I have an unusual subject tonight. It's not a subject commonly dealt
with in an ordinary public worship service. It's one of those things
that's discussed by almost everyone who expresses an opinion about
religion but knows nothing about it. A subject discussed quite
often when men get together after going to church on Sunday morning
or before going to church on Sunday morning. If you'll open
your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Third chapter of the
book of Ephesians, verses 7, 8, and 9. I want to talk to you
about God's preachers. That's my subject, God's preachers. Their authority, their attitude,
and their ambition. Their authority, their attitude,
and their ambition. With all God's preachers, their
authority, their attitude, and their ambition is exactly the
same. With all men called, gifted,
and sent of God to preach the gospel. Now you may ask yourself,
well then Don, why are you preaching to us about preachers? We're
not preachers. That's a good question. And I recognize it
as a good question and tell you hurriedly that I much prefer
not to deal with this subject in any public forum. I recognize
something of my failures and my shortcomings as a preacher.
And my soul cries out to God continually in repentance for
those failures and those shortcomings. I never preach without a terrifying
sense of inability and unworthiness. As I prepare to preach, I never
do so without that same terrifying sense of inability and unworthiness. I don't take the business lightly. I often have folks say, It's
about hearing that sermon again. You haven't heard the sermon
again from me. You may have heard the same outline, same text.
Haven't heard the sermon again from me. I just don't give out
stuff that I haven't prepared. I just don't do it. And I'm conscious
of the general contempt people have for preachers, myself included. Gospel preachers I love, I admire,
and I promote. I thank God for them, I pray
for them, I do everything I can to promote them and their ministries. I think highly of them and speak
highly of them. But preachers, preachers in general,
I have a tough time just being nice to. They're utterly contemptible. Men who lie about God and lie
to the souls of men and lead folks to hell and do so for their
own gain, I have a tough time just being pleasant in their
company. I also recognize that you who are hearing me right
now will be tempted of the devil not to pay too much attention
to my words because you're not preachers. I pray God will prevent
that. I'm bringing this message to
you for these reasons. I'm fully convinced God would
have me to do so. We've come to that place here
in Ephesians chapter three, in the process of going through
this epistle, where this subject is dealt with. And obviously,
God the Holy Ghost has put things in this book, dealing with this
matter of God's preachers. dealing with it clearly, dealing
with it pointedly in numerous passages of scripture, because
he intends for the church of God to know something about what's
involved in the work of the ministry and the things entailed in the
burden of the word of the Lord, the things that concern those
men who minister to your souls for the glory of Christ. The
spirit of God would have you. to have a proper appreciation
and high esteem for those ascension gifts of Christ to his church. I haven't said that sufficiently
for it to register with you. Gospel preachers, gospel preachers
are the ascension gifts of Christ. to his church. The son of God
lived and died and rose again to give you men to preach the
gospel to you. If that ever grips your soul,
you will never cease to give thanks to God for his mercy.
The Spirit of God would have you to know as much as you can
possibly know about the men themselves and their labor for your souls,
that you may esteem them very highly in love for their work's
sake and be at peace among yourselves. Churches who love and highly
esteem their pastors are at peace. They labor together in the cause
of Christ They just find a way to overlook things that might
otherwise cause them just not to be able to get along. Like
soldiers in a battle, they have something far more important
than themselves to consider. They have something far more
important than themselves to give themselves to. They have
a cause more important than them. They have a nation more important
than them. The cause is the cause of Christ. The nation is the Israel of God.
That's more important than me. That's more important than you.
The cause is the glory of Christ in this generation. That's more
important than you. That's more important than me.
And God's people recognize it. Churches who despise God's gifts
to them. Churches who despise the pastors
are never at peace. Never. Never. I've watched it. around the world. I watched it
for 45 years. Churches who highly esteem God's
gift to them, labor together in peace. Churches who don't,
never enjoy that peace and never labor together. All right, let's
look at our text. Ephesians chapter three, verse
seven. Paul says, where are, that is
concerning this dispensation of the grace of God given to
me. I was made a minister. The word is a servant. I was
made a servant, a minister according to the gift of the grace of God.
God made me a steward in his house to whom he trusted the
dispensation of the grace of God. He did this by the effectual
working of his power unto me who am less than the least of
all saints is this grace given. that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men
see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ. God's preachers, their authority,
their attitude, their ambition, There's no greater subject or
work in the world for men to consider than this matter of
gospel preaching. There's not a thing in this world
of greater weight, of greater responsibility, of greater privilege
than the preaching of the gospel. It's the highest, noblest work
there is. Each time I stand in the pulpit,
I stand here in the name of God to proclaim the gospel of God,
to undying immortal souls who soon must meet God in judgment,
knowing that if God speaks by me, what I have to say is going
to make a difference with you. That's a weighty, weighty, weighty
responsibility. And that's a great, great, great
delight. I wouldn't trade places with
anybody in the world. Oh, how I thank God for his mercy,
for his grace in saving me by his grace and making me a preacher
of the gospel. Of all people, me. To me, he's
given this trust. The work of the ministry is great. It requires all of a man. All of it. All of it. I was just talking to a young
man just recently concerning what this requires. Everything. Everything. That
means your wife gets left over time and your family gets left
over time. Left over care and left over attention. These things
must be given to the cause of Christ. Everything. The preaching
of the gospel requires all of a man. But all of a man's not
sufficient. Our sufficiency is of God. I ask you, every time you think
of me, to pray for me. Uphold my hands in this work,
realizing that your pastor is nothing but a weak, sinful man. Pray for me, but not just for
me. Pray for those men God has raised
up in this generation. gifted and sent forth to preach
the gospel. I do the best I can to make you
know as many as I possibly can and not just be aware of them.
I want you to know them and love them, pray for them, and let
them know you love them and pray for them. Whether it's pastors
in this country, pastors in another country, or missionaries faithfully
laboring on the field, pray for them. and pray that God will
be pleased in this day to raise up and thrust out laborers into
his vineyard for the preaching of the gospel of his grace. The
history of God's church is written around the men who stood where
I stand tonight. The history of God's church is
written around the men who occupy her pulpits. When the pulpit
has been strong, the church has been strong. When the pulpit
has been dedicated, the church has been dedicated. When the
pulpit has been faithful, the church has been faithful. When
the pulpit has been weak, careless, unfaithful. The church has been weak, careless,
unfaithful. That's the importance of the
work God's placed in the hands of his servants, gospel preachers. Oh, what a blessing. God has
been pleased to send forth his word into this place and send
forth his word into other places around the world. And yet there
are multitudes of places where there's no place to worship God. where there is a famine for the
hearing of the word of God. I hear from people regularly,
some from large, rich, bustling cities, some from out of the
way, nowhere places where they have no place, no place to go,
gather with God's people, set in God's house and hear God's
word. Church buildings everywhere,
the worship of God nowhere. Preachers everywhere, the ability
to hear from God, nowhere. Oh, how we ought to cherish the
blessed privilege God has given. Now let's look at Paul's description
of his ministry. And remember, Paul is not writing
here just from himself, about himself. Paul is writing by the
inspiration of God, the Holy Ghost, faithfully describing
for us his ministry, his attitude, his authority, his ambition as
God's servant. But it does this because God
the Holy Spirit is here conveying to us the the attitude and the
ambition, the authority of every faithful gospel preacher. God,
the Holy Spirit is here teaching us what this work of the ministry
is. First, let's look at their authority.
Let me show you that God's preachers are men under God's authority. Look with me to Ephesians chapter
three and verse seven. whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of his power." God's preachers are men who have a heavenly commission. Men sent from God with a mission. Men sent from God with a mission. You hear of folks who are belittled
and derided because they think they have a messianic mission
at some young moon. What's the fellow down there
having a drink of Kool-Aid? Jim Jones. They have a messianic
commission. They have a messianic work to
do. And they say those fellows are dangerous. You know what?
You're right. You're exactly right. You can't
stop them. You can't control them. You can't
manipulate them. They have a messianic mission.
Those men who do not preach the gospel of God's grace are dangers
to your soul. And they only think they have
a messianic commission. God's servants. Doesn't matter
how old or how young. Doesn't matter how smart or how
illiterate. Doesn't matter how well trained
or how untrained they are. God's servants know themselves
to be men on a messianic mission. They have God's authority. That
means you can't hire them and you can't fire them and you can't
control them. but they're uncontrollable by
anybody except God. Not controlled by circumstances,
not controlled by men, but they are called, made and gifted of
God. Gospel preachers are made by
God. They don't make themselves. Sadly,
sadly, sadly. Most preachers make themselves
preachers. And it's obvious that that's
the case. Most preachers make their own
way and open their own doors and they convince themselves
that God's put them into work. I say to young men, Brother Cody's
sitting here, I say to young men all the time, you wait, you
wait. You wait. If God's called you
to this work, God will put you in the work. If you put yourself
in the work, you put yourself in trouble, misery, and heartache. Don't do it. No man can make
himself a preacher. No man can make another man a
preacher. No Bible college, no seminary,
no better training can make a preacher. Men are made preachers by the
gift of God's grace. There's nothing in a man's past
life that qualifies him to be a preacher and nothing that disqualifies
him. Isn't that wonderful? Nothing
that qualifies him, nothing that disqualifies him. I've listened
to a young man in order to grace a graduating class the other
night. and had hopes that maybe he would worship God, knew God. I was impressed, just impressed
with the way he spoke. But that doesn't seem to be the
case. He didn't know the gospel of
God's grace. He said, well, that boy, he'd
make a preacher. The one talking to you, the one talking to you,
when he got out of high school, couldn't hardly talk. Couldn't
hardly read, he could talk all right, but couldn't read a bit,
and certainly couldn't speak much. No, nothing about a man's
past qualifies him, and nothing about his past disqualifies him.
This man, Paul, had been a blasphemer and a persecutor. Who had ever
thought about him preaching the gospel? The faith he sought to
destroy, he now promotes and builds. William Huntington. that man so greatly used of God
in his day, had been a vile adulterer, a base, profligate man all his
life till God saved him. John Newton, his mother taught
him all she could before God took her out of this world, prayed
for him, taught him the hymns, taught him scriptures, and he
was just a boy when she died. And he spent the rest of his
days on a ship and his adult life as a slave trader until
God saved him by his grace. And Don Fortner, he was Don Fortner until God
saved him by his grace. Gospel preachers are God's servants,
made God's servants. Being God's servants, they're
men under God's authority. They're not June bugs on a string.
They walk in this world with confidence and with boldness
and with courage, not because they're strong men, not because
they're confident men, not because they're courageous men, because
they're God's men and they know it. Such a man was Moses. They
delight to serve God. They're men who serve the interest of Christ's
kingdom for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners
as God's servants. God's preachers are called pastors.
They rule the church of God. Paul admonishes us twice in the
book of Hebrews chapter 13, to obey them that have the rule
over you. They rule the church of God,
but not by brute force, not by some power of their own. They
rule the church of God just as a man is required by God to rule
his own house. They rule the church of God by
the word of God and by the spirit of God. They do so with gentleness
and with patience. They do so, however, with confidence
and with consistency. They will not back up. They will not give over the rule
of God's house to another man. They just will not do it. They
give themselves to the work and they faithfully labor in the
work. The pastor, the apostle tells us, is a man gifted for
the work of the gospel. God gifts men for the gospel
certainly in these ways. He gives a man a desire to preach. He that desireth the office of
a bishop desireth a good work. But that desire to preach is
not just a desire to stand up here and talk to folks and impress
people. That's the last thing. It's a desire to serve the cause
of Christ. for the good of men's souls and
the glory of God. It's a desire to serve his kingdom. It's a desire to make men know
God's son. Not only does God give men who
he calls a desire for the work, he gives his servants understanding
in the scriptures. Do y'all remember when Brother
Frank Hall first came among us? It's only been what, nine years
ago? Frank came here and he had been a wild fella. And he wouldn't mind me telling
you that. And he sat back there like a sponge. I mean, like a
sponge. Shelby reminded me that I needed
to be patient, because I'd get aggravated with it. I told Frank
this. He'd ask questions, and ask questions, and ask questions,
and just take in everything. But my soul, how God taught that
young man. How God taught him. God gives
men who are gifted for the ministry understanding in this book. Understanding in the book, so
that they And you grab it, because God
calls the book to grab them. And he gives them the ability
to explain and communicate the things written in this book.
I have a dear friend. I went to college with him. He's
a very, very dear friend. And he tried his best to be a
preacher. He did. He's smart as a whip. He's smart
as a whip. Smart as a whip. And he can sit
right here and talk to you one-on-one about anything in his book and
make good sense. But somehow or another, when
you get up here, he'd say two plus two equals two and a half.
I mean, he just flat could not put two and two together and
make it come out make any sense. Is that so? You couldn't do it. Why? Because God hadn't gifted
him. God didn't gift him to do it. Nothing he said made any sense.
If a man's gifted of God to preach the gospel, he's got God's message. When you sit and listen to it,
when it gets done, you say, yeah, there it is. You almost think
to yourself, I wonder why I didn't see that before. That's just
play. That's exactly right. That's
the reason God gives men gifted to preach to you, to give you
understanding in his word. And those men have the ability
to do so. They are apt to teach. apt to teach. That means they
have not a natural ability. They have a God-given ability
to teach you the things of God. As Paul was a sinner saved by
the grace and power of God, so every name called and sent of
God to preach the gospel first knows the power of God and the
grace of God in the overwhelming experience of the new birth.
He's born again. He's called of God to Christ
and called of God to fill this work as a preacher of the gospel.
If a man's God servant, He's aware of that fact. He's aware
that God's called him and God's gifted him. He may, indeed, he
probably is hesitant, reluctant about many things concerning
himself, but he knows this is what God has for him. All right,
second, I want to show you the example Paul gives to all preachers
concerning their attitude toward this blessed work of the ministry. As God's preacher, Paul had an
attitude that was just exactly right, exactly right regarding
the work of the ministry. Look at verse 8. Unto me, unto me. This is how I read that. I circle
it with a huge red mark and underscore it. and put stars all around
it unto me. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now here are
four things about the attitude of God's servants. Number one,
God's preachers like Paul, truly think little of themselves. And
to me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace
given." This was Paul's truthful, honest confession to these Ephesian
saints and to us of his opinion about himself. the least of all
saints." How could he say that? How could he say that? He wrote
in 1 Corinthians, he said, he said, I didn't come behind any
of these men in labors, in knowledge, in revelation. He said, I've
done more than all of them. And he wasn't bragging. He was
just saying, that's what I've done. But he speaks of himself,
giving an honest opinion of himself. He said, I'm the least, less
than the least of all saints. What can he possibly mean? This
man understood that he had wasted his life wishing himself accursed
from Christ. He had spent all his life blaspheming
and persecuting Christ and his church. Paul Knew God had forgiven him. He
was fully aware of it. But he could never forgive himself. These days, self-serving, ignorant
men who claim to be preachers tell you, you've got to forgive
yourself. And they try to get some kind of Freudian psychology
working. You've got to forgive yourself. Forgive yourself. How on earth are you going to
do that? Forgive yourself for what you are, what you know you
are, what you've done, what you know you've done, what you do,
what you know you do? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, thank God
for his forgiveness. Don't ever even pretend to try
to forgive yourself. If you do, you're faking it.
That's just not so. Paul recognized, oh, wretched
man that I am. This man, keenly aware of his
gifts, keenly aware of God's superabundant grace, lived incessantly
with a devil in him, for which he earnestly prayed three times,
God, take this from me. And the Lord Jesus said, my grace
is sufficient for you to live with it. The longer he walked
in the company of the son of God and his people, the lower
his opinion of himself became. He was like John who said, he
must increase, but I must decrease. Someone pointed out that Paul's
growth was like this. When he was a young believer,
he said, I'm the last and the least of all the apostles. Later
on, he said, I'm less than the least of all saints. And just
before he left this world, he said, I'm the chief of sinners.
O Spirit of God, give me day by day greater, clearer revelations
of Christ in His greatness, His glory, and His grace, that I
may have clearer understanding and knowledge of myself that
He may constantly increase and I constantly decrease in my own
eyes. Second. Like Paul, God's preachers
think very highly of God's saints. Paul had a low opinion of himself,
and he had a very high opinion of his brothers and sisters in
Christ. A very high opinion of the family of God. Those two
things always go together. They always go together. Men
and women, men or women, who think highly of themselves, always
find a way to say something to you to make you think lowly of
somebody else. They always do. Now, I don't
mean to be talking. I don't mean to be telling tales.
You've heard that nonsense. They intended it. The purpose
was to make Don look good and Joe look bad. That was the intention. That was the purpose for the
gab, for the talk, for the gossip. Those two things always go hand
in hand. Men who think highly of themselves,
think lowly of you. Men who think lowly of themselves
and think highly of Christ, think highly of Christ's people. They're
people loved of God, chosen of God, redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ, called by God the Holy Spirit, precious in
his sight. They are men and women without
sin, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. And God's people look at one
another just like that. He's my brother! Well, don't
you see, see what it's all about? Let's cover that up. Let's cover
that up. Now, I don't want to look at that. I don't want to
see that. I'm not going to look at that.
I'm not going to discuss it with you. We'll take a blanket, go
in backwards and cover up his nakedness. Why? Because Christ
says he is the most beautiful thing in the universe. Christ
says she's the most lovely one in all the world. Read the song
of Solomon and see if that's not what he says about his church.
And he says it because it's so. Therefore, God's people learn
to esteem one another very highly in love for Christ's sake. This
man, Paul, very lovingly thought of the
congregation he served. He was delighted, God made me
a man to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Now let's think
about that a little bit. He wasn't raised to think very
highly of that. He was raised as a Pharisee. And the Pharisees of all Jews
looked upon us Gentiles as dirty, filthy, stinking dogs. Just dogs. I know folks today
like dogs in their house and dogs in their bed and dogs on
the kitchen table. In those days, dogs were critters
that stayed outside, and you didn't have much to do with them.
That's just the way it was. They were dirty animals. They
were considered by the law to be dirty animals. Now, please
don't mistake me. I like dogs, especially if they're
mine. But that's just, I'm just saying,
they were dirty animals, and the Jews looked at them as dirty
animals. Paul said, God's been so gracious
to me, He sent me to spend my life in a dog pen, preaching
to dogs. James, his brother James, he
was pastor of the big city church, First Baptist Church of Jerusalem.
Peter, Peter, that man, that lowly fisherman, He was the apostle
to the circumcision, to the high, the mighty, the refined Jews,
Paul. Paul was sent to preach the gospel
to the dogs of the Gentiles. And he said, this is a great
grace. God's given me this. Oh, how he rejoiced to preach
the gospel of God to the ignorant masses of dirty, vile, Abominable,
filthy, ungodly, immoral, idolatrous Gentiles. To bring Christ's sheep
from the Gentile dog pen back into the sheepfold of his free
grace. Read the first chapter of Romans,
then you'll see what the Gentile world was like. I said all that because I want
you to understand I love to see preachers fall in love with the
place of their calling. Preachers who despise the place
where God's put them never do anything worth looking at, let
alone talking about. They're always looking for something
else, something better. Not God's servants. God's servants
love the people for whom God made them. God weds them together. He weds them together. Several
years ago, I was over preaching Brother Todd, and he had the
difficulty with his esophagus and had to have surgery. And
I preached for him several weeks on Wednesday night. And one Wednesday
night, he came in in the back. Just before service, just before
I got in the pulpit, I was already setting up on platform. And when
he came in, a couple of folks spotted him. He hadn't been there
in weeks. Nobody was expecting him. You may have been there,
I don't remember. The whole congregation just stood up with tears of joy. giving thanks to God our pastor's
back and he's healthy. That's what I'm talking about.
God's people and God's servants are wedded together. Number three,
God's preachers, like Paul, think very highly of their work. Unto
me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given. that I should preach, preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ. God made me his servant. Imagine
that. This man, this preacher, had
a very clear understanding of what God sent him to do. He sent
him to preach. Preachers are preachers. They're
not social workers. They're not party goers. They're
not ambulance chasers. They're not politicians. They're
preachers. They're preachers. God's called
them to preach and that's what they devote themselves to. They
keep to their work and they give themselves to the work. They're
preachers, nothing else. I read a brief biographical sketch
of a preacher, it's been a few years back, and read about his
grandson. who was one of the men who gave
a eulogy at his funeral. His grandson was just a teenager,
but he admired his granddaddy. And if I can remember, I can't
remember exactly the words he used, but this is what he said.
He said, my grandpa didn't play golf, and my grandpa didn't go
to ball games. He said, in fact, my grandpa
probably wouldn't know which end of the bat he used to hit
the ball with. My grandpa wasn't a carpenter. My grandpa wasn't
a painter. My grandpa was just one thing.
He was a preacher. All he knew was preaching. All
he did was preach. And he was the best preacher
there ever was. That's what God's servants do.
They preach. They preach the gospel relentlessly
and forth. This man, Paul. And God's servants
had the highest possible thoughts of their subject, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. The unsearchable riches of Christ. God's servants are set to make
Christ known. to preach the riches of Christ,
the glory of Christ in all his person and work, to preach Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Until I find a message more glorious
than Christ crucified, more needful than free grace, more delightful
than infinite mercy, more comforting than absolute forgiveness, more
assuring than perfect righteousness, more compelling than redeeming
blood, more hopeful than heavenly glory, more joyful than infinite
immutable love of God in Christ. Until I find a message higher
than this, I'm determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christmas Evans said, the flame
of Calvary's love is intense. Let it burn brightly in the pulpits. And those men who are called,
gifted, and sent of God to preach the gospel of God's free grace,
all have one ambition. Look at verse nine. To make all
men see. To make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery. which from the beginning of the
world hath been hidden God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Oh, that's our work. To make me and
see the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery
of our Lord's person and work, the mystery of his accomplishments
of righteousness and redemption for us, to make all me and see. wherever we go, wherever God
opens the door to make men see this mystery. Oh, God calls sinners
here tonight to see the mystery of the incarnate God, our savior,
the mystery of redemption accomplished by our substitute, the mystery
of free, full forgiveness by the free grace of God and the
precious blood of your dear son. God, give us grace. to our dying breath. God, give
us grace to our dying breath to put our hearts and our shoulders
together to this work, to make all men in this generation see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh, maybe, maybe,
maybe, maybe He'll use us to that end. Amen.