Turn to the Gospel according
to Luke. Now, I like that phrase. The reason is because that is
the phrase that is given to the book. It's the title. Now, whether
Mason Luke gave it that title, we don't know, but it is in the
majority of manuscripts. It may have been added by others
later But it also, one thing it does leave out, it is the
holy gospel according to Luke. That's what the Greek actually.
It is not Luke's gospel. It's not Luke's gospel. The only
person that ever said it that way was Paul when he said my
gospel. He's talking about that which
God had given him. Not his by creating or design,
but it was his as a gift that God had given him. the turn to
the gospel according to Luke chapter 1. To set the scene,
Luke is writing to Theophilus. And Luke, after introducing his
letter to Theophilus, begins to speak of Zacharias. I'm right
there, yeah, Zacharias. Zacharias was having, or had
his turn in his responsibilities in the priesthood. They had by
course. Certain ones did certain things
and then they would have a break for a while and then others would
take over. And we read in Luke chapter 1,
and I will begin in verse 12, Zacharias was into the temple
and an angel appears to him. It says in verse 12, but when
Zacharias saw him, He was troubled, and fear fell upon him. I figure
it would me too. But the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. And thy wife,
Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name
John. Thou shalt have joy and gladness. What happened to Zechariah's
son? He lost his head. Thou shalt have joy and gladness. It lets you know it must be something
more than just the birth and existence of this son. Thou shalt
have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. But not all of them. For he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost." The only
time it's ever said of any individual other than Christ Himself, who
is none other than God manifest in the flesh. He shall be filled
with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. There's your
answer to your question, Mason, we talked about. This man had
the Holy Ghost even when he was And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God That's what it says He shall
go before him that is before the Lord in the spirit and power
of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and
the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for
a people prepared for the Lord. Now, to introduce my lesson this morning,
and notice I did say a lesson this morning. I will begin this way. If I were
to say to you that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, that Jesus Christ
created the world, what would you say? Amen. If I were to say to you that
Jesus Christ is the Gospel, personified, He is the Gospel, what would
you say? If I were to say to you that
Gospel preaching created the world, what would you say? Would you say amen or oh me?
Yeah, wait a minute. Is there not a difference? Is there not a difference? Gospel
preaching didn't create the world, but the gospel did create the
world. There is a difference. Now, keep
that in mind. What we say and how we say it
is of vital importance. I think our Lord said, and I
say I think, I know he said it, but I don't know if I'm going
to say it exactly right. He said something along this line, every
word you speak, you'll be judged. Right? That's frightening. That's frightening. Especially when you stand in
a place like this, speaking publicly to other people. And this lesson I have for us
this morning is one that gives me some trouble,
not in the truth. I'm not troubled by the truth.
What troubles me is there seems to be even so many of God's own
people who love and believe the gospel. Do not see and acknowledge and
rejoice in and love the truth I'm going to present to you this
morning. I used to, in my young, ignorant
fervor, become angry. I wrote a letter one time to
an individual in that anger, and I'm still ashamed of myself
over it. But that didn't change the truth
of what I was trying to set forth in that letter. It was said that what I'm going
to talk to you about this morning, it was said concerning at that
time it was about me and Earl. But it includes you here if you
believe, if you hold to what I'm going to tell you this morning
from the Word. We seriously, by teaching what
we were teaching, these are His words, you seriously distort
the truth. Not just you think we misunderstand
something, I think you got something a little wrong. We all misunderstand
some things. But when someone accuses anyone
else of seriously distorting the truth, And you know the serious
nature of what it is to declare unto men and women the truth
that raises your ire. But again, I'm not angry now. I'm sad. God help me that it stays sadness
and one of constant prayer. Oh God, remind me of this. and others as well. We have in this context a tremendous
statement defining the work of God in the salvation of His people. This single statement, and that's
what I'm really going to try to concentrate on, this single
statement shows the relationship of the instrumentality of gospel
preaching It shows the relationship of that to the work which God
himself alone performs within an individual. The statement, I'm going to read
you again in just a moment, does not define all the details. The details are defined elsewhere
in the scripture. But the subject is here broached
in what we call the Gospels. And as a matter of fact, Luke
broaches it right from the beginning. The whole crescendo is this,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That was the whole crux of John
the Baptist's ministry. It's summed up that way. And
as I said, this statement itself does not define all the details,
but it does show the proper relationship between these two related but
yet distinct things. These two interconnected, if
you will, but yet distinct truths, if I could put it that way for
the sake of argument right now. Here the statement again, to
make ready This is what John was to do. To make ready a people
prepared for the Lord. Now, so that there is no doubt
here, the Greek renders it, if you translated it literally into
English, is in this order. To make ready for Lord. Now,
you could put thee in there to make it a little better English,
but to make ready for Lord a people prepared. My title is, Make Ready the Prepared. That's the only kind of people
that can be made ready, is the prepared. What is sad, what saddens me
now, it has angered me in the past, is when we declare this
truth, some accuse you of belittling one or the other. There may be some basis for that.
Because it may be that in our exuberance, we do. One way or the other. So I'm
not saying they're altogether wrong. But the truth is the truth
is the truth. Make ready they're prepared. Two statements. First of all,
gospel preaching is for making ready for the Lord a people. That's the purpose of gospel
preaching, to make ready for the Lord a people. Here's the
second statement. This making ready must be preceded
by a people prepared. I preach this very truth and
have for some years now. And yet this is one thing that
seems to be a sticking point among many. It saddens me now. Now we could say in the English,
just to put it in, to make ready a people made ready. It still
say the same thing. In the English, to make ready
a people made ready. Or we could say, to prepare a
people prepared for the Lord. Because the English itself finds
no great distinction. But remember, I said two distinct
things. Joined, yes. But they're joined in this sense.
Cause and effect. Here, effect is mentioned first. Then the cause is then declared. But it is still cause and effect. Now both of those phrases, to
make ready a people made ready or to prepare a people prepared,
would be valid in the English. But in the Greek, it's far more
than just the tense of a word, to make ready a people made ready.
You'd have to read it that way for it to be proper. He didn't
say to make ready and prepare people, because John didn't do
both, he only did one. He made ready, he didn't prepare. Somebody said, well that's just
words. That is words, that's exactly
right. To make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So when
I say it in English, you still have to change the tense, Joe,
to get the true sense of it. But our translators, the translators
of the KJV, did us a wonderful aid here by translating it with
two different words, or make ready, and then prepared to at
least let us know there's a big difference here. Now my first
thing, I have two things for you this morning. That don't
mean it's going to be short. It just means there's only two
things. First of all, the teaching of
the two different words here. Secondly the teaching seen in
the context the phrase and the scripture overall First of all
the teaching of the two different words here if you want to check
me out And I would encourage you to do so Make sure that what
I'm saying is truly the Word of God and not my take on it
The two words are in Strong's and The first one, make ready,
and I'll keep using the word make ready and prepared, and
I will keep them separate. When I say make ready, I mean
the Greek word that stands behind that translation. When I say
prepared, I mean the Greek word that stands behind that translation. Make ready is 20-90 in Strong's
Concordance. To prepare or prepared is 26-80,
and look it up for yourself even in Strong's sometimes. Now first
of all, the teaching of the two different words. The very fact
of this, one word is active, that's the first one. The second
word is passive. They can't be the same thing. Active and passive are two distinct
things, especially in the Greek language. Now, I'm not going
to try to use the Greek words. I will stick with the translator's
words, which they are good, able words. Because I would butcher
the translation. I would butcher the pronunciation
of them. And it really doesn't matter. We don't know Greek here.
I don't. I've talked with most of you.
I don't think you know a whole lot more than I do. But I'm not
being smart-aleck there. I'm accused of doing that, and
I probably am. And I told Joe he could preach
that if I died before he did. And he said he was going to say
a certain phrase, which I won't give you. But I told him to change
it just a little. And you can ask him about what
he said later. The teaching of the two different words. Remember,
one, the first one, made ready is active. But it's not the thing
being made ready that is active. It's the thing making ready that
is active. Exactly. John the Baptist is
the active one. That's right. even more, his
message is to active thing, even more. So there's the action,
it's not even the thing being made ready, it's something is
acting upon this thing being made ready. But the second word
is passive. Make ready is this, to prepare,
to provide, to make ready by, and here's the kicker, here's
the main thing of this word, by internal fitness. The second word, the one that
is passive, That is, the thing being prepared is totally passive. Now, whatever it is that's preparing
is active, but the voice in the Greek is saying that this thing
that was prepared is totally passive. It had nothing to do
with anything. It was acted upon. The first word shows that this
thing was acted upon, but the emphasis is on the action. The
emphasis of the second one is on the passivity of the thing
being acted upon. I told you it was going to be
a lesson for this morning. The first word, to prepare, to provide,
to make ready, by internal fitness. Now I thought about this for
a while, and don't let it confuse you, because we'll see, The word
prepared equals this, to prepare thoroughly, thoroughly, to construct. You see, the other one can be
taking things and using what's already there to make ready something. The next one is to actually construct
it, build it, to make its parts and pieces, to create. or to equip by external means. When I first read that, though,
I thought, that seems to be opposite. But remember, God says, my thoughts
are your thoughts, my ways are not. Well, I always think of
it this way. God prepares, and that's true, and that's an internal
work. But wait a minute, the preparing
is an internal work, but where does it come from? Since you're
passive, it has to come from where? external source. But the making, the maker, if
you will, the thing that is active is making something, but that
making is not, although it comes from an external source, it's
talking there about this internal fitness. Fitness. Those are the base meaning of
the word. The truth here is this. Number
one, this is two things under point one, the teaching of the
two different words here. First, their meanings are different.
Second, their very tenses and modes are different. But here's
the two statements I want to give you. The gospel comes from
an external instrumentality. No man preaches the gospel to
himself when he's converted or she's converted. Right? God don't
send you to yourself with the gospel. Does he? I ain't found it. Even Abram,
who was in the Ur of the Chaldees, God came to him and preached
the gospel to him. He didn't just call Abram and
say, oh I know the gospel, now I'll preach it to myself and
I will believe God. Plus that's not how you're made
ready. You're internally fitted by external instrumentality. You see, the gospel comes from
an external instrumentality, but it fits the person by its
internal work. Now, here's the question. Is
that just a preacher's really nice phrase of trying to sum
up the Greek, or does the book teach this? I say it teaches
this. Turn to James chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 18, of
his own will, now never even, no matter which one of these
we're talking about, making, ready, or preparing, it's of
God's own will. It's not of blood, not of flesh,
nor the will of man, but of the will of God. Of his own will
begat he us with what? Now begat here means to actually
birth forth, not to carry for nine months or whatever, to birth
forth. of his own will, beget he us
with the word of truth. Now what does it mean? It's talking
there about preaching the truth of the gospel of Christ. Because
look, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creature. But where does the fruit come
from? You don't just walk around and there's an apple sticking
up out of the ground. It comes from a tree. A tomato
comes off a vine. There has to be this initial
Initial life before that fruit is ever there That's the phrases
James is given that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures wherefore my beloved brethren What kind of word now
is he talking about? Let every man be swift to what? here Slow to speak Slow to wrath
why because we get so angry when we do here Just keep your mouth
shut. Be real intent on keeping your
own mouth shut. Listen to what God says and quit
being angry about it when you hear it. Fight against that anger. When it rises up, acknowledge
it for what it is. Rebellion against God. Be swift
to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to wrath.
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
It don't come that way. It don't come through being angry
at God. I don't like that. You're in bad shape. Look, wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and
receive with meekness the engrafted word. Do you see it? See the
internal work now? The internal fitting. Do you
see it? The making ready. Do you see
it? Gospel preaching makes us ready.
Gospel preaching don't prepare us you got to be prepared before
you can be made ready Receive with meekness the ingrafted
word which is what it's able to save your soul Thus saith
the Lord second thing the spiritual creation is Life, spiritual life, quickening,
I will use the word regeneration. That does vex some because some
people think of regeneration as both parts and not just one. I am persuaded that regeneration
is just the first part, the preparing, not the making ready. But be
that as it may, life has to be there. A man or a woman has to
be prepared first before they'll ever be made ready. The spiritual creation, life,
quickening, regeneration, and just because some people think
it means both parts, That usually stirs me up to use it the more
because it just aggravates them. That's why I said be swift. Regeneration
is said to be the first part of two things. Regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. I'll stand with God. It's not
my opinion about it. It's what God says about it.
God moved Paul to call them. There's two different things.
Regeneration and renewing of the Spirit. That's two connected
but yet distinct things, Matt. It's not regeneration which is
renewing, it's regeneration and renewing of the spirit of God.
So the spiritual creation, life, quickening, regeneration, spiritual
birth, and when I say spiritual birth, I do need to qualify,
I'm talking about spiritual conception. Being spiritually fathered creates
an internal effect But it is of an external instrumentality. John 3 and 3, except a man be
born again, he cannot see. So which comes first? Being born
again. You have to be born again first
before you can see. And the true, truest meaning
of the word is not really born again, it is to be fathered,
fathered, not birthed by your mother, but fathered from above. See the external means? You're
fathered by something totally without yourself. Passive in
the whole thing. How many of you helped your daddies
when you was conceived? That's how you got here. But
even in your birth, when your mother birthed you forth, she
didn't ask for your aid in it. The scripture is quite clear.
There are two connected, but yet distinct things that happen
in the salvation of God's people. That is God's truth from the
technicality of the two words. That's the truth. And this truth
is borne out all throughout the scripture. Lazarus was dead in
the tomb. How did he come forth? How did
he? No. Sorry. Lazarus was dead in
the tomb. How did he come alive? He was
dead and rotting and his sister said, probably stinks. How did
he come alive? When Christ personally, by himself
said, Lazarus. He had life before he walked
out of that tomb. Had to have. He didn't come out
a corpse. They didn't drag Him out. Christ spoke life to him first. And then and then only did He
tell them, now you what? Loose Him. That's to make ready. He couldn't live. He was alive,
Joe, but He couldn't live like that. Right? He was alive by
Christ, but he couldn't live with Christ like that. So Christ
looked at the guys around, and what did he say to them? Loosen.
Let him go. There it is. And I could go on
and on with all of these illustrations from the scripture. But that's
the teaching of the two different words here. Secondly, the teaching
seen in the context and phrase and the truth of God overall. I have ten things now. I have ten things under this
one. Number one, in the context John
is the instrument Motivated by the prophetic spirit
and power of Elias to do what? And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. He's an instrument. It says He is. Right? and shall go before him. That
is, John shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power
of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and
the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people. But what people? A people prepared
for the Lord. In the context, John is the instrument
of prophetic spirit and power to what? Turn a people. to make
ready, but not to prepare. Second thing, in the phrase,
that is that particular phrase, John is an instrument to make
ready. Why? It says, he shall go before
him. But John is not the instrument
of making ready, He is an instrument because the instrument of making
ready is what? Look, to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children and the disobedient to what? To the wisdom
of the just. What is the wisdom of the just?
I submit to you that that's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, number one, in the
context, John is the instrument of prophetic spirit and power.
And in a special way, he was introducing the condescension
of God Almighty onto this earth. In a special way. I never have
done that. Joe, you ain't never done that.
Ain't never going to. It was done one time. In this specific
ministry. Right? And therefore, he came
in what, the power the spirit and the power of Elias, the prophetic
promise. In the phrase, John is an instrument
to make ready. But number three, in the context,
John is an instrument as an instrument has a message, the wisdom of
the just. The wisdom of the just. Number
four, and what was the instruments Message what was the instruments
own summary of his message if you want to look at it turn to
John chapter 1 This is John's summary of his message John an
instrument whom God had sent with the instrument To make ready
look at what it says in verse 19 of John 1 and this is the
record of John You see it when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? Logical question, right? And he confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I am not the Christ. That's one thing. Every true
instrument that has the instrumental message will always say, I'm
not the one you look to. I'm not the Christ. And they
asked him, what then? Aren't thou Elias? And he said,
I am not. He wasn't Elias. But he did come
in the spirit and power of Elias. He wasn't a reincarnation. He
was John. That child that was born to that
woman who was barren and to Zacharias, that priest. He was John. And
they asked him, what then, are you a liar? And he said, I am
not. Are thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said
they unto him, who art thou? They were getting vexed with
him. I can see it now. You know, it's kind of like,
give us an answer. He said, you ain't asked the
right question yet. I'm answering your questions. You just ain't
asked the right one yet. Then they said unto him, Who
art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sin us? What
sayest thou of thyself? What do you say about yourself?
He said, I am the voice of one cry. So you see the two things? Here is the two instruments wrapped
up in one thing. Here is John, and John has a
message. His message is to voice it. Just preach it, right? Preach
it. He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord,
as said the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor
Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water. But there standeth one among
you, whom ye know not. He it is whose coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoe, Lachet, I am not worthy
to unloose." So here, John has a message. It's about somebody
that's among you. He's preferred before me. He
was before me. Now He came into this world after
me. But I'm not even worthy to bend
down and untie his shoes. That's a servant's job, isn't
it? He said, I'm not even worthy to be a servant. Do you see the
message now? The message ain't about the messenger. The message is about Christ. So that's the instrument. That's
the instrument's own words of summary. Right there, was it
not? And then just a little bit later, We'll read, and John you'll
read, he's seen Jesus coming and what does he say? Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Here's
number five. God ordained, sent instruments,
preach Christ and not themselves. That's one way you can know whether
a man was really a sin of God or not. He will preach Christ
and not himself. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4-5,
for we preach not Christ. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. And you know what? As servants,
we are still to declare we are unprofitable. Not even worthy
to bend down and untie his shoes. That's number five. Here's number
six. God ordained, sent instruments, declared the true source of blessing,
even of their own instrumentality. 1 Corinthians 2, 12 and 13, Paul
says this. If you're ever taught anything,
first of all, you gotta be a spiritual person. That's a creative act
of God. That's the preparing. Once this
thing is prepared, then it's made ready. And Paul says, which
the Holy Ghost teaches. If you've learned anything from
the years you've been here, it's because the Spirit of God Almighty
taught you. But he says, which things we
speak. You see how he shows them being together, but the main
thrust, the declaration of the true source of blessing is the
Spirit of God, not me. You owe me nothing. You owe God everything. Now folks, I haven't left the
scripture. Have I? No sir. And yet I was told I
seriously distort the truth. That was by a grace preacher.
That saddens me. That saddens me. Number seven,
God ordained, sent instruments, do not do the preparing. Read
verse 17 of Luke 1 again. Well, what does it say? And he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to
make ready a people, and it doesn't say and prepare them for the
Lord, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Seven and eight go together.
Here's number eight. God does the preparing. Amen. Which must
precede the making ready. Amen. You remember Acts 16, 14,
Lydia? And it says that she's down by
the riverbank. She was somebody that worshipped
God. She worshipped God intimately. She hadn't even heard the gospel
yet. But yet Luke recognized, here's a woman that's different
from somebody else, from others, right? But here's what he says. Whose heart the gospel opened,
as Paul preached to her, knows. whose heart the Lord opened,
that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul." There
it is. There it is. The heart must be
opened first before you will ever be internally fit so that
you will attend to the things that are spoken. And what are
the things that are spoken? Christ Jesus the Lord. Now that's one,
I could go, there's all kinds of, 2 Timothy 1, 8-11, Paul tells
Timothy this concerning the Gospel. Jesus Christ brought life and
immortality into being. He is life and immortality. And
he brings it how? To light through the Gospel. What the Gospel does is shine
light on where life and immortality already is. If you shine light into something
and nothing is there, what's going to still be there? A big
revealed nothing. The Gospel is revealing. The
Gospel does reveal where God Almighty has done a work in the
heart and the mind and the soul. Now if you want to, turn to 2
Corinthians. Here's the main passage. 2 Corinthians
4. And you know the passage, so
I'm not going to go through and read it. But 2 Corinthians 4
basically verses 1 through 7. And I will do it this way. First
of all, what was our problem as stated here? Now I said our
problem. This ain't about who's elect and who's reprobate. He
says, but if our gospel be hid, and it's not hid because it's
not preached, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are reprobate." Now, it's not hid to them that are what? Lost.
According to Scripture, even the sheep of God were at one
time what? Lost. There you go. "...in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine in them." So, what was our problem? We were lost. There was a time
when I didn't believe. So this includes me, Neil, right
here. This talks about me back yonder when. Even me. What was my problem? I was lost.
Yes. I believed not. Yes. But that wasn't my problem.
My problem was what's stated in verse 4. Satan had my mind
blinded. I couldn't even see the Gospel. But here's a question. Why didn't
God just merely remove Satan then? Right? Well, if we just remove
Satan, bind him, like the strong man can do, you know. Well, then,
okay, I'm free to see that. No, because I'm naturally depraved. Even if Satan ain't there blinding
you, you are naturally blinded to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And this is taught, there is none that understandeth. That's
naturally. That's without satanic influence. But on top of our natural hatred
for God, there is even this satanic blindness. And the blindness
is toward the very thing that we need to see. blinded the minds
of them which believe not, to the what? Lest the light of the
glorious gospel, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
And Paul said, but we don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus
the Lord and ourselves your servants for his sake. Now look, what
does happen then? Here's what happens. For God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Notice he didn't
say he commanded then light to shine in our hearts. That's what
people read into it. It says for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. What's his reference to there?
Bacchian and Genesis. God commanded light to shine
out of darkness. Look, hath shined. What did the shining? Even better,
who did the shining? God Himself did the shining. Look, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, and you can read it, that very
God hath shined in our hearts to give light. See cause and
effect. To give light. of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And where is
that knowledge held? It's even held in earthen vessels.
Even that. Even the making ready. God does
the preparing by Himself. But He uses instrumentality to
then make those prepared people ready. But let me tell you something. The excellency of the power is
not of them vessels. but we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. And then I've been, well, you
don't believe in gospel preaching is really necessary. No, I believe
that gospel preaching is not necessary for preparation, but
it is absolutely necessary for making ready and we are prepared
so we can be made ready. So therefore I believe it's all
necessary. Now somebody says, how far can the first, the preparing,
precede the other? I don't know. You may hear the
gospel physically before you're prepared, while you're being
prepared, or after you've been prepared. But physically hearing
alone ain't enough, because look where we were when we were lost
and believed not. Blinded! But before you ever
spiritually hear it, God Almighty is going to have to personally
shine in your heart. I am giving glory to God for
this work. And people tell me then, you're
seriously distorting the truth. I used to become angry, Mason.
Now I'm sad. Because you ain't doubting me.
You are not putting me in my place. You are making fun. You are calling God's truth a
lie. You are calling God's truth a
serious distortion of the truth. Because God says so. And there
are far many more passages. The point is not, listen, I don't
care if you're prepared a second before you're made ready, or
if you're prepared ten years before you're made ready. One,
God does the preparing. Secondly, the gospel does the
making ready. And they will both come together in a glorious acknowledgement
of the salvation of God. Number nine, be grateful for
the instruments God uses to make ready. Well, let's turn back
to it. Talking to Zacharias again. Luke chapter 1. And thou shalt
have great joy and gladness. Over who? This instrument of
God. The person. But the main wasn't
just the person. The person got his head lopped
off. It was his message. You see it? Look. And thou shalt
have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at His birth. If you're not thankful for God-called
people, God-called men even especially, that God sends to minister the
Gospel, you ain't really seen the Gospel yet. You can't have
the message and hate the messenger because God sent the messenger
and He said, He that receiveth you Receives me Because you're
not receiving the person per se You're receiving the message
that the messenger brought Now folks that's quite easy the problem
is by nature. We hate it I So 9, be grateful for the instruments
God uses to make ready. Number 10, but no one instrument
who makes ready stands above any other in God's kingdom. Go
to Matthew 11, verses 7-11. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, He
that is least in the kingdom of God, He is greater than John. And John was a burning, shining
lamp. So nobody stands over another.
Well, I like this preacher. I like that preacher. I'm glad
you do like them. But if you understand anything
that a man preaches and God gives you blessing by it, it's because
God Almighty purposed and permitted and graciously brought it to
pass. It ain't because that one guy
is smarter than the other. Some of us can preach a whole
lot better than others. But that ain't the point. It's the truth
that converts the soul. Here's my conclusion. Don't be
mad at me because I preach this. I don't even have that in my
notes. Don't tell me I seriously distort the truth. Because when
you do, if you back me up into a corner where I can't just ignore
you, I'll probably going to lash out. Because it's not me you're
attacking. It's the truth of my God. But
here's my other three conclusions. all things, brothers and sisters,
all things in their proper place and perspective. Because the truth of God never
dishonors God. It always honors God. This preaching,
this message, making ready the prepared, both of those things
are absolutely true and absolutely essential. all things in their
proper place and perspective. Number two, the instrumental
message is always greater than the instrumental messenger. Always
remember that. Because if you think the messenger
is greater, then when the messenger fails, you'll start following
error. And I'll tell you, every one
of the instrumental messages fails to some degree or another.
Even John had his doubts at times, did he not? Come on now. The instrumental message is always
greater than the instrumental messenger. Number three, the
subject of the instrumental message is a person. Christ. And you remember the first thing
I told you about who created the world? Huh? Christ did. Did the gospel create the world?
Yes, the gospel did create the world. The gospel personified.
Did gospel preaching create the world? Now listen, the subject
of the instrumental message is a person, Christ. And He is more
than a message. He's more than a message. He's
God Almighty manifest in the flesh. He's our Redeemer. He's our surety. He's our Savior. He's our Justifier. He's everything. But, no one will ever know Him
apart from the message. That's where I stand. If that
means I have to stand here and here only for the rest of my
life till I die, so be it. I mean, I had that one fellow,
you ain't never gonna step in my pulpit. You know what? I did. That very same man that told
me I was seriously distorting the truth, he'd gone. Somebody else came in after him.
And I ended up standing in that pulpit and preaching. Not to
vindicate me. But it vindicates the truth of
God Almighty. It took almost 15 years for that
to happen. But it happened. Folks, God's truth will conquer
even in spite of us and our rebellion. I'm not angry now. I'm sad. Because if God's people would
just bow to the truth of God. Think of the fellowship. Fellowship
is great, Joe, in the truth. When you just bow down and put
out all your opinions, and all your ideas, and all your... well,
I'm afraid that'll lead to... God's truth will lead to the
honor of God in Christ. He'll see to it. We don't have
to see to it. Amen? Father, May you conquer with your truth. May you conquer with your gospel.
Because Lord, only you can do it. Our sufficiency is not of
us, Lord. It's of you. I thank you in Christ's
name. Amen.