If you have your Bibles, turn
to the 40th Psalm. I'd like to read the 2nd verse and the 9th, 10th, 11th, and
12th verse. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock
and established my goings. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore my heart faileth me." My message this morning is, if
you need a title, is Solicitation for Prayer for the Preacher. I hope that this is a timely
message. I, at my point, at this point
in my life, can say some things maybe that Maybe I couldn't have
said before years gone by, but I hope this morning to be able
to say some things that will be useful and edifying to the
church, that the church might be able to accept their responsibility
and obligation toward their preacher. I think, first of all, maybe
we would say that beginning here with looking at these verses
that we read. Brother Randy mentioned it is
a messianic psalm, and it certainly is. Verses 7-9 you can find in
the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews, applied to our Savior. There are some of these words
you can put right in the mouth of our Lord. But this also is
a psalm It's prophetic, and it has a
practical application, and I wanted to speak to that this morning,
the practical application. I want us to look at verse 10.
First of all, verse 10, and then verse 12. And I don't know whether
you will agree with me or not, But I see a great contradiction
here. It seems to me there's a contradiction. And I wonder if you can pick
it up. Verse 10, I have not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. For innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." Same man
in both verses. Do you agree with that? Same
man. Now let's read it backwards. Let's read verse 12 and then
verse 9 and 10. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of mine head. And that's the original hair
of head you had, not the one you've got now. Therefore my heart faileth me. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. You say, well,
I don't understand how, I mean, could a preacher have these innumerable
evils that have encompassed him about, his iniquities having
taken hold upon him, so that he's not able to look up? You
mean this is the condition of the preacher? According to our
text, this is the condition of the preacher. This preacher is
struggling while he's preaching. He's dealing with a lot of afflictions
and trials and difficulties in his own life, dealing with his
own inward corruption and his own depravity while he's trying
to preach to the great congregation. There's a struggle going on here.
Now, someone might say, well, that don't sound right, a man
could take the Word of God in his mouth and be committed to
the Gospel, and to the preaching of the Gospel, and to the edification
of the people of God to lead them after holiness of life,
and after dedication of mind and soul to the Lord, and yet
all the time be dealing with these things in his heart, in
his life. I don't see how it could be.
It seems like there's a contradiction. And when I first read this, it
seemed like a contradiction to me that such a thing could have
been so. Nevertheless, beloved, it is
true. And I realize that some people
say, well, now wait a minute. Now wait a minute. God doesn't
use unclean vessels. He doesn't use vessels that are
sinful. Well, we would ask, of course,
who would he use if he did not use unclean vessels? Is there any? Can man who is
born of a woman be clean? Can he be clean? Can he be in
such a state as where there would be no fault with him or no problems,
whatever, that would arise in his mind or heart? Can there
be? Well, I think the preacher And
what I'm trying to do is set the stage here for you to remember
the preacher and understand that he's got afflictions to deal
with, trials to deal with, difficulties to deal with, struggles he's
going to have, and he's got his own heart that he has to deal
with, and the hearts of those that are in his family and around
him, and the many tests that comes from just being in the
ministry, trying to lead the people of God. He has all of
these great struggles in his life. Now, I want you to follow
me a little bit here, if you will. In verse 2, we have this
preacher's history. He brought me up, he says, like
all of God's people, they've been brought up out of a horrible
pit. And the preacher's no different. You say, I thought the preacher
was cut out of a different piece of cloth than the average church
member. It's not so. He came, look at
his background. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit. The preacher was in a horrible
pit before God brought him out. before he was saved. He was in
a state of nature and he was lost and undone. He hated the
things of God just like all men by nature do. He had no desire
for the ways of the Lord. He had no desire to do God's
will in his heart. Certainly he had no aspirations
about taking the Word of God into his mouth and preaching
the Word of God. He had no desire to do that.
But the Lord brought him up out of a horrible pit, out of the
miry clay. He was in a slippery place. He
was in a place that it was by the grace of God he didn't slide
on into hell. And so he says, and set my feet
upon a rock. This is his history. The Lord
has raised him up and set his feet upon a rock and established
his goings. And if he has a song in his mouth,
It's because the Lord put a new song in his mouth based on his
gospel, based on his saving grace, based on his mercy and loving
kindness. Even praise unto our God. He praises the Lord. He has this
desire to fellowship and to worship the living God. Praise unto God. Many shall see it in fear and
shall trust in the Lord because of what God has done in this
man's life. And so this is his history, beloved. But does he get over that history?
No. Oftentimes he is drug back toward
what he was. In the horrible pit. Back to
when he was in sin. Back to when lust ruled in his
heart. Back into that condition that
he was in prior to God laying hold of him and bringing him
out. And he never forgets his history.
And somebody said he's within a foot of hell all the time.
Could easily slide back. Only by the grace of God that
we don't slide back and go off back into the pit again by God's
amazing free grace that we're kept. Anyone here think they
could make it on their own? My friend, when we're talking
about the ministry and we're talking about a man dealing with
what he has to deal with in the ministry, we're talking about
a man who is only going to be successful. He's not sufficient
in and of himself. He is not sufficient. Only by
the grace of God can he struggle and deal with all he must deal
with. And the devil is out to get the
preacher. Oh, the devil, he don't necessarily
hate the preacher, but he hates the Christ that the preacher
is preaching. And the devil, again, if he can't
get to the preacher, he'll get to somebody else who is close
to the preacher. And he has a way of getting to
the preacher. And I'm here this morning to
solicit prayer for the preacher, that God will hold him up, and
that God will, in his great mercy, spare him and deliver him, because
your success as a church and his success as a preacher is
coupled together, and you shall not prosper and the preacher
fail. The preacher must succeed. And
by the grace of God, he can and will as he's prayed for and as
he's lifted up. But he's struggling. He's struggling. And any preacher that has been
called of God to preach knows that there's times when he's
hardly able to look up. And he remembers his history
and he's drug back toward the old pit. And it tries to draw
him back. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 9. Let me read a scripture here
to you about the apostle Paul, and you can see this clearly.
1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 9. I'll find it here in
just a moment. Paul says, for I am the least
of the apostles. He was an apostle of the Lord
Jesus, minister of the gospel. He says, that I'm not meet to
be called an apostle. I'm not fit to be called an apostle
because here's his history. I persecuted the church of God.
Can't get away from it. Can't get away from it. It's
in your mind what you were. before the Lord delivered you.
It's always there. The effects of it is like the
effects of driving over a muddy road, and you make ruts. You go in, and then you come
back out in the same ruts. Ruts are a little deeper. And
then you drive in again, and the ruts are a little deeper,
and a little deeper, and a little deeper. And that's the way that
sin is in the life of an individual. And if you were involved in it,
it's made ruts in your mind. And it's affected you. And you
have to deal with it the rest of your life. And you only can
by the grace of God. You can only come. But Paul says,
I'm not fit to be an apostle. Not fit to be one. Because I
persecuted the church of God. That's what I was. And any man
who thinks he's worthy to be in the ministry, My friend, that
man doesn't know what he's talking about. There's no man worthy
to be in the ministry. No man worthy to take the Word
of God in his mouth and to preach it to others. No one worthy to
be an oracle of God, to minister the living Word of God, the Word
of God which is alive and powerful and operative. No man is worthy
of such a position as that. 1 Timothy, turn there with me. Chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter
1, verses 12 through 16. Listen to this. And I thank Christ
Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry. I like that fact that Paul mentioned
the fact that he was enabled. Enabled. That he enabled me. The Lord who hath enabled me.
Who was before, and here it is again, his history is brought
out. Who was before a blasphemer. Yes, he used to be a blasphemer.
And a persecutor. And injurious. But I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And all the sins
which was in my life before the Lord saved me and in Aaron's
life before the Lord saved him, we did what we did in ignorance.
But we received mercy from the Lord. This is a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And I would like to mention
that this was at the very end of Paul's life when he made this
statement. It wasn't at the beginning of
his life, it was at the end of it. Faithful saying worthy of
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause, I obtain
mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting." Yes, it does have an effect on men and women when
they see that God has raised up one out of a horrible pit.
and rescued him out of the mariclay, and set his feet upon a rock,
and established his goings, and put a new song in his mouth,
even praising to God. And it says here, and many shall
see it, and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Many shall see it. But brother, sister, we have
a history, and that's the point I'm trying to make. Sin is still
very active in the preacher. Now don't be surprised when I
say that. Sin is still very active in the
preacher. I want you to look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 with
me, and see what the verse here says about this. The Apostle
Paul, 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 26. He says, I therefore so run,
not as uncertainly, so fight I not as one that beateth the
air. Paul's talking about his life and how he's lived his life.
He says, I'm not shadow boxing. He said, I'm dealing with a real
foe here. this body, this body of sin,
in which the principle of sin is active. He says, I'm dealing
with it, but I'm not just shadow boxing. I'm not as one that beats
the air. But, he says in verse 27, I keep
under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any
means, when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway.
lest that by any means, when I had preached to others about
how they ought to live and how they ought to walk, that I should
be put on the shelf and be of no further use in the kingdom
of God, to the church of God. Paul said, I have to keep it
under. The principle of sin is active. Now, if sin was dead
in him, then he wouldn't have to be dealing with it. He wouldn't
have to be fighting it. He wouldn't have to be bringing
it under subjection. But it's because the principle
of sin is active in the preacher that you ought to pray for him.
Now, brother, sister, we come to this place, and I want to
say this, that do you know yourself? I asked you that question, do
you know yourself? You said, well, yes, I know myself
pretty well. Well, then if you know yourself,
then you know the preacher. You say, oh my, is that the case? Is that the case, my friend?
If you know yourself, you know the preacher. You say, well,
God help him. Well, I'm here this morning to
solicit your prayers that God will help him. Because if he
don't, then disaster will follow. Only God can give the victory,
my friend, and the Lord only can help this brother. Now, look
at his message that he has to preach. Look at his message. He says here that he preached
in verse 9 righteousness in the great congregation. He preached
righteousness. Now, whose righteousness did
he preach? Verse 10, I have not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. He didn't conceal the fact that
God's righteousness is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. He would not conceal it. Now
some people are ashamed to preach God's righteousness, and we know
that a lot of the work mongers in the book of Romans Paul was
talking about. They went about to establish
their own righteousness and would not submit themselves unto the
righteousness of God. But Paul told them that the righteousness,
that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. And that Christ, it's Him who
is God's righteousness. He said, I've declared thy faithfulness. Now, I like the way this is put
in verse 10, and you just take note, about five times here,
he talks about how he's preached, what he's preached, and he says,
I've declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. Thy faithfulness,
God's salvation. Well, my brother and my sister,
don't we need to hear about God's faithfulness? I'll tell you the
older I get, that's the only thing that cuts it with me. God's
faithfulness. That God will not start a business
that he don't finish. That God will cause his business
to flourish according to his will. And he is faithful. His faithfulness reaches to the
clouds. And thy salvation. He preached
the salvation of God. And if this brother or any other
man preaches the fact that salvation is not a human endeavor, it's
not an endeavor of the fresh, It's not something that man can
do. He'll save himself. It's thy
salvation. And if we ever get it really
fixed in our hearts, that salvation's of the Lord from the beginning
to the end. Salvation is of the Lord. Well,
the preacher, this is what he preaches. And he'll pay a price
for that. You preach Jonah 2, verse 8 and
9, and you'll pay a price for it. That salvation is of God. It's of the Lord. And you maintain
that. Not today and tomorrow. But you
maintain it all of your life. Maintain it every time you get
into pulpit. That salvation is God's work. That the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. And you must maintain that, brother.
But there's trials that come with that. And then listen to
this. I've not concealed thy lovingkindness. I've told the people that you
were kind and loving toward them. That's why you've been patient
with them. Oh, it's wonderful to think on the lovingkindness
of the Lord, especially when you know that God's put up with
you and put up with a whole lot off of you. Or some of you wouldn't
admit that. But if it wasn't for the loving
kindness of God, you wouldn't be here this morning. He'd have
cut you off long ago. The Lord is His loving kindness. Oh, think about it. His loving
kindness. Oh, how good the Lord is. How
gracious the Lord is. All right? And then he said,
and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, we did mention
that this is a Messianic psalm, and I would like to say here
that the Savior has done all the real preaching that's ever
been done in this world. He's preached to the great congregation.
Now, He has those under-shepherds, which He has called, and they're
to preach to the Lord's people, that multitude of people that
they have opportunity to preach to through their lifetime, that
are more numerous than the sand of the seashore, Revelation says,
God's people is a huge congregation, and they preach the truth of
God continually. Now, the truth of God, the truth
of God. Now, somebody said, well, won't
it be alright if he just gets close to the truth? No, no, no,
no, no. Not close to the truth. This
is not horseshoe where close counts. Close don't count when
it comes to the truth of God. The preacher has got to preach
the truth. You say, well, wouldn't an approximation
be all right? An approximation will not be
all right. It's not acceptable. He's got
to preach the truth. The truth! The truth. You say, boy, that could be tough. That could be tough. You mean
tell me that he's got to come up with the truth? Yes, sir. He's got to do everything that
he can to come up with the truth. Find the truth. Find the truth. Buy the truth. And sell it not. And sell it not. Now, I want
you to turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4. I'm slow. The book of Peter just went up
and left my Bible. There it is. I thought it was
still in here. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 11 and
12. Listen to this. If any man speak,
any preacher speaks. Paul said, I believe, therefore
have I spoken. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now, if any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God. Let him speak as the
mouthpiece of God. Now you take that responsibility
upon you to speak as the mouthpiece of God. You speak the words of
God. These are God's words. Speak
His words. Speak as the oracles of God.
If any man speak, if any man minister, let him do it as of
the ability which God giveth. that God in all things may be
glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion
forever. Turn to 1 Corinthians 4, verse
19. If that wasn't enough to humble
you, I want you to look at this. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 19. Paul was getting ready to make
another trip to the church in Corinth. And there were some preachers
there that were demon-possessed in the church. And Paul was getting ready to
come to this church to deal with some of the problems they have
there. He says, but I will come to you shortly, in verse 19,
if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom
of God is not in word, but in power. Now, this needs to be looked
at. Not only is it enough to have the words to say, but does
the power of God operate when you preach, when you speak? Is
God saying this through you? Is His power there? Is the Holy
Spirit's unction and power there? Is the power... Now brother, Sister, this places
a tremendous responsibility upon the church and the preacher to
pray down the power of God upon their ministry, upon their work. Pray down the power of God that
they meet not in word only, but that they meet with Holy Spirit
power in their service. You say, well, this is getting
more complicated as we go along. I don't know of anybody that
would even take this responsibility. My soul, not unless God calls
you, if you can get out of it, you ought to get out of it. James
said, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that you shall
receive the more severe judgment. Preach with power. May God help
us. The Kingdom of God is just not
a bunch of words, but it's power. Does God save anybody when you
preach? Is the Lord operating? Is He
working through your message? Well, I want to say just a few
things in a practical way now, and then we'll close. with some verses that remind
us that the great apostle Paul asked for prayer himself. I want to say that you can help
the preacher in many ways. Help him in many ways. You can
keep stress. As much stress as you can keep
off the preacher, you keep it off of him. Keep it off of him. I remember one time, and I don't
believe the brethren will fault me for using this, but one time
I was talking with Brother Henry Baumann, one time after he had
been to the doctor. And I was asking him about how
he was and what the doctor said to him. And Brother Henry said, he told
me to keep stress out of my life. But he said, my soul, how can
you do that? And pastor a church, how can
you do that? How can you keep stress out of
your life? Well, we need to try to help
the preacher all we can. You know, for an example, On Sunday morning, when you come
into the house of God, if you've got something you think you need
to tell the preacher, you make doubly sure that it's something
you have to tell him before he preaches. Because if it's something that
can wait until after he's done, the best thing for you to do
is leave him alone. And don't be dumping on him before
the message. I never will forget when I was
21 years old. I was married on Friday night. Took up the pastorate of the
First Baptist Church in Brownsburg, Indiana on Sunday morning. I
was 21 years old. And I walked in the building.
I had preached for these people for several months prior to this. There was an old deacon there
by the name of Ralph Stamper. And I come in the church building
that morning, ready to take up my responsibilities, and he called
me aside. And he said, young man, he says,
I want you to know that you're not running this church. Well, I stepped back a little bit and
I said, well, and you see this is another thing preachers have
to be delivered from is the inclination to deal with things like they
used to deal with them when they were in the pit. And I said to
Mr. Stamper, The deacon who was deacon, I said, I may not run this church,
but I'll tell you another thing, you ain't running it either.
But that was right before I had to get up and preach. Don't dump
on the preacher right before he has to get up and preach.
It'll be a distraction to his soul. Keep the stress out of
the life of the preacher if you can, as much as you possibly
can. Now, remember this too, and that is
the devil, the devil, and as Paul said, we're not ignorant
of his devices. We'll get into some of you. Oh,
you say, it will never get in me. Don't be too sure. The devil can get into anybody. How that works, I don't know
all the ins and outs of it, but I've seen some people who I knew
the devil was in them. And the devil can get in you.
The devil can get in a preacher. You say, oh, I don't want to
believe the devil ever get in a preacher. Well, don't be too
surprised. The devil will get into anybody.
Yes, he can. Now, you be careful what you're saying.
What you start. Be careful the rumors you spread. Especially when the preacher
is involved. You be awful careful. One time there was a lady that
started a rumor on a preacher. And she knew that it wasn't right
when she started it. But it just spread like wildfire.
And she went to an old preacher and asked him, said, what can
I do? What can I do? I've started this rumor and it's
not true, but now everybody believes it. And he illustrated it for
her. He said, if you take a sack of
feathers And you walk a couple of miles,
and you just throw them feathers out as you walk. Throw them out. That's like a tail that's told. And he said, leave them out there
for a couple of days. And then he said, you go back
and take your sack, and you go back out there and try to pick
them up. Try to get them all back in the sack. He said, that's
how it is to stop a rumor. that somebody started about a
preacher. That's how difficult it is. Be
careful what you start. Because the devil is out there,
like I say, he may not care that much about the preacher. But he hates Christ. And any
preacher that will preach Christ up and the center down, he is
after him. And he's not going to give me
rest. And so you be careful that you're not a party to the problem. And then Saturdays is a bad day
for the preacher. A very bad day. Just remember
that. Saturday is a difficult day.
Everything that came to me, told me that was bad, every bad situation
that ever happened in my life, It came to the surface on what
day of the week? Saturday. Saturday. Does the plumbing ever break?
Happens on Saturday. Do hogs ever get out? Happens
on Saturday. Does anybody call up disgruntled? Happens on Saturday. Because
the preacher has got to preach on the Lord's Day. And anything
that can befuddle his mind, bother him, disturb him. It'll happen. It'll happen. Now, this is real, this is real
what I'm talking about. And Aaron's going to find it
out. You know, I believe that And I, through my life, in my
lifetime, I have... You say, well, so-and-so's a
good preacher, so I don't think anything's ever going to happen.
He'll never sell out for more money. He'll never give in to
lust that moves him away from the responsibilities he has as
a preacher of the gospel. He'll always be faithful. He'll always walk the line. He'll
always be what he ought to be. He always will. Well, I want
to tell you this, that I've seen some mighty good preachers do
it. Sell out. I've seen some good preachers
give in to money and fall into traps of different kinds that
has ruined them for the ministry. Seen it happen over and over.
Read about them. And I know it can happen. What
I'm doing is soliciting prayer for this preacher. There's other
things that I'd like to say, but time has got away from me.
Now I want you to look here at these verses right quick. Turn
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. If you want to turn there, turn
there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And verse 25, I want you to see
this little short verse, and you can write this down, where
Paul, listen to what he says, he says, brethren, he'd been
talking about the faithfulness of God that called us. He says,
brethren, pray for us. Brethren, pray for us. Alright. Now in 2 Thessalonians
3, And verse 1, look at this. Finally, brethren, pray for us. Paul says, pray for us that the
word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even
as it is with you. Pray for us that the word of
God will run well when it's preached. Pray for us. Pray for us. Alright, and then there's one
more verse. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. In verse
18, Paul said, Pray for us. Pray for us, for we trust we
have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly. pray for us. Now he didn't say,
now I've got a good conscience and I'm willing to live honestly,
so you pray for me if you get a chance. He didn't say that.
You pray for me because we trust we have a good conscience. And that we trust that in all
things we're willing to live honestly. But never forget it. If you know yourself, you know
the preacher. Now, I hope this morning that,
and you can erase the tape as far as I'm concerned, whether
it ever goes out of this building or not, but I hope that there's
one thing that comes through this morning, and that is, blessed
is the preacher that is prayed for. Woe be unto the preacher whose
people do not care enough to pray for him. Woe be unto him. This is a responsibility that
you could not ask anyone to take upon themselves. So surely you
could pray. Surely you could. You could pray
for the preacher. Pray for him. Pray for him. And
remember, the great Apostle Paul begged the people that he wrote
to, Brethren, pray for us. Pray for us. If Brother Aaron
can stand, if he does stand in this pulpit, when he's 74 years
old, and he's made it through by the grace of God, it'll be
because you people have prayed for him. If this preacher has done a nickel's
worth of good at any time in anyone's life, it's because of
the people that prayed for me. And I know it. I know it. We have some dear people here,
and they're praying people, and they prayed for this church,
and they prayed for this preacher. I know they have. I know they
have, and I love them for it. And remember, You will not prosper
and your preacher fail. You remember that. God be with
you and bless you.