Turn with me, if you will, to
John chapter 11, John the 11th chapter. I want, as God the Holy Spirit
enables me, to speak to you as plainly, as forcibly as I possibly
can, declaring what this book teaches with regard to God's
sovereignty and our responsibility in this generation in which we
live. Now, as you hold your hands open
here at John chapter 11, I want you to listen carefully to what
I've got to say by way of introduction. And the introduction is as important
as the message. Salvation is of the Lord with
all my heart. I believe that and rejoice in
it and preach it. Salvation is of the Lord. With every fiber of my being,
I rejoice in that declaration. Salvation is altogether God's
doing. If you live, it's because God
gave you life. If you believe it's because God
gives you faith. If you persevere, it's because
God preserves you in grace. Salvation is of the Lord. It is not something you do. It is something God does for
you and in you. Salvation is God's work. It in
no way. hinges on you, depends on you,
or is determined by you. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Brother Don, what's man's part in salvation? None. None. I like what the old fellow said
when I was just a young man. I heard him preach one time.
He said, well, really? He said, I did the running. God did the
catching. I did the sitting. God did the saving. That's your
part. Salvation is God's work. Unless God saves you, unless
God does for you what you cannot and will not do for yourself,
hell will be your just and eternal portion. Salvation is of the
Lord. It is the work of God's grace
alone. It originates with the sovereign
will of God. Salvation's got to begin with
somebody's will. The whole religious world, the
whole apostate religious world of our age, and I do mean the
whole apostate religious world of our age, teaches that salvation
is determined by your will. Oh, God's given man free will. Man has his will. We dare not
take away man's will. Find me somewhere in this book
that indicates such. Your will is like the rest of
your being dead in trespasses and in sins. Brother Scott Richardson
said from this pulpit one time years ago, said, folks want to
talk about man's free will is where your will is free. I'll
give you that. Just as free as a frog in a snake's belly and
jump around all he wants to. He just can't get out. And you're
not going to will that which is contrary to your nature. Man's
will is bound by his nature. Bound by what he is. And his
nature is sin. His nature is enmity against
God. His nature is rebellion. His
nature is the hatred of God Almighty. No salvation not by your will.
Salvation begins with God's will. God's eternal unalterable sovereign
will in predestination. How this generation despises
that word predestination. How God's people rejoice in that
word. Our destiny was determined before
the world began because God predestined us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
Folks say, well, I don't like that. If you ever get in on it,
you'll like it. If you ever find out anything about it, you'll
like it. Salvation begins with God's will. Salvation was earned
and purchased for God's elect. Earned and purchased for those
people God willed from eternity to save. It was earned and purchased
by the obedience and death of God's darling son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, our substitute. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. And
this is the reason he did it, that the blessing of Abraham
might come to the Gentiles, the spirit of God might be given
us, the spirit of life and grace might come upon the Gentiles
according to the will of our God, the Lord Jesus, by his obedience
to God Almighty as our representative and surety. And by his obedience
to God as our mediator, brought in everlasting righteousness.
By his death upon the cursed tree, he paid our debt, satisfied
the justice of God, put away our sins, and obtained eternal
redemption for us. He didn't try to do it. He didn't
make a stab at doing it. He didn't give his best effort.
He didn't do his part. Now pretty please won't you do
yours. Such teaching is absolute damning to the souls of men and
heresy. It is dishonoring to God. It
is blasphemy. As blasphemous it is to suggest
that Jesus Christ tried to do something he didn't actually
accomplish as it is to suggest that he was not the virgin born
son of God. Oh no. Salvation is God's work
accomplished and executed in time by Jesus Christ. He came
here to save his people from their sins. Is that what the
book says? Matthew 121. He shall save his
people from their sins. That's why he came. That's the
reason for the incarnation. That's the reason for him taking
on himself our nature. He shall save his people from
their sins. Either he did it or he didn't. I don't know what's so complicated
about that. If he did it, he is the one the prophet said he
is the one the angel declared him to be. If he didn't, he is
not the Christ. And you best look for another.
Just that simple. Our Lord Jesus entered into heaven
as a forerunner for us, with his own blood having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And this salvation, willed by
God from eternity, obtained by the obedience of Christ in his
incarnation as our representative by his life and by his death.
This salvation is brought to and wrought in every chosen redeemed
sinner at precisely God's appointed time of love by the irresistible
power, omnipotent mercy, and effectual work of God, the Holy
Spirit, and what we call regeneration, the new birth. This is our Lord's
language. It is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. Do you have life before God?
It's the spirit that did that. Your flesh had nothing to do
with it. Not your intellect. Not your emotions. Not your will. Not your choice. Not your decision. Not your work. Not your parents.
Not going to church on Sunday twice a week. No sir! No sir. Your flesh had nothing to do
with it. It's the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth
nothing. The spirit of God calls sinners
from death to life. And when he calls the sinner
from death to life, he creates in those who are called repentance
toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord. You all understand
that salvation is of the Lord. All right. Turn to John chapter
11, verse 39. Try to set yourself in the text.
There lies Lazarus behind this huge rock in a tomb. He'd been there for four days. He's dead. He's dead. And everybody standing around
is helpless. His sisters who love him are
helpless to breathe life into the dead. The friends who came
to weep with them are helpless to bring back this man from the
dead. The disciples are helpless. They can do nothing to bring
Lazarus up again from the grave. There's Lazarus and there Lazarus
must remain. Except for one thing. The Son
of God steps into the picture. And when the Son of God steps
into the picture, everything changes. The Lord Jesus appears
at Lazarus too. He's about to perform his most
notable miracle. He's about to, by the power of
his voice, by the mere power of his voice, raise that dead
man to life again. But before he does, he requires
his disciples to do something. Are you there? John 11, 39, Jesus
said, take ye away the stone. What a strange thing. Not really. Not if you understand what's
written in this book. From beginning to end, from beginning
to end, without question, he who by the mere power of his
word can raise the dead would not have much trouble getting
rid of the stone. You agree? If he can raise the
dead, surely he could speak the stone out of existence. He who
made the stone could certainly reel it away by his mere will.
Why then does he command these who stand by to take away the
stone? He gave them a work to do which
was essential for Lazarus' resurrection, though they could never raise
the dead. Now listen, write it down and remember it. He gave
them a work to do, which was essential for Lazarus to live,
though they could do nothing to give Lazarus life. They couldn't
do anything. But Lazarus didn't come out of
that tomb until they pushed the stone away. Lazarus is not coming
up until they roll away the stone. Well, Brother Don, how can you
say the removal of that stone is essential? Rolling away that
stone couldn't give Lazarus life. I know that. And they knew that. And our Lord knows that. But
it's essential because our Lord so willed it. How do you know that's the way
it was? Because that's the way it was. How do you know it had to be
done that way? Because that's the way it was done. Well, it
could have been done some other way. Oh, no, it couldn't. Our
Lord's will is one, and what he willed must be done as he
willed it. The Lord Jesus said to those
who stood by, take ye away the stone. And until they took the
stone away, Lazarus stays in that tomb, stone cold dead. At first, the disciples hesitated. I would have. I guarantee, take away the stone? Why? What benefit can that be? That's just, the man's already
rotting. His flesh already stinks. Have you ever smelled death?
The death of an animal that's been laying in the sun for a
few hours gets pretty rank. I have on occasion smelled the
death of a human body that's been dead for a couple of days
before it was discovered. Believe me, you've got nothing
to compare it with. Nothing. Take away the stone.
That's what happens when you roll the stone away. You expose
the corruption. Just expose, you don't change
anything, you just expose the corruption. The Lord commands
them to take away the stone. And Martha said, Lord, by this
time he stinks. By this time he stinks. You see,
human reason will have either divine sovereignty or human responsibility. But human reason won't have both.
You can't have both. The mind of man says you can't
have both. Either you got to have absolute sovereignty and
no responsibility, or you got to have absolute responsibility
and no sovereignty. That's human reason. This book
declares otherwise. Our Lord gently corrects Martha's
unbelief in verse 40. He said, did not tell you if
you'd believe you'd see the glory of God. And then in verse 41,
they took away the stone. And when they had rolled the
stone away, those disciples by that act demonstrated some things.
The Lord commands them to take away the stone. And those disciples
put their shoulder to the stone and rolled it away, showing submission
to and obedience to the known will of God. Somebody asked me one time, if
you don't believe that you have anything to do with man's salvation,
why do you preach the gospel? If you believe only the elect
are going to be saved, why do you preach the gospel? If you
believe only those who are redeemed by Christ are going to be saved
after all, why preach the gospel? God's elect are going to be saved,
why preach? Let me tell you something. There
are a number of reasons, but first and foremost, Ron, if God
commands it, that's enough. That's enough. Whether we have
any other basis or not, if God commands it, that's enough. Did
God command it? He said, as you are going through
the world, preach the gospel to every creature. That's enough.
That's enough. My dear friend, Brother Harry
Graham, I was listening to some fellow argue with him one time
about this matter. And Harry said, if God told me to stand
on my head and gargle peanut butter, I'd start pushing up
my head. He said what God commands is the point of our responsibility.
What God shows in his word, that's what we're responsible for. God's
decree, God's predestination, God's purpose has nothing to
do with responsibility. God's word has everything to
do with it. What God reveals in his word, we must do. The
disciple showed something else. By rolling that stone away, They
demonstrated their confident belief that Jesus Christ could
raise that dead body to life again. In verse 40, he said,
I told you, if you'd believe, you'd see the glory of God. And
when the disciples heard our Lord say that to Martha, I can
almost hear them. Larry, Lindsay, let's push this
stone out of the way. Watch what God does. Watch what
God does. Their rolling away the stone
showed submission and obedience to the revealed will of God.
And it showed faith in Christ's power to raise the dead. And
it showed something else. When they pushed away that stone,
they were expecting Lazarus to come out of the tomb. They didn't just believe he could
do it, they were expecting him to do it. They didn't just believe
Christ could raise the dead, they expected him to raise the
dead. Oh, God give me such expectation in the preaching of the gospel.
We ought, every time we stand before men to declare God's word,
we ought to expect God to raise the dead. They expected it. Now this is what I want you to
see. There are some things that you and I must do for the salvation
of God's elect. We look to Christ alone as the
giver of life, the savior of men. But we don't fold our arms
and say with indifference, well, God's going to save his elect
no matter what. And so we will just wait and
see. No, there are some things we can do and what we can do,
we must do. There are some things we can
do and what we can do, we must do. We can't go back to Lazarus
tomb where there are many like Lazarus around us who are dead
in sin and you and I can do some things to help them. Let me give
you my message in four words. First, I'm going to give a word
to you who are dead. Some of you are dead in trespasses
and in sins. And then a word to the preacher,
to me. You listen in. And a word to
you who believe. And then a word to us all. First,
a word for the dead. You who are spiritually dead,
just as Lazarus was physically dead, are spiritually dead, but still
you have a responsibility. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. A man is sentenced to die. He's
sitting on death row waiting for execution. The man is dead
at law. but he's still morally and legally
responsible for everything he does. So should he commit another
crime, though he is dead at law, yet the man is guilty of another
crime. And you who are dead spiritually,
dead before God's holy law, dead and condemned and deserving eternal
damnation, you have a responsibility of your life before God Almighty. That's the reason when you read
in the scriptures about the greater condemnation of Bethsaida, the
greater condemnation of Chorazin. Our Lord Jesus said, if those
fellows in Sodom had seen and heard the things you've seen
and heard, they would have repented long ago. Yours is the greater
condemnation because you've had greater light and despised the
light that was given you. Well, what can a man do? Turn
to Acts chapter 8. Let me show you. Acts chapter
8. I want you to see that I'm talking
to you, not just my own theological opinion or interpretation of
the book, but I'm giving you not just the spirit of Scripture,
the very language of Scripture. You can't save yourself, you
can't redeem yourself, you can't put away sin, you can't give
yourself life, you can't make yourself more likely to save.
No preacher can do it, no church can do it, no priest can do it,
no mama can do it, no daddy can do it. Salvation is God's work.
But here we have this Ethiopian eunuch who was dead in sin, just
like you. He was a religious man, but dead
in sin. I told you, just like you. They'd
been to church, but he was dead in sin. He went up to Jerusalem,
knowing something of his guilt, knowing something of his need
of the Savior, knowing something of his need of grace, knowing
something of his need for someone to stand in his stead between
him and God. He goes up to Jerusalem and is
on his way back. He had been to the Bible conference
at Jerusalem and he's on his way back from Jerusalem to Ethiopia
and he's reading the book. He's reading the book of God
and he's reading in that place of scripture where it was said
he was led as sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb before the shearer
before his shearer so he opened not his mouth. Look at verse
13, Acts chapter 8. In his humiliation and his judgment
was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his
life is taken from the earth. And Philip said to him, Do you
understand what you're reading? And this eunuch replied to Philip,
how can I except some man show me? How can I understand what
the prophet here says, except some man show me? And Philip
said, scoot over. And he crawled up in the chair
with the eunuch. and began to expound to him Jesus
Christ and him crucified. That eunuch did something. He
did something. He did something far more difficult
in his day than it is for you. He bought him a Bible. He bought
him a Bible. There weren't many scrolls. There
weren't many parchments in his day. He went down and bought
him a Bible and read it. and read it. One of these days,
God's going to judge you out of this book. He's going to judge you out of
this book. If I were you, I'd find out what this book says.
I'd find out what it's teaching. I'd find out what God requires.
Not only that, this African sought the Lord. And you can do just
as he did. He went up to the place where
the Lord promised to reveal himself. He went up to the temple. You
remember when God commanded Moses to make that Ark of the Covenant
in the mercy seat? He said, there will I meet you
on the mercy seat and commune with you. The Lord Jesus promised
where two or three are gathered together in my name. There am
I in the midst of them. And I know that people like to
somehow suggest that gospel preaching and simple worship such as we
conduct here is out of date. Fellows tell me that what I do
is just out of step with the times. Well, I've been out of
step with the times all my life on purpose. On purpose. God Almighty has promised to
meet sinners only one place in this world. Only one place, not in your living
room, not in your easy chair, not in your boat on the river,
not on the mountainside hunting, sitting out there just watching
the birds fly in the air or just just watching the sun rise or
set. God Almighty promised to meet sinners in the assembly
of his saints where many women gather to worship him. I believe it'd be wise to put
yourself there. I believe it'd be wise to find
a way to put yourself in that place where God Almighty said
he'd meet with sinners, where Christ's mercy seat is proclaimed. Zacchaeus was sitting in the
way one day when the Lord Jesus passed by. And he cried, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Though he didn't find
the Savior at first, he wasn't discouraged. He went up to Jerusalem,
and other folks profited. Other folks were benefited, but
not him. He went up seeking the Lord,
and when he left, he was still seeking the Lord. He was reading
this 53rd chapter of Isaiah. He wasn't seeking to know the
mysteries of prophecy and unravel the deep things of God and trying
to figure out the timetable of prophecy. No, he wanted to know
who is this blessed sacrifice? Who is this Savior? Who is this Redeemer? Who is this Christ? And while
he was seeking the Lord, God sent him a preacher. God sent him a preacher. Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that amazing? I've had folks tell me, or ask
me, well, what if there's somebody down there, one of God's elect,
and Christ has redeemed them, and there's no preacher around?
That's not a problem to God. That's not a problem to God.
God raises up preachers and causes the preacher and the chosen sinner
causes their paths to cross at exactly the time of love. And
it's no difficulty. Philip was down in Samaria. He
was down in Samaria preaching in a big meeting. I mean, there
were lots of folks converted by God's grace, Gentiles hearing
the gospel and believing. And came time for this Ethiopian
African, this black Ethiopian, came time for that man to be
called by God's grace. And Philip is found walking right
along the road as he drives by. What you reading, buddy? And God calls the preacher to
be there Proclaimed the gospel to him when he did the eunuch
Believed and was baptized and it went his way rejoicing This is what I want you to see
that eunuch walked in the light God gave him and God gave him
more light If you care for your soul, you
will be found by Him as you seek Him. The Lord is good to the
soul that seeketh Him. That's what the prophet said.
Seek and ye shall find. Seek. The word literally is one
of those words that doesn't suggest at all a single act, but a continual
act. Seek and seek and seek and seek
and seek and you shall find. If you don't give up seeking,
you shall find knock. Well, I guess there's nobody
at home. That's in case you're not hungry. Looks like nobody
coming to the door. You don't really need anything.
Wake up! I've got to have some bread.
And for importunity, he's heard. Knock and knock and knock and
it shall be open to you. Without question, if you seek
the Lord, it's because he's seeking you. But seeking you must. Turn back here to Jeremiah. Jeremiah
chapter 29. The captivity of God's people
in Babylon is a beautiful picture of the captivity of the sinner.
And the Lord Jesus is here speaking by his prophet about the Babylonian
captivity and the deliverance of his people from that captivity. But it's a picture of his deliverance
of his people from the prison of sin and death and condemnation. Jeremiah 29 verse 12. Then shall
ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you, and ye shall seek me and find me. Isn't that good? You shall seek
me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. I sought the Lord, and afterward
I knew He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me. It was not I
that found, O Savior, true. No, I was found of Thee. You seek the Lord, and when you
find Him, you will discover your seeking Him was the result of
Him seeking you. And the Lord is found of them
that sought him not. They didn't seek him till he
sought them. Now, here's a word to the preacher,
to this preacher, to you out there who preach the gospel,
to all preachers, God will allow to hear this word. As a gospel preacher, As God's
servant in this world, there are some things that I can do
for the souls of men. And the things that I can do,
I must do. I must do. The preaching of the
gospel is essential to the salvation of God's elect. I know when God's
pleased to save a sinner, he sends a gospel preacher to that
sinner. He is determined to save his own, and he sends someone
to proclaim the gospel to the one he will save. We don't exalt
the ministry of the gospel to some kind of popish priesthood,
but we don't despise the ministry of the gospel. Gospel preaching
and gospel worship and gospel churches are not optional things
that you can do with or do without with no harm. Oh no. Gospel preaching
is essential to the salvation of God's elect. How can you say
that? Listen to this. Because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Well,
Brother Don, don't you believe God could save sinners without
gospel preaching? Why, sure I do. I believe he could. I believe
he could. I believe God could create a
thousand more worlds just like this, too. I believe he would
have no difficulty causing a thousand more worlds to live just as we
have existed on this earth. That wouldn't be a problem to
God. I fully believe that. But he hasn't. And he's not going
to. I know because what's revealed
in this book. I know. And I know that gospel preaching
is essential to the salvation of sinners because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now
let's see if I can make good on it. Romans chapter 10. Romans
chapter 10. Now Brother Don, that rubs the
wrong way. That doesn't fit in our little
box. That doesn't fit my ideas about God. That doesn't fit my
ideas about God's salvation. I suggest you throw your ideas
to the wind. I suggest you throw your box
away. I suggest that you find out what
God says in this book and hear it and heed it. Romans chapter
10. Here's the word of faith we preach,
verse 9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. If you confess that Christ is
Lord, that Jesus is the Lord, and believe in your heart that
he's been raised from the dead, not just the fact that he rose
from the dead, but believe that he who rose from the dead arose
because he had accomplished redemption. For with the heart Man believeth
unto righteousness. Now understand what the apostle
is teaching us by the Spirit. With the heart believing Christ,
we believe with reference to righteousness. He's not suggesting,
Larry, that somehow you make yourself righteous by believing
God. We believe with reference to God's revelation of the resurrection
of Christ. Righteousness has been brought
in. And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Well, I confess that Jesus is
Christ. That means I'm saved. No. No. Confession is made with reference
to salvation. I confess that Christ Jesus,
the Redeemer, has accomplished redemption, has brought in righteousness,
has put away sin. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, not ashamed before God,
and shall not be put to shame, not ashamed, not confounded,
not confused, and shall not make haste. For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call
back in Genesis chapter 4 men began to call on the name of
the Lord the word means worship whosoever shall worship the name
of the Lord whosoever shall worship Jesus Christ the Lord shall be
saved now watch this Paul asked some questions and they're serious
questions how then shall they call on him and whom they have
not believed. Allen Kidney, you could never
worship Christ till you trust Him. Everything else is just
religious commotion. Everything else is just a form
of godliness. How can they worship Him whom they've not believed?
It's impossible. It's impossible to worship a
Christ you don't trust. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they've not heard? You can't believe Him if you
haven't heard about Him. You can't trust Him if you haven't
heard about Him. Is that what the text says? How
shall they believe in Him whom they've not heard? And how shall
they hear? Without a preacher. You can't
hear of Him without a preacher. You mean, Brother Don, that's
the only way God saves sinners? No, that's not what I mean. That's
what God means. That's the only way God saves sinners. How shall
they hear without a preacher? You got to have somebody who
knows the Savior to tell you about the Savior or you'll never
know it. And how shall they preach? Except they be said. I've come
here tonight and it is my responsibility as your pastor, as God's servant,
to preach the gospel to you. It's my responsibility to preach
the gospel to you in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And
I can't do it. It's my responsibility to speak
to your heart in God's stead, and I can't do it unless God
sends me. As you try to pray for your pastor
and I try to pray and prepare to preach to you, I ask you to
beg of God every time I open my mouth to your immortal souls,
I will speak as one sent that very hour of God with a message
for you. Preaching a sermon is nothing.
Anybody who's not too lazy to sit down and outline a passage
can preach a sermon, give you a religious outline and give
you a couple of poems and sing a couple of hymns and send you
home feeling good. Preaching a sermon is nothing.
but finding a message from God for you can't be done, but by
the spirit of God, how shall they preach except they'd be
sent for 17. So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. I love what Mr. Spurgeon said.
He said, we cannot turn dry bones into living men, but we can prophesy
to them. And blessed be God, we can also
prophesy to the four winds so that by our means, the dead may
live. Woe is unto me. Necessity is
laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. It is my responsibility then
to be diligent in study and preparation, to diligently seek God's message
in prayer, and to avail myself of every means and every opportunity
God has given me with my abilities as God has given them to preach
the gospel in this generation. I have no intention. I have no
intention of lightening up ever until God forces me with lack
of strength or ability to lighten up. I have no intention to take
on less unless God graciously in his wisdom has ordained otherwise
and forces me so that I cannot carry the load. You mean, Brother
Don, you intend to just keep on preaching till you die? I'll
tell you what I'd like to do. I'd like to say amen right here
one Tuesday night and kiss everybody goodbye. I have no intention of otherwise.
Why? Why would I think of it? God's given me the privilege
and the responsibility. I say to my wife, my children,
my daughter, grandchildren, son-in-law, and to you, No, I can't do this,
can't do that, I've got to preach. And every time I say it, I think,
what a horrible thing. What a horrible, I've got to, I get to preach.
I get to preach. I wouldn't give it up for anything,
but I've got to. I've got to. I've got to devote
myself to this, whether she understands or doesn't. I've got to devote
myself to this, whether my grandchildren understand or don't. I've got
to devote myself to this, whether my daughter understands or doesn't
understand. I've got to devote myself to this whether anybody
understands or not. I must addict myself to the work
of the gospel and it is my great privilege to do so because this
is my responsibility and I must preach the gospel as God enables
me. There's a work for me to do for
the souls of men and it must be done. Because this is the
means God's ordained for the saving of his elect. Bobby, wouldn't you like to have
put your shoulder to that stone and rolled that stone away for two?
Oh, man. I couldn't do anything for Lazarus.
No, no. He did. I know that. But the
Lord let me push that rock away. Couldn't do it by myself. I had
eleven others helping me. But I pushed that rock out of
the way. And that's what God's given us to do. Men and women
have many heavy stones laid upon their grave, and it's our business
to roll away the stones. The cities of refuge, the beautiful
picture, are beautiful pictures of our Savior. And the ancient
cities of refuge were located so that any man in Israel, any
man in the land could easily flee to the city within one day's
journey. But the way to the city, it was
the responsibility of the Levites to maintain. So they were required
to exalt the valley, to bring down the mountain, to repair
the low places, to clear out the debris out of the way, so
that When a fellow starts off to the city of refuge, there's
no chance he's going to run into a log across the way. No chance
he's going to run into a ravine he can't cross. No chance there's
going to be some rocks that are falling off the hill that block
his way. But the city's be kept up. And
that's our responsibility in preaching the gospel is to make
plain the way as John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of
the Lord. The city's refuge. I'm told. They used to have signs. Looked like a man's hand pointing.
Just said, Refuge. Refuge. That's what I am. I'm just a sign pointing. Refuge
this way. Refuge this way. That's the business
of the preacher. What else is a preacher supposed
to do? Would to God they quit doing anything else. Word to
God, they'd quit doing anything else. Hear me, preachers, and
you who may be preachers, this generation of mamby-pamby,
silly, sissy preachers who are jerked around by people in pulpit
committees and deacon boards and elder boards and denominational
hierarchy, jerked around like monkeys on a chain. This generation
of worthless preachers who make themselves counselors. Well,
I hear fellas, they talk so sweet and pious, you know. Well, my
brother Lindsay and sister Diane, they were having some trouble,
you know, and I pastored them. That means I spent my time with
my nose in their business and them treating me like I was a
priest. And we love that. Oh, come to me. I can tell you what God wants
you to do. Come to me, I can solve your problems for you.
Come to me just like some barbarian papist crawls on his knees in
a confessional booth seeking absolution from a priest. No. Preachers are not sent to be
counselors or social workers or tea sippers or party goers. They're sent to preach. That's
our business. Word to God, every man called
of God would give himself relentlessly to the Word. Let me hurry. I have a word for you who are
believers. I have a word for us all. Let me wrap this up. You're not all called to preach
and shouldn't. You're not all gifted to preach
and shouldn't. But we all have responsibility
for the furtherance of the gospel. To use our time, our talents,
our possessions, our money, our homes, our influence for the
furtherance of the gospel. What can you do to make Christ
know? What can you do to get folks
to hear the gospel? What can you do for the souls
of men for the glory of God? You be the judge. I wouldn't
attempt to tell you, but I'll tell you this. Whatever you can
do, you must do. Whatever you can do, you must
do. Sound the alarm. Blow the trumpet. And if folks pay no attention,
you're free from their blood. But if we don't blow the trumpet,
Merle, we're guilty of their blood. Just that simple. Just that simple. Just that profound. Just that
important. God give us grace then to make
known in this generation the gospel of your grace. And as
we preach the word, we just preach it and say, let's watch God bring
in the harvest. And he will. Amen.