Let me tell you something about
preachers, something that very few preachers know. Preachers, true gospel preachers,
all of them preach the word of God. I don't mean they preach from
the word or about the word. I mean faithful men, men called
and gifted of God to preach the gospel, preach the word of God. In churches everywhere these
days, there is little allowance made for preaching of any kind,
let alone the preaching of the word of God. The title of my
message tonight is God's Prophet and God's Word. Our text will
be Micah chapter 1 verse 1. God's prophets and apostles,
pastors and preachers after God's heart, those men he gives to
his church to feed his people with knowledge and understanding
come to the pulpit as God's messengers with God's message. They come
to proclaim a word from God as it is revealed in the word of
God as they have been taught it by the Spirit of God. Micah
chapter 1 verse 1. The word of the Lord that came
to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah
kings of Judah which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Today, the Highling minister, the Highling minister, the servant,
servant that men control, comes to the pulpit to present a lecture
on morality or to give a sermon on religion or to insist on the
performance of some moral or religious duty, or to instruct
people in some point of denominational dogma. Preachers come to share
their thoughts, to give their opinion, to give you something
to think about. I hear a fellow, I want to share
with you what I see in this verse. I just, I want to get him to
walk out. Now, I want to give you something to think about.
And if you want to get my blood boiling, when you meet me at
the door, you say, well, you gave us a lot to think about
tonight. I didn't come here to give you something to think about.
I came here to give you a message to believe and obey. I came with a message sought
from God for your souls. Preachers these days come to
offer an opinion and not very dogmatically at that. Micah came
with the word of the Lord. What a difference. What a difference. Oh, what a blessed day it was
for God's church when there was a man sent from God whose name
was John. Man sent from God to proclaim
the Word of God in the day when men desperately needed to hear
from God Micah declared the Word of the Lord That which God had
given him by his spirit He preached the word of the Lord that was
given specifically to him. Look at our text. The word of
the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite. That is to Micah the
man who came from Morsheth Gath in Judea. There were other Micah's
but this is the word that came specifically to this man Micah
for this generation. It was a word given to him for
the day in which he lived, to the people among whom he lived.
It was given to him for those who lived in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. It was a word that was
pressing for their day, a word pressing for their circumstances,
a word pressing for the time in which they lived. like to talk about history and
things in the past and what's going on in the past. They answer
questions nobody's asking and they deal with things that don't
affect folks in any way at all. I hope never to stand here and
have anything to say that doesn't apply to you and affect you right
now. Micah had a word from the Lord
that was given specifically to him and given to him for the
people to whom he ministered in his day. It was a word which
Micah saw. You see that? The word of the
Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz,
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw, which he understood. A word that God taught him. A
word that God enabled him to perceive, a word that was written
on his heart as it were by the finger of God. It was a word
for a specific people. It was concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem. the word of God addressed specifically
to these two cities, these two capital cities in Israel and
in Judah, a word to these two cities where God's worship ought
to have been faithfully maintained, but where God's worship had been
perverted. In fulfilling the work of the
ministry, it's not enough simply to set before men and women the
evidences of Christianity, and to insist upon the performance
of religious duties and services. Those men God sends to his people
as pastors according to his heart are messengers from God to men. Messengers from God to men. What an awesome task. What a great high honor. What
a marvelous privilege. What a terrible responsibility.
Messengers from God to men. Brother Larry, going down to
Sylacauga, a man just exactly suited, if
I'm not mistaken, for the folks to whom God sent you. Now every
time you go and preach, my brother, you seek a message from God for
his people for that hour. Messengers from God to men. Messengers who shall feed you
with knowledge and with understanding. Who get a message from God by
prayer and study and meditation. And we dare not alter or conceal
any part of that message. The Lord God says, he that hath
my word, let him speak my word faithfully. We must make known
all the whole counsel of God. And having declared God's message
with all plainness and fidelity, it is ours to urge upon those
who hear us the word of God and faith in Christ. Paul said, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We put pressure
on men by the word of God to believe, to heed, and to honor
God's word. God's prophets of old referred
to this message God gave them to deliver as the burden of the
Lord, or the burden of the word of the Lord. 13 times in the
book of Isaiah the prophet Isaiah refers to the message God gave
him as the burden God had given him in verse chapter 13 through
chapter 21 Every chapter I think except two of them begins with
the word the burden the burden God gave me a burden God has
laid a heavy weight on me that I am responsible to declare to
you that Those faithful men of old were not triflers. They were earnest and serious
about their work. Robert Hawker said the Lord's
burden brings with it the Lord's blessing. But still, it is a
burden. A burden that we carry continually
if we're God's servants. I'm often shocked. by the levity
with which men who profess to believe God and profess to serve
him go about the work that they call the work of the ministry.
The levity with which they speak of the work of the ministry,
even more so by the way they conduct themselves in it. about to have our conference
here in just a couple of weeks. And I'm preparing this message,
prepared it for you specifically in anticipation of the conference
coming up. But you will have people at times
stand here. Now, I do things the way I do
them here on purpose, just in case you didn't get that. I don't
stand here and tell jokes. I don't joke about things. I
don't stand here and make little gestures and funny things, get
you to smile and be cute. I don't try to be because I don't
want to be. I'm not here to play games with
you, and I don't want other folks to. And if one person says something
a little bit light and there are 20 more to get up behind
him, I guarantee you each one will try to outdo the other one.
That's just the tomfoolery we have in us. And preachers talk
lightly about the ministry of the gospel. Don't joke to me
about this. It's not a joking matter. Don't
joke with me about it. You won't hear me joking about
it. It's not going to happen. So will you take yourself too
seriously? Rex Bartley, if I've come here
with a word from God for you to hear, I can't take that too
seriously and you can't either. Nothing more serious in this
world. Any preacher who doesn't find his ministry a burden here
will find it a burden hereafter. A burden that will sink him to
the lowest hell. God's servants are men who take
their responsibilities seriously. Others socialize, they study. Others play, they pray. Others seek the praise of men,
they seek the praise of God. Others use men, they seek to
be used for men by the grace of our God. God's servants are
men with a message, a message that must be delivered. We're
not sent to tickle men's ears. Ours is an errand of life or
death to immortal souls. Paul put it this way. Necessity
is upon me. Yea, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. He didn't say, woe unto me if
I preach not. He said, woe unto me if when I preach, I don't
preach the gospel. The word of the Lord is a fire
in the bones of his servants, consuming them. The servants
of God must speak the things they've seen and heard. We have
a burden to carry that's worth carrying. It's a burden, yes.
Not a burden from which we would be relieved. Oh, no. Oh, no. Unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach
to you the unsearchable riches of Christ. but a burden nonetheless. It's a burden, but a burden that
we wouldn't trade for all the world for anything else. William
Carey's son Felix was once a gospel preacher, and he was appointed
to be an ambassador representing the throne of England. And when
Carey got word of it, his response was, poor Felix is shriveled
from a missionary to an ambassador, and he was exactly right. He
was exactly right. In the book of Micah, God's prophet
Micah addresses men and women of Judah and Israel, men who
wore Jehovah's name and professed to worship him. men and women
who claimed to be the people of God and were the physical
descendants of Abraham. They had committed to their trust
the Word of God and the worship of God and they deliberately
threw it away. Bob Duff don't dare. Grace Church in Danville don't
dare. Don't dare. Because they incorporated
to themselves the idolatry of their age, the Lord God sends
warnings of judgment. Judgment that was sure, judgment
that could not and would not be prevented. Judgment that warned
of the certain judgment of all the world at the last day. Mark
it down. Everything here. that is not
Christ shall be burned. Everything in this world that
is not Christ's church shall be destroyed. Nothing here will
endure the fire of the last day. The world and all who are in
it shall perish under the wrath of God. I realize to whom I'm
preaching. I realize I'm not preaching to
a room full of preachers. I'm preaching to my family, the
men and women who are dearest in the world to me, to you, to
whom I have devoted and continually devote my life, to you, whose
souls I carry day and night before God Almighty. I'm preaching to
you in anticipation, as I said, of our upcoming conference, because
I want to prepare you to hear the word from these faithful
men who come preach the gospel to us. And I'm doing so in anticipation
of the appointed day of my departure, because when I'm gone, I hope
that you will have direction from God and instruction given
now to seek and be determined to seek a pastor who will feed
you with knowledge and understanding according to the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. So with that in mind, let me
make four statements with regard to God's prophet and God's word. First, understand this. God's
prophets are men with a burden, a God-given burden, a God-imposed
burden. And that burden is the word of
the Lord. I know that the prophet's office
is ended. I don't claim to be a prophet
in the sense that Isaiah or John the Baptist were. I'm fully aware
the office of prophet and apostle ceased with the last of the prophets
and with the last of the apostles. But a prophet is something more
than just a preacher, a teacher, a theologian. A prophet, in the
classic sense of the term, is a man who comes with a word from
God to declare, and it must be declared, and he will declare
it, no matter what the consequences. He's a man with a burden on his
heart. A burden that must be delivered, a message from God
that burns like fire in his soul and so burns as fire in his soul
that it consumes everything else. It consumes every other care. It consumes every other responsibility. The prophet is a man sent from
God to you. I don't know really how to describe
such a man. but I've had the privilege on
occasion to hear one and I knew I heard one. And if ever you
have the privilege to hear such a man, you will know you've heard
such a man. He's a man who can't be controlled by custom. He can't be influenced
by favor. He can't be bribed with money.
He can't be pressured into compromise. He's a man who's seen God. He's seen God in his son. He's a man to whom God has spoken
and a man who speaks for God. Isaiah was such a man. In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord high and lifted
up And God revealed his son to him. In the glory of redemption
accomplished. Our Lord Jesus said, that's what
Isaiah saw. Isaiah saw Christ sitting on
his throne as the Redeemer who's finished redemption. And when
he was done, the Lord God pronounced upon him the complete forgiveness
of sin, burned it into his soul. And Isaiah cried for mercy that
he might be sent of God to speak for him. Jeremiah, Ezekiel were
such men. The apostle Paul was such a man
like Elijah. before the prophets of Baal.
The prophet of God, when he's in the spirit of God, fears nothing
and no one but God. He has no motive except the glory
of God. The man who speaks for God is
a man who carries in his soul the heavy, heavy, heavy load
of the word of God. He speaks for God as God's ambassador. We are ambassadors of Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him, the prophet. is one who speaks to eternity
bound men and women knowing that his message is a matter of eternal
consequence to those who hear him. Either it will profit your
soul or it will sink you lower into
hell for having heard what I've got to say to you tonight. One
of the two. You will not hear indifferently.
Gospel preaching is carrying a burden because we preach the
word of God. If that which I preach is only
the word of a man, I might behave as I like and do things as I
like. But if this book is God's word,
inspired of God, if the Lord God is the only true and living
God, If Jesus Christ, Jehovah in the flesh, is the only savior
of men, if there's no salvation but by his precious blood, then
there's great solemnity about the business of preaching the
gospel. That which makes this business of preaching a weighty
matter upon the shoulders of a mere man is the fact that it
is the word of God you must believe. The Word of God you must hear
and you must believe. A gospel preacher realizes that
he's responsible to faithfully declare God's Word. It is my responsibility to study
and seek a word from God and declare to you exactly what God
says in this book. Now Merle, that's my responsibility
every time I stand here to declare to you exactly what God says
in this book. The gospel preacher understands
that he must have, he must seek, and he must deliver God's message. In 2 Samuel 18, there's a story
about a A couple of men, one Ahimaaz and another by the name
of Kushai. Ahimaaz outran Kushai. But he didn't have anything to
tell. He didn't have anything to tell. I recall several years ago, Brother
Scott Richardson and I were in a Bible conference and there
were a few fellows there who were not exactly sympathetic
to free grace. What they were doing there, I
don't know, but the local pastor, I guess he was trying to be warm
and friendly and cozy up to these fellows and asked one of them
to preach. And Brother Scott turned over to a passage in the
book of Acts and underlined it for me and said, and what will
this babbler say? What will this babbler say? The
fact is, if a man runs and is not sent. He can't do anything
but stand up and babble. He just yaks. He just talks. He has no message, never does. Never conveys any urgency. never conveys any necessity,
never conveys anything of weight and consequence, only some thoughts,
only some ideas. No matter how brilliant the man
is, no matter how well prepared he is, if he isn't sent, he's
got nothing to say. Kushai was sent of God and he
had a message that had to be delivered. God don't allow me I can't tell
you how I pray this, how earnestly I pray this. God, don't allow
me to stand here this hour and just talk, to run without being
sent. Spirit of God, send me as your
servant with a message to the hearts of your people. You see,
the gospel preacher understands that the word of God is the instrument
by which God does his work among men. This book, this book holds
the gold, silver, and precious stones with which the church
of God is built. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. Hold your hands here in Micah
chapter 1. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. There's one foundation. Laid by God from eternity that
foundation is Christ our Lord Christ crucified on this foundation
We must be built and you cannot be built on any other foundation
This foundation is the foundation of the Apostles and prophets
were told in Ephesians chapter 2 the foundation upon which they
built The Apostle Paul speaks of this foundation that he laid
in the preaching of the gospel We proclaim the gospel of God's
free grace salvation by the crucified risen exalted Redeemer the Lord
Jesus Christ there is no salvation but by him and All for whom he
lived and died and rose again. He saves by his omnipotent grace
And look here in first Corinthians chapter 3 The gold, silver and
precious stones found in this book by which the church and
kingdom of God is built is the gold of Christ person, the silver
of his blood, his atonement and the precious stones of his accomplishments.
Look at verse nine, first Corinthians three. We are laborers together
with God. What a word. We are laborers
together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. According
to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master
builder, I've laid the foundation and another buildeth their own.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth their own. Let every
man take heed how he buildeth their own. Paul's talking about
exercising the work of the ministry. I'm going to talk to our friend,
Brother Larry, for just a second. You're going to Sylacauga and
you're going to be pastoring a small group of people in a
small, remote area. And you're going to have, without
any pressure from anybody but you, You're going to have pressure
on yourself all the time to make something happen. And you're
going to get discouraged because you don't see folks converted,
baptized, and you don't see the church growing like you'd hope
it would. Who among you thinks that I would
prefer to preach to this empty pew over here rather than see
it full? No, I'd rather see the house
full all the time, all the time. Well, what can we do? I'm going
to tell you something. I know how to fill it. I know
how to fill it. I've been well taught. I know
how to fill it. I've been taught by folks who
build mega churches. I know how to fill it. All you
have to do is quit preaching the Word of God. That's all you
got to do. That's all you got to do. And
start playing games. And entertain folks and give
them what they want. Specialized ministry. And everything that
you think about doing, except preaching the gospel of God's
grace, is wood, hay, and stubble. And all that you get from it,
you will see burned. I promise you. I promise you.
Read on. What is this? Take heed how he
buildeth thereon. Verse 11. For other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Verse
12. Now if any man build upon this
foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every
man's work shall be made manifest, for the days shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is. This is not talking about
some imaginary judgment seat of Christ where all of God's
people are going to be brought to judgment and a big old movie
camera come out and show all the bad things you did and then
all the good things you thought you did and you're going to be
rewarded or lose reward. That's nothing short of papacy
and purgatory. That's just, that's foolishness. This is talking
about preachers, the whole context is. It's talking about men who
preach in God's name. Every work's going to be tried.
You're going to see what it really is. If any man's work abide which
he hath built their own, he shall receive a reward. What reward? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians
2, what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even
ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. You in the presence of Christ
at His coming. That's what I've been laboring
for all my life. That's our crown. That's our
joy. That's our glory. But what about this wood, hay,
and stubble? Look back and hold your hands in 1 Corinthians 3.
Look back at Micah chapter 1, verse 7. The wood, hay, and stubble are
all the things that men employ to make things happen, things
other than the preaching of the gospel. You know, we need to do something for the
children, so we have a Juana Club. Isn't that wonderful? We
need to do something for the old folks, so we'll start us
a seniors ministry. We need to do something for the
teenagers, so we'll hire us a youth pastor. Children can't come to
church, they don't understand. We'll start having children's
church so we can play games with the children while they preach
upstairs. What you mean by that is we will teach them how to
act religious while they go to hell. We'll teach them how to behave
religiously while they go to hell. You see, all the things
that men do is just wood, hay, and stumple. They say, well,
if just one person is converted by it, not one will be. Not one
will be. Merle, God saves sinners by the
preaching of the gospel. And that's all. That's all. Everything else is wood, hay,
and stubble. Look here in Micah, chapter 1, verse 7. Here the
Holy Spirit calls this wood, hay, and stubble, the hires of
idolatry. The hire of an harlot. All the hires thereof shall be
burnt with fire. The hires. What do you reckon that is? What
do you reckon that is? Down in Mexico, my first visit
to Mexico, we went to Fatih Chiba Chin, and they have a huge Catholic
building there. I won't even call it a church
building. It's a place, a den of iniquity, where folks go and
act religious. And we happened to be there on
one of their high holy days. And they had 1,500, maybe 2,500
people there. I just happened to walk by and
saw what was going on inside. And I paused for a little bit
to look and listen. Do you know what those poor,
poor, I'm talking about dirt poor Mexican folks were doing?
They were on their knees in a row, crawling down before a statue
of the Virgin Mary, with some fellow dressed in drag, giving
them a little piece of cracker and some wine, and thereby blessing
them. And they had their statue of
Mary, the statue supposed to be of the Virgin Mary, their
God, their God. The statue of the Virgin Mary,
so that's not their God, they pray to it. She can't hear but
they pray to it. She can't do anything, but they
pray to it You just read about him setting their God in their
place This is how they did it. I think you saw this this thing
They've got her about 14 feet high and she's on railroad tracks
So that when they had their services they can roll her inside and
when they don't have services they turn her around and roll
her outside and put a cage around us and nobody will steal their
God and they come and throw money at her and And her hires, remember
this is just wood carved into the shape of a woman, covered
over with gold and silver, and has marvelous costly garments
wrapped about her. That's her hires. That's exactly
what it's all about here. The hires of the harlot. The hires of false religion. Those things that men put on
their gods to make them look beautiful. Those things that
men put on their gods to make them appealing to men. Those
things that men put on their gods so that they don't really
look like a stump. The hires. And that's what's
going on in the religion of our age every day, all the time. Just the gaudy apparel of religion
instead of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And their hires shall be burned
with fire. The word of the Lord is called
a burden. Why? Because in receiving it,
it is a burden. It is a burden. You can't preach
the word until you have experienced the word. You can't preach conviction
until you know something about conviction. You can't preach
repentance until you've been turned to God. You can't preach
redemption until you've experienced deliverance by the blood of Christ.
You can talk about those things, but there will be no power in
the talk unless what's said has been experimentally proved. And
it's easy to tell whether a man is preaching that which he knows
by experience or whether he's just passing on second-hand information,
parroting what he learned from somebody else. Bible colleges teach men not
to think. Deliberately. Deliberately. They teach them not to think.
If you think outside the box, they'll threaten to expel you,
I know. I know. They teach them not to think,
they teach them to parrot things. You ever see a parrot talk? You
say often enough, Polly want a cracker, it'll say, Polly want
a cracker. And that's exactly what preachers do, go into Bible
college and they come out and they all talk the same nonsense.
You hear the politicians have their talking points, preachers
got them too. And they all talk the same nonsense.
True preaching, is the bursting of a well bubbling up in you
with life. It just burst out. It's the breaking
out of fire in your soul. It is that which God puts in
and brings out. Delivering the Word is a burden. It's not difficult. for a fellow
with average intelligence to outline a passage and give a
little talk about religion and a true talk. That's not difficult. But preaching, if God speaks
by me, what a burden. I can think of nothing more exhilarating
and I can think of nothing more exhausting than preaching. Preaching with the weight of
the consequence of what's being said on your heart. I know most
preachers have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm fully aware
of that. And I laid that charge against them. They ought to know.
Because they know nothing of the weight of this message, this
message of the gospel. The Word of God is called a burden. The burden of the Word of the
Lord because the message is waiting. We deal with eternal things. Eternal things that affect immortal
souls. Eternal things. Eternal life. And eternal death. Eternal heaven. and eternal hell, eternal bliss,
and eternal torment. We come from God with a message,
and all God's servants see eye to eye with regard to this message.
We come declaring plainly the judgment of God that shall fall
upon men just as Micah here in the book of Micah declares that
judgment that would fall upon Samaria and Jerusalem. And it
tells them this is coming. You've earned it and it cannot
be averted. Judgment's coming. God will destroy
you. And yet with that message of
judgment is a message of grace. Micah concludes the book. by
declaring who is a God like unto thee that delighteth in mercy. We come to proclaim to men their
just condemnation by God and to proclaim to men God's just
salvation by Jesus Christ the Lord. You see, you don't have
to die. You don't have to die. There
is a way of life. There is a way to God, there
is a way to glory, and that way is Christ Jesus the Lord. And
God's servants are sent to preach it, and preach it with determination
and dogmatism plainly. Always seeking to expose your
sin. Always seeking to make known
that which is the offense of the cross. Always seeking to
uphold God's glory in all things. I preach deliberately probing
to find your point of rebellion. And when I find it, I press it
hard as I can. I press it hard as I can until
you bow to Christ. Somebody objects to the gospel
of God's grace, it's my business to raise the objection. If the
gospel of Christ offends, it's my business to offend. I was
talking to a young preacher that stopped by here yesterday. I
believe God's done something for him. And chatted a little
bit, and he was asking about, you know, how you preach when
you go somewhere. I tell him, the first thing I
preach everywhere I go, if I've never been there before, If I've
never been there before, the first thing they're going to
hear me preach is something about limited atonement. First thing.
Something about limited... Man, that's the thing folks object
to most. That's the reason. That's the reason. I preach deliberately
those things that men most oppose. Because where men oppose the
gospel, they must be confronted with the gospel. Where men oppose
the truth, they must be confronted with the truth they oppose. And
we press the gospel upon men, understanding something of the
consequences of our labor and what a burden that is. Turn to
the book of Ezekiel. Chapter 33, God's servants are men who carry
a heavy burden because the consequences of our work is great. When I
think of the weighty consequences of preaching the gospel, I can't
tell you what a burden it is to carry in my soul. Christmas
Evans, that Welch preacher back in the early 1800s, was appointed
to preach. And as usual, there was a large
crowd gathered wherever Christmas Evans was appointed to preach,
and he wasn't to be found. It's time to preach. And so a
couple of deacons were in the vestibule in this large building,
and one of them said to the other, said, have you seen the preacher?
And he said, no. And he said, well, we've got
to find him. Folks are waiting for the service
to start. And he said, you go see if you can find him, and
I'll go see if I can. And they went their ways and came back and
met in the vestibule. And this fellow said, did you
see the preacher? He said, yes. He said, well, where is it? Go
get him. It's time to preach. He said, he's praying. He said,
well, tell him it's time to preach and we need to get him up here.
He said, no, I don't think I'll disturb him. He said, as I started
to open the door, I listened and he was saying, Lord God,
I've gone into that pulpit by myself for the last time. If you don't go with me, I'm
not going. I believe I'll wait. Maybe God
will send him. Maybe God will speak by his servant. Look in Ezekiel chapter 33. Is it really important? Does
it really matter? Verse seven, God said almost
identically the same thing in chapter three. So thou, O son
of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth. You get your message from
me and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O
wicked man, thou shalt surely die. If thou dost not speak to
warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in
his iniquity. but his blood will I require
at thine hand. And I've studied that statement
from God to my soul for over 40 years relentlessly. And Merle Hart, this is what
it means. If I stand here and speak to you, in God's name,
and I don't preach the gospel to you, I prove myself a reprobate
man. His blood will I require at thine
hand. That doesn't mean I'm going to set you on the shelf and you
won't be useful anymore. That means you're going to hell.
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Therefore, O thou
son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus you speak, saying,
if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine
away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, as I live,
saith the Lord God, what wonderful words. I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Verse 12. Therefore
thou son of man Say to the children of thy people the righteousness
of the righteous now watch this Shall not deliver him The righteousness
of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression
The man who thinks he's righteous that rich young ruler. I've done
all these things my youth up. It won't deliver him the first
time he lies First time he has an evil thought. In the day of
his transgression, one transgression sufficient to damn you. The righteousness
of the righteous is unrighteousness altogether. Read on. As for the
wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the
day that he turneth from his wickedness. Neither shall the
righteous be able to live for his righteousness, for his imaginary
righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I say to the
righteous that he shall surely live, if he trust to his own
righteousness and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall
not be remembered. Only his iniquity. Only his iniquity. But for his iniquity that he
hath committed, he shall die for it. Verse 14. Again, when
I say to the wicked, thou shalt surely die. Thou shalt surely
die. Have you heard me say that tonight?
Hell is your portion. That's what you deserve. Thou
shalt surely die. When I say to the wicked, Thou
shalt surely die. If he turned from his sin and
do that which is lawful and right, if you turn from your sin and
do what's lawful and right. How do you do what's lawful and
right? Well, the gal shacked up with the fellow over there,
get married, start doing what's right. Well, that'd be a good
idea, but that's not what he's talking about. By all means,
y'all do that, but that's not what he's talking about. Fella's
drunk, he gets, gets drinking, gets sober. That's a good idea,
but that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about doing
what's lawful. before God and right, lawful
and right. How can a sinner do that? Read
on, read on. If the wicked restore the pledge
and give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life,
now watch this, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live,
he shall not die. Well, Brother Don, how can a
fellow do that? Only one way, by faith in Christ. By faith
in Christ, we establish the law. God requires we restore what
we took away. God requires that we return that
which we stole, that which we robbed, and make it up with restitution. God requires that we never transgress. God says in the day You turn
from your wickedness. Look away to Christ. Do what's
lawful and right. Now watch this. Verse 16. None
of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him.
He hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. One last thing. The preaching
of the gospel. is a burden. Oh, what a burden. Because I recognize that there's
going to be a day when you and I must give account. Obey them that have the rule
over you for they watch for your souls as they that must give
account that they may do it with joy and not with grief. I'll give account to you who've
heard the word and believed. And for you who've heard the
word and believe not. To the one it shall be a savor
of life unto life forever. To the other a savor of death
unto death. Oh, who then is sufficient for
these things? Our sufficiencies of God. Our
sufficiencies of God. I ask that you pray for your
pastor, Brother Larry, for faithful men wherever they're found in
this world. Pray for them. Pray for them. Pray for those
men who are coming to preach to us here in a few weeks. Avail
yourself of the opportunity to hear them. Pray for them. Pray that God will send them
with a message to you, to your soul. And pray for the word as
it goes out of this place around the world. This treasure, in
this dark day, God's trusted to our hands, for Christ's sake. Amen.