Let's take our Bibles again and
turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs 11. I'd like to look this morning
at just one verse of Scripture. Proverbs 11.26. Here's what it
says. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but
blessings shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. You know, I never I never can get away
from that, and thankfully so. That Scripture, when the disciples
asked the Lord, why do you speak in parables? Proverbs, parables. Why? And He said, because it's
given unto you to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God, and unto
them it's not given. The Lord, when He was here, He
spoke, He preached parables. And even His disciples were just
timed. Remember when the parable of
the sower, they said, what does that mean? He explained it to
them. I know this. As we go through
the book of Proverbs, and we've been going through this now for
a while, I know that every time we look at one of these Proverbs,
if we don't see the glory of Christ, then we just missed it. If you don't see Christ in it,
then we just missed the message. And Proverbs, as we've said before,
is so easy to understand, humanly speaking. He that withholdeth corn, the
people shall curse him. The blessing shall be upon the
head of him that selleth it. Well, I guess a man would say if somebody's
got something that you need If you don't let them have it,
something, I mean, they'll be mad at you. Yeah. Yeah. I can understand that. But if
that's all there is to it, what is that for us? I'd like to read, let me just
read this first description. I want to start this message.
I've entitled this Preach Christ or be cursed. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
James 3.1, My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we
shall receive the greater condemnation, the greater judgment. Brother
Henry Mahan wrote a few comments on that passage right there,
and I'd like to share with you what he had to say. He said preachers
are held to a higher standard and with greater severity than
others. He said a man should never rush
into or quickly desire to be a teacher of the holy scriptures. Unqualified, untaught, uncalled
preachers or teachers are dangerous to the souls of men. He said,
we never want to discourage men from the office, but we must
use restraint in ordaining a novice. And then cited this scripture,
1 Timothy 5.22, lay hands suddenly on no man. You know, when it comes to being
a preacher, Boy, I tell you, the more I stand
in this position right here, the more I realize something
of the great burden on standing behind a pulpit and having the
responsibility. I would not want to do anything
else. I wouldn't. But the only reason
I wouldn't is because I believe this is what the Lord has called
me to do. Boy, when I stand here, I want to be truthful. I step out of this pulpit. I never step out of this pulpit
except I go over that message so quickly in my mind. Neil,
you know what I'm talking about. Man, you go over that thing in
your mind again and you think, did I say that right? Did I understand
what I was talking about? Here I am talking to God's elect
with the responsibility to be truthful, to be honoring to Christ. And if I'm not, Paul the Apostle
said, woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel. Oh, the graveness of that responsibility. You know, we're assured that
the Lord is going to send preachers. I got to thinking about something
the other day, and I've made this statement myself, and it's
this, that there's not a lot of younger preachers that I see.
I used to look at the older preachers and think, well, you know, there's
older, those other guys. Older guys, you know. Brother
Scott, Brother Henry, Brother Maurice, Gunray. Older guys,
you know. And I'm starting to look around
and I'm thinking, man, I am the older guys. And I think of younger
men. that are coming up, how few there
are. And it makes me wonder because
I am assured that God Almighty alone sends preachers. But listen to this verse, Luke
10, verses 1-12. After these things, the Lord
appointed other 70 also and sent them two by two before His face
into every city and place where He Himself would come. Therefore
said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers
are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His harvest." Now I know something. I know
that only God can send a preacher. I will give you pastors after
my heart." And then I got to thinking about that passage in
Ezekiel 36, 26. Things that he said he was going
to do. I will. I will. They shall. Yet for all
these things shall I be inquired of, saith the Lord. And I think,
I know that prayer does not change things. The God to whom we pray
alone orders all things. But I think of the grave responsibility
that I have to pray based on His Word. He said, pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers. How necessary it is for me to
ask. I say, well, do you think you're
going to change things? No, I'm not that silly. But I can read. I can see where He said pray
and ask. I believe God is going to bless
this church in accordance with His will and purpose. And do
you know I ask daily, Lord, would You bless this church? Lord,
would You increase the borders of this church according to Your
will? That's scriptural. That's in Ezekiel also. Lord,
would You help us? Would You teach us? I want to
learn. I want to know. I want God to
bless you. Bless me. I want to know. I want
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He said,
then ask. Ask. He said, you don't have
because you don't ask. Isn't that a mysterious thing?
That's a marvelous thing. I know based on that Scripture,
I can tell you what this Scripture is about right here. It's about
preaching. It's about preaching. I can tell you that. I know.
I know. I know it's about preaching.
And I know the necessity, based on the Word of God, of preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Man, I'm thinking, we're here
this morning and who knows Maybe God might be pleased to save
somebody, but He's not going to be pleased to save anybody
except through the preaching of the Gospel of His Son. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God and salvation
to everyone who believes it. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. how necessary it is that we preach
the Gospel. You're not going to learn anything.
I'm not going to learn anything. And God Almighty is not going
to bless a lie. He's going to bless that which
He Himself sends. It is so necessary. Well, then what's being said
right here? He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse
him. But blessing shall be upon the
head of him that selleth it." Now, do you know what the key
word in this verse is? Corn. There's the key to it right
there. Listen to it again. He that withholdeth
corn, the people shall curse him. The blessing shall be upon
the head of him that selleth it." Corn. I thought, well, corn. Then I got to looking at what
the word corn meant. If I can come to the heart of
the word corn. And there's the key to that scripture
right there. Corn. It means winnowed grain. winnowed grain. And you know
what winnowed means. When they would put all the corn
in the grain, they would take a big sheet and throw it up in
the air. And it would go up and the wind
would blow the trash out of it. The seed would just come back
down. Wind would blow all the trash. Winnowed corn. That's what it means. withholdeth
winnowed corn, winnowed grain. He that withholds clean corn,
he that withholds that which has all the trash taken out of
it, that's what it means, winnowed grain, winnowed, clean, where
there's no undesirable waste, there's no greater picture. of the gospel than that winnowed
grain, winnowed corn. Clean. That corn that sets forth
the glorious gospel of Christ. Listen to the words of Psalm
126. The words of the Lord are pure
words. Pure words. Has silver tried in a furnace
of earth? There's no death in the pot,
as was the case when one of the sons of the prophets put some
wild vines. Remember that in 2 Kings? The prophet told him, said, go
pick some herbs. And one of them just started
grabbing stuff. Wild vines. He threw it in the
pot. cooking a soup and he tasted
it and said, there's poison in the pot. There's nothing impure concerning
God's Word. Psalm 119, 140, Thy Word is pure,
therefore thy servant loveth it. You remember me telling you
the other day about a little leaven leavens a whole lump?
You know, you listen to a man And he starts telling you something.
He says, you know, salvation is all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
salvation. All you have to do is accept
Him by your free will. A little leaven right there.
You just leaven the whole lump. You don't believe salvation by
grace. No, no, no, no. No, you don't. Winnowed corn, winnowed grain,
that which is pure, that which is clean, that which has all
the trash and the husk and the twigs and the little sticks and
everything in it, just pure, the gospel. Clean. Don't you love it when you hear
something and it's just Christ? It has the savor of Christ? You
taste the Lord. You taste His good. You drink
that sweet milk of the gospel of God's grace whereby we grow. And you think, you know what?
This is so good. I don't want to hear anything. I don't want
to hear anything that dishonors Him. Don't tell me anything that
gives me any glory because the moment you start heaping a praise
on me, Paul said, I'm not going to glory
in anything but the cross of Christ. His work, His honor,
His name, His obedience, His righteousness. But here's the
thing, He that withholdeth corn, the people shall crush Him. They'll stab Him with words.
That's what it means. or they'll have vicious ill toward
him. He that withholdeth the winnowed
corn of the gospel, he that doesn't preach Christ, he that holds
back that which is absolutely necessary and blessed to the
salvation of God's people, people will curse him. Well, I got to
thinking about that. I know that that might not be
necessarily in this life. I know that in this life there
are many that love these great swelling words of disrespect
toward God. I know that there are. I know that because a man is
void of the life of Christ, men love to be lied to. I know that. I know that based on Scripture.
I know that. I'm not making that up. Jeremiah
5.31, the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means, and my people love to have it so. The Jews, back
when God was speaking through Jeremiah, He said, They love
it. You love to be lied to. And you
realize it takes a new heart to realize you're lying to me. 2 Timothy 4.3, For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their
own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. But based on this Scripture,
And this is the only way I can have any assurance whatsoever
of that being so. People could say, well, you know
what, Marvin, you're kind of stretching it. Well, let me ask you this. When
the Lord took the two on the road to Emmaus, beginning with
Moses and all the prophets and all the Scriptures, He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures those things concerning Himself. Who else are you going to find
in here that's got any eternal weight to it? If we see not Christ
in these Scriptures, then we don't see the message. The Lord
told the Pharisees, He said, you search the Scriptures and
in them do you think you have life. And these are they which
testify of Me. We best be looking for Christ.
He that withholds the winnowed corn The Scripture says, the people
shall curse Him. They'll lash out. I got to thinking about a Scripture.
Turn with me to Matthew 8.12. There's so many. I'll just read
this one. But there's so many that say
this very thing. Matthew 8, 12. Now let's read verse 11 and 12. Matthew 8, 11 and 12. And I say
unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall
sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out into outer darkness, and there shall be
weeping. And do you see this last phrase right here? and gnashing
of teeth." Gnashing of teeth. How many times have we heard
that? Gnashing of teeth. There will be weeping and wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Look at Acts 7 verse 54. Acts
7 verse 54. Stephen had been preaching. Stephen
was preaching Christ. He was setting forth the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there was those that heard
him preaching. And the more he preached, the
madder they got. And he summed it up right here
in Acts 7.54. And when they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. I want you to look at Job 16,
9 and 10. Job 16, 9 and 10. Job 16, 9 and 10. They gaped
upon me with their mouth. They smitten me upon the cheek
reproachfully. They gathered themselves together
against me. God hath delivered me to the
ungodly, turned me over into the hands. of the wicked. They gnashed on me, verse 9,
with His teeth. I looked up the word gnashed. Two things. Grinding the teeth. biting like a lion or a gnashing
of teeth out of anger and hatred and resentment. The Scripture sets forth that
there is coming a time, not in this world, but in the world
to come, He that withholdeth corn the
people shall curse Him. And I thought upon those things
when our Lord said there's going to be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth. In that day when men realize that they're now standing before
God Almighty, and now they realize, they know,
at the day of God's judgment, they know now what's going on. And when men are cast out into
outer darkness, and that very place in which the love of God
is absolutely void, there's nothing but judgment there, hatred and
resentment. Can you imagine realizing that
a man has lied to you. He's lied to you. And you now are forever cast
out. You lied to me. Based on that
word, he that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. You
say, Marvin, how do you know that that's so? God said it is.
God Almighty said it is. Can you imagine going through
eternity I think about that rich man in
Lazarus. Scripture says the rich man lifted up his eyes out of
hell and he knew just exactly what had happened. He knew what
was going on. Would you send Lazarus back? I've got some brothers over there.
They don't want to come here. He that withholdeth corn, winnowed corn, the people
shall curse him. And it's not a word cursed like
under the curse of God. That's not the word. The people
shall curse him, lash out at him, gnash him with
teeth. But blessing shall be upon the
head of him that selleth it, upon the one fully and freely
dispensing it. Remember the wise and the foolish
virgins and the wise virgins were prepared. They had oil. The bridegroom
made the announcement. The bridegroom has come and the
foolish virgins came and said, We don't have any oil. Give us
some oil. Give us some of your oil. And he said, No, we don't
have enough for you. You go find the ones that sell it. Sell it. The Gospel, the Scripture reveals,
is to be bought. Now those foolish virgins didn't
have oil. You go find the ones that sell
it. Sell it. Blessings shall be upon the hymn
of selleth it. Oh, the Scripture says, every
one that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money, come ye and buy. and eat, yea, come buy wine
and milk without money, without price." I realize something here. This is Scriptural language and
the only way I can set forth Scripture is by Scriptural language. The Scripture sets forth that
those that are selling something that's bought without
money Something that is bought without
price. Something that is bought by faith
and faith that is given. Those that, scripturally speaking,
sell, set forth, disperse the gospel, the winnowed corn of
the gospel, are those that God has called blessings shall be.
God's blessing, first of all, is upon Him. God is blessed. Paul said in Ephesians 3, 8,
Unto me, whom less than the least of all saints is this grace,
this loving and merciful kindness given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable, the untraceable riches of Christ. God's people. Last verse, turn
to Acts 20. Acts chapter 20. You realize the grace of God
that God would call a man to preach. And that man who realizes,
as Paul just said unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints is His grace given. I thank God. I thank God Almighty. that God would cause my path
to cross with a preacher, that God had called to preach, that
God had called to preach the gospel of Christ. How thankful
I am that God Almighty would not leave this needy, helpless
sinner to sit and to listen to somebody that was not preaching
the truth. And I realize the only difference
for me or you or anybody else is the grace of God. Now, you
know that. Scriptural language is according
to that verse of Scripture, a blessing upon the head of him that selleth
it. That sells that which Almighty God says you can't buy with money. You can't buy that with money. Come buy. Buy wine. Buy milk without price. How do
you buy? You buy by faith. Scriptural. You buy it. Almighty God, blessings
shall be upon the head. First, I know God's blessing.
I know it's God's blessing. But I'll tell you, you that believe,
you're like me. You're thankful that God sent
a preacher and caused your path. Think where you came from. Think
where you came from. And you thank God that God would
send somebody that the Spirit of God would bless for the honor
of Almighty God and for the good of His people. Acts 20, in closing,
verse 34, through the end of that chapter. Acts 20, 34, Yea, ye yourselves
know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said it is more blessed
to give than to receive. This is Paul when he was getting
ready to leave. When he had thus spoken, he kneeled
down and he prayed with them all. And they all wept sore and
fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorry most of all for the
words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him unto the ship." You know, it's an
amazing thing. God's people, they realize that
Almighty God uses means. He uses the means of the preaching
of His gospel through earthen vessels that in themselves they
wouldn't keep anything on themselves. They realize they stand here
by the grace of God and they're thankful. And all that we have
is we have His Word based on His Word. I know this, the necessity of
preaching. He that withholds the winnowed
corn, he that withholds the pure gospel of Christ, the people
will curse him. And he will go through eternity
remembering. I know he will. That's what the Lord told that
rich man. You remember. When you were in this earth,
you had all these fine things. You remember. You'll remember. Woe unto you, Chorazin, Bethsaida. If the things preached here had
been preached in Sodom, they would have remained until this
day. It's going to be more tolerable for them. Why? Because you're
going to remember. He that withholdeth winnowed
corn, the people will curse him. Blessing shall be upon the head
of him that salvathed." Blessing, praise, honor unto the Lord Jesus
Christ who in Himself is the Prophet of God. God's Prophet. And those that He called out
of darkness, He called seventy of them and sent them out and
told them, He said, you go and preach. where I'm coming. That
was amazing. Go back and read that Scripture.
He sent those preachers where He was going to be. Think about
it. God raised up a preacher here
50-something years ago. He sent a preacher where He was
going to raise up some folks. Now you think back, and the first
one you thank, you thank God Almighty. You thank the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, thank You Thank You that You would show
mercy to this place and send a preacher. Blessing. God's blessing first
and people's blessing. Oh, may the Lord add comfort
to our hearts in realizing the absolute wonder of God Almighty
showing mercy through the preaching of the Gospel. Is it necessary
what we hear? Yes, it is. Lord, speak to my
heart for Christ's sake. Amen.