Well, good afternoon everybody.
It certainly is exciting to be here. I consider it a great honor
and a great privilege to be able to be asked and invited to come
here and be able to speak and talk about Christ and the glory
of God and public proclamation and evangelism. It all boils
down to one person, and that's Jesus Christ. And that He is
King, and that He is worthy to be praised in all that we do. And my number one prayer this
weekend is that this whole conference gives glory to Jesus Christ. And we don't make idols of ourselves,
idols of our names, but that it's Jesus Christ who is exalted
and who is praised. You don't necessarily just see
me up here blabbing my gums, all weekend. But Jesus Christ
is glorified and honored. And I hope in some way that this
weekend will draw you closer in your worship and your love
and your admiration of Jesus Christ, because he is the all
in all. He is the King of Kings. He is
the Lord of Lords. I don't feel worthy to even be
up here to proclaim his name. But I thank God that I've been
given the opportunity to do so. I want to thank Pastor Tippin
for having me down here. Brother Timothy Oliver for inviting
me to come. Dr. Melkor for giving me the
opportunity to be numbered with you guys. Such powerful men that
are used by God that I have the opportunity to be counted amongst
these giants that I believe are just... It's enormous when it
comes to breaking down theology and the Trinity and seeing God
and the Scriptures. I'm very grateful to be here. So, if you would turn your Bibles
please to Psalms 96 verse 3. Psalm 96 verse 3. For the last
seven years, I've been doing a lot of traveling
and a lot of street preaching. I've lived in Scotland for two
years. I was in Dallas for a couple of years. I spent a year and
a half in an RV with my family. It would be a total of a family
of six, driving around in a 1983 Southwind RV that nothing worked
inside of it. We named it Grace. It was by
grace that thing even moved. And we lived out of that for
quite some time and had an opportunity to travel across the states and
proclaim the gospel on the street corner, college campuses, and
behind the pulpits. And I had a great opportunity
to be in Scotland for a couple of years as well. And God gave
us this great mission to be able to take His gospel to the streets.
I partnered up with the church there and had an opportunity
to really see the church in action on the streets of Glasgow. I
had an opportunity to itinerate around the British Isles, to
go to England, to go to Wales, to go to Ireland, both parts,
Dublin and Belfast, both proclaiming the gospel inside the church
and out on the streets. It was an amazing time. God showed
me much. About his holiness and much about
the depravity of mankind and much about the need of mission
and evangelism and the public proclamation of the gospel So
let us read from Psalm 96 starting at verse 3. I'll read to verse
9 and I'll come back to verse 3 O sing unto the Lord a new
song Sing unto the Lord all the earth Send unto the Lord, bless
His name. Show forth His salvation from
day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen,
His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly
to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. For all the gods and the nations
are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty
are before him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O Egypt of
the people. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due under his name. Bring an offering and come in
to his courts. Oh worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness Fear before him all the earth Back to verse 3 declare
his glory Among the heathen his wonders among all people. Let's pray Father God Almighty
I come to You now through the precious and divine and holy,
righteous, perfect blood of Your Son. And I thank You, Lord, for
Your grace and Your power. I seek You, Lord God, that You
would give me ocean this afternoon to proclaim Your Word. And I pray, Father, that You
would open the hearts of Your people. God, that we wouldn't
just sit there and just listen to another message But that You
would open our hearts, Lord. You would humble us. And You
would remove all criticism. And You would remove all obstacles.
That we could hear today what it is that You might say to us
personally. Make the Word of God applicable
to our hearts, O God. Bind Your Word to our conscience. Be glorified in the proclamation
of Your Word. For this I give You thanks, in
Jesus' name, Amen. Declare His glory among the heathen,
His wonders among all people. This psalm, says Calvin, contains
an exhortation to praise God. An exhortation which is directed
not only to the Jews, but to all nations. We must infer from
this that it has reference to the kingdom of Christ. God's
name could not be called upon in any other part of the world
than Judea until it had been revealed. And the human nations
were at that time necessarily altogether incapacitated for
any such exercises. Yet, it is as if the Holy Spirit
stirred up the saints who were under the law to celebrate the
divine praises, till the period should arrive when Christ But
a spread of the gospel should fill a whole earth with His glory. At one time in history, the message
of God's grace was confined to the nation of Israel alone. But
we see here in this verse that they looked forward to a time
when nationalistic boundaries would be shattered and the glory
of God, the glorious gospel of Christ Messiah would be preached
to all nations. The glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ. The greatest way we can love
God and worship Him is to proclaim His Son to all people and all
nations. And I declare to you today that
proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ Whether it be behind the
pulpit or out there in the open air, it is the greatest form
of worship that can be done to a human vessel for the glory
of God. Today there is a desperate need
to understand what happens to a culture when the gospel message
is minimized. The primary attack of the enemy
is not Islam. It's not homosexuality, it's
not the Mormons, but the primary attack of the enemy is targeted
against the gospel and the totality of what and who it represents,
and that is God himself. If we can reduce God into our
own image, trashing him into our own likeness, then we can
do whatever we want under the banner of Christian faith. These
tasks are not necessarily coming from without, but from within. What we define as today's contemporary
American Christianity. The agenda of the contemporary
American church tried to redefine the message of Christ. Abandoning
his holiness, abandoning his law, abandoning his kingdom authority
and his kingship is an abomination. The enemy
never comes dressed in attire that would give him away, but
when coming away, they would be hardly discernible. Charles
Spurgeon once said, discernment is not knowing what is right
and wrong, but knowing what is right and what is almost right. The greatest way the enemy tries
to stifle the will of God is by perverting the gospel of Jesus
Christ. This is why we can trace every
great move of God by His return to the true gospel, and every
decline and failure to its neglect thereof. The gospel is always
the heart of all attacks, and returning to the truth of the
biblical gospel always results in revival and reformation. The
greatest fight we have today is not defending the truth, but
preaching it. Let me repeat that. The greatest
fight we have today is not defending the truth, but preaching it. Getting on the offense instead
of always on the defense. The Bible says that the righteous
are as bold as a lion. And when we preach the Gospel,
when we preach God's Word, we need to be righteous. We need
to be bold as a lion. And we need to confront sin. We need to stand up for the truth
of the Gospel. In this day and age, we are so
desperate for men and women. to stand up for Jesus Christ
in this day and age. Not the one that we fashion in
our own image. Not the one that we see on the
top seller list at the bookstore. But the one who's defined in
Scripture. The Jesus Christ that we see,
who is defined by His Word. It's not about being American,
British, or German, or any other nationality. It's about God. And the gospel is always about
God. And many today's evangelical
circles have allowed their fear to shape the so-called gospel
that they preach. And the very way they perceive
and define the gospel has been championed by the fear of man
and not of God. The further we get away from
the true gospel, the further we get away from the means and
methods by which God has ordained the gospel to be preached. The further we get away from
the true gospel, the further that we get away from the Word
of God and through the Scriptures, the further that we get away.
from the means and methods by which God has ordained the gospel
to be preached. We sell out, and we become pragmatic,
or we turn ourselves over to man-made inventions to try to
seduce humanity in a depravity to come to Jesus Christ, opposed
to proclaiming God for who He is in the Word of God. standing
up for truth and proclaiming the truth, confronting man, allowing
the word of God to confront man's evil heart and declare that he
is an enemy against God. And this is why today many people
look at public proclamation or open air preachers as being nuts
and out of their mind when they're out there proclaiming the truth
on the street corner. Oh, you're one of those guys.
I hear it all the time. Are you one of those guys that
walks around the big sandwich boards? I say, no, I'm not one
of those guys. I'm basically doing what the
scriptures are telling us to do as the people of God. No,
we're not all called to the street corner. We're not all called
to stand up on a soapbox and publicly proclaim Christ in the
open air. But that's what God has called
me to do. But in the ministry of Jeremiah
Christ Ministries, God has given us a great work of reformation,
reforming public proclamation as it's seen in the word of God. Because I have to agree with
a lot of the stuff that out there is ridiculous. It's foolish in
the sense of being scriptural. The abuse and the plagiarism
nonsense that's out there. The maverick mentality. Those that are running around
out there abusing people, supposedly for the gospel's sake, claiming
to be Old Testament prophets. We've got to return to biblical
public proclamation as it's seen in scripture, from Genesis to
Revelation, throughout church history. We see the public proclamation
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we see God moving. If we
see God using public proclamation, we see God using that vehicle
to reach people and to save people for His glory and His glory alone. But we do know and often realize
as well that many of us have gifts, talent, and abilities
that God has called us to do for His glory as means of getting
His gospel out there. But God has called us all as
a body of believers, His church, to proclaim His Word. Many will say, well, I'm not
called. Well, you may not be called, but you're commanded.
Jesus commands all people to go into the world and proclaim
the truth. You're commanded to, to go into
all the world and share your faith. Wherever God has put you,
wherever influence He has put you in, we must be honest and
proclaim the truth for His glory. In Luke 16, he said, which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
God. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of His holiness. One author writes, worship means
literally acknowledging the worth of something or someone. It means
recognizing and saying that something or someone is worthy of praise.
It means celebrating the worth of someone or something far superior
to oneself. And this is why I titled this
message, Public Proclamation, A Call to Worship. Because to
the people of God, we must see the value of what it is that
we're proclaiming and who it is. We must understand the great
mandate and the great responsibility and the great callability that
we've been given to proclaim Jesus Christ, God's Son, to the
people, whether they're lost or they're in the church. We
must see the value of Jesus Christ. Many of us think that just going
out there to use car salesmen with some new fancy gadgets,
or some monologue that we've learned that we're going to want
to compare to somebody else. Instead of being shut into the
prayer closet, And God moving upon you, and breaking you, and
using you for His glory. That's thrumping you out into
the harvest field. As a herald publicly proclaiming
Jesus Christ. Realizing the value of the Gospel. And how unworthy we are, as human
beings, to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ. See the value in
that. When we start seeing the value
of Jesus Christ. The value of the Gospel. We won't
take public proclamation. We won't treat it as such a light
thing. The pulpits won't be such an abomination in our country
when we start seeing the value of Jesus Christ and what He's
called us to do. The value of proclaiming Him.
It's a worship to God. Publicly proclaiming His Son.
How much greater does it get? What greater message could you
preach than Jesus Christ? for the glory of God. Today,
I think God is calling many of His people, not just to go out
and stand on the street corner and preach, but are called to
worship God by the preaching of His Word and the praising
of His Name in all areas of life. We need to abandon this Arminianism
concept, this Roman Catholic view of the Gospel that separates
the secular and the holy. and realize that God wants to
be involved and king over every area of life. He wants dominion
of all. He takes preeminence out of all
areas of life. This is why the Reformation is
so powerful. When the common man got the word of God in his
own language, he realized that what he did, turning the eyes
of God, that the man was equally as spiritual as the Pope. That what He did mattered. And
He can do it under the glory of God. That marriage is under
the glory of God. Housewife, under the glory of
God. Children, under the glory of God. Whatever you do, do it
all for the glory of God. And once you get a hold of this,
This is how reformation comes. People realize that you aren't
just doing some secular worldly thing at your job throughout
the week. You're doing it for the glory of God. Because God has
given you abilities and talents and gifts. He's given you the
ability to do these things for His glory. And we see this. in the light of God's Word. And
we go out into the society, out into the culture, into the workplace.
We begin to exalt Christ, realizing that Christ has called me here. And I'm going to live a gospel-powered
life in the midst of these people. I'm going to be a gospel-powered
dad! Or a gospel-powered husband!
And my heritage is to be brought into the dominion of Christ's
kingship. That's all to the glory of God. Otherwise, we find these
little spiritual hiding places that we run to every weekend
when we go on our little outreaches. This is why we see in Isaiah
where God says, I hate your Sabbaths. I hate your new moons because
you see the Jews found a safe hiding spot behind the commandments
of God. It's the same way as many of
us today. We find hiding places. It could be Sunday morning. It
could be out there on the street corner. When we're doing all
these things, they may be motivally wrong. Your motives and your
intentions may not be right. It may be a form of penance. Not into the glory of God. This
is why we can many times idolize the past as we idolize the past,
because while you're in full-time ministry, wow! But do you realize
that whatever you do, God is there? and you're full-time for
God no matter what, you can't get out. If you're His, your
life must glorify God. Every area of life must be occupied
and surrendered under the kingship authority of Jesus Christ. We
must worship God once again, both in all areas of life. These
hiding places, And this whole idea of we're at the hole of
Christianity, jumping from one hole to another. This spiritual
monotheism that you see today. Not wanting to go out into the
world. Many of us have full libraries
in our heads, but no fire in our hearts. We want to bring
our pet doctrines and our theology in for Sunday school. And play
show and tell with everybody. We want everybody to see the
new doctrines we have learned. But when it comes to the world,
And taking that life to the world, there's nothing there. There's
no substance. There's no power. There's a form
of godliness with no power. We must realize that God trains
us for His glory to go out into this world and proclaim the gospel
of Jesus Christ to all people in all nations. Not just to the
lost. Jesus is going to all the world.
This occupies everything. even our homes, our lives, everywhere.
We must serve the Lord in everything that we do. Declare His glory
among the heathen, His wonders among all people. What is the
glory that is to be declared? In 2 Corinthians 4, Satan says,
For God commanded the light to shine out of darkness and shine
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is worship at its highest
pitch because it's Jesus Christ. We see the many types and the
shadows from the Old Testament that declare Christ as being
the holiest of all. And God having particular patterns
and designs defining Christ as the centrality of worship. We
see the absolute seriousness in by which God deems Christ
and his gospel. In 2 Samuel 6-7, we see the sin
of disrespect and the neglect of God's Word. Here we see David,
after finally rescuing the Ark of the Covenants, being in the
house of Abinadab for many years. We see him doing the Jerusalem
Shuffle as they're bringing the Ark back. But you see, they did
not do it the way God had designed. They did not do it God's way.
They did not do it by His pattern. They did it their own way. Instead
of putting, exalting Christ, lifting Him up, and placing Him
upon their shoulders, where He belonged, high and lifted up,
they decided to do it another way. They put Him in a new cart,
and then leave it exposed for all to see. And by this behavior,
someone was killed. We look at the Ark of God, which
is called by By the name of the Lord of Hosts, who sits enthroned
on the chariot, the Ark of God is a representation, it's a type,
it's a shadow of Jesus Christ. We read in Isaiah 6, 5, he says,
My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. This is Jesus Christ that God
is showing us when we mishandle His Word. When we take His Word
lightly, we do what we want. We want to form a new way. We
want to preach Him a new way. We want to do new things. Innovation. We can change God. We can preach
another gospel. We can do it our own way. But
in the eyes of God, this brings death to many. God also is very specific in
how we handle the gospel today. It is holy and should be treated
and seen as holy because Christ is holy. And I will tell you,
the tabernacle place says above the ark and the atonement cover.
God appeared in his glory in unapproachable light. This light
is sometimes referred to as the shekinah glory. The word shekinah,
although it does not appear in English Bibles, has the same
root as the word for tabernacle in Hebrew and refers to the presence
of the Lord. Because the ark was God's throne
among his people, it was a symbol of his presence and power. with them wherever they went. My question to you today, who
sits upon the throne of your heart? Is Christ ruler? Does He reign
in your heart? Has God invaded your kingdom? And taken dominion over your
life? Has He invaded the kingdom of self? And ruined the idol
of self? Has He confronted you? And challenged
you? Has the gospel cornered you and
changed you? Because if it hasn't changed
you, it hasn't reached you. My prayer today is that we as
a people of God will be shared. We come to the end of ourselves
and we allow Jesus Christ to come and remove the throne of
self and take His rightful place and sit and rule and reign from
our lives. Yet the Ark could not be treated
with irreverence, because it was also a symbol of God's judgment
and wrath. When the Israelites fought their
enemies, the Philistines took. Philistines, during the time
of the prophet Samuel, they disregarded the commands of the Lord and
took the Ark out to the battle with them, summoning God's presence.
God caused the Philistines to win the battle and the glory
departed from Israel. For the ark of the Lord was taken. What would happen today if God
killed those who mishandled his word or gospel today? What would happen today? Leonard
Ravenhill said if Christ returned today, he wouldn't cleanse the
temple, he would cleanse the bullpens. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Fear before Him all the earth. We've got to be convinced of
our attitude of tempency and our ecumenicalism. We've got
to realize that Christ is the only way and He's above all and
He is all. We've got to worship Him for
who He truly is and the Gospel and the Word of God defines Him
to be. We've got to put away our selfish desires and our vain
ambitions and turn to the Lord once again, that we may experience
His healing power and move forward with the proclamation of His
Word. Dr. C. Matthew McNahan, who is a
Puritan of mine, writes in his article called Preaching His
Worship, says, In the act of preaching, this glorifying of
Christ is the essence of His worship, though at the same time
this gospel preaching ministers to needful people. It is here
that the preacher's feet bring the good news of the gospel of
peace. And while he is doing this, he
acts as God's divinely appointed herald, reflecting the image
of Christ as a living Word in the message that he brings. The
preacher ought to be exceedingly gripped with the sense that he
is delivering Christ to the people through his preaching. If he
is enthralled with the sense of this, then he is immediately
conscious of the nearness of God. This nearness and mode that
the preacher travels through is the exact definition that
God himself gives those who worship. I will be sanctified by those
that draw near to me. Leviticus 10.3 Whether that be
the priest of the Old Testament or the preacher of the New Testament,
worships God as he performs the duty God requires of him. And this would be true for any
Christian in the outworking of their gifts. Preaching is worship. It is the vehicle that draws
the minister closer to God during that hour. Preaching is a spiritual
investment which ought to impregnate the hearer with the life of God
and Christ. If the preacher is intimately
aware that he is doing this through the unction and temperance of
the spirit of truth, he is immediately aware that God is delighted in
the work being dealt with. For it pleases God that the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. Leviticus 10.3, writes
John Gill, I will speak, I will be saved by them that come nigh
unto me. And the priest that drew nigh
to him, and offered sacrifice, and burnt incense to him, by
these he expected to be sanctified, not to be made holy, but to be
declared to be so, and obeyed and worshipped as such as he
is. When his command ordinances are
observed, and he would have them beat and faint and fear, which
were not done by these sons of Aaron. And therefore the Lord,
by the punishment he inflicted, showed himself to be holy, righteous,
and a jealous God. And before all the people, I
will be glorified as He is when He is believed and trusted in,
when His worship is carried on in His own house according to
His own will, when ordinances are kept as they were delivered,
and when He is reverenced in the assembly of His saints, all
which we're wanting in this case. And this may also have respect
to the glory of divine justice in the public punishment of the
sin of those men, that since he was not glorified by them
before the people in the way of their duty, he would glorify
himself in their punishment. Dr. Backham goes on to say, we
must ask and answer an elementary question before proceeding. Is
the pulpit important? Does the Bible say anything about
a pulpit? Charles Spurgeon, in the church
he ministered at Park Street, had a wooden pulpit. But at the
Metropolitan Tabernacle, he had no pulpit. Does this mean that
in one place he as a minister, preaching the gospel, worshipped,
and in another, he did not? Certainly not. The absence or
appearance of a physical pulpit does not determine whether a
preacher is worshipping or not. Paul Washer himself says that,
I hold the standard of the pulpit as equal as whether I'm inside
the church or whether I'm out on the street preaching. He sees
those both as equally important in an area where a man worships
the living God. The pulpit was never designed
as a place of wood or glass or metal, but wherever the preacher
was standing. Three points to consider in our
proclamation. Three points to consider in our
proclamation. Number one, preaching is Declaring the glory of God, the
holiness of God, the throne room, king. We must be preaching the
gospel as a sacred act of worship to the almighty God. Declaring His glory among the
heathen, His wonders among all people. must be a form of consecration,
of setting ourselves apart for the glory of God. Obviously we
can go through the Word of God and we can see so many different
areas of ministry, but in this particular conference we're talking
about evangelism, we're talking about public proclamation, we're
talking about preaching the Word of God. And a minister that will
not consecrate himself and set himself apart for the glory of
God should not be out there proclaiming the Word of God. Once again, we cannot use this
as a place of hiding to try to somehow obtain spiritual favor
from man and God. To find our born-again experience
in what we do instead of what Christ has done on our behalf. Much of the plagiarism and nonsense
that we see today, and much of the fashionable street preaching
that goes on. Many of them, their whole motive
for going out there is like a confidence course. It's for them to do something. And then post it upon their brand
board what they have done for everybody to see. Then they come
into their homes, they're ugly to their wives, ugly to their
children, ugly to the people of God. And then they go out
and get their pitch. Like a man addicted to cigarettes.
He's a beast until he smokes that cigarette and he's nice
to everybody. And men preach in the same way. We treat as
an idol. We go get our fix so we can be
nice to everybody. Then we start jonesing again. We have to get
out there and do it again because we need to be spiritually affirmed
with God and man through our actions and what we do. Opposed
to what He has done. He gives us the freedom to worship
Him. The Spirit of Truth. To get out
there for His glory. Our motives need to be right.
Our intentions need to be right. We're proclaiming the Word of
God. It must be a form of worship. It must be about His glory. His
glory alone. We must be preaching Christ as
He had seen in the Word of God. We must repent of our fear of
man wanting to be liked by everybody. Wanting a pat on the back. We're
so intoxicated with apologetics that we have literally sold our
soul to apologetics. Listen, I love apologetics. We
need to use apologetics. But they're not a replacement
for prayer and fasting and getting alone with God. and speak in
the face of God. But many of us turn to endless,
endless, endless apologetics. We go out there and intellectually
battle with everybody on the street for hours and hours and
hours, and not get anything done. You may win an argument. Big
deal. But until we're broken, until
we get alone with God, until we shut ourselves in with God,
We become people of prayer once again. Of people that fast. That can push away the plates. You don't hear that preached
much anymore. You want to get booted out of a church? Preach
on food? Spend the money. You start preaching
on food, you get in a lot of trouble. I was a personal trainer
for 15 years. Owned my own gym. And I had seen
the idol of food. Our nation, number one killer
in our nation is obesity. It's in it. We need some self-control. We need to ask God to enable
us and give us the power to overcome the lust of the flesh and the
pride of life. We need to turn away from that.
Listen, I'm not up here standing up here like I've arrived anywhere.
Listen, I'm a mask. but reforming every day. God,
by His grace, is growing me and changing me. Yes, it hurts and
it's painful. And I realize who I am and who
I am not. And I thank God for what He is
doing in my life. I thank God for all that He is
and all that He's doing. And I thank God, you know what?
That there is people in the true church of Jesus Christ who haven't
fallen on the wayside, who are strong in obeying God, who are
preaching sound doctrine and proclaiming truth, whose mode
is all right, who are totally sold out and consecrated and
set apart for the Lord. Men seek God and His glory alone,
seeking to know the heart of God and what it is He desires
for our lives, opposed to what we desire for our lives. Consecration
means to make or declare to be sacred or to be set apart, to
dedicate ourselves or devote ourselves to the service or worship
of God. It is a sacred fire that burns
in the smells of the savor of Christ reaching to the very throne
room of Almighty God. It is worship that makes worshipers
out of heathens. Oh well, the Jeremiah's today
that cry out, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning
fire, shot up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in. I cannot. We need the sacred
fire of God in our preaching today, on the streets, in our
homes, in our churches, in our marriages, in our nation and
in the world beyond. History is filled with those
who burned for Jesus Christ. We need the fire that started
in Jerusalem and spread through the nations with St. Mark in
the deserts of Egypt, to the rivers of Gaul with St. Martin,
down through Ireland with St. Patrick, through the shores of
Scotland with St. Columba. And then we see the oppression.
of the Roman Catholic Church coming upon the gospel of grace,
trying to suppress the truth, trying to keep it down. A thousand
years later, even a man rises up with the sacred fire of God
in John Whitley. The man who has responded for
translating the Vulgate into English, was called the Morning
Star of the Reformation. And he died in 1384, and he was
a man by the name of John Huss, who started the Reformation Bohemians.
And a hundred years later, we see Martin Luther posting the
95 Theses upon the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. We see
a rising of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then we see a man
explode upon the scene in Scotland, a man by the name of Patrick
Hamilton, who was a man who was set apart by God, who was brave
and fearless and bold, who took the gospel of Jesus Christ and
seen the glory of God, seen the value of it. Listen, men out
there who are religious, and I don't say religious here in
the sense of Christianity, but men who are prideful, men who
are self-righteous, knows what a man fears God, and can see
the confrontational nature of the gospel. And when Captain Hamilton came
on the scene in pre-reformational times, he was influenced strongly
by Luther to end the reformers. He was only 23 years old and
he came on the scene with the gospel of grace. And it was quickly
shut down and burned at the stake. And his last words were, How
long, O Lord, shall darkness overwhelm this realm? How long
will thou suffer the tyranny of men? The torch was quickly handed
off after his death to another man who God raised up, a man
by the name of George Worcester. He caught on fire from the flames
of Patrick Hamilton and rose in fiery zeal and preached so
powerfully this grace that he had to be surrounded by bodyguards. causing much pain to the religious
Roman sects. He was then apprehended and the
church possessed that no more of his servants could be preached.
Then he began to call all pulpits and churches to this mighty reformer. So what did he do? He went to
the fields and to the streets and became an open-ended preacher.
One night it was said that Mr. Wisher was seen by two men leaving
his place to stay and prostrating himself on the ground weeping.
and making supplication for nearly an hour and then returned to
rest. In the morning they told him
that they had seen him praying and asked him why he was in such
sorrow. I will tell you, he said, I surely
know my travail is nigh at end. Therefore pray to God for me
that I may not shrink when the battle of wax is most hot. When I am gone, God will send
you messengers who will not be afraid either for burning or
banishment." Hearing these words, he burst into tears, saying,
that was but a small comfort to them. He then replied, God
will send you comfort after me. This realm shall be illuminated
with the light of Christ's gospel as clearly as any realm ever
was since the days of the apostles. Because of the uproar and the
offensive nature of the gospel to sinful humanity, bodyguards
were placed at Wishart's side, seeing that much was at stake. He traveled around the streets
of Scotland, surrounded with bodyguards. One in particular
carried a two-handed sword, a broadsword on his back, and any time Brother
Wishart was attacked or threatened, His bodyguard would pull out
his sword and keep everybody back. So much for today's pacifism. Then the night came, Wisher approached
his bodyguard, his most faithful companion in arms, and said, The Lord has chosen to take my
life. He's required me to die. One is sufficient. And this man
says to him, no, I will go with you. I will protect you. He says,
no. One is insufficient. Being raised up from his knees,
he was bound to the stake. Crying with a loud voice, O Savior
of the world, have mercy on me. Wisher was one who openly attacked
the false doc into the Roman church. and was soon found in
shackles and being bound hand and foot with bags of gunpowder. And he cried out and said, Father
of heaven, I put my spirit into thy holy hands. Then the gunpowder
blew up. The captains of the castle perceiving
he was still alive drew near and bidden to be of good courage,
whereupon Mr. Wishart said, The flame had scorched
my body, yet it had not daunted my spirit. As he was thus speaking,
the executioner drew the cord that was about his neck so straight
that he spoke no more. And thus, like another Elijah,
he took flight by a fiery chariot into heaven and obtained the
martyr's crown on the first of March, 1546. It was said that the mantle of
Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart fell upon this bodyguard, this
most faithful bodyguard of George Wishart. His name was John Knox. It was said of John Knox, that
the prayers of John, that the Queen of England She was more afraid of the prayers
of John Knox than all of the armies of England. It was said
that John Knox feared no man. He preached an uncompromised
gospel. He was fearless and proclaimed
the truth. God used him, raised him up to
bring reformation through Scotland. And at the time of the Covenanters
rose up and into America, and today, we have been affected
by the gospel proclamation that took place in Scotland during
the times of the Reformation. John Knox said, I love the fear
of man to shape the message you preach, but fearlessly preach
Christ in the face of all. Preaching the gospel is no small
matter. It is no small thing. It is priceless. And we must
see it as precious. Number two, the way we see Christ
will determine how we preach Christ. The way we see Christ will determine
how we preach Christ. How we view Him will determine our methods and
our behavior in our proclamation. God can always determine His
behavior. Our theology will always make itself known in the way
that we behave. As soon as we see Christ high
and lifted up, and we see that what we're doing is priceless,
and we see Christ for who He is in the Scriptures, It will
determine how we preach Christ, not only to the people of God,
but to the people out there in the world. The glory of God to
the heathen. Isaiah saw Christ high and lifted
up. Isaiah saw Christ as King. One of the angels is described
as crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Isaiah cried out, mine eyes have
seen the King. And moments later, it's woe is
me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips. He's seen the glory of God, and
he's seen his own depravity. Until we see ourselves in truth,
and who we really are, and who God is, That God is sovereign,
all-powerful, in control, all-revolving. This is God's world. He owns
you in creation. And if you've been redeemed,
He owns you in redemption. God owns you. And God commands
all men everywhere, revenge. We must see ourselves. It was
until I see myself as totally depraved and dead in my sin.
Touching the character of God, the holiness of God, the glory
of God. When I saw God as He was defined
in the Word of God, I too became undone. What would seem like years to
unravel from false doctrine and a lot of the charismatic nonsense
that I went through, was a momentary moment. Seeing God as who He
is in the Scriptures. Seeing Christ high and lifted
up. Seeing myself as a maggot! Vile! Enslaved in my sin! Depraved
and dead! In need of redemption. When God gets a hold of a man,
He will change a man for His glory, and He'll use that man.
When God gets a hold of you, you'll never be the same. If
God gives a hold of you, you'll never be the same. You'll never
be the same. You won't walk around with all
this antinomian garbage. This liberalism that we see so
prevalent today in the modern church. Liberality. Confess this easy-believism. This sinner's prayer. Say a little
prayer and then go on and live a life of sin. As it is seen
in the Bible. When you read the Bible, you
see how God gets a hold of a man, and He changes a man, and He
transforms that man for His glory. And He keeps that man, and uses
him, and changes him, and continually changes him. Then that man is
resurrected the last day. We should be like the lepers
who would go into the city crying, I'm unclean, unclean. But no,
the Lord puts a hot, cold grace upon our mouths. It allows unclean
lips to proclaim the almighty gospel. His Son and our Lord
and King, Jesus Christ. Point three, you must see the
different dimensions of the gospel preaching. The fourfold purpose
of preaching the gospel. This is the last point. We must
see the different dimensions of gospel preaching. The fourfold
purpose of preaching the gospel. A. To the glory of God. B. Man's only remedy to the dilemma
of sin. C. The local church and evangelism. D. The help of the believer. Point A is the glory of God.
The Westminster Catechism says that the chief end of man is
to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. The glory of God is
a silver thread which runs through all of our actions. 1 Peter 4,
verse 11 says, that God in all things may be glorified through
Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, so
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory
of God. Psalms 963 declare his glory
among the heathen, his wonders among all people. Jesus reinstates
the gospel command in Mark 16, 15 when he says, Go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We go because
he's commanded us to go. We go for his glory, his glory
alone. Whether anybody turns or not.
Whether anybody says a sinner's prayer or not. Whether you feel
good about yourself or not. Whether you get punched out or
not. Whether you get a crowd or you
don't get a crowd. Whether you get an applause or not an applause.
We do it for the glory of God. That is our motive. That is our
intent. It's for the glory of God. This
way you don't get burned out. Because you're not pragmatic.
You don't have to put notches on your belt. So all the decisions
that you've got that night, you can come back and brag. It's
for the glory of God. It's for His purpose, and His
purpose alone. You're worshipping Him. Just
the fact that you get to proclaim and herald His Son is a miracle. That God would use sinful humanity
to proclaim His sinless Son is a miracle. And that He would
use you to do it. And me. Amazing, huh? God can
use this breath. He can use anyone. God must have a sense of humor.
So look at me, you know what I mean? This is our motive. This is why
we go. This one will keep you going
out, day in and day out. This one will keep the standard
high in your home. And when you're at the grocery
store, you don't even know where the clerk For wherever you go,
you're proclaiming the Word of God. For the glory of God. For
His glory alone. God receives all of the glory
because God's in charge. He holds all things. You're a
part of His redemptive work. He's not a part of your redemptive work.
For it pleases God. It pleases God. By the proclamation
of His Word to save those who believe. What an amazing, amazing
concept. Point B. It's man's only remedy. Jesus Christ is the only way
to God. You want to get in trouble? You'll
never get in trouble by bringing someone a bag of groceries. You'll
never get in trouble by bringing someone clothes. You'll never
get in trouble by feeding somebody. But the moment, the moment you
say that Christ is the only way to God, you're going to get it. You can keep your mouth quiet
and go through this whole life without any persecution and do
good things. The Jehovah's Witnesses do good
works. The Mormons do good works. The Kohol are filled with good
works. But the moment you proclaim Christ
is God, and Him being the only way to God, and the only way
to be reconciled unto God, and that Christ is complete, the
author and the finisher of your salvation, you set yourself apart. We preached downtown in New York
during a homosexual marriage ceremony, where they were waiting
in lines. It's as far as you can see. We
didn't go down there just to abuse and preach against homosexuality. Yes, quite rightfully so. That
would be fine. But we came down here to exalt
God's marriage covenant. Because how it was seen in Genesis,
and then Jesus Christ reiterates it in Mark 10. And then we see
in Ephesians, we see how the spiritual implications, how Paul
recognizes it as being seen as marriage, a reflection of his
son in the church. We went out there in defense
of the marriage covenant, but because we know God used the
marriage covenant, we come out there to stand and say, listen,
your marriage is invalid. You don't define marriage, God
does. But I'll tell you what, the uproar did come from that. The uproar came when we preached
Christ being the only way to God. That there's no other way
that man can be made right with God outside the reality of Jesus
Christ. Then you see the hatred. Then
you see the violence. And everything else that goes
with it. It's no different today than it was back in the times
of Scotland, or all the way back to the beginning. People are
by nature sinful and dead in their sin. And society is agitated. There's a confrontational nature. When you preach the Word of God,
it confronts man in their sin. Declaring that God hates everything
that the sinner loves. And they must accept God's peace
offering. That they're going to enjoy His
grace and His love and His mercy. There's no way to get outside
of the cross. They must come to the cross.
They must deny themselves. They must turn away, or go their
own way, and go God's way, which is the way, the truth, and the
life. Many of the Pharisees at the
time, when Christ came, the Bible says that Christ came with his
own, but his own received him not. And Jesus said to the Pharisees
themselves, you search the Scriptures, for in them you think that ye
have eternal life, and they are those that testify of me. Christ is saying it's me. I am
the remedy of sin. I am the reconciliation of God. I am the one that's prophesied
throughout the Old Testament. It is me right before you. But
you won't come that you may live. You search and search and search
and want to go your own way. But God doesn't accept your way,
because there's only one way to be accepted with God, and
it's through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Him alone. And we see that
much today. Christ is the only way to God. Listen, we have the answer to
man's dilemma of sin. It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must understand that God is
sovereign. He's above all and He is all.
He's in control of all. Preaching moves the heart of
God. It declares His power, His majesty,
His glory, His holiness. I remember when I was a young
man, I was really involved in hunting. I was a big hunter.
I was brought from a small town in a small village. And one of
my favorite uh, hobbies was to bow hunt. Coming from a small
town, there wasn't a lot to do. So I, I love to go out and sit
in the trees and I love to sit up there with my bow and arrow.
I love to try to shoot the deer that came by. I never really,
I never got anything, but it was fun doing it. I had a good
friend of mine who also enjoyed bow hunting, but him and I, we
would go to the stores and we would get the best equipment.
I had a small brush bow. I had graphite arrows. I had
these little arrow heads that were called the Copeland twister,
which were bent a certain way so they would spin when they
flew through the air, so they'd go through the deer at a higher
impact. And we'd really enjoy hunting, but we'd get the best
equipment. And we would go out there. And I remember one day,
we went out in the woods. He was probably 50 yards away
from me. I climbed up into a tree. He climbed up into a tree. And
we sat there. It was just before dark. I remember just sitting
there, sitting there looking up, all of a sudden I heard this
crashing sound, like somebody fell out of a tree. I said, wow. He either got a deer or he fell
out of a tree. So I climbed out, and I ran over
there, and I said, what happened? What happened? He said, he was
just in ecstasy. He says, I got the deer. I shot
one. I shot one. I go, really, where
was he standing? Where was he standing? He goes, right over there. Right
over there. So him and I, we walked over there, and I looked
down. And I noticed, which I was, you know, I was kind of happy
because I thought he missed. I looked down and I saw the arrow there
and I said, I said, brother, he said, was he standing right
over here? And I showed him the arrow. I
said, you missed, you missed. And he came up to me and he grabbed
the arrow and he looked at the arrow and he said to me, he was
a lot more experienced than I was. And he said, He said, no, I didn't
miss that deer. He said, the arrow went right
through it. He said, I bet we walked 70 yards
up the trail, we'll find that deer dead. Sure enough, we began
to walk up the trail, and there that deer was, lying there, dead
as a door knob. As it pertains to the sovereignty
of God in the proclamation of His Word, when many of us tell
us that our public preaching does not work, that we have to
turn over to some man-made invention, where they see us all preaching
to God and say, oh, it doesn't work. No one's getting saved. You're just out there wasting
your time, running your mouth. Nothing's happening. But as that
arrow was so sharp, it passed that deer and that deer didn't
even know it until it got 70 yards up that trail and fell
over dead. And the Bible is very clear.
It says in Isaiah 49, 2. He hath made my mouth like a
sharp sword. In the shaft of his hand hath
he hit me, and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver hath he
hit me. Hebrews 4, 12. For the word of
God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing edge is inviting a slender
of the soul and spirit, and is a joy to marvel, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So we're proclaiming
and we're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're sharing
our faith with somebody else. We're thinking that we're not
getting through or nothing's happening. Just wait till they
get 70 yards up the road or they're lying down in their bed that
night and your voice's voice begins to haunt them. They begin to see the reality
of their own sin in God's glory, and fall dead at the altar of
a blood-stained cross. God is sovereign. God is in control. He saves people by the proclamation
of His Word, the power of the Gospel. When we preach the Gospel,
God is in control. Trust in God. Proclaim the Word. stand upon the faith and preach
the word of God, knowing that God is in full control to save
those who believe. The local church, point C, and
evangelism. Evangelism is not a fragmented
calling. It's with the local church. You
must see it as the whole picture, not in fragments. Public proclamation
and management must come from the local church, not from a
parachurch. Church doesn't need any help. The church is responsible
to send the evangelists and missionaries out. When I'm out on the streets
of Scotland proclaiming the gospel, I don't only just represent Christ.
But I represent my local family, the other believers as well.
I'm part of the local family, the local church. When I go out
there, I'm accountable to the things that I say and the things
that I do. If I get out of line or I get
off, I have some elders waiting for me when I get back to straighten
me out and sort me out. And I put myself into that position
because it glorifies God. And if you read the epistles,
it's there. In the word of God, evangelism doesn't take place
outside the local church. It takes place in the local church.
The elders recognize the calling upon that man's life and they
send that man. In our tribe in this day, all
the mavericks that are out there doing their own thing, claiming
to be a part of the church at large, do not understand the
local church and God's command. Whether or not preaching the
commands of God, they're breaking the commands of God, according
to James White. James White says he doesn't even
let someone hand out a gospel tract unless they are part of
the local church. Pretty amazing, huh? We need
to get back to the local church. The local church and evangelism
and missions need to be reconciled. We need to be reconciled back.
For six years, we were not part of the local church. I was more
of a para-church ministry until I became reformed. I began to
read the scriptures and see, wow, listen, I'm prideful for
doing my own thing. This is pride. I need to get
under the local church. I need to get under a group of
elders. I need to be accountable for what I'm doing and what I'm
saying out here. Someone needs to hold me accountable. And when
I came into the local church, I've seen God's blessing upon
the ministry like no other. I'm not talking about financial
blessings coming from every direction. I'm talking about a clean conscience. I'm talking about just an overall
love of the people of God. Having a newfound love for the
people of God as a family. When I go there and proclaim
the gospel, or somebody else goes to another part of the nation,
we're all a part of that. We all need to be a part of that.
Whether you get to go, you don't get to go. In some way, you're
there. Because I've been sent to the local congregation. Enough
said. You don't know how to finish
this up. But just the importance of the local church and evangelism.
I can't stress it enough. In our day and age, we see all
throughout history that God brought reformation and revival. We've
seen the family altar come back. God brings revival. I think today,
we need to see the reconciliation of the church, the local church
and evangelism, once again, come back to America. And the last
point is the health of the believer. 2 Timothy 4 verse 5 says, But
watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. We see the transforming
principle in becoming more like Christ in all that we do. We will proclaim and glorify
and worship God in all that we do. We see the transforming power
of that principle working in our lives, transforming us more
into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. Many of our problems
that we face today in the church are directly linked with our
disobedience to the Great Commission. Something happens when we confess
Christ before the eyes of an unbelieving world, and before
whose eyes are engaged from heaven. The soul draws near to God during
the proclamation of God's Word, and leaves one permanently transformed
under the influence and the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to
leave you with this last story. There was a young man in Scotland
during the years of the Scottish Wars of Independence. His name
was Good James Douglas. At this time in Scotland, his
country was invaded, and his lands were taken, and his father
was taken prisoner, and the oppression came upon the Scottish people. He was known as Good James Douglas.
He was only 10 years old when his dad was taken prisoner at
a place called Berwick in Scotland by King Edward I. He came in
and he just cleared out the whole area. Women, children, everybody
was killed before his eyes. And his lands and his inheritance
were all taken from him. And his father, before his own
eyes, was taken captive and taken away and kept in a castle until
his death. Young James was taken away by
a minister, by a priest at this time, and was trained in theology,
and trained in the things of God, but also he was trained
in military intelligence, military warfare. He became one of Scotland's most
feared warriors of all time. He was an expert archer, expert
with a sword, he was an expert in combat, he was an expert in
guerrilla warfare. All these things. As he turned
21 years old, he said to his mother, he said, I'm going to
go. At this time, King Robert the Bruce is reigning in Scotland.
He says, I'm going to go, and I'm going to join up with King
Robert. And I'm going to get the lands
that our enemy confiscated. I'm going to go and get my father's
inheritance, and I'm going to return it. So as Providence had
it, the good James, young James, went out. and found King Robert
the Bruce as he was coming, traveling across Scotland into England.
He stopped him. He says, Who are you? He says,
I am the son of good James Douglas, my father, William Douglas. William
Douglas fought with the Scottish patriot William Wallace in the
beginnings of the Scottish Wars of Independence. Robert the Bruce
knew him. I knew you. I know your father. You are welcome
into my army. James Douglas came into his army
21 years old. He was so faithful and so loyal to his king that
his king separated the army and gave half of the kingdom to him
to take and fight. But he was the only man to be
knighted as high knight on the field of battle. He was the king's
most faithful and loyal man. They went into battle. And it
was said that during these times that the good James Douglas earned
a nickname from the enemy, from the English. Instead of being
called the good James, he was called the black Douglas. Because
he was like a ghost. He came out of nowhere with a
small amount of men and was destroying armies. As a matter of fact,
when little kids would misbehave, The English mothers would tell
their children, you better behave yourself, or the black goons
will get you. It was said that the black goons would disappear
into the night, and he would destroy whole battalions in return. They said he must be the ghost
of his father. He was the most feared man in
all the British Isles. And in 1314, Scotland won their
independence at the Battle of Bannockburn as they defeated
the English, 10 to 1, with the Black Duckless at his side. Years
later, the king was lying dead on his bed, lying or dying with
some skin disease. And he asked for one man because
his desire was that his heart would be taken out and put into
a gold casket with a chain and taken to the Holy Land and married.
And he wanted one man to do that. Guess who chose? Great James
Douglas. Said, I want to speak to James.
James comes to his bedside, looks over his bedside, sees his king
laying there dead. Well, not quite dead. A few breaths
left. And he says to James, he says,
I want you to take my heart, and I want you to take him to
the Holy Land. And there I want you to bury my heart there. Will
you do that? James says, I'll do it. Anything
for you, my king. So they took the heart out of
him. King Robert the Bruce laid there dead. He took his heart,
put it through a silver cap into a chain, and put it over James
Douglas' head. And he rode off to the deserts
of Jerusalem. When he came to the deserts of
Jerusalem, a war was taking place with the Moors. And I believe
it was the French. The Black Ducks was there amongst
them. They began to retreat, but he looked back and he saw
one of his friends engaged in battle. He was outnumbered. He
said, what should I do? What should I do? So he runs over there to
help his friend. At that moment, he realizes that
he's surrounded by the Muslims. Surrounded by thousands. He's
by himself. His friend had been killed. And
there he is, looking at his whole army. He knew he was going to
die. He knew it was over. So he looked
down. The heart that hung around him,
hung from his chest, hung from his neck, took that off. He looked
down at it. He said, forever before me, brave
heart, wherever you go, my king, I will follow. And he drew the
heart into the enemy, drove in, and perished. About six months
later, they came into the land, seen that the king's heart was
taken, the Holy Land's funeral, and became the Black Douglass.
And they found him. They found his body. There was
his body laying in the sand. He was dead. And when they went
over and they rolled his body over, underneath his body was
the heart of his king. And today, God is calling us
to people of God. to take the heart of the King
behind enemy lines, even if it cost you your life. Are you willing
to take the heart of your King, the Gospel of Christ, are you
willing to take it behind enemy lines? Do you love your King
enough to proclaim Him, even if it cost you your life? Go
now and worship your King in the greatest way He can be worshipped.
By declaring His glory among the heathen, His wonders among
all people. Let's pray. Father, I just thank
You today for the opportunity to speak. And Lord, I pray that
Your Word would go forth and it would change men's hearts
today. Be glorified by Your Word, Lord. Be glorified, Lord God. Use this Word, Lord. Use this
Word for Your glory. May the Spirit of God rest upon
us once again in this nation. May the Spirit of God never depart,
Lord. We thank you, God, for all that you are. In Jesus' name,
Amen.