Good morning, brethren. Let's
turn to Colossians chapter 4. Colossians 4. I wanted to pick
up right here where we left off Thursday night. We saw verse
2. Continue in prayer. These are
three aspects of prayer. Continue in prayer. Opportunity
to keep praying to the Lord. and watch in the same, patiently
waiting on the Lord, watching for the Lord, and thirdly, with
thanksgiving, giving God thanks. Everything about our salvation
is due to our Lord, so we thank Him. I wanted to take these next
two verses, because they're so very important, especially for
God's preacher, verse three. He says, with all praying also
for us, Paul speaking of himself as the minister of the Lord and
of the others, apostles and other preachers the Lord had sent,
with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in bonds. that I may make it manifest as
I ought to speak. This is the request of the Lord's
preacher. It's my prayer, it's my request
to you for me and for all the Lord's preachers. Pray for us,
pray for us that the Lord would open unto us a door of utterance, that we might speak the mystery
of Christ for which I am also in bonds that I may make it manifest
as I ought to speak. By Christ calling us, he calls
his preacher. We go through everything that
every other believer goes through when the Lord calls you and converts
you. And by him calling us and making
us experience the power of the Lord, the grace of the Lord,
that everything is of the Lord, That makes us depend entirely
upon the Lord. And when he sends you to preach,
he makes you understand real quickly that you are utterly
dependent on the Lord for everything. I remember when I first came
here, and it was probably maybe six months, probably not that
long, but I just remember how it came down on me just so, so,
powerfully, how that I don't have any ability to have anyone
come to this place. I don't have any ability to make
anybody hear the gospel that goes forth. I have no ability
to make anyone stay and continue under the gospel. I have no ability. I can't get a message without
the Lord. I can't preach a message without
the Lord. We just are utterly dependent
on the Lord. That's what prayer is about. It's about us being dependent
upon the Lord, keeping us mindful we're dependent upon the Lord.
And these are the three things I want you to see in these verses. We pray to the Lord because we're
dependent on the Lord to open the door, to give the opportunity
to open the door. Secondly, We depend upon the
Lord to preach as we ought. To have the message and to deliver
that message is of the Lord. And then thirdly, to continue
when we are rejected. Paul was in bonds, he was in
prison for preaching the gospel, and yet he continued to preach
the gospel. There's a reason the Lord does
things like that to his preacher, and we'll see that. Let's begin
here, first of all, Only the Lord opens the door for his preacher. He said, verse three, pray for
us that God would open unto us a door of utterance. The Lord
alone opens the door for his preacher to preach the gospel.
No man who is, you know, if he's filling in for his pastor, or
he's traveling and filling in for pastors, and you know, the
Lord's given him a heart to study and a heart to preach the gospel,
No man wants to put himself in a pulpit as the Lord's preacher. If the Lord's really taught him,
a man does not want that to be of his own hand. The Lord has
to open that door, and you want to know the Lord opened that
door. Every opportunity that we have to speak the gospel,
it's the Lord who opens that door, and he alone, he alone. He directs you to the place he
would have you to go. He opens that door. He lifts
up a people to hear and provides a man for that place and he directs
his preach to the place he'd have him to go. And then as the
Lord gives you that message, only the Lord can open the door
of the sinner's heart and cause them to hear that gospel. We
see this in Acts 16. I want you to go there with me.
Acts 16 is a really good example of this. Acts 16, in verse 7,
Paul was planning to go to a place, and the Spirit of the Lord forbid
him to go. This is another thing we're gonna say, when the Lord
closes a door, we depend on Him to close a door, so that we don't
go that way. And it says after, verse 7, after
they were come to Mycenae, they assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not. He forbade them to go there. And they, passing by Massiah,
came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, come
over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the
vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. You know, the Lord makes it clear
to us, to you, to me. He makes it clear to us when
somebody is earnestly wanting to hear the gospel. And it's
evident to you when it's somebody that's just asking a question
to tell you what they know, or they're asking a question because
they really are seeking the Lord. Well, it was the same here. The
Lord made them assuredly know that this is where he'd have
them to go. And it says, therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with
a straight course to Samothracea, and the next day to Neapolis,
and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that
part of Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in that city abiding
certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by riverside, where prayer was wont to be made, and
we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worship God heard us, whose heart the Lord
opened. See, he opened the door for them
to go there, and then through the preaching of the gospel,
he opened her heart. So she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul, and when she was baptized in her
household, she besought us, saying, if you've judged me to be faithful
to the Lord, come into my house and abide there, and she constrained
us. So the Lord, we pray to the Lord,
We ask you pray for your preacher, and I'm so thankful when I hear
you pray for me. It reminds me how dependent I
am on the Lord, and I need the Lord. I need him continually. He opens the door, showing us where we're to preach,
and he opens the door of the heart when we preach. And so when we're planning anything,
talking about going somewhere, preaching somewhere or anything,
it's if the Lord permit, if the Lord permit. Paul told the Corinthians,
he said, I trust to tarry a while with you if the Lord permit.
And he said, but I'll tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost because
a great door and effectual is open unto me and there are many
adversaries. He stayed there because the Lord
had opened the door for him to preach, gave him the opportunity,
made it known to him. Now, here's another thing. Only the Lord can open the door
so that we preach freely and the word goes forth freely. And
also, we depend upon the Lord to shut the door in the sense
of protecting us from our enemies. It's only the Lord that can do
that. We depend on him for that. Here's an example. In 2 Thessalonians
chapter three, Both examples right here, 2 Thessalonians
3.1, we depend on the Lord to cause the word to go forth freely
and we depend on the Lord to protect us from the enemy. He
says, verse one, finally brethren, pray for us that the word of
the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is
with you. And that we may be delivered. from unreasonable and wicked
men for all have not faith. Both these doors took free course
for the gospel to go forth and to shut the door to protect us
from our enemy. So these are, this is first of
all, any opportunity you have or I have of preaching, it's
the Lord who's gonna open that door. It's the Lord who's gonna
open the door for you to speak, for the gospel to go forth freely,
It's the Lord that's gonna open the door of the heart for anyone
to hear, and it's the Lord that's gonna close the door to protect
us from our enemy. This is why we pray. We are utterly,
totally dependent on the Lord. Absolutely, absolutely. Now secondly, I want you to,
the next thing is, we can't preach as we ought to preach unless
the Lord gives the message. and makes us to preach clearly,
boldly, as we ought to preach. Paul said, pray that God would
open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ,
that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Speak it clearly,
clearly, boldly. The gospel is a mystery. The
gospel is a mystery to sinners. We come into this world dead
in sin. People, you know, accuse us and
say, well, you act like men are robots. No, it's worse than that. Robots, Brother Don, you say
robots have moving parts. We come into the world dead,
spiritually dead. Can do nothing spiritual, nothing. So, this gospel's a mystery to
men. It's a mystery. It has to be
revealed by the Lord, and only the Lord can reveal it. So the
Lord has to give the message he'd have his preacher preach,
the Lord has to enable him to preach, and the Lord has to open
the heart and give a man a new heart for him to receive it and
believe the message. It's only by the Holy Spirit
that the Lord's preacher preaches. He can't get the message without
the Lord giving it. And he can't deliver the message
without the Lord enabling him to speak. And it will not be
effectually in anybody's heart without the Lord giving sinners
a heart to hear and understand. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 2.
This is, and I'm reading scripture to you because I'd rather you
hear it in the Lord's word, for one, but it's just so clear right
here in this chapter two. This is exactly what Paul's talking
about. in this entire chapter. In verse one, he said, I came
not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you
the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Christ is
the gospel. Christ is, he's the covenant. Every promise is yes and amen
in him. He is the wisdom by which we have the mind of Christ and
have discernment He's the righteousness of God by which we're forgiven
all sin and made perfectly righteous. God sees us as completely, totally
obedient to him because Christ was obedient and put away all
our sin, made us righteous. We're holy in Christ. He served
God with a pure heart. And he's the holiness of the
heart created in us. And he's our liberty. We are
only freed from our sin nature and from the law and eventually
one day from this world by Christ being our redemption. This gospel
is Christ. So we, that's our message. We're
determined to preach Christ and him crucified. Christ and him
crucified. And he said, I was with you in
meek weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Nothing is
of us, nothing's of the preacher. And he said, and my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. We're
not trying to craft the word and speak it in such a way as
to tickle the ears of men and make them to be pleased with
us and not be offended. That's not it. He says, in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. What is that? It's the Lord answering
that prayer to give us utterance, to speak the mystery as we ought,
to speak the gospel clearly, to declare all flesh is grass,
you and I contribute nothing to salvation, and to declare
salvation is entirely of the Lord. From choosing who he would
save, to redeeming those that he chose to save, to regenerating
us, to keeping us, raising us from the grave to glorifying
us. Everything about salvation is
of the Lord. To preach the gospel is by the
Spirit of God, by the power of God, by Him giving you the utterance.
That's what He's talking about here. So that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit,
we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Among them given
a new heart, we're speaking wisdom. Yet not the wisdom of this world
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. What does the mystery mean? Even
the hidden wisdom. God purposely hid this gospel
from many. Our Lord's prayed and said, Father,
I thank you that you've hidden these things from the wise and
prudent. and revealed them unto babes.
He has to make you a babe and humble you by giving you a heart
to see you're the sinner in need of him. And he reveals Christ
in the hearts of those that he's made babes. But the wise and
prudent who think they know everything and they've studied themselves
into this grand knowledge, knowledge puffeth up. Charity edified. The Lord hid these things from
the wise and prudent. It has to be revealed. God ordained
it before the world and to our glory, which none of the princes,
verse eight, none of the princes of this world knew, for had they
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it's
written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. That mystery has to be revealed,
that God prepared the salvation in Christ from the foundation
of the world, he ordained His people to salvation from eternity
in Christ. But God, here's how we know it,
God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit. The Spirit search
all things, yea, the deep things of God. Just like I don't know
what you're thinking unless you tell me, we don't know the mystery
of God unless He reveals it to us. That's the illustration Paul
gives. We have to be taught of the Lord. And this Spirit's of
God. He gives the Spirit of God so
that we know the things that are freely given to us of God.
That's what Paul means when he says, pray for us that we may
be given utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, to speak the
gospel as we ought. The mystery. In verse 13, 2 Corinthians
2, 13, It's only by the Holy Spirit
that we preach. He said, which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
We're turning from scripture to scripture and trying to see
exactly what the Lord says, exactly what this mystery of the gospel
is by going from Colossians 4 to 2 Corinthians 2. That's comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. This is not how the world preaches. If you go to a church where everybody's
flocking to hear the message, the Lord said in Psalm 12, men
gather on every side when the vilest of men are exalted. You
preach a man, you give a man something to do, you declare
man has a part in salvation and folks will gather on every side
to hear that message. But when you hear that kind of
preaching, They may sometimes give a, say, a verse of scripture
or a phrase in a scripture, then the whole message is no more
scripture. It's just man reasoning on a
man-fleshly level, giving you a moral lesson, something to
do to be moral. But we're wanting men to see
that we need Christ, we need the Lord to save us, we need
God to save us. We're speaking the things that
God has given in his word. This is the word of life. This is how God speaks to his
people in this book right here. And it takes the spirit of the
Lord to give us the heart, to make us spiritual, to give us
a spirit, spirit speaking to spirit, so that we understand
the things of God. Nothing about our flesh even
now understands this. Why do you sometimes have confusion? Why do you sometimes, you know,
something doesn't seem clear to you? That's your old man that
doesn't understand a thing. It's in the new man that the
Lord gives you an understanding. The natural man, when he says
there, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, that's so for you and me as believers right now. Our
natural man doesn't receive anything. He's not been changed, he's not
been Nothing's been done to the natural man. It's in the spirit
and when he says there verse 15 he that is spiritual Judgeth
all things you discern all things that's what it means and you're
not you're discerned of no man For who has known the mind of
the Lord that the Lord may instruct him How are you going to know
the mind of the Lord so the Lord instructs you? we have the mind
of Christ. He has to give you a new spirit,
a new mind, a new heart to understand. No man can do that for another
man. That's why I ask you, pray for
me, please pray for me, that I might, the Lord would open
the door and the Lord would enable me to speak this gospel as I
ought to speak. I can't make anybody believe
it. But I want to speak clearly to where you at least understand
in your head what I'm saying. I don't want to be misunderstood.
I don't want it to be ambiguous. If worldly preaching is like
a horoscope, it can mean anything to anybody. And they do that
on purpose. But when you hear the gospel,
there's a definite meaning. When you hear, you are the sinner
and can do nothing, that's clear. And when you hear Christ is all,
that's clear. And I want it to be clear. One
old preacher said, he said, I can tell when the brethren are praying
for me. Because he said, I have liberty
studying the gospel. I have liberty preaching the
gospel. I can tell when my brethren are praying for me. The Lord
hears us. He hears us. provides everything for us. Now, here's the last thing. The Lord has to open the door,
give you the opportunity to open the heart, shut the door from
your enemy. The Lord has to make the preacher
preach the mystery of God. He has to give you the message
and make you to preach it in the power of the Spirit. That's
not about being loud or putting on antics or anything. That's
not what the power of the Spirit is. The power of the Spirit is
to preach this gospel clearly as it's revealed in this book.
And the Lord is the power in the heart to reveal it. It could
be spoken in a whisper, or it could be thundered from the mountaintops.
But either way, it's the spirit of the Lord, it's the Lord that
is the power. It's him being the power that
gives the heart to hear and believe. Now, the third thing is, only
the Lord can keep his preacher preaching and preaching Christ,
even when rejected of men. He said there, he said, for which
I'm in bonds. Paul was in prison. Who put him
there? The Lord put him there. The Lord
put him there. If you notice, the men in the scripture that
the Lord used the most, used to write most scripture, used
in some way in the earth more than others, those men suffered
more than others. Moses, David, the Apostle Paul. Why is that? Paul tells us clearly
why that is. If the Lord used a man, and did
a great work and did not send some afflicting trial to keep
that man humbled, we would be exalted. And Paul was taken up
to the third heaven, saw things he said are not lawful to be
uttered. Paul said, and he said this two times, lest I be exalted
above measure. The Lord gave me a thorn in the
flesh. lest I be exalted above measure. The Lord gave me the
thorn in the flesh to teach me his grace is sufficient. I'm
dependent on him. Nothing's of me, I'm dependent
on him. That's why when the Lord used Moses like he used him,
that's why Moses had to suffer so much. That's why David did,
that's why Paul did, to keep them humble knowing that everything
is of the Lord. They're totally dependent on
the Lord. Paul was in chains because he faithfully preached
the gospel. And he wanted prayer that he
would continue to speak the gospel clearly as he ought to speak.
He asked them to pray for him. See, the Lord gave him that affliction,
putting him in chains, putting him under house arrest. And the
Lord blessed it to his heart because the Lord kept Paul knowing
He asked them to pray for him because he knew, I need the Lord.
I need the Lord to sustain me. He said to Timothy, he said,
I'm in chains for preaching this gospel. He said, but I know whom
I have believed, and I have persuaded he is able to keep me that which
I've committed to him against that day. And here's the wonderful
thing. This is the wonderful thing,
brethren. It doesn't matter if the Lord works providentially
to put his preacher in chains like he did Paul. It teaches
us not to look at the outward. I'm sure Paul, in his flesh,
was very discouraged, just like any of us would be. I'm sure
he was very discouraged that he was in prison for preaching
the gospel. And he was probably, in his flesh,
he was thinking, what greater work I could be doing if I was
free and able to travel and preach like I had been doing? to show us that it's not the
outward. The Lord put him in each chain.
Most of the brethren rejected him. And the Lord still used
Paul to preach the gospel right where he put him. And the Lord
blessed that word to the hearts of lost elect sinners. And the Lord quickened them and
gave them faith and called them and saved them. One of my favorite
passages in scripture is, here's Paul writing to the Philippians
from being in prison in Rome, and he says, all the brethren
salute you, chiefly them that are of Caesar's house. Would
Paul have ever been given an opportunity to preach to Caesar's
family? How did he have that? Well, outwardly,
the way the Lord gave him, opened that door for him, outwardly,
judging by these eyes, it would appear the Lord was shutting
every door to Paul. He was arrested at Jerusalem,
he was carried from one kangaroo court to the next one, then carried
all the way to Rome, then put in prison, and the whole way,
what that was, was the Lord was opening the door for Paul. And
he brings Caesar's family there, to hear the gospel and God saved
him. He did all of that because that
was his elect. Those in Caesar's house were
chosen of God from before the world was made. Christ redeemed
them. They had to be saved, they had to be called. And the Lord
worked all that to put Paul there to preach that word to him. Onesimus,
Onesimus runs away, steals from Philemon, runs away to all appearance. It looks like the Lord had shut
the door for Onesimus being of any usefulness whatsoever. The
Lord directed every step that man took and directed him right
to Paul at Rome in prison. And Paul spoke as he ought by
the Spirit of the Lord, and Christ revealed himself in Onesimus. And I just love that the Lord
gives Paul the words to write to Philemon in that little one
one or two page letter, puts it in the hand of Onesimus to
go take it to Philemon. So Philemon can read what Paul
wrote. I don't think Onesimus didn't
know what that letter said. I'm sure Paul sealed it. But
Onesimus is used to deliver this message to Philemon. And he opens
it up and Paul says, the Lord saved this man. Receive him not
as a servant, but receive him as your brother. You see that
the Lord did all that. The Lord opened that door for
Paul to preach to Anespus and to preach to Caesar's house.
The Lord opened the door of their heart. The Lord closed any door
that would prohibit any enemy from hindering Paul. The Lord
gave Paul the wisdom and the spirit to preach as he ought
to preach, to preach Christ and glorify Christ and give him all
the glory. And the Lord opened the heart
and gave him faith to believe it. Go with me to 2 Corinthians
2. I just wanna read two more scripture.
2 Corinthians 2. This is what the Lord has taught
us and this is why we pray for him to bless us. 2 Corinthians
2.12. Paul says, furthermore, when
I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, I like that. when I came to preach Christ's
gospel. And a door was opened unto me
of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them,
I went from thence into Macedonia. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ. and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in
them that perish. To the one we are the savor of
death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto
life. And who's sufficient for these things? For we're not as
many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but
as of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Do we begin
to commend ourselves, or do we need, as others do, epistles
of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? You
are our epistle, written in the heart, known and read of all
men, for as much as you manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit
of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables
of the heart, and such trust have we through Christ to God.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as
of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. That's the heart he gives his
preacher. The Lord is everything. He is our salvation. He is the
only way we can preach. One more place, Revelation 3,
and the Lord is our sufficiency. He always makes us triumph. Revelation
3, 7. Now this is the Lord himself
speaking to the angel of the church at Philadelphia. The angel
is the messenger. This is his message to his preacher. To the angel of the church in
Philadelphia, Revelation 3, 7. To the angel of the church in
Philadelphia, write. These things saith he that is
holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that
openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
I know thy works, behold, I've set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength,
and has kept my word, and has not denied my name. Behold, I
will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are
Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, as I
also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall
come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Hold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown. This is grace right here, brethren.
The Lord worked all this in them, and he works all this in his
people, and gives you the grace to honor him, preaching him,
believing him, trusting him, waiting on him. He gives you
the grace to honor him. And then as he said there, because
you've kept my word, as if you did it all yourself. He gave
you all the grace to keep his word and be patient and trust
him and wait on him and honor him. He gave you the grace to
do it. Then he honors you as if you
did it all yourself. That's grace. That's grace. He said, I shut, and no man can
open. I open, and no man can shut.
We are utterly dependent upon our Savior. Pray for us, brethren.
Pray for me. Pray for every preacher you know
that preaches his gospel. because we can't preach, we can't
make anybody hear it, we can't get a message, we can't do a
thing without the Lord. And we pray for you, we pray
for you. You remember whenever an issue
came up, the Lord had provided seven faithful men before he
provided the need. When he provided the need, they
needed somebody to serve tables to give the offerings to the
widows. The Lord had provided seven men to fill that office.
And what did Peter say? He said, it's not fit for us
to leave the word and serve tables. But he said, we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. That's
what he calls his preachers to do. And we do. Every preacher,
I pray for you, I pray for you continually. and we give ourselves to the
word, all by God's grace, and we ask you, pray for us. We are
all totally dependent on our Savior, every one of us. Let's go to him, brethren. Our
Lord, we thank you for being holy. Thank you for being faithful. Thank you for being righteous.
Thank you for being all-powerful. Thank you for revealing yourself
in us. Thank you for keeping us and
keeping us looking to you only. Thank you, Lord, for giving the
message to preach, opening the door of the hearts in your people.
Thank you for protecting us from every enemy. Thank you, Lord,
for turning us from ourselves and any work of ours and all
the things below and keeping us looking and trusting that
you are our salvation. Lord, be with these brethren
right here. We pray, Lord, you would bless
them, keep them. We pray for our brethren who
are sick and in pain and troubled. And Lord, we utterly depend upon
you. And we pray for your preachers
everywhere that you would continue to do these things we've seen
here today in your word. We believe you will, because
you've promised. But we ask you, Lord, and we wait upon you, and
we look to you. Forgive us, Lord, for looking
anywhere else, for thinking anything else, for not trusting you as
we ought. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us.
Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. But thank you
for your grace and mercy. Lord, honor your name, exalt
yourself in our hearts. That's our prayer. In the name
of our Redeemer, our salvation, our all, Christ Jesus, amen.