in my heart, in my heart, in
my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian
in my heart. All right, now open your Bibles
to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. Let's read verses
15 through 19. In those days, Peter stood up
in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of the names
together were about 120, men and brethren, and they were women
also. Men and brethren, this scripture
must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake concerning Judas, which was guide to them that
took Jesus. For he was numbered with us and
obtained part of this ministry." Now, many, most feel like that
those right there, verse 16, Peter was talking, but verse
17, 18 and 19 were narrated by Luke. Luke wrote or dictated
the book of Acts. Most feel like this is, in other
words, verse 16 was the speech of Peter, but 17, 18, 19 is Luke
talking for kind of in parentheses for Judas was numbered with us. and had obtained part of this
ministry. Now this man, Luke is reminding us of what happened. Peter did not need to remind
the multitude of this, but Luke is reminding us. Now this man
purchased a field with a reward of iniquity, and falling headlong
he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
And it was known unto all the dwellers of Jerusalem, insomuch
as that field is called in their proper tongue That is to say, the field of
blood. Now, Peter continues here the prophecy of David. For it
is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate,
and let no man dwell therein. And his bishopric, or his office,
let another take. And that was part of what we
just read in Psalm 109. Now, when I read this portion,
as you know, we're going through the book of Acts. And when I
read this, I thought, my, my, what am I going to say out of
this for 45 minutes? I looked at it over and over
and over again, read different commentators and so forth. This message may not be As clear-cut,
I hope to interject the gospel here and there, but it may not
be as clear-cut a gospel message as I would like for it to be.
In other words, of the person and the work of Christ. But this
is profitable. The Scripture says all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and so forth.
This will be profitable. for us. If anything, it will
be a warning to us and, I believe, a blessing in consideration of
the Lord's will for this church and his dealings with us. The
story of Judas Iscariot is a mysterious one, a sobering one, a frightening
one, and a difficult one to talk about. When you talk about Judas,
you have to talk about eternal reprobation. You know what that
is? Reprobation. Eternal reprobation
means the selection of God Almighty or the determination or the decree
of God Almighty to, from the beginning, to damn certain people. Now, you can attempt to explain
this way. I don't know why anyone would want to, but people do. But you're still left with Judas'
story. And passages like, turn over
to Proverbs 16 with me. You need to mark Proverbs 16, this one particular verse anyway.
If more people would read this one verse, it would change their
theology completely. That is, if God would reveal
it to them. Proverbs 16, verse 4. Proverbs 16, verse 4, it says,
The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. Now, that may be talking about
the devil, or it may be talking about wicked people, or both.
It is talking about both. It says the Lord made him. The
Lord made the devil. Didn't he, Terry? The Lord made all things,
didn't he? That's what it said. For himself,
for his own purposes. I turn over Romans chapter nine
with me. Romans chapter nine. And boy,
it's not my desire, I'm not trying to be controversial, I'm just
reading God's word. And you'll get a fight, you just
read this and you'll get a fight on your hand. Paul did. When
he said this, he got some opposition. And he told him what they would
say before they said it. He said, no, you will surely
say it. You're going to say to me after I say that. Romans 9 verse
17, the scripture said unto Pharaoh, and this is found in Exodus 9,
for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might show my
power in thee. Now you remember Pharaoh, an
evil and wicked man who persecuted and Abused people of God, God raised
him up that he might show his power in him that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, have he mercy
on whom he will have mercy and whom he will, he hardened. And
I will say then unto me. Why does God find fault who has
resisted his will? In other words, it's the will
of God. Everything's the will of God. Why could he find fault
with me? I'm just doing what he willed for me to do. What
was Paul's answer? Did Paul attempt to explain this
to them? Paul sat down and said, Well,
this is what it's all about, reprobation. I'm going to try. No, he said,
Oh, man, shut up. That's what he's saying in so
many words. Just shut up. Who art thou that replies against
God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump? No, read
on. of the same lump, and we're all made of the same lump, aren't
we, flesh, to make one vessel unto honor, or salvation, and
another unto dishonor, damnation. What if God, willing to show
his wrath, God's just going to show his holiness, God's going
to show his justice, God's going to show his wrath, to make his
power known, endured with much long suffering, or put up with,
endured for a long time, vessels of wrath, look at it, does it
say what mine says? Fitted, and the margin even says
made up to destruction. I can't explain that, people.
I don't attempt to explain it, and I certainly don't want to
explain it away. It's there, isn't it? What do
you say to these things? Thou wilt surely say if you're
a believer, it's the Lord. Let him do what he will. Right? Jude 4. The fourth verse in the
book of Jude. Turn over there. There's another
one. These are mysterious verses. Difficult verses to deal with.
And I'm not trying to explain them. I'm just reading them.
I preached this. Reprobation. Jude 4. Look at this, verse four,
it says, There are certain men crept in, unawares, who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning
the grace of God into mischievousness, denying the only glory of God,
and so forth, ordained, before of old ordained to this condemnation. Does your Bible say that? That's
what mine says. God Almighty predetermines the
destiny of all things, all people, all things. God Almighty does
that, and this doesn't go very far in explaining it, but it
does somewhat. God determines the destiny of
all people beforehand, but all he needs to do once man is upon
the He doesn't have to force him into sin. He doesn't have
to make him sin. That's how Adam fell. God's not
the author of sin. God's not the author of sin.
And I can't explain this. It's just the way it is. God
didn't make Adam sin, but God somehow or another determined
that it would happen. And see, that's how God can still
be God in control of all things. And yet man still get to blame
for his sin. All God has to do is leave a man alone. He doesn't
have to make him sin, just leave him alone. And so that makes
the man responsible for his sin. Yet that makes God still in control. And that's like darkness, how
God can create God who is light can create darkness. That's simple
enough. Just move himself. Right? And
he is that light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. And if he is not in the man, if he removes himself, what's
the man in? Darkness. Darkness. And he loves
that darkness until the Lord turns the light on. And he finally
decides, hey, it's better in the light than it was in the
dark. Eternal reprobation. And there's
so many. theories and I've heard I heard
a man preaching entire message on me convinced me of and got
into theories of superlapsarianism or inflapsarianism. If you want
to know the answer to that ask Rick Williams. We both sat and
discussed it one day. We never came to the exact conclusion. Turn over to John chapter six
with me now. John chapter six. The fact is, though, Judas did
exactly what he wanted to do. He did what his evil heart desired
to do, but he did what God appointed him to do. Right? Yeah, he did. God picked him out to betray
his son. Yeah, he did. The same was said of those in
Acts chapter 2. Remember, when Peter was preaching,
he said, You with wicked hands have taken and crucified the
Lord of glory. But you did what God had determined
before to be done. I said before, men did exactly
what they wanted to do. They killed the Son of God, but
they put God's lamb on the altar in God's providence. John chapter
6, verses 64 and 65. Our Lord says, there are some
of you that believe not. Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not. and who should betray him how
do you know that he's got how do you know who would believe
who wouldn't he had he gave he gave the faith he gives the faith
face the gift of god whoever believes christ gave it to him
didn't he whoever didn't he didn't give it to him he said i know
my sheep didn't he and i've known a man he said i'm coming looking
for my sheep the ones god chose And when I came, I'll get a gospel
message out of this yet. The one that God gave me, the
ones God gave me, I'm on my trail, on the trail of my sheep. I'm
after them. They're going to hear my voice,
and I'm going to save them, every last one, every last one. And the rest, I'm just not going
to reveal myself to them. One time he thanked the Father
that he hid these things from the wise and the prudent, you
know, the intellectuals, the scholars, the religious people
today. and revealed among the babes. God's little babes that
he talked about in Isaiah. All thy children, his babies,
all thy children should be taught of the Lord, who God is, who
Christ is, what he did, necessity of it. And they'll come to him.
All that hear and learn, heard and learn of the Father come
unto Christ. And Christ said he knew who, he knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not because they're
the ones he never gave faith to. And who should betray him?
Verse sixty-five. And he said, Therefore said I
unto you, No man can come unto me. Right there is inability,
isn't it? Inability. Man's total inability.
He's dead. He is dead in trespass and sin. He cannot come to God. Except it were given unto him
of my father. except he be given the ability. And another place, Christ talked
about man's depravity. Right there you have his inability.
You cannot, no man can come. Another place, Christ said, you
will not come unto man. That's man's depravity. He doesn't
want to. He can't come, but don't blame
that on God. He doesn't want to come. No man,
you will not come unto man. No man can and you will not,
except. Unless, but God. That's salvation,
isn't it? In just a short word, but God. Unless, except God. Give them
the ability and the want. Give them the faith and give
them the desire. All right? Then verse 71, or verse 70, Our
Lord said, Have not I chosen you twelve? Now that's significant. Do you remember that verse? I
have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil. He chose the
devil. I wish I'd have written it down.
Do you remember when the Lord sent an evil spirit to plague
King Saul? Do you remember that? King Saul got into fits, plagued
by an evil spirit. This is—the world is not—they
wouldn't believe this for anything, would they? The world out there. But this is the Bible. This is
the scripture. Because God's God. God's God. The devils do
His bidding. Can I say that? The Word does. John Wesley, a blasphemous false
prophet, said, Well, God's a monster, then. Prepare to be a monster. All right. And this truth applies
to all, as well as Judas. Angels, men, and devils are under
God's authority. He is absolutely sovereign and
in control. He's absolutely God. That's what
I'm saying. He's absolutely God. And as we've
already read, it's, Thou wilt surely say, Some will say, well,
has he got fine thought? The only answer you can give
is, shut up. He's God. The determinate council. I love the sound of those words,
don't you? The determinate council. The predetermined meeting. That's
what determinate council is. A predetermined or a meeting
where God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit had
made a determination. It wasn't an attempt to nation.
It was a determination. Right? Dictum factum. It was all put down in writing. And it's impossible for God to
lie and impossible for God to fail. An oath and a covenant. A mysterious, complex, immeasurably
wise and glorious covenant. Ordered in all things and sure.
458 billion pages of fine print of a covenant. And every jot
and tittle, every dotting of the I and every crossing of the
T and every period and perfect grammar is in place. It'll all
be fulfilled. Covenant. Determinate counsel. I like that. Let me preach there
a while, but I've got to get to the text. Actually, there's
22 chapters. I've got to get going. Determinate
counsel. It's ordered in all things and
sure. And the foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge of God is
His forelove. Knowledge being like when Adam
knew his wife Eve. Remember when Adam knew his wife
Eve and she had a child? They joined together. Foreknowledge
is forelove. The foreknowledge of God, the
sovereign electing love of God, was set upon certain individuals
unto eternal life. I believe that some of you do. And all of those elect people,
all of those elect people, Jesus Christ became their surety. He said, I'll do everything necessary
for their salvation. Everything. And the elect have
everything done for them from the cradle to the grave to ensure
that they're saved. The elect. They're partakers of a general
mercy some of them and grace and the goodness of God right.
His provisions and so forth but not saving provisions not his
saving mercy not his saving grace not his love his eternal love
not the blood of Christ right. Now it does not apply to the
not only that this. Determinant counsel and foreknowledge
of God determines your salvation it ensures your salvation or
your damnation. God determined those things in
that council didn't he determine who is going to say who he was
not going to say. That's right that's right folks
don't like that and they accuse God of all sorts of things but
that's just proof that they're reprobate. or unless they disprove it later
on by believing it. You didn't believe this at one
time, did you? You bought that at one time, didn't you? Thank
God you weren't reprobate, right? Thank God in due time He made
you love what you once hated, right? Who made the change? How
could a man go from hating something vehemently, despising something
with a passion, fighting it tooth and nail to loving it? God. And a believer, the unbelievers,
non-elect, they say, I don't like this. Believers say, it's
the Lord. And someday they're going to
say hallelujah for such a great salvation. They say it now. And
someday they're even going to say amen to the damnation of
all the non-elect. And some of them will be their
very family. They won't know them as such.
You know, the former things will all be passed away. Neither will
come to mind, Isaiah 65, which verse? 17. You won't know, but
they may be in that group that you're going to say, Amen, glory
to God for the damnation of getting rid of the wicked. Is that hard? It's true. It's true. It's true. Now, reprobation is not my subject
tonight. We ought to major on salvation.
Major on salvation. Speak more of God, mercy, love,
and grace, but not at the exclusion of the other. Should we? Yeah,
I'm a hell's fire and damnation preacher. I sure am. But that's
not our message, is it? Repentance is the message, but
it's not what we, you know, we don't stay there. We go on to
salvation, we speak more of the mercy, love, and grace of God,
but certainly not the exclusion of these things. I don't bypass
reformation. I just told it to you, didn't
I? You can tell everybody I believe
it. Tell everybody. And we're to speak more of Christ
than we are Satan, certainly. All right? Now, speaking of Judas,
back in Acts chapter 1, speaking of Judas Iscariot and his betrayal
and his apostasy, verse 17, read that again with me. It says,
here's the striking thing in the whole story, and I've got
to talk fast. He was numbered with us. It says he was numbered
with us and obtained part of this ministry. Judas was chosen
by the Lord to betray him. Somebody had to do it, didn't
they? Judas was chosen for that purpose. Judas, now here's the
striking thing, sobering thing. Judas preached the gospel. Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. Judas worked miracles. Judas
appeared very sincere and genuine. You know that nobody ever suspected
Judas for one minute. You know? Psalm 41.9 says this. It says, My own familiar friend
with whom I ate bread. When our Lord said that prophecy,
you remember when He said, He said, one of you are going to
betray Him. And they said, Lord, is it I? Is it I? Is it I? And He
said, it's He that dips, sops with me. And Judas immediately
put his bread in and sopped with Him. Nobody even still suspected Him. The Lord just said who it
was, and He did it, and nobody believes it. That's how much
honor and trust and respect this man had. Is this sobering or what? The
whole time I was writing this message down, I was saying, Lord,
is it I? Is it I? Is it I? You need to be asking
yourself that. Is it I? Is it I? Is it I? He
was above reproach. Stan, if anybody ought to be
asking, is it I, Chief? Right? He was in such honor and
trust and respect, he was made the treasurer. And this is a serious job, a
very, very serious job. A man to be a treasurer. And
when I felt led to ask this man, I didn't just eeny, meeny, miny,
moe. I prayed about it a long time, considered the man and
his faithfulness and his character and so forth. You need to be
above reproach and suspicion, handling other people's money
and so forth, right? Judas was. It's a dangerous and
attempting office. Attempting for the best of man,
handling other people's money, especially in a grace church,
because we don't make a man give an account of anything, do we?
We don't, you know. It's an honor system. We're on
an honor system here, right? It's a dangerous and attempting
position. Pray for this man. I do. Pray for this man. And
I have full confidence in him. I do. We have a good, good one. I have confidence in it. Turn
over to John chapter 12 with me. John chapter 12. You remember when Paul said in
1 Timothy, he said, the love of money is the root of all evil. You remember that? Our Lord talked
about the deceitfulness of riches. In other words, you will be deceived.
Riches are so deceitful that you will be caught up in them. They're snare. Just like a little
rabbit or a little animal, you can get easily caught up in the
deceitfulness of riches, the snare. The best of men and women
have succumbed to this at times. Solomon, the wisest man on earth. I question his wisdom along those
lines, don't you? The love of money is the root
of all evil, if the disciples—now listen to me. If the disciples had been a little
more mature at this time and discerning if they had discerned
they would have detected this in Judas because Judas gave himself
away right here in John chapter twelve look at verse two through
six there made him a supper Mary and Martha at Lazarus home and
Martha served Lazarus one of them sat at the table with him,
then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and
anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the
house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one
of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray
him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence
and given to the poor? This he said, verse six, Not
that he cared for the poor, But because he was a thief, and had
the money bag, and barely had the money bag, he was just about
to count on it. He was pocketing some of it by
this time. The Lord said so. But nobody
said so. This is the reason the Scriptures
warn us over and over again about riches, and about ourselves,
and the dangers of riches, And it's so sad that the gospel ministry
is not immune from this. It's so sad. As a matter of fact,
the gospel ministry is more susceptible to this than anything else. Because,
like I said, the honor system and so forth, there's no real
account given. And nor should there be. We should
trust the Lord. We should trust this man. Trust
that the Lord will take care of this man. and those temptations
allow him to overcome them. But it's sad that the gospel
ministry is not immune from this, from extortion, excess, and fraud. And for this reason, I've made
a lot to do over the past while over avoiding the appearance
of evil when it comes to money. Paul, over and over again, Paul,
over and over and over and over again through the Scripture,
he said, I'm not going to ask anything of you. He said, I'm
not going to be chargeable to anybody. Just reading it today
in 2 Corinthians 11, I will not be chargeable. Let me read it
to refresh my own memory. Paul, over and over again, he
said, when I was present with you, I was chargeable to no man. That which was lacking to me,
or that is, we say, when I had a need, the brethren which came
from Macedonia, they supplied that. In all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you. He says, so will I
keep myself. So will I keep myself. Why? To
give no appearance of evil in regards to this thing of money.
No appearance. And he said, I'll not overburden
the church or whatever. This is the reason. Being above reproach along these
lines is a Christ-like attitude, a godly attitude that every preacher
of the gospel must have. This is the reason a Walter Ruvver,
like I gave you the illustration before, he could go to a church
and preach for them when some missionaries, not ours, but some
who called themselves missionaries, make these trips just for the
sake of money. They make little trips here and
there for the sake of money. I know. And for the love gifts,
you know. And this is why Walter Gruger
can go to a place and say, I don't want your money. Don't give me
any money. I just want to meet you all.
I just want to come be with you. This is why I saw my pastor for
years turn down raise after raise after raise. Turn him down. What man can turn down a raise,
huh? This is why he worked the job. When I was growing up, we
had to move out of the house. My mother feared for me as a
baby in the crib because the rats were so bad in that house.
She found a rat in my crib one day and had to move out of the
very poor neighborhood. Back then, people didn't know
how to take And it's like one man said he
did concerning the money he said all he said I leave that to the
people and he said when I left him I still had it. But not you people I'm just a
funny story I heard. But he worked a job I passed
a work job working insurance for several years many years
as long as I can remember growing up. to make those ends meet until
finally people grew in grace and the knowledge of Christ and
began to take care of his every need. But the scriptures give
warnings over and over again. And let's read verses 18 and
19. And he warns of this Judas, he
says, this man purchased the field with a reward of iniquity.
Falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst. All his bowels
gushed out. It was known unto all the dwellers
of Jerusalem. The field is called in the proper
tongue, asedema, that is to say, the field of blood. In other
words, Judas' love of money, all it purchased for him, he
didn't purchase bags of wax not old. What he purchased was his
own burial ground. We could talk about that. Matthew
talks about him hanging himself, and he did. There's no contradiction
there. He hung himself, hanged himself,
and most feel like that he hung himself on a little tree of some
sort, and it broke down. Or some say that the devil, who
had control of him, threw him down, like he did that young
man that was, you know, taken by the devil and the devil tore
him. and threw him down at Christ's feet. The devil threw him down
and busted his guts wide open. That's what happened. And the disciples sought to replace
him. And they meant well. I'm going to disagree right here
with John Gill, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, That's
alright. I'll take my stand right here.
They did wrong. What they did and how they did
it was wrong. They meant well, but they did
wrong. They had good intentions, but
they used a lack of wisdom, I believe. Let's read verses 20 and following. Now, Peter said, It's written
in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, let no
man dwell therein, let his bishop another take. Wherefore, of these
men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord
Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of
John, that is, when John baptized the Lord, somebody that was with
us all this time, unto the same day that he was taken up from
us, that Christ arose, there must be one ordained to be a
witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two." Do you see where I have to take
issue there? Those writers I just mentioned
believe that the disciples were under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. I don't. Verse twenty-three, and I'll tell you why. They appointed
two, Joseph called Persebus, who was named Justice, and Matthias.
And then they prayed. They should have prayed first,
people. But then they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest
the hearts of all men, show which of these two. We pick these two, and you decide
the rate. You make the rest of the decision.
I don't know why John, Calvin, and the rest of them missed this.
They just ignorant, I guess. Cut the tape. Lord, thou knowest the hearts
of all. Show whither of these two thou
hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship
from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his
own place. And so they gave forth lots. They threw dice, and the lot fell on Matthias,
and he was numbered with eleven apostles. This, as far as I'm
concerned, was the first church business meeting, and it was
a failure. The first and last vote it was
ever taken, and it was a failure. This is the reason from the outset,
people, I have said this, that the church is a family. It's
not a business. It's to be operated as a family.
Not a business. It's a theocracy, not a democracy.
You don't vote on things. God reigns. God rules. He makes
a decision. We don't vote on things. When
Christ is the husband and the head, he's the one that governs
and rules the family, doesn't he? Doesn't he make the decisions? No votes are needed. He'll make
his will be done. Yes, he will. If we'll wait patiently
on the Lord, I quoted it in Psalm 37, 5, wait patiently on the
Lord, commit thy way unto him, trust also in the Lord, and he'll
bring it to pass. He'll let you know. He'll let
you know. You know, and this is the way
we preach the gospel, too. This is the way we do all things
in the church. We depend upon the Lord for direction.
We depend upon the Lord for results. We don't resort to man-made gimmicks
and tactics and methods, do we? We resort to soul-winning tactics,
gimmicks and tricks to get people to come in. If the Lord doesn't
bring them here, we don't want them. They'll cause problems,
right? We preach. We present the message
to all that we can out on the streets or wherever. The Lord
must give the inquiry. And we wait on the Holy Spirit
to give the results, right? And that's the way we make decisions
in this church. It's not our church. It's His
church. And when we realize there's a
need, hey, we have a need. Whatever it may be, down to whatever
it may be. A need, a nursery, an office
or whatever. We pray for direction and He'll
give it. He'll give the means. To do it, we don't have to resort,
we don't have to fund raising or children's car wash, do we? This is what the world do, we
don't have to get in on the Lord's acre sale, do we? Besides, we don't give unto the
Lord that which cost us nothing. Money outside the world comes
in, didn't cost me, it cost them something. I give out of my pocket. What cost me? Right? And had the disciples waited,
it would have been very clear whom the Lord was going to choose. Whom the Lord chose to replace
Judas. Who was that? Somebody tell me. Paul. He was
the twelfth disciple. Do you remember the three qualifications?
I told you last week we needed to remember these. They didn't
follow these guidelines. Three qualifications. Number
one, he had to see the Lord. Now, Matthias did. Evidently, he did see the Lord,
but he didn't fit the next two criteria. Number two, he had
to receive his ministry from the Lord. That's the reason Paul
said over and over and over again throughout his epistles. Look
it up. He said, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God and Jesus Christ. He kept saying that over and
over again. He kept reminding us, by the
will of God. He said in Galatians 1, not of man, I'm not an apostle
of men or by man, but by the will of God. Maybe gently rebuking
them for their wrong choice. You never hear of Matthias again.
He's never mentioned again. There's never any indication
that he had any miracles. This was the third criteria. They had to possess the gifts,
the abilities to preach, miracles, work miracles, tongues, and so
forth. There's no indication that Matthias had any of these
things. This is the reason I strongly take issue with even John Gales. I can. He's dead. If he was alive,
I'd tread softly. But he might think like I did.
Like John Newton said, every succeeding generation gets more
light on a subject. John Newton said that. He said,
they become wiser over the years. Yeah. Don't have a different
message. They just get a little more light
on things. I will remind you, though, John Gill and John, not
John Gill, but John Calvin and Matthew Henry and all these men
believe in the Christian Sabbath, too. And they took it from Hebrews
4. And to me, a man could not be
any more ignorant concerning that. Enough of that. I'm picking
on some mighty big people here. Now, the same thing can be said of
many men. That they see the Lord. Many
men, they see Christ. You saw a woman. You see Christ
by faith. But you're not called to the
ministry. preaching ministry, we all do have our ministry.
Yeah, we do. Therefore, see, we have this
ministry. You have a ministry. You just performed a little bit
of it tonight. That's a ministry, a valuable ministry. We all have
a ministry. We're all members of one body,
and we all supply that that makes an increase in the body. But
what is the call to the preaching ministry, though? OK? Well, this,
you need to know this. Try me by it. All right, the
pastorate, more specifically, the pastorate, the pastorate,
all right, the call to the ministry, and this is something I wrestled,
oh, did I wrestle with it. And everybody who the Lord, every
man, anyway, whom the Lord saves, they feel called to preach. Woman,
you preach, you're just not allowed up there or right here, but you
do preach. Women can preach. but not usurp
it over a man. You understand what I'm saying?
That's the term of the word prophecy in the scripture. Deborah and
these prophetesses, when they're, you know, they, well, let's go
on. A man, the scripture is very
clear, it's a man is in the leadership position in the church and is
to do the preaching and the pastoring and so forth. Call to the minister. What is it? Number one, it's
got to be a heartfelt desire. of desire. Paul said that to
Timothy, if any man desire the office of a bishop, there has
to be a desire there. A desire, number one, not to
be a preacher or not to be a pastor. I want to be a pastor. When I
grow up, I want to be a pastor. You know, I did that when I was a
boy. That's not the call of God. That's just a boy saying something
like being a fireman, you know, or garbage man. I also wanted
to be a garbage man, see? I was that first. I laid in it
for a while. that there has to be a heartfelt
desire to glorify God in the preaching of the gospel, a love
for God, a desire to speak of God. And all believers have this,
but they aren't called to the pulpit ministry. So number two,
call to the ministry. There has to be open doors. There
has to be somebody who wants to hear you preach. I'm called
to preach. And you don't have a place to
preach? You're not called to preach, right? Makes good sense then
doors of utterance scriptures cause of doors of utterance at
that have somebody want to hear you. That's what pastor said
down there you were you down there when he said that he said
what would a church be without a pastor. Or a church without
a pastor. He said but what would a pastor
be without a church. Several examples of that in the
scripture man they were miserable out in the desert. Moses he wasn't
good for anything until he got that the Lord gave him a people.
All right, you have to have doors of utterance, places to preach,
opportunities to preach, and those are made very clear and
opened by the, you can open doors, you know, you can find your little
church, a little Southern Baptist church to pastor. Terry, if you
want to be a pastor today, you could be one in a minute. Yes,
you could. There's so-called churches galore
out there. You could worm your way in there
and start preaching. Yeah, you could. But you don't
want to do that, do you? You want the Lord, the Lord must
open the door. All right, number three, there
has to be the ability, the ability to preach. I've heard men who
felt called to preach and and try their best to preach, but
just couldn't preach. Just couldn't preach, just couldn't
do it, just didn't have the ability, didn't have the ability to communicate
and so forth. Spurgeon used to say a man who
had a shallow chest was not fit to be a preacher. That's why he said, a man with
a shallow chest can't be a preacher. So what's the reason I exercise? No, I'm just being funny, but
it stands to reason a man has to have some faculties, doesn't
it? Has to have a voice, got to be able to—Don Fortner was
called from birth, wasn't he? No doubt. No doubt. Has to have the faculties to
do it. He has to have other things that are much more important,
though. Discernment, spiritual discernment. Faith. I put that
down first. Faith. He has to have discernment. He has to have some leadership
qualities, doesn't he? He has to be meek. He has to
be as harmless as a dove, but wise as a serpent. And he has
to sometimes look like a pushover, but other times do a little arm
bending himself. He has to have wisdom, he has
to have faculties and so forth. Number four, he has to have a
love for the people, a love for the people, a love for the people. And I should have said way up
at the top there, he has to have, when I said discernment, I should
have said he has to have an absolute heart, I said faith, but he has
to have absolute firm conviction and persuasion and knowledge
of what the gospel is. what the gospel is. I was just
telling our brother in the study about a man who preached in this
pulpit who left the gospel, a man I bragged on for a long time,
left the gospel, left apostasy. A man has to be at that firm
persuasion. Well, how will a man know that
he's in the ministry? Boy, did I ever ask this question
to a lot of people. The whole time I was traveling,
now I'm just going to recount to you a little bit of the Lord's
dealings with me. You'll see his marvelous hand in this thing,
so you won't, there's no doubt in my mind. I told you about the little church
up in West Virginia that asked me to be their pastor. And this
was a year or so before I came here. And I loved those people. Many a night I fell in love with
those people. I had a desire to be with them.
I wanted to go pastor those people. I did. I wanted to. They loved
me. I still love those people. And
I bless God they have a fine man now as a pastor. He was supposed
to be their pastor. Doug Weaver, Ken Wymer's brother-in-law,
is their pastor now. Fine man. Fine preacher. I'm
so glad he's there. But I wanted to go there as a
young preacher. I wanted to go there. And I sought
the Lord's will. I called every man who'd ever
done any preaching or every pastor of every church. I called Tim.
I called Donny Bell. I called Maurice. I called Scott.
Don, just name them. I called them all. How do you
know? I was looking for the Lord's will. How do you know when it's
the Lord's will that you're supposed to go somewhere? You know the
answer I got? You'll know. I got the same answer from every
one of them, same answer. I was waiting on one of them
to give me just an ABC, you know, that I could, some conditions,
some points that I could, this is met, this, this, hip, hip,
hooray. I know. No, they don't, you'll
know. That's not good enough. That's not, yes it is, when the
time comes. And when I came down here, God
is my witness. I wasn't seeking this position.
I was enrolled to go to school. I wasn't candidating. I didn't
bring my resume, did I? I wasn't candidating for this
position. I wasn't seeking it. Somebody called me and said,
would you be interested to come down here to preach? Sure. I was preaching everywhere at
the time. I preached in a lot of places. I preached several
places without pastors. And after door after door closed
in my face, it was obvious to me that something, the Lord had
something else. And when I was called to come down
here to preach just to fill the pulpit, it was, like I said,
just one of many places to come to and preach. I was not seeking
this job. But you know what? I knew. I knew. It was love at first sight. Do
you believe in that? I do. It was. Wasn't it, Mindy? Mindy will
tell you. She's living proof of this, too.
Do you remember John Chapman? Let me just refresh your memory. Remember, John came down here
and preached to you people, didn't he? John came back after the first...
and he knew. John said, I... no, I'm not...
I'm not... Y'all were interested in John, weren't you? And I would
be, too. John's a fine man. He's ever
bitten my equal or... Better. Better man than I am. Why wasn't he? Why didn't he
feel the pressure to come? Same people? Same situation? Huh? An equal man? The Lord wasn't there. Right? John went back and said, no,
I don't. John was, he told me, he said, I was just overwhelmed
with awesomeness and responsibility. When I stood up there, I thought,
this is, I can't do this. I'm not in there. When I came
down here, it was love at first sight. It was love at first sight,
and I immediately knew. And then there were many providential
circumstances that lead up to that, and I don't have time to
go into them. I'd love to write them down someday
and tell you every one of them. I can recount how the Lord opened
door after door and closed this door, closed that door, opened
this one. And what the Lord opens, no man
can shut. And what the Lord opened, everybody
knew the door of the ark was open. Here's a big door. When the Lord opens doors, you'll
know it. You'll know it. How will you
know? How will I know when it's the
Lord's will? You'll know. You'll know. How will I know it's not the
Lord's will? You'll know that, too. If you wait, and the Lord opened
the way here, And you know the day, do you remember the day
I arrived here? It was on a Saturday. Anybody remember what happened?
It snowed ten inches. Do you remember that? It snowed
ten inches. Do you remember that? It snowed
ten inches. And it hadn't snowed since then,
up until this year. Ten inches. And I lay in the
bed that night. I didn't sleep at all that night.
I thought, why? I did. I complained to the Lord.
Why? It was for you. That snow was
for you. The Lord was proving you off.
How interested are you in having a pastor? How serious are you
about, are you going to come hear this man? That was for you.
You know, the next morning the streets were completely clear.
The parking lot, you know how it holds snow? It was clear.
It was clear. We had services that afternoon,
you may recall. I had some liberty preaching.
I remember I had some freedom preaching. And on the way home,
I knew, but we didn't dare discuss it. I don't think we discussed
it. We didn't dare. She knew, too. She told me later
on, she knew. She knew, but she didn't want to express it. She
didn't. And the point is, this is the
point I'm trying to make, what the Lord opens. When the Lord
opens something, He opens it wide open. When the Lord is doing
something, it's made clear. And he doesn't make us doubt,
he tells us plainly. He tells us plainly. Very plain. He doesn't leave his sheep in
the dark. Just like he doesn't leave them hungry. Y'all didn't
stay hungry long at all, did you? I bet you didn't miss a
meal. They shall not want. He leaves
them beside the still water and the green pasture. And I believe
what the Lord does is forever. And I must say this. I believe
what the Lord does is forever. Just like marriages are made
in heaven, I believe this. I think the passion of people
are made in heaven, and I think it's forever. I really do. Ask Scott Richardson. He's been
up there for 40 years. Ask Henry Mahan. He's been with
the same people for 40 years. Ask Don Fortner. Ask Tim James,
Todd Nyberg. Don, keep on down the line. Ask
them. It's forever. It's forever. And I believe that,
Pastor. What am I trying to say? I'm
not leaving. I'm not divorcing you. We're
married. We're married. Right? We're married. Till death do us part. Really,
I believe that now. I mean that with all my heart.
When the Lord joins together, no man put us under. No man. Now, Matthias was probably a
fine man, He was not God's man. Saul of Tarshish was. He was
God's choice. And people didn't choose Saul
at first, did they? They didn't want Saul. But they
finally realized it later on. I hope you feel just as strongly
about me being here as I do about being here. And like I said,
it's forever. And like a marriage, a pastor
and his people are not without problems. Is there any marriage
in here that has been without problems? You know, when personalities
are in this thing, you know, you're going to butt heads at
times. And I can't help that you're all not as sweet as I
am. I'm working on you. No, you know I'm being facetious
now. I can be hard-headed. I can be
just as hard-headed as you, right? But God willing, I believe he's
in this. I do. And I'm not by His grace. We're married. It's a marriage.
And it's till death do us part. And may the Lord bless this holy
matrimony for many years to come. Many years. Forty. Can you stand
me that long? All right. Stand up. The same
way now. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for this blessed fellowship. And we thank you for all that
you've done for us, your marvelous providential dealings in our
lives. We so clearly see your hand in all of it. And if we
don't, we pray that you might reveal them to us. Lord, we thank
you for crossing our paths. I especially thank you for crossing
the path of this people, dearly beloved people, dear little children,
if I may say, like John, whom I love dearly, and my family. And Lord, I ask your blessings
upon us. Enable us to provoke one another unto love. Enable
us to endeavor to keep the unity of spirit. Enable us to do all
we can to build up one another on this most holy faith and endeavor
to keep this unity such a blessed thing, a taste of heaven when
there's peace in the church, we ask that you maintain that,
you and you alone, and keep us by your sovereign power. And
Lord, we pray that you might keep me preaching the gospel,
pointing us to Christ, and keep me, Lord. Brother Stan, I pray
for him and his most serious and solemn and trying, tempting
a position, yet such a vital one. I pray for him, Lord. We
all together pray for him that you would give him wisdom and
your guidance and integrity and honesty and deliver him from
temptation. Provide our every need, Lord,
all the men, leaders of this church, our deacons and all the
ladies. Lord, we pray for this church
that you would keep us by your grace. Keep us looking to your
Son and keep us in love with one another. Bind our hearts
together, make us grow in love for Christ and one another. In
his blessed name we pray, amen.