Come back to Matthew chapter
4. Matthew chapter 4. This will
just be an extension of Frank's Bible class. I told Frank, I
said, if two people read the same book, we'd come up with
a different ending. Somebody's in trouble. So our
teaching and preaching is one. Just one. Titled the message, Christ the
Preacher. Christ the Preacher. The Son of the Living God came
into this world and preached the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is a preacher. And He is truly the Prince of
Preachers. There's virgins called the Prince
of Preachers. But Christ is truly the Prince
of Preachers. No greater honor was ever put
upon preaching than when the Lord of Glory began to preach. There in verse 17, from that
time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. It was not beneath Him to walk
out into the streets and to preach to sinners. The highest calling
is to preach the gospel. But now we have to be careful
not to elevate men whom God has called to preach to an unholy
level. John said, I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice. The man who
is said to be the greatest man born of women says, I'm just
a voice. I'm just a voice. And preaching
is essential. It's essential to the saving
of sinners. We're not going to give way to
just singing and carrying on like that. We're going to give
to preaching. It has pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching what this world calls foolishness, the preaching
of Christ crucified, the preaching of His righteousness, His blood,
His substitutionary work. It's by the preaching of that
that God is pleased to save them that believe. Paul said to Timothy, preach
the word. I didn't tell him to go out and
organize and put on concerts. He said, preach the Word. God
has given us our outline to preach from. It's His Word. I have an
outline. I don't need to really go and
find a bunch of outlines from other men. I have 66 books here,
an outline to preach from. His Word. As Frank read to you
this morning, How shall they believe on Him of whom they've
not heard? And how shall they hear? Without God sending them
a preacher. Except they'd be sent and God
sends them a preacher. How are they going to hear? Now
I confess that what passes for preaching today is shameful. Satan's always going to mess
up. He's always going to stick his hand in there if God allows
him to. And he's just going to mess things up. And what I see
today is very shameful. And I don't want to be associated
with it. I don't want to be associated with many of those who call themselves
preachers. They're not preachers. They're
hooksters. They're religious hooksters. Flesh merchants. That's
all they are. But there are a few men whom
God has called to preach the gospel. Preach the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ is the Prince of them.
He's the prince of all of them. That Christ exceeds his herald. He exceeds his forerunner. As
much as the sun exceeds in brightness the light of a candle, Christ
exceeds John. But the message stays the same. Here is the one who exceeds his
forerunner, and all of it. I mean, he exceeds all. But the
message did not change. The message John preached, John
goes to prison, and the Lord picks it up, and it's the same
message. Same message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And you know that a man is of
God when the King of kings endorses his message by taking it up.
and preaching the same message. This is how to test our preaching.
Does the Lord endorse it? And how's that? By saving sinners. By catching sinners. And He, like His messenger, kept
the message simple. He kept it simple. Think about
this. Here is one who could astound
us with his knowledge. Here is infinite wisdom. Here
is one who could take the mysteries from all eternity and expound
them to us. Think of what he could have said
and the mysteries he could have opened up. But instead, he kept
it simple. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. A man will make no progress in
salvation until he is brought to repentance. Until he is brought
to repentance. Change of mind is a complete
change of mind and thought, a complete change. It's a change of mind
about God, about Christ, about self, about sin. God's not who
you think He is. Christ is more than you think
He is. And you are less, you and I,
are less than we think we are. That's repentance. I thought
about that last night. God is more than we think He
is. Or He's not who we think He is. Christ is more than we
think He is. And we're a lot less than we
think we are. That's what it is. Repent. Change your mind, your thoughts
of God, of Christ, and self, and sin. Look over in Luke chapter
13. Luke 13. Let's see if I've got that written
down right. Luke 13. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood piled had mingled
with their sacrifices. They were telling Him about it.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans
were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
You know, you see these what we call tragedies happen. And
many people be killed. And a lot of people probably
think, well, what must they have done? What kind of people must
they have been? He says here, I tell you, nay,
but except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. You're just
like them. Were those eighteen upon whom
the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners? Above all men, they were the worst of sinners
that dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell you, nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. He says, repent, repent. Man will make no progress in
salvation. until he's brought to repent,
to truly be changed in his mind and heart and thoughts of God,
of Christ, of self, and of sin. And here's why he says to repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. No one's going to be there. No
one will be in that kingdom who's not brought to repentance. No
one. Sin will not enter that kingdom. But here's what he's saying For
the King of heaven is at hand. Repent, for the King of heaven
is at hand. Where the King is, the kingdom
of heaven is. The kingdom of God is. You know
150 times that's mentioned in the New Testament, the kingdom
of heaven, the kingdom of God? It's mentioned that many times.
And this kingdom that he's speaking of here, is a spiritual kingdom. It's not like the kingdoms of
this world that you can see. It's a spiritual kingdom. Look
over in Luke 17. In Luke 17, verse 20, and when he was demanded of the
Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come. They were looking
for a physical kingdom to come. And they thought it would be
just like the Roman kingdom and other kingdoms. And he answered
them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
It's a spiritual kingdom. You can't see it with these fleshly
eyes. It's a spiritual kingdom. Neither shall they say, Lo here,
lo there! For behold, the King of God is
within you." Now look over in that margin, because he's talking
to these Pharisees who did not believe the gospel. He's saying
the King of God is among you. Christ is standing there. The
King of Heaven is standing there. Where the King is, the kingdom
is. That's why he's saying the King
of God is among you. He told Nicodemus that unless
he was born again, he could not see the kingdom of God. He said,
you can't see it unless you're born again. Unless God gives
you spiritual eyes other than these fleshly eyes, you'll never
see it. It'll pass you by. There stood
the king of heaven right in front of Nicodemus. The kingdom of
heaven was standing right there in front of him. And he didn't
see it. It can only be known by revelation. That's the only way it can be
known. That's the only way the king can be known, that's the
only way the kingdom can be known. It's by revelation, because it's
spiritual. Now this kingdom is real. Just because we can't see
it, does not mean it's not real. This kingdom, now I was thinking
about this last night, this kingdom of heaven, of which Christ is
the king, is a very, very real kingdom. It's as real as any
of these kingdoms on this earth. It's a very real kingdom, and
it's established in righteousness. That kingdom is established in
righteousness. Look over in Hebrews chapter
1. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8, But unto the Son he
saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom." It's a real
kingdom and it's established in righteousness. No injustice
in His kingdom. No injustice in His kingdom.
And then it's a kingdom that cannot be destroyed. This kingdom
that the Lord came preaching is a real kingdom. It's established
in righteousness. and it cannot be destroyed. When
you read over history, how many kingdoms have been destroyed?
What a power. What a power Egypt was at one
time. They're no power now, are they? What a power Rome was at
one time. There's no power now. He sets
one up, and he says he brings them down. He'll raise up a kingdom. He'll raise up a man, and sooner
or later, He'll bring them down. One nation will have power and
be feared for years and then they won't. That'll happen to
us too. Sooner or later that'll happen
to us because God is going to demonstrate He's the one with
all power. He's the one to be feared, not
America. God. God's the one who brings
up and when He's done, when He has accomplished His purpose,
He'll raise another one up. But His kingdom cannot be moved. Look over in Hebrews chapter
12. This kingdom that our Lord came
preaching, it's a real kingdom. It's established in righteousness
and it cannot be moved. And my soul, everyone whom God
saves is a member of that kingdom. We have much to rejoice in. I
hope God lets this country go for many, many, many years and
blesses it, but the kingdom we belong to cannot be moved. It cannot be destroyed. We're
safe. That's why I'm saying we are
safe. Look over in Hebrews chapter 12, in the verse And then see if I wrote that
down right. 28, Hebrews 12, 28. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom,
listen, which cannot be moved. It cannot be moved. It can't
even be shaken. It cannot be moved. Therefore,
let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear. We'll serve Him acceptably. We're going to serve Him. We're
not going to run and hide and be afraid that this one's going
to fail. It can't be moved. It can't even be shaken. Not
His kingdom. All other kingdoms are going
to come and go. And when they all go, this one will be standing. This one is everlasting. My soul,
we're a part of it in Him. And this kingdom has a sovereign. The United States has a president. And they have Congress and Senate.
And they have us. Everybody's shooting at each
other. But this kingdom has one sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's sovereign over all the
other kingdoms. He rules over this kingdom and
He rules in righteousness and He rules in grace. Oh, to be
a part of a kingdom righteousness and grace. You don't have to lock your doors.
Be afraid. What a kingdom. What a kingdom. It's a kingdom of righteousness
and a kingdom of grace. And everyone there, everyone
there is there by the grace of God. Everyone is there by the
grace of God. Now, our Lord comes preaching
the kingdom of God, he comes to preach and repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then he starts to call sinners
into his kingdom. And he makes some servants out
of some fishermen. He walked by the sea there in
verse 18. He walked by the sea. This was
not a leisurely stroll. This is not a leisurely stroll
at all. He was after his sheep. They didn't know it, but he knows
it. It says he saw. He was looking. He was looking for Peter and
his brother Andrew. Oh, what a blessing for God to
call not just one brother, but two to save a family. Do you know how rare that is?
Do you know how rare that is? God demonstrates His sovereignty
all the time. And for God to reach into a family?
Oh, my soul. He saw. He saw them. He was looking for them. The
Lord of glory was looking for them, listen, particularly. He was particularly looking for
those two sinners, those two fishermen. And he knew right
where they were. He knew the exact time what they'd
be doing and right where they were. And he was headed for them. They were busy with making a
living, so to speak. Doing their jobs. Working. Trying to make money. Trying
to put food and bread on the table. They were not thinking
of the Lord. I'm just confident they were
thinking about catching fish. They were thinking about putting
food on the table. That's all they were thinking
about. And our Lord goes and He calls them fishermen. He's going to make apostles out
of these men. Now, if you're going to make
apostles out of someone, you're going to turn the world upside
down, who would you choose? Socrates? Plato? He'd go get
some unlearned and ignorant men. Considered by the world. Uneducated. I would dare to say that we wouldn't
pick one of those apostles. We couldn't stand the self-righteousness
of Paul, so we wouldn't pick him. And we couldn't stand the
crudeness of Peter and those fishermen, so we wouldn't pick
them. But the Lord did. Because He's going to get the
glory. He's going to get the glory out of everyone whom He
saves and uses. He's going to get the glory.
So he goes there to where they are and he calls them. Here's
the call. And he says to them, follow me
and I will make you fishers of men. I'll make you fishers of
men. He'll take them from among men
and make them fishers of men. He says to them, the first thing
He says to them is this, follow me. Give up everything. Forsake everything. And follow me. This is a personal
call. He says to them, follow me. And when God calls a sinner,
He calls that sinner to Himself. It's a personal call. It's a
personal call. Zacchaeus, you read it. Zacchaeus
comes down. I preached a message one time
up a tree on purpose. God climbed that tree and that
man was up that tree on purpose because the Lord is going to
pass by and He is going to call that man personally. Lazarus
comes out of the grave personally. Turn over to 1 Samuel. Everyone
whom God calls, He calls personally even though He may send a preacher
Yet he calls him personally. In 1 Samuel chapter 3, And the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. There was no open vision. And
it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his
place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see,
and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord,
where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep,
that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, Here am I. And
he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou callest me. And
he said, I call not. Lie down again. And he went and
lay down. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel
rose and went to Eli. And he said, Here am I, for thou
didst call me. And he answered, I called not
my son. Lie down again. It just sounded
like Eli's voice. Apparently. And he thought Eli
was calling him. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord. Isn't that amazing? But God called
him. You don't know the Lord until He calls you. And He reveals
Himself to you. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
But God is going to save this young boy. He is going to save
him. And the Lord called Samuel again a third time. And he arose
and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore
Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he
call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place, and the Lord
came, and stood, and called at other times. The Lord came. The
Master is come and calleth for thee. I love that. I love that
verse. The Master is come and calleth
for thee. Now let me see my place here.
So Samuel went and lay down in his place, and the Lord came
and stood, And called us at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak,
for thy servant heareth. The Lord revealed Himself to
them. Then from there on, God made something out of him. God
made something out of him. God doesn't save people He can
use. He saves people then He uses them. You'll see here, He
said, I'll make you fishers of men. You're not born fishers
of men. I'll make you that way. All right. Anyway, he called. It's an effectual call. It's
a call of God. It's a call of grace. If God ever calls a man, it'll
be a call of grace. There will be one thing about
me or you that impresses God to call us. We can impress each
other. We do not impress God. Not with
our abilities. Everything we have is given.
Our intelligence, our abilities to do what we do, it's all given.
What do you have that you didn't receive? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a powerful call. He said,
my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. And it's a call to
leave. Now listen, because this is important. It is a call to leave all others. and follow Him. It's a call to
leave everything and everyone and follow Him. Where I am, our Lord said in
one place, where I am, there will my servant be also. And everyone whom He saves is
His servant. Everyone. You cannot love the world. You
cannot love the world and follow Christ. Over in 1 John chapter
2, 1 John chapter 2, this is not my
opinion, it's the Word of God. In verse 15, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. Look over in Matthew
chapter 6, just over a couple of pages from where we are, in
verse 24. No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and man. Yes, we have to go to work. We need to make money and put
food on the table and provide for the family. But our service
is as unto the Lord. It's not as unto men. He has
our heart. And we go to do these things
as honest men, born of God, providing for family, serving the Lord.
That's what we do. Call to leave all others. Follow
Him. To follow Christ, to follow Him,
one must be absolutely committed to Him. It's absolute commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. That's why He said in one place,
count the cost. Count the cost. I thought about
this last night. No one ever followed Christ freely. Listen, we are saved by the grace
of God through the blood and righteousness of Christ freely.
Freely. But it will cost you your life.
It will cost you your life. Look over in Matthew 19. Matthew
19. In Matthew 19, verse 16, And
behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why
caust thou me good? There is none good but one, that's
God. But if thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments. And he said unto him, Which?
Just tell me which one. I can do it. Jesus said, And
you know this is just a revelation of law keepers thinking they're
going to obtain salvation by righteousness. Tell me which
one. Tell me which. You can't keep any of them. Thou
shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor
thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt love thy neighbors
thyself. The young man said unto him, All these have I kept from
my youth up. What lack I yet? And Jesus Christ, the Lord met
him at his point of rebellion. Now he's not telling everyone
here to go sell everything you have right today. But he met
this man at his point of rebellion. And he'll meet everyone whom
he saves at their point of rebellion. And that's where he'll deal with
them. And that's where you'll have to give up or perish. And
he said to this young man, if thou wilt be perfect, go itself,
that thou hast, and give to the poor, just give it to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.
Follow me. He couldn't do it, could he?
Couldn't do it. Too costly. Too costly. Salvation is free. It's the free
gift of God. And it will cost you your life. To truly follow Christ, we must
believe Him, trust Him, and follow Him continually. Continually. You're not going
to follow someone you don't trust. You don't have confidence in.
You're not going to follow them. You might walk with them for just
a little bit, but that's it. You're going to part company.
But to follow Christ is to believe on Him. And wherever the Gospel
goes, you go. You go, oh, I can't quit my job.
You won't bet? I bet you can. You will if you need Him. And
know what He said to them. Follow Me. Unreservedly follow
Me. And I will make you fishers of
men. I'll make you Here's a new creation. Here's a new creation. He will
make something out of everyone whom He saves. Believe it or
not, I don't feel like it, but if the Lord is pleased to save
a person, He's going to make something out of that person.
First of all, He's going to make him the Son of God. He's going
to make him a servant. He's going to make something
out of you. Like that new creation. or the old creation. You remember
back in Genesis when the Lord created the heavens and the earth,
He says the earth was void. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. That's the way everyone is whom God saves. And then He
makes something out of them. A new creation. And here He says,
I'm going to make you fishers of men. True ministers of the
gospel. are made, not born, they're made,
created of God. Christ makes us ministers of
the gospel. That's what Paul said there in
Colossians. Look over in Colossians chapter 1. Over here in Colossians
1. Look in verse 23. Paul says,
If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister of the gospel. Now
look in verse 25. Whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the word of God. Made. Made a minister of the
gospel. If a man is to be made a minister
of the gospel, Christ will have to make him one. No seminary,
no amount of schooling can make you a minister of the gospel. That's of God. That is a work
of God. He's the teacher and He's the
lesson. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. And the only way to understand
the mysteries of the gospel is for Christ to take you and reveal
the mysteries of the gospel to you. That's the only way. That's
the only way you're going to understand them, and that's the
only way you're going to be a minister of the gospel. Our Lord said
this in Matthew 13, 11. It's given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the others it's not given. You understand salvation? That's a mystery revealed of
God. And to be able to stand and preach the gospel, that is of God, is to be made
a minister of the gospel. And He's the one who reveals
the message. Every man who has preached the
gospel in power has been made, created of God. to do so. Paul said, who's sufficient for
these things? He said, our sufficiency is of God. And the only way to
be made fishers of men is to follow Him. Is to follow Him. Follow His example. Follow His
Word. Follow His teachings. No, God's
not going to honor our words He will honor his word. He says,
follow me, follow me. Then he calls two more brothers,
verse 21. The first two were called from
their occupations. They were fishing. That's what
they were doing. And that's what these two are
doing. But now these two are called from their father, their
family in the ship. Here's another revelation of
following him. It's an all out committal to
him. He calls them from the ship, from their father and their occupation. Leave it all. Immediately. Isn't
that something? Well, no, he said leave it all
immediately. He called James and John. He
called them to leave their father immediately and leave their ship
and follow him. I'm sure Zebedee Can you imagine
how Zebedee might have felt at that time? They were out in the
boat fishing. And his two sons, whom he counted
on, raised to help him in the family business, jumped ship. They jumped ship on him and went
and followed a man that didn't look like he
had much. A man that didn't look like he
had nothing. No beauty that we should desire in him. They jumped
ship and followed him just because he said so. There's the power of the call.
There's the power of that call. I'm sure he was puzzled. He was
probably puzzled. But he didn't say anything. He
let them go. He at least had enough wisdom to keep his mouth
shut. I thought last night, our children
belong to God. Our children, all these little
ones you have, they belong to Him. And the sooner we learn
this, the better. They all belong to Him. And if
He wants to use them, He'll use them. If He wants to call them
away from home and send them someplace else, just let them
go. He called them. But I'm sure
also that Zebedee was taken care of. The Lord's merciful. The
Lord's merciful. I'm sure he was taken care of.
And here's their obedience Immediately they left the ship. That's an
effectual call, isn't it? That's an effectual call. They
immediately left the ship and their father and their occupation
and they followed him. You know when we get into trouble
is when we begin to try and reason these things out. We begin to say, well, let's
see, I've got to do this, this and that. No. You just follow
Him. Obey. Just obey. When all is said and done, do
what you strongly feel led to do and don't try to reason it
out. You know, we are indwelt by the
Holy Spirit now. There's some leadership there.
He does lead His his ministers and he leads his body, the church.
He leads. And we do, we obey him and we
don't try to reason things out. Just do what the door he opens. And when they left the ship,
they left their father, they followed him, they never looked
back. You know what happened one time
when a person looked back God turned her into a pillar of salt. Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. She looked back. She started
thinking about all that she had back. And God turned her into
a pillar of salt. When we follow Him, we never
look back. We have nothing to look back
to. We didn't lose anything. If you give up everything, if He
said like He did to that young man, sell all you have, give
it to the poor and come follow me. You've lost nothing. He didn't
say sell it and invest it and you'll get a bigger return. He
said give it away. Give it away and don't look back.
Don't look back. I pray that the Lord will be
pleased as time goes by to call sinners out of this place to
follow Him and make us fishers of men. That's
our business. That's our business. Fissures
of man. All right, Mike.