Matthew chapter 4, title of the
message, Following Christ. Following the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what we have here in these
verses is the call of the first disciples, who later become apostles. Now we know that the first call
that the Lord gives to any sinner is a call to salvation. It is a call to salvation. And
it is an effectual call. God said His word would not return
unto him void, but it will accomplish the purpose for which he has
sinned. And if God sends his word this
morning to any heart, it will accomplish the purpose God sent
it for. And when God calls a sinner to salvation, he calls him or
her effectually. And it is a powerful call. If
you'll notice, these disciples immediately Immediately with
no begging going on which did you want to follow me? You sure
you don't you want to know? He said come he said in mark
it says come follow me and immediately There was such power that went
with that call that they got out of there out of the boat
and And it says they just left him.
They just left. It's like they just dropped everything
left. They got out of the boat and immediately they followed
him. It's a powerful call. It's a gracious call. A gracious
call. I can think of no reason. I woke
up four o'clock this morning. Four o'clock this morning. I
woke up and my thought was this until I got up. There's no reason
that I can come up with what God would call me. And I began
to think of the ministry. And I was thinking back years
ago when I was going to the preacher school. And I would go home. I remember going home pretty
much every time I went there saying, why in the world would
I think God called me to preach? Why would I think that? I talked
to myself. I think, John, why do you think
that? I'm not going back next week. I would. I was determined
not to go back next week. And next week came and I went
back. And this morning I was lying
there in bed and I thought, I cannot think of a reason why God called
me to preach. Not at all. It's a gracious call. If God calls you to salvation,
it'll be pure grace. and grace alone. And it's a call
from darkness to light. You and I are born in darkness,
born in ignorance, born dead to God. We're born that way. Born in darkness, live in darkness.
And if God doesn't call us and save us, we will die in darkness. And it is a life-changing call. You'll never be the same if God
calls you. You'll not be the same. Now it
says in verse 18, He walked by the sea. This was not a leisurely
stroll. He was on a mission. Our Lord,
when He came into this world, every hour had its agenda. Every hour had its agenda. And
he was on a mission. He was on the trail of his sheep. He's looking for his sheep. The
shepherd is out looking for the sheep. And listen, he knows right
where they are. He knew exactly where Peter and
Andrew was at. He knew what they were doing
at that time. Remember he said to Philip, before
I called thee, I saw you under the fig tree. I know where you
are. I know where you are. He knows where one of his sheep
are. There's a time, the scripture
says in Ecclesiastes, there's a time to be born, there's a
time to die. There's a time to be born again. If God has a purpose to save
you, there's a time for your spiritual birth. There's a time
for you to be born. There's a time for God to call
you by His grace. So he's not out on a leisurely
stroll. He's out looking for his sheep
and he knows exactly where they are. And it says he saw these
two men, Peter and Andrew. He's looking for them. He's looking
for them. And he was looking for them particularly. He was looking for Peter and
Andrew. Scripture says, I was found of
them that sought me not. I've made known unto them that
asked not after me. They were not looking for him.
They were fishing. They were casting their nets.
But the Savior was looking for them. He was looking for them. And I was found of them. Doesn't
that sound like a riddle? Doesn't this sound like a riddle?
I was found of them that sought me not. I was found of them that
wasn't looking for me. I was found of them because I
revealed myself to them. That's how I found Christ, is
he made himself known to me. These men were busy, they were
working, they were doing their job. They wasn't thinking about
the Lord. It may be. I don't know. It may
be. Someone come in here this morning. You're not thinking
about the Lord. You just came here today. But
it may be the Lord is thinking upon you. David said, I am poor
and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Wouldn't that be great? And notice
the ones whom he called. They were fishermen. They were
poor, uneducated fishermen. These are the men, these are
the ones he's going to use to turn the world upside down. He's
not going to call the Sanhedrins, the people who went to that school,
that seminary. He's not calling them. He's going
to call a bunch of fishermen out there fishing. Turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1. Let me find it. I didn't write
it down. Verse 26. For ye see your calling, brethren,
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, now
it doesn't say any, but it does say not many, not many noble
are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And
base things of the world and things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things
that are, that no flesh should glory in its presence." You know,
the only thing I have to glory in is Jesus Christ. That's it. That's it. What have I accomplished?
Somebody asked me one time, they said, what kind of legacy do
you want to leave? I said, are you kidding? I said, look at me here. I'm going to leave a legacy. I tell you what I'm going to
leave is the gospel to this generation when I die. I want it to be said
that he preached the gospel. He preached the gospel. That's
it. Now, the call goes forth. And he said to them, when he
sees them, they're out on this boat. He's walking by the shore. He knows where he's going, he
knows whom he's looking for. And he saith unto them, follow
me. Follow me. We are first called
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, not a system. I'm not following
Calvinism. I'm not following Baptists. I'm
not following any organization. I am following a person who is
my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ. And when I read the Word of God,
and especially as we go through Matthew, as we go through this,
I want you and myself to observe that we are observing God. If you want to know God, pay
attention. Pay attention to the word of
God. We are observing God walking by the seashore. We are observing
God calling his disciples. Now in Mark chapter one, the
word come is used. He says, you see here Matthew
says, and he said to them, follow me. In Matthew, he says, come,
come, follow me. And it has the same meaning as
when the Lord said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. What happened? There was such
power in that call that Lazarus came back from the dead and walked
out of that grave. And it's the same word that he
uses here. He says, in Mark, he says, come. And that power,
the power goes with that word, they can't resist it. God's calling them. God's calling
them now. Not just a man, God's calling them. Power goes with it. And the call
was personal. The call was personal. He called
Peter and Andrew. He called those men to follow
Him. It's a personal call. When God
calls a sinner, He calls him or her personally. God personally. Now, I'm standing here. God's
using me as a vessel. He's using me as a voice. If
God saves you, God's calling you. God's calling you. I want
you to turn over to 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel chapter 3, this is
interesting. 1 Samuel chapter 3, listen. And
the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the
word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open
vision. And it came to pass at that time
when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to
wax dim that he should not see. And ere the lamp of God went
out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, Samuel
was laid down to sleep. But the Lord called Samuel, and
he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said,
Here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I call not, lie
down again. And he went and lay down. And
the Lord called yet again Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to
Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered,
I call not, my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord. He didn't yet know the Lord.
Neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. And the
Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and
went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And
Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli
said unto Samuel, Go lie down. And it shall be, if he call thee,
that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel
went and lay down in his place, and the Lord came and stood and
called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answers,
Speak, for thy servant heareth. It's a personal call. If God
calls you, God will call you. God Himself will call you. When our Lord passed by that
tree that Zacchaeus was up in in Luke 19, when he passed by
that tree, remember, Zacchaeus climbed up in the tree where
he knew that Christ was to pass by that way. And when the Lord
passed by, when he got to that tree, he looked up and said,
Zacchaeus, come down. Well, this day I must abide at
thy house. He said, this man is a son of
Abraham. Just like he did at the tomb
of Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth. It's a powerful call, it's a
personal call. And it's a call, as I said, it's
a call from God. Sin separated us from God. Your
iniquities, as written in Isaiah, has separated from you, has separated
you from your God. And it's a call, listen, it's
not just a call from God, it is a call to God. Follow me. Come to me. All you that labor
and heavy laden, come to me and I'll give you rest. I'll give
you rest. And it's a call of grace. As
I said to you, I can't think of any reason under heaven why
God would call me. And it's factual. He said, my
sheep hear my voice and they follow me. And it's a call to
leave all others and follow Christ. to leave all others. Our Lord
said in Matthew 6, you cannot serve God and mammon, money or
this world. He said, you can't serve both.
You can't have two masters. If you hate the one and love
the other is what will happen. He said, it's not possible for
that to happen. It is a call to leave all others
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever that may lead you. Wherever
it may lead you. First thing, it'll lead you to
God. But now, I didn't think it'd lead me to North Carolina.
I promise you, I did not believe it was going to lead me to North
Carolina. At all. And then it's a call to service.
Everyone whom God calls has a place of service in the body of Christ,
in the kingdom of God. It's not just me, you're not
just standing here. Every person whom God saves,
He saves and makes them whole in Christ, but He also calls
them to service, has a place of service. Wherever God has
put you, that's your place of service. And we serve God where
we are. and be content where we are until
the cloud move, don't move. That's why Israel only moved
when the cloud moved back there in the wilderness. It's a call
to service. And Mark uses this word, I'll
make you to become fishers of men. And what this indicates is that
it's a long, slow process. I'll make you fishers of men.
You know, when I was young, and I'm talking about young in the
faith, I didn't really think about... I didn't think about
Christ as much as I do now. I didn't think about preaching
as much as I do now. And I went to the preacher school for two
or three years. And I was serious about it, but
I thought I was serious about it. But I look back now and I
think, He said, I'll make you fishers
of men. It's a long, slow process. For myself, I can say it's slow
because I'm slow. It takes me a while to catch
on. You know, spiritual growth, now I'm telling you, because
of sin, spiritual growth is slow. It's slow. It seems like you
take one step forward and slide two steps backwards. That's what
it feels like. And then it's a call, listen,
it's a call to all out. And I've, you know, I've had,
I know what I'm talking about. It's a call to all out commitment. It is an all out commitment.
To follow Christ is to be all committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. What is it for me to live? What
is it for you to live? What is it? There's something. There's something that motivates
you. There's something that gets you out of bed. There's something
that you love. Paul said, for me it's Christ. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. If we ever come to the place
where for me to live is Christ, then that's exactly the way we
will look at dying as gain. We will welcome death. We'll
welcome that day. If for me to live is Christ.
You know, Paul said this, and this is the height, this is the
pinnacle of discipleship, right here. Paul said in the book of
Acts, I count not my life dear to me that I may finish my course. When Satan wanted to go after
Job, he said to God, and I mentioned this last week, he said, skin
for skin. He'll do anything to save his
life. It's hard to fight a battle. It's hard to fight a war. I have
no doubt if you're scared to death of losing your life. If
you become so, fear will shut you down. Fear will absolutely
shut you down. And Paul said, if I become afraid,
if my life is so dear to me, I become afraid of losing it,
the ministry is going to suffer. I'm not going to finish my course. Because he died for the gospel. He died for the gospel. To follow Christ is to be all
out committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot love mother,
father, sister, brother more than me. He said, because if
you do, you're not worthy of me. He didn't say you can't love
your mother, father, sister, brother. He tells us to do that. But if he says, if you put them
before me like Adam did Eve, he put Eve before God. He says, you're not worthy of
me. You're not worthy of me. Jesus Christ is all possessive. And then it's to yield up. It
means this. is to yield up and leave all
others. When Vicki and I were married, I said I do to forsaking all
others. That was part of our marriage
vow, forsaking all others. I said I do. It's exactly the
same in following the Lord Jesus Christ. It is forsaking all others. It implies separation. Our Lord has written in the Scripture,
Come out from among them, saith the Lord, and I'll receive you. It is separation from my old
life to a new life in Christ. It is a once and for all act.
Following Christ. I'm not going to follow Him a
while, then stop a while, follow a while, stop a while. I think
I'll go over here a while, think, no. It's an all out following
Christ. It's a permanent break from the
former old life to a new life. And for these disciples here,
it was a permanent break from fishing to preaching. From fishing to preaching. That's why the Lord, it's written
in the scriptures, He that woreth He that woreth, that's what I'm
doing, standing here preaching. There's a warfare that goes on.
Entangles not himself again with the affairs of this life. No one ever followed Jesus Christ
freely. Now listen. Saved freely? Yes. But to follow? No. No. That rich young ruler came to
Christ and wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal
life. And during the conversation, the Lord said, sell all you have
and come follow me. And it says he went away sorrowful,
for he was very rich. The apostle Paul said in Philippians
3, I have suffered the loss of all things. Now most people whom the Lord
calls and saves and uses, they never have to move. You never
have to move. You can keep your job and stay
right where you are for the rest of your life and support the
gospel and be a servant right where God
puts you. But then there's people like
myself and other men that I've seen
over the years, known over the years. Don't drive your tent stakes
too deep, because you're going to move. You're going to move. The Lord said, where I am, there
will my servant be also. If the gospel left this place,
if it left this place, my advice to you, pack up and go where
it is. Pack up. I don't care if you've
got the best job under heaven. In a little while, you're going
to leave this life. In a short while. It's short
for all of us, even for the youngest. It's short. What's 70 years?
What's 80, 90 years compared to eternity? It's nothing. It's
nothing. There's nothing more important
than you sitting under the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing,
nothing, nothing. Be like old Pilgrim in Pilgrim's
Progress. He couldn't get his wife and
children to go with him at first, but he went ahead and packed
up and took off. He headed for that celestial
city. And I know what he said he would
do to them. Fishers of men. Fishers of men. If the Lord is pleased to save
us, He'll make something out of us. Now He's going to make
something out of you. I might be nothing in myself,
but I'm not nothing in Christ. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. David said, through the Lord,
I can run through a troop and leap over a wall. But Christ
said, without me, you can do nothing. And if the Lord is pleased to
save us, He's going to make something out of us. He's got a place for
us, a position for us in His body and in His kingdom. He'll make something out of us,
like creation in Genesis 1. There in the beginning, it was
darkness and void. That's the way I started out,
darkness and void. Then God commands light and He
begins to create. And my soul, look what He makes.
And I thought last night, God can make something out of nothing.
I have plenty of nothing for Him to work with. I've got plenty
of it for Him to work with. True ministers of the Gospel,
true disciples are made. He makes men minister of the
New Testament. He gives us gifts. He gives us
the ability to preach and communicate the gospel. That's of God. That's of God. If a man is to be made a preacher
of the gospel, Christ must teach him his lesson, and Christ is
the lesson. Therefore, the only way, the
only way to be made a fisher of men is to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. Deny ourselves. Someone asked
Walter Gruber once, I believe it was Henry, asked Walter Gruber
if he was happy, and he said, what does happy got to do with
it? He asked him if he's happy down in Mexico. He said, what's
happy got to do with it? We deny ourselves. Study his
word and lean not to our own understanding. And let me close. There's two more brothers called
down here, James and John. First two were called from their
occupation. These two are not only called
from their occupation, they're called from their family. It
says they left Zebedee their father. You say, Lord? I mean, is that kind of cold?
You left the old man in the boat? His two sons helping him? Do you know how helpful those
two sons were? They were young and strong, and
the Lord took them away from him. Took him away. Took them away. He calls them to leave their
nets. He calls them to leave their
father. Listen immediately. Immediately. Zebedee was probably puzzled.
But you know, from what I read here, he kept quiet. He kept
quiet. Our children, our children, belong
to God. And the sooner we learn this,
the better. But our children belong to God. And if he takes
one of them and moves them across this earth to the other side
of the earth, Lord, thy will be done. Thy will be done. And I know this. When the Lord
called these two men and they left their father Zebedee in
the boat, I assure you he took care of Zebedee. He took care
of him. But notice their obedience. Immediately
they left the ship. I want you to get this. We get into trouble when we start
to reason things out. When we start to think, if I
sell my house, what are we going to do? If I sell my house because
someone said to me, you're surely not going to sell your house.
That's all you got. No. Christ is all I got. Everything else, I'm going to
lose it. Right? God's going to burn it all up.
The only thing I've got is really, really is the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else I'm going to
give up, lose, but not Him. So we get into trouble when we
start to reason, logically reason these things out. When the Lord calls us to follow
Him in salvation or in service, just follow. Just follow. It's one thing, now I'm telling
you, it's one thing to travel around and preach to all these
different congregations like I did for years. It's one thing
to do that because you get to just go back home. You go in,
you visit, they take you out to eat, you get a good meal,
and you head back home. And you get to do the same thing
next week. I did that for years. But it's another thing when you
just drop it all. Pack it up and go. Abraham said, the Lord will provide. If he doesn't, I missed it. I missed it. It's not the Lord's
problem. I missed it. And what I missed was salvation
altogether. If the Lord is pleased to call Anyone here, I say this, immediately, immediately,
follow Him. Follow Him. If He's called you
to salvation, follow Him in baptism. And if it's a service somewhere,
and it may not be now, this message may come to you, this message
may come home to roost five years down the road. Ten years down
the road. I mean, one of these young ones
growing up here. It may come to them ten years
down the road.