All right, go with me back to
Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3, last week we
looked at verse 13 which says, and he goeth up into a mountain
and calleth unto him whom he would and they came unto him. And verse 14 now says, and he
ordained 12. He called 12 apostles. He ordained 12. I got to thinking,
why 12? Why 12? He ordained 12. The reason is because that's
what he purposed to do. That's what he purposed to do. He chose 12. When I was growing
up, my dad's favorite answer for me was, I'd ask him why,
and he loved to say, because I said so. And why does everything happen
the way it does? It's because God said so. Everything. He does what he purposes to do. Verse 14, he ordained 12 that
they should be with him, and that he might send them forth
to preach and to have power to heal sickness and to cast out
devils. And Simon, he surnamed Peter,
he gave Simon the last name Peter. And James, the son of Zebedee,
and John, the brother of James, and he gave them the last name,
he surnamed them Boanerges, which is the sons of thunder. He called
those guys the Sons of Thunder. Now I'm not convinced that that
surname was a totally a term of endearment,
Sons of Thunder. I believe he was stating a fact.
There's a reference that I have right there to Luke chapter 9,
don't turn over there, but that's That's where, um, the people
were not receiving the Lord. He was going through and the
people were not hearing it. They didn't want it. He came
unto his own and his own received him not. And then when James
and John saw that the people were rejecting the Lord, they
said, Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and
kill them all? That's what they said. This bow
energy, that's what that reference is over to. They had gotten a
little bit of power. Our Lord gave them some power
to heal sickness and do some things, to prove his word, to
prove this is the word of God. They'd gotten a little power,
and I believe it went to their head, and they said, I'll tell
you what I'm going to do. Lord, do you want me to handle
this? If you're not going to do anything, you want me to take
over? I think we all better just wait
on the Lord. What do you think? Maybe we should just wait on
the Lord. I'll call down fire. I'll kill them all. You know
what our Lord said right there? He said, you don't have any idea
what spirit you're speaking in. He said, I didn't come to destroy
man, I came to save them. They're already destroying themselves.
Leave them alone, they're going to be destroyed. I came to save
them. Verse 18 says, And Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and
Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus
and Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed
him, And then they went into a house. The Lord called those
12 men and then they went into a house. Now we're not going
to focus individually on each of those men. I looked up their
names, trying to find the meaning of their names and all those
kinds of things and I finally realized we're not going to focus
on those men individually. And the reason is because they
are not the object of this passage of Scripture. Verse 13 says,
And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he
would. And they came unto him. And he
ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might
send them forth to preach. This is all about him. Everything
here is all about him. What he has purpose to do, and
the means that he has chosen to use. That's what this is all
about. God called 12 men to preach. 12 men to preach. These are not the only 12 that
he's ever called. Look with me over at Luke chapter
10. Luke chapter 10 verse 1 says, After these things the Lord appointed
other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face
into every city and place, whether he himself would come. Therefore
said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers
are few. Amen, that's the truth. That's
the truth. He said, pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his
harvest. And then he told him, go your
ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Don't carry a purse. Nor script,
nor shoes salute. No man, by the way, what he's
saying is you are on a mission. You have a message to tell to
a particular people. And I'll take care of everything
else. I'll provide the way. Into whatsoever house you enter,
first say, Peace be to this house. If the Son of Peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it'll turn to you again.
But he sent 70 more right there out in addition to the 12. And
then throughout the rest of the New Testament, He continued to
call laborers and he's still doing it to this day. He's calling
laborers, but here's the first thing we learned from our text.
God calls his preachers. He calls them. They are not voted
into the ministry. They are not encouraged into
the ministry. They do not decide to go into
the ministry. God calls his preachers, just
like he does every child. You don't make a decision to
become a child of God, just like I didn't make a decision to become
a child of Marvin. God calls his preachers. He calls all of his own. After
Judas left, departed, and he hung himself, The other 11 voted
a man into his place. His name was Matthias. They said
he's now gonna be the 12th apostle. But God didn't recognize him
that way. God said, I'm gonna call Saul of Tarsus. God calls
whom he will. But you know, Matthias, Saul,
he was an evil man. This man, Matthias, he was with
them from the beginning. He was a good man. He was a faithful
man. He was a believer. Maybe so,
but God calls who he wants to, calls whom he will. He calls
the worst of us into the ministry, the worst of us. So verse 13
back in our text says the Lord calls whom he would, called whom
he would. Now I want you to turn with me
over to Romans 10. Look at Romans 10 with me. Romans 10 verse 13 says, For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? They have to be sent. Paul said,
I am what I am by the grace of God. That's whatever it is I
am, it's by God's doing. It's by the grace of God. He
said, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace, he revealed his son in me that
I might preach him among the heathen. So God calls every single
one of his preachers. He calls them. Now, why does
the Lord do this? Why does he call men to preach?
Look over at Mark 16 with me. Mark 16 verse 15 says, and he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's why he calls men to preach.
That's why he calls men to preach. It has pleased him by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Pleased him and that's
amazing. Foolishness of preaching. Why
has it pleased him to do that? Because he said so. It just has. It's what he pleased to do. Paul said in Romans 1, So as
much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Do you
have any idea how much I have to remember that? Do you have
any idea? The words in this book declared
is what God has chosen to use to open blind eyes. Not this
flesh right here, not this voice right here. Has nothing to do with me. That's
the only relief I find. Preach the word and the spirit
will take that word and apply it to whoever God has purpose
to apply it to. Our God has called laborers of
his own choosing to send out this message of good news. That
message is the power of God unto salvation. Now, for those whom
he calls, I've titled this Called to Preach. For those whom he
calls, look what he says right here in Mark 16, verse 15. Go ye into all the world. Is this a closed communion gospel
that we have? Us four and no more. Us four and no more. He said,
you go to all the world. Go out to all the world. Why
would he say that? The reason is because his purpose
to save the world. His purpose to save the world.
Every soul that's in the world? No. Every soul that he chose
out of the world to redeem. Every single one. But he said,
you're going to go to all the world. Over in Revelation chapter
5, look at this with me, Revelation 5. Verse 9 says, And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. and has made us unto our God
kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is that lamb. Worthy is the lamb. We have a
good and a kind and a loving God who has called laborers and
he sent them all over the world. He's going to call a people out
of every tribe, nation, kindred, tongue all over the world. Look
at Mark 16 again. Mark 16 verse 15, he said unto
them, go ye into all the world and preach. Preach what? The gospel. The gospel. Paul said, Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. He said, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. This calling is a serious, serious
calling. It's a serious calling. You don't
take up this calling and then lay it down. I think I'm going to take that
job and if it doesn't work out, I'm going to apply over here.
You don't do that here. You don't take up this calling
and then lay it down. You don't lay this calling down
to preach something else. You don't lay it down to preach
what men want you to preach. You don't lay it down to preach
what men want you to preach. Things that tickle men's ear.
Every sinner that God calls to labor, this is the charge He
gives them, every single one. Verse 15, He said, Go ye into
all the world And preach the gospel to every creature. What
is the gospel? What is the gospel? What is the gospel? What's the gospel? In this dead
world we live in, Men and women running around church to church,
man, they're having a great time at Church Circle. Christ Fellowship
out there, they're having a ball. They got the band, they got the
drums. Their hearts are burning. It's hoopla, they feel good.
They're going to walk out and say, wow, what's the gospel? What's the gospel? The world's
about to be over. This life is about to be over.
You know, we're going to go meet God. We're going to go stand
before God. Nothing else is going to matter.
What is the gospel? What is the gospel? Can you imagine
how thankful we're going to be that we know the gospel as we
all stand before the judgment throne with the crowds of people?
Can you imagine? Look at Luke 4 with me. Luke 4. Verse 17 says, There was delivered
unto our Lord the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had
opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. The Spirit of God Almighty rests
on Christ. The Spirit of God Almighty rests
on Christ. It is all about Him. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. Unto thy name Give glory. Hold your place right here in
Luke 4 and go with me to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, God, the father says
in verse one, behold my servant. Behold, what's the gospel. Take a look. Behold my servant,
Jesus Christ. He said, whom I uphold mine elect. Who did God choose? This is the
first time the word elect appears in the Bible. The very first
time. Who did God choose? He chose me. No, he didn't. He
chose Christ. He just put me in Christ. And
because he chose Christ, I just get to go in him. All of God's
favor is on Christ. Every ounce of it. All of God's
mercy is in Christ. It's to Christ. All the blessings of God, they
all go to Him. Every single one of them. The
only reason I'm elect, the only reason we're elect is because
we're in Him. If it were not for Him, we would
have never been chosen. Well, God chose us. No, he didn't. He chose Christ. And God, in mercy, put some unworthy,
undeserving, unlovely sinners in Christ. Verse 1 says, Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. The gospel is this, if this poor
stammering tongue, when this poor stammering tongue lies silent
in the grave, if this poor stammering tongue is still on sermon audio,
And if anybody runs across this, here's the gospel. It's every
single thing that Christ has done. Every single thing that
Christ has finished. The gospel is completely in Him. Totally. The gospel is fulfilled
in Him. It's all about Him. He is the
gospel. If a man is going to be called
of God to go preach the gospel, he's going to go preach Christ
the man. We're all going to hear preachers the rest of our life.
You're going to accidentally run across them on the TV. You're
going to accidentally hear them on the radio. Sometimes circumstances
might be that you're forced to go sit under one. If you don't
hear that man preaching the person and work. and object of Jesus
Christ, and we're not hearing the gospel. Back over in Luke
4, our Lord said in verse 18, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. Now, he's about to preach the
gospel to the poor. What does he say? He says, he
hath sent me. He preached himself. He hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted. When our Lord entered this world,
the moment that He was manifest in the flesh, it says suddenly
there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and
saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men. Why did they say that? It's because
God the Father sent Him to heal the brokenhearted. Verse 18 says, to preach deliverance
to the captives, deliverance from sin, deliverance from the
curse of the law, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. Now why on earth would a sinner
believe that? Why would a sinner believe that?
He just delivered us. He just set us free. He just paid our debt. He requires
nothing from us. He was all freely given. How
on this earth could a sinner believe that to be true? Because
God said so. That's why it's just because
I said so. Why Lord? I said so. Well, then that's good news.
That's what it is. Good news. After God's message
is delivered, it brings one or two responses. It all comes down
to this. What think ye of Christ? What
think ye of Christ? It all comes down to Christ.
Look at how they responded right here in Luke 4 verse 20. He closed
the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down and
the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened
on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture
fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, You
will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily
I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country,
but I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land, but
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Nahum and the Syrian. And all they in the
synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto
the brow of the hill whereon the city was built, that they
might cast him down headlong." They hated him. They hated his
truth. Paul said, if any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Let him be cursed. How, though, could any man not
love the Lord Jesus Christ? How on this earth could any man
not love Christ? All that he's done, all that
he's given, everything he is, the altogether lovely one. Glorious
in power? How could you not? He asked Peter,
who do you say I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And he said, flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you. I can tell you right now, whatever
God has revealed to me, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to me. My Father which is in heaven
did. Back one more time to Mark 16. Verse 15 says, He said unto them, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Now, we're about to leave. We're about to leave. Let's leave
with this question, okay? Let's walk away with this question,
every one of us in here. Let's ask ourselves, let's talk
to ourselves and ask, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of
Christ? Ask yourself, do I believe Him? Do I believe Him? Do I believe His Word? Do I believe
that the gospel is all about Him, really all about Him? Do I believe He is the only one
worthy to be praised and the reason is because He was slain
and redeemed us to God by His own blood? I cannot wait to enter
into that. Can't wait. Do you believe His
message? If you do, you've been immersed
by God's Holy Spirit into Christ. God's elect. God put all sinners
into him. And He evidenced that by giving
them faith. All the ones He chose, He evidenced that by giving them
faith. And here's the promise of God
to us. If we believe Him, if we believe Christ, if we're really,
really resting on Christ, here's the promise of God to us. He
said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. shall be saved. I thought about
that Gadarene, the Lord, man, he was a crazy man, cutting himself
and falling into the fire, lived in the graveyard. He came to
the Lord and the Lord healed him and cast all those demons
out of him and into the swine and they ran into the water and
all the herdsmen got scared, ran into town and said, you ain't
going to believe what's going on over there. So everybody was
curious and they all come running out and when they saw that man
sitting and clothed and in his right mind, listening to the
Lord, looking to Christ, And then the Lord told him, now you
go tell everybody you can how great things the Lord has done
for you. And I'm going to tell you, the Lord's done great things
for me. He's done great things for me.
He saved my soul. Saved us all. All right, let's
stand together.