And some of you women, too, know
a little bit about that kind of fishing. And the first thing
in that kind of fishing is to use something that will trick
the fish into eating. A man goes out, he's got a full
tackle box. Why? Because he doesn't know
what will work that day. And so he tries one artificial
lure and he casts it out. If they don't hit that, he takes
another one out of his case and he uses that to see if they'll
try. He's got a whole box full, tackle
box full of artificial baits which are all counterfeits. And it doesn't matter how pretty
they look on the outside, how shiny, how colorful, how
authentic they look. They're all counterfeits, and
they've got a hook in them. They're trying to hook somebody.
They're trying to get them to do something. And they use these
methods. Because the gospel, the truth,
will not produce for them the results that they want. It will not give them fame. It will give them contempt. The
true gospel will not give them money. It will make them poor.
And the true gospel will not give them glory, because it gives
all the glory to God. The true gospel will not bring
about all these efforts and works and buildings and things like
that. It involves the work of Christ, what He does. So when Paul comes to write in
1 Corinthians 1 and verse 17, He says, for Christ sent me not
to baptize. In other words, not even baptism
is the priority. He said, but to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. It's amazing. how such things
can be done by men using worldly wisdom and in their preaching
say so much, yet disguise or hide the truth. He says, he sent me to preach
the gospel Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. When you add man's wisdom to
it, the cross of Christ is nothing. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. That's right. You found it true. You found
it true. You found it true. The preaching
of the cross to the most that we preach to is foolishness. It's unnecessary. It's elementary. That's what all these These preachers
are virtually saying that, well, you know, Jesus died, was buried,
rose again. That's the gospel. Let's go on
to something else. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. For it
is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? We're not to proclaim what we
think. we're to proclaim what God said. All our opinions, all our thoughts
about how it ought to be done, they're all so naturally contrary
to this idea of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ alone,
that if left to ourselves, we'll do anything else. Anything else. He says, for after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You see, it's not natural to
us. We don't think it's wise. We don't think it'll work. We
don't think it's the best way to simply do nothing but preach
the cross. But he says, God, by the foolishness
of preaching, now this means the foolishness of the thing
that's preached, which is the cross, salvation by death. But it also means the foolishness
in the eyes of man of the method that's God used. Why didn't he
use his angels to herald it out? Why didn't he give signs and
wonders to tell people all about this, to single them out? Because
he didn't want to. Because He's God, the all-wise
God, and He does things like He wants to. He works all things
after the counsel of His will, and it pleased Him through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And I tell you what, in the Gospels,
In the book of Acts, there's some pretty good preaching there. I used to hold strictly to the
notion that unless you didn't hear the gospel from somebody
I thought preached the gospel, you couldn't be saved. Then one day it came to my mind,
what is it that we're reading? in the Gospel of John, in the
Gospel of Mark, in the Gospel of Luke, in the Gospel of Matthew. What are we reading in the Book
of Acts? We're reading some mighty fine,
Holy Spirit-led preaching. So if I'm truly preaching the
Gospel, if a man is truly preaching the Gospel, all he's doing is
rehearsing before men in their ears what God says. It's like that old writer said,
if it's new, it isn't true. And if it's true, it isn't new. If somebody comes up with something
new or something that men just fall over to hear and do, that's
not the gospel. The gospel is the preaching of
Christ crucified. He says, for the Jews require
a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. That's what the true
groups of men do naturally. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. Why in the world would you want
to preach something like that? When you know ahead of time it
won't work a hundred percent. When you know it won't gain a
crowd. When you know you can't get a
following. Why would you want to preach
something like that, that you know in so many is going to have
a negative effect? Verse 24. But unto them which
are called, unto them which are called, called
by God himself. That word means one thing, it
means named by God. And it means to effectually call
to himself by God. The preaching of the cross, The preaching of salvation through
a death to most people is and will be foolishness. That's why the evangelist doesn't preach it. That's why Graham won't preach
it. Because men won't get up out
of their pews and come to the front, those that sit under the
preaching of the true gospel that God calls, they'll come
to Christ. They'll come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And men rather use methods of
proclaiming this foolishness, and so they devise other means. They talk about singing the gospel. They use dramas. They use programs. They use all these other methods
except the one that God ordained. They say, what do you got at
your church? What you got going on? What do you folks got going
on? Well, we got preaching the gospel going on. I'm mighty thankful for that.
Because some of you have found out that you just can't go anywhere
and hear the gospel. You can hear about things that
you're to do, you can hear You can hear about marriage and family
life and holy living. You can find, you can hear whatever
you want. There's a smorgasbord. You ought
to come to the town that I live in. It's right next to one of
the largest marine bases in the world. And before they ever come out
of the gate, here's a church sign. There's
a church sign. Here's another church sign. Here's
another one. We've got all this for you. We've
got something for you kids. We've got something for you singles.
We've got something for you seniors. We've got something for you that
want to help people. We've got programs to organize. We've got everything. We've got
something going on. But no gospel. Gospel, no gospel. You see, God has ordained the
means, he's ordained the method, and it is to glorify him and
him alone. It's not about pressure, it's
not about salesmanship, it's not about begging. I hate that. I hate it when men grovel, when
men beg, when they plead in the name of the living God to such
wretched creatures as we are. God's not a beggar. He's not a beggar. But he saves
his people, and he makes his people and his preachers fishers
of men by causing them to spread or cast out the gospel net. You see, the world is a sea in
which men are like fish. The gospel is preached, and it's
given witness to, and it always accomplishes what God sends it
out to accomplish. It won't build big things, big
buildings, big names, big fortunes, but it'll save his people. Turn over to John chapter six. John chapter six, and look at
verse 44. You see, this is one of the first
problems. Men don't know the condition
of men. I'm always tickled about people
who talk about the doctrines of grace and things like that,
and they say, well, I just disagree with one point. you disagree
with the first point. And that has to do with the state
and condition of sinners. Because if what God says about
the first point is true, that we're totally depraved, that
we're helpless and hopeless, And he says it over and again
and over again, but we don't want to admit it. And we don't
want to admit it. Preachers don't want to admit
it because they know that renders everything to be a work of God
if anybody's saved. Verse 44, John 6, no man can
come to me. You say, you preacher, you've
left me without hope now. No, I've left you without hope
in yourself. Hope was never in yourself. There's
never been any hope for you in anything you could do, decide,
profess. Hope's in God. No man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him. Guess why that word is used elsewhere
in the scripture? It's not like a man fishing,
sport fishing. I'm from eastern North Carolina.
I live 15 miles from the bridge, so I know something about fishing. Men cast out, sports fishermen
cast out like false religionists. They cast out a counterfeit in
hopes of hooking and bringing one back. They like to brag on how many
they caught. I'll limit it out. Well, that's the way the false
evangelists, false churches are. We limit it out. That's not the kind of fishing
he's talking about here. The kind of fishing he's talking
about here is this casting out a net. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. Same thought. And I will raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father comes to me. You see, The aim of true evangelism,
true vision for me, is to bring them to Christ. And nobody can come, nobody wills
to come, nobody decides to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, but
those that the Father draws. And he teaches them. I can tell them the gospel, but
I can't teach them the gospel. They must be taught of God. And when they're taught of God,
They learn of the Father. They learn where salvation is.
They learn where righteousness is. They learn that everything
in God's salvation is in Christ alone. And they come to Him. This net, this gospel net, draws
all that it catches to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has said in verse 37,
all that the Father giveth me. You say, I'll never come to Christ.
Well, if you don't, you were never given to Christ. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and then that come to
me, I will not cast out. You see, when men draw a net
of fish in, like they do in commercial fishing, when they draw a net
in, there's always some to throw out. Not this net. When men set up a net, and I've
seen it many times, They hang a net out and they string a net,
put the weights on it and everything. But the most important thing
is to determine what they call the marsh or the mesh. In other words, the mesh is different
sizes depending on what they're fishing for. A big marsh or a big mesh lets
all the little fish go right on through it, just catches the
big ones. And that's the way the gospel
is. The net is cast out, not where we think it ought to be,
like those fishermen did naturally, but on the other side, that's
God's side, wherever he in his providence sends the net to be
cast out. And I believe by means of the
internet these days, he's casting that net out in some places that
we could not even imagine, because he's got some fish there. They're all involved in all kind
of heathenism and idolatry, but there are people out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, And when that net is cast out,
that gospel net, it will bring every one of them. Bring every
one of them. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. This marsh, this net, size is
such that it catches sinners. You're not one. Ungodly. You're not one. Oh, preacher. Sorry. The unrighteous. The dead. The sheep. We cast this net out. We preach
the gospel. We declare the truth. We say
what God says about Himself. Well, I don't believe we ought
to preach election. That's the first thing that Paul heard.
The Lord's chosen you. Well, I don't believe we ought
to preach predestination. Those are the towers that stand
up around Zion. These are the things that show
men who God is, and they bring him into confrontation with God
as He is. He does what he will. He's got the only free will in
the universe. And that gospel's preached. I'm not talking about rehearsing. Jesus died and was buried and
raised again the third day. I'm talking about how he died
according to the scriptures. That gospel's preached. Thank
God it's still preached in some places because God still has
some people. And that net is cast out. And
when it's cast out, it brings a different result. It always brings a different
result. But it's always successful. Paul said, now thanks be unto
God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, as we make
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. The Pharisees said, who are you? You know, it didn't
act like it bothered Christ a lot. There wasn't a shock to it. And
when men don't receive the truth, it's not a shock. It ought not
be a shock to us. What ought to be a shock to us
is that anybody believes it. Somebody said, ain't nobody but
a fool or a Christian will believe this. that God came in human flesh. He says, for we are unto God
a sweet savor of Christ. This one portion of scripture has helped me many times. I get to church and there's just
a small group there. It reminds me that I'm preaching
first for God, to God. And it's a sweet savor, sweet
fragrance to Him. An audience of one, but the most
important one. And He'll do whatever else with
it He wants to and His purpose to do, but I'm preaching for
His glory. I'm talking about His Son and
what He did. And it's always good to Him.
It's a sweet savor in them that are being saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of
life, of death unto death, and to the other we're the saver
of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? I'm not. But we are. But we're not as the many, which corrupt the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Christ. It's always pleasing to God. It's always separating. It's
always dividing. It's always bringing forth the
sheep who He says that will hear His voice. He that is of God,
that is chosen of God, loved of God, born of God, He hears
God's Word. And it always catches the elect. I remember as a religious preacher,
as a moral person, when first I heard the first inklings of
the truth, it caught my ear. Why? Because of the grace of
God. Oh, if I've got a failure as
a preacher, it is a failure to believe and to realize and to
remember that it's not what I say or how I say it, but it's God
taking his word, which is like a sword, and accomplishing his
work. The apostle preached. He was
a great preacher. Had a great gospel. And when
he preached, it says, and some believed the things which were
spoken, but some believed not. Acts 13, and when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were ordained to eternal life, They believed. God says, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and shall prosper
into things whereunto I sent it. We're only fishers of men if
we're casting out the net of the true gospel. The gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace, the gospel of Christ crucified,
the gospel of the accomplished work of Christ, the gospel wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed, the gospel that glorifies God alone. Because we need to remember this. God's glory does not depend on
how many He saves, but on Him saving all He purposed
to save. All He loved with this everlasting
love. that He brought into His everlasting
covenant, all He gave to Christ, all Christ died for as their
substitute, all that Christ put away their sins for, all that
the Spirit will call and bring. Such was the design of the Ark. The language of Scripture is
Fewer than eight souls. Boy, by today's standard, that'd
be a low evangelism, wouldn't it? Saving eight souls. But God saved those eight souls
which He purposed to save. He had mercy on those He designed
His mercy for. And it showed that he saved them
all in a way that glorified himself in that art, which is a type
of Christ. God's long-suffering to us were not willing that any should perish,
any of these us were. He may even use my stumbling,
bumbling words, but he's not going to let them perish. He's not willing that any of
them should perish, but that they should come to repentance. He said, follow me and I'll make
you fishers of men. Thank you so much. Let's get
your folders again and go to page one. And I think most of you know
this chorus. Let's sing, say, say center. Will you meet me? There's several
on that page. Try to remember which one we're
singing. That's the one we're singing. Let's stand together
and sing. Say, sinner, will you meet me? Say, sinner, will you meet me? Say, sinner, will you meet me
on Canaan's happy shore? By the grace of God I'll meet
you By the grace of God I'll meet you By the grace of God
I'll meet you On Canaan's happy shore There we'll shout and give
Him glory. There we'll shout and give Him
glory. There we'll shout and give Him
glory. For glory is His name. Take a little break. And you
hear the instruments? Let's get back together.