Turn to Mark chapter 3. The title of the message is found
in verse 13. He calleth unto him whom he would. And I think it would be wise
to leave that just as it is, not add anything to it or take
anything away from it. He calleth unto him whom he will. We know through the study of
the Scriptures that the Lord is sovereign in all things. in all things, over all things. He calls whom He will according to His good pleasure, according to His wisdom. I heard Henry say one time, He
will save all that He can wisely save. I thought that was such
a good statement. He will save all that he can
wisely save. And those whom he saves, calls
to himself, and puts them in the ministry,
or wherever he's put you. We're all in the ministry. Every
last one of us is in the ministry. Mine is standing in this pulpit,
and yours is where you are, doing what you do with the gifts and
talents and abilities that God's given you. He does not call according
to ability, for that comes from Him. He doesn't need my talents. I
need Him, and I need Him to give me ability. Enable me. I pray every time I stand in
this pulpit before I come here. Lord, enable me to preach. Enable me to communicate the
gospel The message to the people enabled me to do it. Now, a lot
of times I get in the way of my own preaching, but he's the
one who enables. He's the one who equips. And
we'll see this as we go along. And when he calls to salvation, or like the apostles here, he
calls them to the apostleship. He calls effectually. He calls effectually. When the
Lord called the disciples, they were called, now notice this
now, this is important, they were disciples before they were
ever apostles. They were followers before he
ever sent them out. That's, I cannot tell you and
stress to you the importance of that. They sat at his feet. and they learn of Him. They were disciples before they
were apostles. And as I said, He calls affectionately
and He always calls to Himself first. You notice He called His disciples
and then they gathered around Him and they learned of Him.
Before He ever sent them out, they learned of Him. Because
he's the message. He's the message. We don't have
a message apart from Christ. His righteousness, his blood,
his obedience, his substitutionary work, his person, his priesthood,
it's all about him. All of it. Now it says in verse 13, And
he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him, whom he
would, and they came unto him. Now, I want you to turn to Luke
chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. We have this same story, except
a little more detail. Verse 12. And it came to pass
in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued
all night. You see what he did before he
called the apostles? The high priest, our high priest, he goes into
this mountain and he prays all night about it. He prayed all
night. And I know that the biggest part
of that had to do with their ministry. He knew. He knew exactly what they were
going to go through. He knew Peter was going to be
crucified upside down. He knew that the apostles were
all going to be martyred. He knew this. And here we have
a glimpse. We have a glimpse of our high
priest praying with the apostles and us. You don't know how much
comfort it gives me that my Lord has prayed for me concerning
this ministry. Think about it. And for where you are, where
he's put you and what you're doing, he's prayed. Our Lord
has prayed about it. I believe that. I believe he's
prayed about it. It says there, and it came to pass in those
days he went into a mountain to pray and continued all night
in prayer to God. And when it was day, when it
was daytime, he called unto him his disciples. And of them, that
is, out of those he called up to him, because he had several
disciples, those who were following him, he saved, he was saving,
we've been seeing this in these first three chapters, him saving
sinners. And he chose out of them. Twelve. And of course, he calls out their
names so there'd be no mistake. So it tells us they went up into
a mountain, or he went up into a mountain and he prayed all
night. And I have no doubt he prayed about their ministry. He prayed for their protection,
their well-being, and that they would have the grace sufficient
to endure the hardships that's about to come their way. This matter of preaching is a
very serious matter, very serious matter. It's not something that's, it's not something to be taken
lightly, is it? You, Eric and Dale, Frank and myself. The President of the United States
of America does not have as important a job or responsibility as I
have standing here this morning. I believe that. Now, many will
think you're out of your mind, just like they thought of him.
He's out of his mind. And I know there'll be many would
say, you're out of your mind. No, I'm not. I used to be like
that demonic, but the Lord put him in his right mind. If the
Lord has saved you, he's put you in your right mind. And you
understand some things. And this is one of the most,
this is the most important thing I can do, that we can do. Preach
the gospel. Preach the gospel. You know,
it's so, think about this. I'm handling God's glory. I'm
handling the chiefest of God's glory. His son. Our redemption. Eternity does not rest on what
the President says, but the eternity rests on what
I say. What's being said here, what
you taught this morning, Dale, the eternal destination of souls rests on the message preached
here. It doesn't rest in my hand, I know that. I mean, I don't
have that kind of power, but it rests on the message. The
gospel message, it's a saver of what? Life unto life to some
and a saver of death unto death to some. You see how serious
that is? That's serious. And no man, Paul said this, no
man is sufficient for these things. No man is sufficient. God, he
says, is our sufficiency. And it says also here, he calls
unto him whom he would. This clearly teaches us the sovereignty,
first of all, of God in salvation. God saves whom he will. He calls
to him out of this human race whom he will. He has mercy on
whom he will have mercy. And whom he will, the word of
God teaches us, he hardens. That's who God is. He's sovereign. Salvation is not just left to
us. If it was left to us, not one
soul would be saved. Not one soul would come to Christ.
He said to those Pharisees, you will not Come to me that you
might have life. You don't have the will to do
it. We'll do anything else but come to Christ. We want everything in this life
for free, don't we? Now, you and I know if we can
get it for free, we're glad. Except salvation. No, we want
to work for that. We want everything free. the
one thing that is free, and that's the salvation of the soul. But God is sovereign in salvation,
and He's sovereign in service. He's sovereign in service. He
chooses whom He will, and He may place this one in one place
and another in another place. He may call one to preach and
another one to sit and support the ministry. Is that all right? Absolutely. Who knows best? Our Father knows
best. He knows best where to sit every
member in the body. I'm glad I didn't construct this
body. It would look like a freak show if I constructed it. But
David said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I stand amazed at my body, the
way it functions, the way you're able to think and reason and
move. Isn't that amazing? God put all that together, and
He did it without any input from us. I've often thought that's why
He made Adam last. He needs no, and the angels,
he needs no input. When God created the heavens
and the earth, he created the garden of Eden, then he created
Adam. And he put him in the garden
that he had already created and supplied everything Adam needed.
Everything. Our God is sovereign. He proves
it all the time. He's sovereign in all things.
Listen to this scripture in John 5.21. For as the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. I'm glad of that. Because that
means somebody's going to live. Somebody's going to live. Something else needs to be pointed
out here. And I said this earlier. Before they were called to be
apostles, they were effectually called by Christ in salvation,
regeneration, converting, disciples. He said to them early on, follow
me, follow me. If I will not follow Christ,
I have no business standing in His pulpit. No man does. No one does. If I do not sit
at his feet and learn of him, I have no business in his pulpit. They were called first to be
disciples, and secondly, they were not called because of their
qualifications. God didn't call me because I'm
a good speaker or this or whatever. The disciples were common men.
They were even said to be unlearned and ignorant men. That's the way they were looked
upon. And yet, those are the very ones he called and put them
in the ministry and turned this world upside down. He took some
fishermen, tax collector, most hated person in town, and turned
this world upside down. Their names are more remembered
than any of the names in history, these men, the apostles, the
apostles. And we have their ordination. And he ordained twelve, verse
fourteen, and he ordained twelve. The Lord did this. He called
them, he ordained them, that they should be with him. and
that he might send them forth to preach. Now, they had no successors. There are no apostles now. That
was for that time, that period, the very beginning of the church
in the gospel age we have right now. That's it. We don't have
that now. We don't have it. But it says here, he ordained
twelve. Their ordination was of him. Churches, committees,
seminaries do not make a preacher. They don't make a preacher. Now,
I'm telling you, a man needs an education. We don't need to
stand here and be in offense ourselves. There's enough offense
in the gospel as there is, if it's preached as it is. And we
don't need to be offensive. ourselves and the way we deliver
the message. A messenger is just to do that.
He's just to deliver what was given to him. It is the Lord who ordains and
makes preachers. God calls and he makes men able
ministers, as Paul said, of the New Testament, of the gospel. And if we would have a ministry,
where Christ is honored, where Christ is glorified, then he
must send the preacher. And God gives patience to wait
on that man. God gives patience to wait on
him. And it's God who sends the preacher.
And we best learn to stay out of that, or we just make a mess
of it. I'm telling you, if it was left
up to me, I would make a mess of it. But if God sends a man, blessings
are going to follow. There's going to be a gospel
ministry established in that place. And now notice here, he ordained
the twelve, and the first thing they were to do or to be was
with him. Spend time with me. You ever know someone and then
after a while you spend some time with them? You really spend
time with them and you get to know them. And you find things out about
them. And you really have this relationship
that's just not on the outside. You have a real connection with
each other. Before He sends them out, they
are to be with Him. And this is so important for
those who preach. You've got to be with Him, study Him, learn
of Him, know Him, just like they were to be. Christ is the teacher and the
lesson. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. But take my yoke upon you and
learn, not how to teach the people doctrines, because without him
doctrines are not going to do you any good anyway. Actually,
you just take it and beat somebody over the head with it. Christ is the lesson and the
teacher. And they would spend time with
him. And for three years, they followed him everywhere he went.
They were at his side. They were right there with him,
learning of him. Can you imagine the teaching
that went on by him sitting out there at night time? I mean,
not all that's written down here. I can just imagine the conversations
that went on for three years. Sitting out there under the stars,
there at Peter's house. Because he was always instructing
them. If he opened his mouth, instruction was coming out of
it. Lessons, teaching was coming out of it. He never spoke an
idle word. Not an idle word. And they sat
and they, for three years, they sat and they listened. And they
heard. And they listened. And they heard. Even though when you listen to
them speak, you don't think much of it sank in, but they did. They sat there and listened,
and they heard. Sometimes the lesson learned today takes a
few years to go by before you really understand what's going
on. He said, the things I'm telling you now, you don't understand,
but you will. You will. I got many things to
say to you, he said, but you can't take it now. They should be with him and that they should, that he might
send them forth to preach. That's, I'm telling you, that's
the way it is. He calls to be disciples. He calls to service. He calls to himself to sit at
his feet and learn of him. And then he sends out. He sends out. There's no sense
going out until that happens because you don't have anything
to say. You don't have a ministry. You don't have a message. You
have nothing to say. But after He called them and
they were to be with Him, then He sent them out. Sent. Sent of God. Sent of God to do
what? Preach. Just what I'm doing right
now. The fact that God sent me here
to preach to you, and when Dale stands up here, and when Eric
stands up here, and Frank stands up here, I can't even put that into words,
that God would send someone to preach to us. He sent us our
pastor, Henry. Sat over there for 30 years.
Some of you are a lot longer than that. Sin of God. To do what? To preach the gospel
of His Son, Jesus Christ. Not entertain men and women on
their way to hell. Not to conduct a program. But
to preach. Because it has pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Do you
believe? You can thank God for that. He
sent you the message, He sent you the preacher, and He created
faith in your heart. That's of God. And they were
to have power. They were to have power. They didn't just get the notes
out and go over an outline. That's one of the things that
I try to guard against. It's just
make an outline, then go stand in the pulpit and give it. I
don't want to do that. I always pray, Lord, enable me
to preach and empower Your Spirit. Send forth Your Word in power,
like You did to the Thessalonians. When the Word of God came to
them in power, they turned from their idols. to serve the living
God. And power doesn't mean shouting. If I start shouting, that doesn't
mean I've got power. There's no power. Was it Elijah
who heard a still, small voice? He saw there was a fire and then
there was a wind. God wasn't in that. You know
what he was in? That still, small voice. Our Lord went through
the street, and it says over in Isaiah 42, He shall not cry
or lift up His voice in the street. He didn't go through the street
shouting and carrying on. He just spoke. If God speaks,
I mean, He just speaks a word, His word. It doesn't have to
be a shout. I know the Scripture tells us
to lift up our voice, but that doesn't mean you're just out
here screaming and shouting. I mean, you're lifting him up. They were to have power, it says
here in verse 15, and to have power to heal sicknesses and
to cast out devils. This was for that time, now.
This was for that time. They didn't have the Word as
we have it. We have the Word of God. We have
the complete Word of God. I don't need to heal someone,
to prove that I'm from God or the message I'm preaching is
of God. I have his word. Just turn to it. Turn to it. Search the scriptures. See whether
these things be so. But a preacher who has no power
in his preaching is no more than an empty cloud passing overhead.
That's to say, just no more than that. How does a, and this is real
interest to me, especially, I'm sure to you too, but especially
to me. How does a preacher obtain that power? That power that's
of God. That power, and I know what I'm
talking about because I sat under it. That power that makes you
want to go home and read more. That power that makes you want
to, that moves you to pray more, study more. Be with the brethren
more. To be here. Not just a some-timer,
but to be here every opportunity you have. You're hungry. You're hungry. That's what I
want to sit under. And that's what I want to be
able to do. I want the Lord to be able to give this ministry
here that kind of ministry, that kind of power. And where souls
are converted. Well, first of all, it starts
with this, being with Him, being with Him. In Acts 4.13, listen
to this. Now, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that
they had been with Jesus. They took knowledge of Him. They
had been with the Lord. Being with Him is one of the
keys to it. And here's another one I think
is a key to it. Following His example in holiness
of life as much as is possible in this life. Following in His footsteps. He's
our example. Verse Peter 221, For even here
unto where you called, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. That
we should follow in his steps in suffering, but that we should
follow in his steps in all things. In all things. Scripture says, shun every appearance
of evil. He did. He did. following after his example.
Provide all things honest before all men. He did. Our Lord did. I think it's very
important. And then prayer. Often in prayer. Often calling upon, in private
prayer, often calling upon Him for mercy, for help, recognizing the importance of
what you're doing, I'm speaking to the blood-bought redeemed
of God. When I think about what Jesus
Christ, our Lord, went through to have you, you who believe,
and then to put me here, to stand here, I think, Lord, enable me
to do it. Enable me to be the pastor ought
to be, enable me to preach and empower your spirit, and make me a blessing to them. And then this, total dependence
upon him. I totally depend upon Christ
right now. Not only just to enable me to
preach, but to enable you to hear. To enable you to get something
out of this. To enable me to rightly divide
the word of truth. And to enable you to digest it. To digest it. Spiritually. To drink it in. Take it in. I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing." Nothing. And now he names the ones he
calls. He knows his sheep by name. But also he names these
men so that there be no mistake. And the church would recognize
them because the Lord named them. He called them. And the church
could recognize them because back in that time, especially,
many false apostles rose up, claiming, many rose up claiming
to be apostles. And they were not apostles. They
were not. We have their names. The Lord
says this, these are the apostles and I'm going to give you their
names. And outside of this, there are no apostles, and there never
has been any more since. That office is over with. And Simon, he surnamed Peter.
James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, and
he surnamed them Bonergus, which is the sons of Thunder, Andrew,
Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus
and Thaddeus, Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot. And Judas
Iscariot was not a surprise to him. The Lord knew him. He
knoweth them that trust in him. God used this man to fulfill
the scriptures. He used him to fulfill. Is he
not sovereign? Did we not start out with that? He's sovereign in everything
he does. Everything. If he's going to
use a Judas to fulfill the scripture and betray Christ, allow him
to betray the Lord that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Amen. It's the Lord's will. Now, the multitude, let me close
this. The multitude, they come back to him. After he goes into
the house, probably Peter's house, he prayed all night and he called
the disciples to him. Then he chose out of them twelve.
And then they go back to the house, probably Peter's house,
and the multitude come together again so that they could not
so much as eat bread. For a short period of time, he
was received. He had healed, he had fed, and
he took care of some things. He took care of some real needs
that some people had. And for a time, a short period
of time, he was received. But mostly because, most of it
came because of the miracles. You know, I could fill this building
up. I could fill this building up. All you've got to do is turn
it into a circus. That's all you've got to do.
You can probably even sell tickets We'd make more money. Just turn
it into a show. Entertainment. But everybody that would come
would go away just as lost as they came. Just as lost. God's not going to save anybody
out of that kind of mess. He's not going to do it. And when his friends heard of
it, they went out to lay hold on him, his friends, his kinsmen,
his family. They saw this going on. They
saw this crowd going on, and they were just thronging him,
and they were jamming the house. They were surrounding the house.
And they literally said, concerning our Lord, he has lost his mind. No, the zeal of his father. has eaten him up. Because of his zeal for the glory
of his father and the salvation of his elect, his own friends
and family thought he lost his mind. I thought, as I was looking over
this last night, oh, to have such a zeal that our family thinks
we've lost our mind. To have that kind of zeal. To
have that kind of enthusiasm. To spend and be spent for Christ
in such a way that people think that I'm out
of my mind. What's the lesson here? What's
the lesson? Well, here's the lesson. And I'm sure there's
more than I'm giving you. We go over this again. In a few months or a year or
so from now, we'll learn even more, won't we? We'll learn even
more. But the first lesson is, He's
sovereign in all things. He's sovereign in whom He saves,
and He's sovereign where He puts us in service. If it's the Lord's
will for me to sit in that chair and support the ministry and
go to work wherever I work, amen. I'd be as happy as that if I
ain't standing here. And then he's the one who calls
and equips us for service. And then he's the one who sends
out his preacher. Let's wait on him. Wait on him. Someday, someday you'll need
another one here. Call on him. And wait on Him. He's the one
who sins. He's the one. And He's our example
in all things. In all things.