luke
chapter 6. Verse 13, this is what Luke penned. This is what the Spirit of God
moved upon him. And when it was day, he called
unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom he
named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, Andrew his
brother, James, and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James the son of Alphaeus, Simon Causolites, and Judas the brother
of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. Now, three men listed the names
of the apostles. But I want you to notice back
in Matthew 10, when Matthew listed the names of the apostles, when
Matthew came to his name, I want you to look, verse 3, Matthew
10, 3. Philip, and Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, the publican, the tax collector, the dreg of
society. You know where the Lord found
Matthew? I can tell you this, he wasn't in the synagogue attending
the means of God's grace. What he was doing is set forth
in Matthew 9, 9. And as Jesus passed forth from
thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom,
and he saith unto him, follow me. And this is what happened. And he arose and followed him. As soon as the Lord spoke to
him in power, Matthew got up and left everything
setting right there. Doesn't say he picked up his
books and got all of his records, put all of his money in a bag,
got everything squared away, straightened up his table. He
arose and followed Him. Followed Him. You know what? When Almighty God calls one of
His own, when He calls them in power, There were some times
that I had heard the gospel. I'd heard the gospel. And I heard
it. And I understood. I mean, I understood.
I mean, I could understand what I was hearing. I understood English.
But whenever I heard it in my heart, you know what I did? I followed. Convinced. That's what happened. But Almighty
God, has never allowed me and you that know him, he's never
allowed you either to ever forget the pit from which you were dug.
Do you that know him, do you know what you are? You're just
a sinner saved by the grace of God. That's all you are. You're
a sinner, but you're a blessed sinner. You're a blessed sinner. But there was something else
that I noticed. Now, Mark and Luke, When it came down after
they listed all, you know, they just put Matthew. Matthew put
Matthew the publican. Now all three of them listed
Judas, the one that betrayed him. All three of them wrote
that. But you know what Matthew did? He lumped himself in the
same lump with Judas. And this is what he said, the
only difference between me and Judas is the grace of God. The Lord told His disciples in
the Last Supper, He said, one of you is going to betray me.
And all of them began to say, is it me? Am I the one? I know the propensities there.
I know this. And I can tell you this, but
for the grace of God, I'm gone. I'm leaving today. But for the
grace of God, I would be out of here. The Apostle Paul, a
Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus to take those
of the way, God stopped him in his tracks. He was not looking
for Christ. And the Lord stopped him. Why? Because he was one that Almighty
God had purposed, I'm going to have compassion and mercy on
you. Why persecutest thou me? Who
are you? I'm Jesus of Nazareth that you're persecuting. Lord,
what would you have me to do? That man, Paul the Apostle, Saul
of Tarsus, called out of darkness. This was his account of himself. Romans 7.24, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? God Almighty
calls His laborers, equips them, sends them, and they never forget
where they've come from. Thirdly, the Lord of the harvest
sends and commissions His laborers with one message. This is what
God's called me to do. Preach the gospel. He provides
for them as they go by faith. They live by the gospel. I want you to look at the verses
5 to 13. And these twelve Jesus sent forth,
commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach, saying
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely you have received, freely
give. Provide neither gold nor silver
nor brass in your purses or script for your journey, your lunchbox,
script, that's what it is. Neither two coats, neither shoes,
nor yet staves, for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into
whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy,
and there abide till you go thence. And when you come into a house,
salute it. If the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it.
But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you." These
apostles, Truly, they were sent first to preach to the Jews.
That's what the Lord is saying. Go preach to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. But before the Lord ascended,
He gave them another commission. He said this, Matthew 28, 19,
20, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And lo, I am with you always. even unto the end of the world.
But to whom were they sent? Well, the Scripture says that
He took the twelve and He commanded them, He said, don't go to the
Gentiles, don't go to the Samaritans, go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Now, boy, that's a kind of a
Straight forward commission. This is who I want you to go
preach to. You go preach to the lost sheep. You go preach to
those that my Father has given me. The lost sheep. Those that don't know me. The
sheep. Go to the sheep. I want you to
go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Who are they? Mr. Spurgeon said, if you'll
mark them for me, I'll just preach to them. I won't preach to anybody
else because it doesn't matter. Nobody else is going to be saved
but the sheep. That's all God's going to save is the sheep. Someone said one time, I can't
believe God would elect a man to hell. He doesn't. No, election,
listen to me. Next time somebody tells you
that election is not fair, Election is always unto life. Always unto
life. Man made his choice in the garden. Man made his choice in the garden. In the day you eat, you're going
to die. And in Adam, all die. So God Almighty does not elect
men to hell. Don't ever let anybody ever tell
you that. Election is the greatest revelation
that you'll ever hear, because that means that God Almighty
has chosen to show mercy on some that did not deserve it. He chose
to show mercy. If Almighty God leaves a man
alone, if a man says, I am not going to hear what you have to
say, I'm going to deal with this in
a minute. I'm almost getting ahead of myself. So I'll back
off. If Almighty God leaves a man alone, that man, that woman is
doing what they want to do. And you're not going to lay that
at the Lord's feet and say it's your fault. You go preach, so
what do we do? I don't know who they are. So
let me tell you what I'm going to tell everybody, Sammy. Listen
to me. I'm not offering you anything. This is not an offer. The gospel
is not an offer. All men are commanded to repent. I'm commanding you to repent. And let me tell you the greatest
revelation that I can ever tell you, that God would give you
a heart to hear what He had to say. and you would, by the grace
of God, have a different thought process. That's what repenting
means, to think differently. That Almighty God would give
you a new thinking, and give you a new heart, and reveal himself
to you. But if Almighty God is pleased
to leave a man, leave a woman to themselves, that's not God's
fault, that's your fault, my fault. God's laborers are sent
for the gathering of the lost sheep of spiritual Israel. Lost in the fall, but beloved
of God. Sheep chosen before the foundation
of the world in electing grace. And they're going to be sought
out. What are you going to do? I'm going to send you some laborers
and they're going to preach. You preach to them. Yeah, you
preach to him. Ezekiel, can these dry, dead
bones live? Dead, dead, dry, dead, dead,
dry, dead bones. Can they live? Lord, thou knowest. Lord, you're the only one who
knows that. They're dry, they're dead, they're bleached. You preach
to them. Preached to dead bones? That's exactly what I'm doing
this morning. I'm preaching to dead bones. Can they live? Lord, you know. Lord, you know. You preach to them. I'll cause
them to live. These men were called and commissioned,
sent by God. They didn't know who the lost
sheep of Israel was. So what they did, they went into
all the world and preached the gospel. and they believed that
God Almighty was going to provide. You go. You go. Don't try to equip yourself.
I'll take care of you. And he said in verse 11, Whatsoever
city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there
abide till you go thence. Worthy. I looked that word up
right there. Here's what it means actually.
It means of good character, kind, noted for their hospitality. You know there's a lot of folks
that fit that category. I mean they'd be kind and given
to hospitality and not be a believer. But this word worthy, What is
that relating to? Well, it's relating to those
that have a heart, good ground hearers of the gospel. Let me just show you something.
I want you to just hold your place, look at Luke 21, Luke
21, 36. We'll get a good understanding
of who these guys are, these men and women are. Luke 21, 36. Luke 21, 36. Luke 21, 36. Watch ye therefore
and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all
these things which shall come to pass and shall stand before
the Son of Man. That has to do with somebody
that knows something about who God is. Worthy, worthy. But look
at this one right here, Acts 13. Acts 13.44. Acts 13.44. Paul had been preaching to a
group of Jews. Acts 13.44. The next Sabbath
day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of
God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with
envy, spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming." What were they doing? Paul was preaching the
gospel to them. And what they did, they heard
what was being preached and they contradicted him. Uh-uh, uh-uh,
uh-uh. Blaspheming God. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, ìIt was necessary that the Word
of God, the Gospel, should first have been spoken to you. But
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy to
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.î So this word
ìworthyî, back in Matthew chapter 10, it relates to those who have
been made evident that they are the vessels of mercy. So what
the Lord said, He said, verse 11, Matthew 10, into whatsoever
city or town you should enter, inquire who in it is worthy. Now what were they to do? Go
around and just ask people who, you know. How do you inquire? I'm going to inquire this morning.
Who is, according to these scriptures, worthy? And when I say worthy,
now I'm talking about those who have been made evident that they
believe the gospel. How do I inquire who is worthy? Let me tell you how I do. I preach
to them. You preach to them. And if they
are, by the grace of God, made worthy, not in themselves, you
understand what I'm talking about. But if they have, by the grace
of God, been made evident that they are worthy, because by grace
they believe the gospel, it'll come out on them. So when you
inquire who is worthy, you go into a city, and you go preach,
and if Almighty God has made evidence, somebody comes up and
says, why don't you come over to my house? Why don't you come? I want to hear what you've got
to say. I appreciate it. You know, you go into a city
and you inquire. It says, and you inquire who
is worthy and there abide till you go thence. And when you come
into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let
your peace come upon it. Preach to them. Preach to them. Tell them the truth. But if it
be not worthy, I'm not and you're not infallible. Now there may
be times that I've been hopeful that someone that has, I thought,
heard the gospel, and it appeared so for a while, that it was so. But, you know, there's a parable
that the Lord set forth a sower, went to sow, and he sowed the
seed, the Word of God. Some of it fell by the wayside,
and the birds came and took it. Obviously, there was no fruit
there. But then there was some stony ground, and some seeds
fell, and it sprung up quickly. And the Lord said, it's like
those that hear the gospel and they spring up for a while, but
as soon as persecution for the sake of the gospel comes, they
wither. And it's just, there was nothing
there. And there were some that fell among thorny ground. It
just, it sprang up, but in time, the thorns, the cares of this
world, choked it out. It just got to a point to where
There was things, mess, and stuff that was more important than
this. It became evident. It choked it out. But he said there was some good
ground. And he said where the seed fell on that good ground,
that's the ones that were worthy. And there's the difference between
finding out whether they're worthy or unworthy. Do they stay to
the end? Does God keep them by the power
of God through faith? ready to be revealed in the last
time. He says, if you, he said, if the house be worthy, 13, let
your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, if you
find out it's not, let your peace return to you. Don't, don't,
don't argue. Don't, we're not there to fuss
and argue and complain. But let me tell you this, there's
a great warning concerning the tremendous judgment of those
who refuse to hear the gospel. Now listen, listen to me. Listen,
Marvin, you listen to what you're about to say. I want us to all
hear this. Verses 13, 14, I'm sorry, 14,
15. And whosoever shall not receive
you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily, truly, I say
unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than for that city." The most glorious message that
a sinner will ever hear is the message of mercy and compassion
in Christ. That Almighty God apart from
anything that a man or a woman could do, would save them and keep them,
teach them. But if that gospel is refused,
If they won't hear, the Lord says He's told His apostles,
I want you to go out there and preach. You go preach, and if
there's a house and it's worthy, you go in there and wherever
it appears that the gospel is received, you go there and you
stay right there until you leave. But if it's found to be unworthy, He said, I want you to shake
the dust off your feet. The Lord related. the indescribable
judgment of refusing the message of the gospel. What he said is
this, in the day of judgment, the very dust that clung to your
feet, the dust that was there is going to rise up as a witness.
As to be saying, the dust would say, I was there. I was there. He said, you shake it off. That dust in the day of judgment
will be a witness. Paul the Apostle did that very
thing. In Acts 13.47, I'll read this to you, Acts 13.47. Paul
was preaching. And the Scripture says, So hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region, but the Jews stirred
up the devout and honorable women. the chief men of the city, and
raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them
out of their coast. But they shook off the dust of
their feet against them and came to Iconium, and the disciples
were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." Paul said, I'm
going to just shake off the very dust off my feet as a witness
against you. And the Lord said, it's going
to be more tolerable. I can't even enter into that.
The indescribable judgment of Almighty God against Sodom and
Gomorrah. And He said it's going to be
more tolerable for them than for those that have heard the
gospel and said, I'm not going to hear it. I won't bow. I won't bow to that. You remember
there was a rich man in Lazarus. And the rich man died and lifted
up his eyes out of hell. Lazarus died too and went to
the bosom of Abraham. Lazarus laid at the rich man's
gate every day. And sore dogs came and licked
his sores. Lazarus, what he did was, he
just ate the scraps. Just the stuff that the rich
man just threw out in the yard there. Out in the street, sidewalk,
and he'd pick it up and eat it. But Lazarus went into the bosom
of Abraham, went to heaven. And scripture says that the rich
man lifted up, doesn't say that Lazarus saw him, but the rich
man lifted up his eyes out of hell. And he saw Lazarus, he
could see Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. I've always wondered
about that. Will those in hell be able to
behold the mercy of Almighty God? I don't know. But the rich man lifted up his
eyes out of hell and saw Lazarus. And he said, Father Abraham,
would you have Lazarus just dip his finger in water and just
touch my tongue, just for a second, just for a second, and give me
some relief? And Father Abraham says, no,
there's a great gulf that's fixed between us and you. Can't cross
over. Would you have Lazarus go back?
He said, I've got five brothers that don't believe either. He
said, if one comes back from the dead, surely they'll believe
if one comes back from the dead. The Lord said, no. No, they've
got the prophets, they've got the scriptures. If they don't
hear what's said, they won't believe if one comes back from
the dead. The Lord did. The Lord rose from
the dead. Lazarus did. The Jews wanted to kill him.
But you know what he told, Father Abraham told that rich man? He
said, oh, you remember. I want you to remember. Going
through eternity, eternity, remembering. every time you ever heard the
gospel preached. What a man or woman in hell wouldn't
give for just one time to hear the gospel. One time. May Almighty God bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.