Title of the message, Scent of
God to Preach. Scent of God to Preach. We have in the Word of God many
examples of men, scent of God, to preach. God sent Joseph to Egypt. Joseph said that God
sent me before you to save you, to save most people alive. God
sent Moses to deliver Israel. God did not deliver Israel until
he sent them a man. He sent Jonah to Nineveh. He sent John the Baptist as a
forerunner. The greatest of all whom God
has sent, the greatest man that God ever sent is his son, Jesus
Christ. He sent him into the world to
save sinners. And I can assure you, the word
of God assures us that what he was sent to do, he did. He accomplished. He was sent to redeem. He redeemed. He sent to save. He saved. He
accomplished. God said, my word shall not return
unto me void. Who is the word of God? The Lord
Jesus Christ. He did not return void, empty. He accomplished exactly what
he was sent to do. Now, back in chapter nine of
verse 38, our Lord said, Pray he, the Lord of the harvest,
and he is the Lord of the harvest, he himself is the Lord of the
harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest, his
harvest. Then here in chapter 10, he does
just that. He does exactly what he told
them to pray for. He sends forth laborers into
his harvest. And the first thing he does,
he calls his disciples. He calls them. And when he calls
them, he gives them power. Here's what we're going to see.
He calls his disciples. He calls to him whom he will. He calls them by name. He doesn't
call them by their education. He doesn't not call them by their
abilities. He calls them by name and gives
them their abilities. Not everyone can stand here and
preach. Now, one of the first things
I was telling someone yesterday, I was talking to about, we were
talking about preaching. I said, I don't think anybody
can preach until they realize they can't preach. When you realize
you cannot preach, then you realize who really is enabling you to
preach. It is Christ who makes preachers,
not schools. Christ makes them. And he gives
them the power to preach. Preaching is a gift. It's a gift. He gives them power to preach,
power to heal, power to cast out devils. And he tells them
to do it freely. Freely. Our Lord said, all power belongs
to me in heaven and earth. And he approved it when he cast
out the devils. And then he gives his disciples at this time, power
to do the same. Now we don't need those powers
nowadays to physically now to physically heal and do that kind
of stuff. Cause we have the complete word
of God. They were given these powers. to confirm their message. You want to confirm the message
I'm preaching? Turn to the Word of God. Read it. Go home and
read it. That's how we confirm the message.
Did he just say this morning what this book says? That's how we confirm the message.
However, there is, through the preaching of the gospel, true,
true spiritual healing of all our spiritual sickness and diseases
which we have. And Christ sends them. They do
not go on their own. He sends them out. He calls them. He equips them. And then He sends
them out. And He sends them out with the
message. He gives them their message. They are not freelancing. He gives them the specific message
to preach. It's the gospel of the kingdom.
And there's only one gospel. That's what Paul says in Galatians.
There's only one gospel. There is no other. They're sent
with a message from on high. It's from Him. And it's about
Him. And until God gives the man the
gifts or the call, the gifts, the ability, he needs to stay
home. and especially stay out of the
pulpit. Stay out of the pulpit. I wanna show you something that
I came across this morning when I was looking at this. It's amazing
how these things, when you get right before preaching, these
things come up and you see them and you thought, I wish I'd have
saw that earlier. But look over in 2 Samuel, 2
Samuel chapter 18. Those whom God calls, He gives
them the power to preach, the gifts to preach, the ability
to preach, the message to preach, and the place. You're going to
notice, He gives them the place they're going to preach. You
know, the gospel is sent to specific people. You know that God sent
the gospel to you specifically. Don't ever lose that. Don't lose that. God sent the
gospel to Spring Lake Bethel Baptist Church years ago, and
it's still here. It's still here. But now in 2
Samuel chapter 18, here's the story. Absalom has been killed. The king's son has been killed. He's been put to death. Now, Joab is going to send a
messenger to tell the king. Pick up in verse 19. Then said
Ahimaz, the son of Zadok, let me now run. Let me run and tell
the king and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged
him of his enemies. And Joab said unto him, thou
shalt not bear tidings this day. But thou shalt bear tidings another
day. But not today, it's not your
day. It's not your time. Just sit down, basically what
he's telling them, just sit down, shut up. It's not your time.
But this day thou shalt bear no tidings because the king's
son is dead. All he was gonna do, the only
thing he was gonna do was say, king, we won the battle. We won. He was not gonna talk to the
king about his son. All he wanted to do was say,
we win. Then said Joab to Cushi, go tell
the king about, go tell the king what thou hast seen. You didn't see it, Cushi, you
saw it. You're a witness, you are a true witness. That's the
only person that needs to be standing in the pulpit, a true
witness. God said to Paul, in the book
of Acts, that he was going to be a witness of the things which
he had seen and heard. Going to be a witness unto him.
And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab and ran, then sent Ahimaz
the son of Zadok yet again to Joab. But however, howsoever,
be what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. Let me
go too. Let me stand in the pulpit too.
And Joab said, listen to this. Wherefore wilt thou run, my son,
seeing thou hast no tidings ready? You don't have the message. You
don't have the message. Cushi has the message. Cushi
has it. But howsoever said he, but be
that as it may. This is sad. Let me run. Let me preach. Let me stand up.
I can do it. No, you can't, you don't have
the message. God hasn't given it to you. And he said to him,
then Joab said to him, run, go ahead, just get out of here.
Just get out of here. Just go ahead, quit aggravating
me. And the Hymaz ran by the way of the plain and overran
Cushai. He outran Cushai. Was it because
he was a faster runner? Maybe, maybe. I think it's because
he didn't have a burden. Cushai had a burden. Kushai was
going to tell the king his son is dead. Hey, Hamas didn't have
that message. He just wanted to say, we win.
That's all. And he outran Kushai, and David
sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof,
over the gate and to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, a man running alone. Yeah, he's running alone, all
right. And the watchman cried and told the king, and the king
said, if he be alone, there's tidings in his mouth. And he
came apace and drew near, and the watchman saw another man
running. And the watchman called unto the porter and said, behold,
another man running alone. And the king said, he also brings
tidings. They both have something to say,
but only one has the message. Only one has the message. And
the watchman said, methinketh the running of the foremost is
like the running of Ahimaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said,
he's a good man and cometh with good tidings. But let me tell
you something. Good men don't make good preachers. God called
men to make good preachers. That's the difference. The man
with whom God has given the message, that's the man. Hymaz may have been a good man,
but he wasn't a good preacher because he didn't have the message.
And he says it comes with good tidings. Well, you know what? You know what makes the gospel
so good? The good news is that you hear the bad news. After
you hear the bad news, what you are. What you are by nature,
what you and I've done against God. And Christ dying for sinners,
that sure makes good news. That's good news. And Ahimaaz
called and said unto the king, all is well, all is well. Peace be to thee, that's what
he's saying. All is well, and fell down to the earth on his
face before the king and said, blessed be the Lord thy God,
which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against
my Lord the king. And the king said, is the young
man Absalom safe? Tell me about my son. Tell me about my son. And then Ahimaz turns into a
coward. And Ahimaz answered when Joab sent the king's servant,
and me and thy servant, I saw a great tumult. But I do not
what it was. He said, I saw a great battle
and the dust was so much. I really don't know. I don't
know. I just know we won. That's all I can say. He became
a coward. He knew Absalom was dead. But
when the king asked about his son, he became afraid to tell
the king the truth. And the king said to him, would
you just get over here to the side, turn aside, get out of
the way, get out of the way. You don't have the message. Get
out of the way. and stand here. And he turned
aside and stood still. He had nothing to say. He had
nothing to say about the king's son. And that's all the king
wanted to know about. He wanted to hear about his son.
And behold, Cushi came, and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord, the king,
for the lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose
up against thee. And the king said to Cushi, Is
the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies
of my Lord the King, and all that rise against thee to do
thee hurt, be as that young man is, dead. Your son is dead. Cushiah had the message. Cushiah
didn't run so fast because he had a real burden. He had to
tell the king his son was dead. When God sends his man, He sends
him with a message concerning his son. The message we preach
is what? Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message. And when
God sends a people, as I already said to you, they are sent to
a specific people. The lost sheep, he says in verse
six, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Don't go anywhere
else, he said, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now written over the door was not lost sheep. But he told them,
the gospel is to be preached at Jerusalem first and then throughout
the rest of the world, but there first. So he said, you go to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The gospel is always
sent to a certain people at a certain time, certain place. Turn over to Acts chapter 16.
Acts chapter 16. Look in verse 6. Now, when they had gone throughout
Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden, forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, they were forbidden
to go there, preach the gospel there. And after they were come
to Mysia, they had said to go to Bithynia, but the spirit suffered
them not. They were not to go there. and
preach the gospel. You know, the gospel is directed
by God. It's God's gospel. He directs
where it goes, when it goes, and to whom it goes. And they, passing by Mysia, came
down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood
a man in Macedonia, and prayed to 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 to
them. There was a time that God sent
the gospel here to Bethel Baptist. Several years ago, God sent the
gospel to you. It's still here. The gospel is
still here. No one has the gospel No one
hears the gospel accidentally or incidentally. God purposely
sent it here because God has some sheep, lost sheep of the
house of Israel in this fold, in this community. Now Christ, as I said, he calls
his disciples first. He has taught them the gospel.
They learned the gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
They had the best teacher. They had the right teacher. They
had the privilege. I thought of this last night
as I'm looking at this. They had the privilege of watching
their lesson in action. They had the privilege of watching
their lesson in action. And I know I can say this. And until a man learns Christ,
until a man learns that Christ is the message, he has nothing
to say. Hey, Hymas, is my son saved? Tell me about my son. He had
nothing to say about the son. And the king said, well, just
step aside, step aside. until he learns Christ. He has nothing to say. Preaching
is not moral teachings. It's not how we should live.
That's not it. Preaching is preaching a person.
And the grace of God will teach you and me to deny of godliness. It'll teach us how to live. It'll
teach us the way to walk. It'll teach us to walk in paths
of righteousness. It'll teach us that. But Jesus
Christ himself is the message. He's the message. If God's going to save sinners,
it's gonna be through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
And if you and I are gonna grow in grace and knowledge of Him,
He's gotta be preached. He's the one. Because it speaks
of growing in grace and in knowledge of Him. There is no growing in
grace apart from growing in knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's not going
to happen. You're not going to grow in grace.
You're not going to grow more gracious until you grow more
in Him, who is the embodiment of grace. Grace and truth came
how? By Jesus Christ. He's the embodiment
of grace. He's the embodiment of truth.
Truth is a person. Truth is a person. Pilate said,
what is truth? Well, you're looking at him.
He was looking at truth. Our Lord spoke the truth, but
he couldn't speak anything but the truth because he is the truth.
He is the truth. Now, verse seven and eight shows
us something of the power now, the power of preaching, how important
this is. What I'm doing this morning is
so important. We don't have programs. We're
not entertaining sinners on their way to hell. I'm taking the word
of God and I'm preaching the gospel from it, preaching Christ
from it. My mother, went to a place, this
had been a few years ago. They visited, they visited, her
dad visited a place. And I asked her about it. She
said, she said, the preacher never took a Bible in the pulpit. He never opened a Bible, didn't
even have one in the pulpit. She said, all he did was talk
about the events of the day and what had been in the newspaper. I said, mom, don't ever go back
there. Don't ever go back there. You know, Spurgeon said one time,
see if I can get this right. He said, if I go to a place and
the gospel is not preached there, that is to that man's condemnation. If I go back the second time,
that's to my condemnation. You know better. You know better. And I told her, I said, don't
go back there, Mom. Don't go back there. He says in Matthew 10, seven
and eight here, and as you go, preach the kingdom, preach. This
is not a healing service. They didn't go out and just have
a healing service, like you see these jokers on TV try to do.
They try to build up their bank accounts, and they have these
mansions, and all they do is dupe the people. Dupe the people. But as you go, preach. saying the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. You know, we have different kingdoms.
You have China and Russia and Africa and America. You know,
you have different kingdoms on this earth. But you know, there
is a kingdom that you can't see with these physical eyes. It's
very, very real. It's the kingdom of heaven. It's
the kingdom of God. It's very real. And when the
gospel is among the people, The kingdom of heaven is among that
people. It's among that people. Now you
preach the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, which is the
gospel of Christ, how God saves sinners, who Jesus Christ is,
what he did, who he did it for, where he is now, you preach the
gospel of the kingdom. And as you go, heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely
you have received, freely give, This all happens spiritually.
It happens spiritually. We are healed from our sin sickness,
our leprosy of sin. Devils are cast out through the
preaching of the gospel. This happens spiritually. But
I also hear in verses 14 and 15 shows how responsible we are
as hearers. Listen, 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 I say to you,
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment. There are degrees of judgment. There are. Some will receive
worse than others. He said it'll be more tolerable
For those sodomites, then for those who have seen
my mighty works, those who have heard the gospel, now listen
to me. I don't know any man's heart. God knows the heart. You don't
know mine. God knows my heart. The gospel's been preached here
for years. Here's what he's saying. A person who has sat under the
gospel, The person who has heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and despised it, turned from it, rejected it, he said,
it'll be more tolerable in judgment for those sodomites than for
that person who has sat under the gospel and despised it. That's what he's saying. The
gospel is good news, but it's not to be trifled with by preacher
or hearer. Now he sends them forth. He ordains
them as preachers. He ordains them as preachers
and not theologians. I don't want to be a theologian.
I want to be a preacher. God make a preacher out of me. There's a difference. giving
their power to preach. As they preached, people were
healed through the preaching of the gospel. That's how sinners
are saved, is please God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. If you'll notice, there was no
case too hard for them. The gospel, the preaching of
the gospel, The power of Christ overcame every sickness, every
disease, everyone. And he says to them, freely,
freely, you have received freely give salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God
in Jesus Christ. And those who preach do not preach
for profit. We are not profiteers. We are
not to fleece the sheep. We are to preach Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. God-given gifts are not for profit. They're for the edifying of the
church. They're for the glory of Jesus Christ. Look over in
Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 8, look in verse
14. Acts 8, 14. And when the apostles, which
were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were
come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
He was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on
them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon, remember
Simon Magus, saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands,
the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. He said,
boy, this is a, now I can make some money at this. I can make some money at this.
He offered to buy the gifts, saying, give me also this power
that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
I'll put, I add this to my bag of tricks. I add this to my bag
of tricks. He saw profit. That's what he
saw, money. Peter said to him, thy money
perish with thee. Remember this, if you read before
this, Simon Magus, it said, believed, and he was baptized. And then when they came down
and he saw this gift, this power that they had, he pulled out
his wallet. He said, let me buy that. Let
me buy that. Gifts are of God and they're
not for profit. They're for the glory of Jesus
Christ and for the edification of the church. We are not flesh
merchants. Listen to, listen to Isaiah 55
one. Oh everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. without price, it's free. Freely
you have received, freely give. You'd think Catholicism would
pick up on that. You don't have to have all the ching
ching just to get a prayer. That's what we saw on TV last
night. We saw it on TV last night. The guy wanted a prayer and he
had to pay for it. He had to pay for a prayer. No,
freely you receive, freely give. Then he says here, the workman's
worthy of his hire. In verse 10, he says to his disciples, and to every preacher whom he's
called to preach, don't you take script for your journey, don't
take any money for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes,
nor staves for the workman's, and this is what he's teaching,
the workman's worthy of his hire. He's worthy of his meat. You
know, over in Leviticus, I'd read through Leviticus here weeks
or two ago, and they were dividing up the inheritance. Each tribe had an inheritance. They had a portion of land given
to them. But he said the Levites are not
given any inheritance in the land. The Levites own nothing. The Lord said, I am their inheritance.
The Levites were to do nothing but serve in the temple. They
were to serve with the sacrifices and they were to do all the service
of God. They were not to be employed
into doing anything else. They didn't even own a foot of
ground to stand on. They were the Lord's servants.
They were his servants. And he's telling them this. If you're God's man, God will
take care of you. And he says he's worthy to be
taken care of. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians
9, 11. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great
thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Is it a great thing? Christ tells his preachers, he
tells his preachers not to worry, not to worry about their needs. You just try not doing that.
You try not doing that. Don't worry about your needs,
don't you worry about what's gonna happen when you're older,
and don't worry about that. Some of that stuff was brought
up to me, not by anybody here, It was brought up to me, coming
down here. And the Lord says this to me
and to every one of his preachers, I will take care of you. The
Lord will provide. He will provide. You know, the Lord will provide for his,
his preacher. And our Lord says, don't you
worry about it. He'll be taken care of. Look over in 1 Kings. I thought I marked that. Well, let me find it. We're here in 1 Kings chapter
17. First Kings chapter 17. Listen. And Elijah the Tishbite,
who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the
Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not
be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence,
Elijah, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook
Kirith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt
drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed
you. I've commanded the ravens to
feed you. So he went and did according unto the word of the
Lord, For he went and he dwelt by the brook Kirith, that is
before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread
and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening.
And he drank of the brook. The Lord will provide. But he
not only provides for his preacher, he provides for you too. He provides
for you too. How can we afford this? How can
you not afford it? How can you not afford it? the
Lord provides. And as God's preachers were sent
out, they'd go from town to town preaching the gospel, and they'd
stay with some people. And if the people treated them
well and received the message well, the Lord said, you bless
that house, you pray for God to bless the house that received
you joyfully. But if that house has rebelled
against you, you shake the dust off your feet, and it's gonna
be more tolerable for the sodomites and for that house, and for that house. The worst
judgment will fall on those who had the privilege of the gospel
and despised it, despised it. No one hears the gospel by accident, therefore be careful The scripture
says, take heed how you hear. With what measure you meet it
with, it'll be measured to you again. But here's what we've learned,
and I close. We've learned that first of all, those who preach
are called of God and gifted of God to preach and no one else. No one else. God has given every
person in here your talents and your gifts. Use it where God
has given it to you. And don't envy someone else's
talents. I wish I could sing like that.
I do wish I could sing better than
I do. You know what? I could if I tried.
It's one of those things, if you practice it, you can do it.
You can do it better. Be content with where God's put
you and the talent he's given you, the gifts he's given you.
I know this, if I don't use the gift he's given me to preach,
what makes me think I'd use the gift he's given you if I had
it? I wouldn't use it either. You know, a lazy man's lazy no
matter what you give him. Every man who can preach, he's
called to preach. And then the power of preaching
is of God. You know, it's not, the power of preaching is not
me shouting. It's not me getting loud. That's not power. Doris said one time, when in
doubt, shout. I was talking about these TV preachers. When in doubt,
shout. That's not power. Power's of
God. Power's in the message. It's
in the message. When God sends the gospel to
whom he will, let's cherish it. And take heed how you hear when
you hear the gospel. Don't just let it go through
one ear and out another. Take heed. When God sends you a man, and
you do this, you do this, but one day I won't be here. I'm
not a young man. I'm not 25 no more. I'm 27. I better tell the truth, I'm
on tape. I'm 63. I don't have long, I know that.
I told Vic when we came down here, I want no more turnaround.
I said, if God gives me 20 years, that'll be gone like that. But
when he does, if he's pleased to keep the gospel here, you
take care of it. Just like you do me. Just like
you do me.