I am fully convinced that there
is nothing more important to your life and your well-being
on this earth and for eternity than the preaching of the gospel
and the worship of our Redeemer. And I hope I am honest when I
tell you Nothing is more important to me than the responsibility
I have for preaching the gospel to you. Brother Lance, Heller and I were
talking last Saturday night, and he was talking about, while
he was traveling around, I had a rather full schedule set for
him. He was set to preach and just
wasn't prepared. He said, I was up all night long.
trying to get ready to preach on Sunday morning and felt so
bad. And we talked a little bit. I said, well, I'll be honest
with you, buddy. Stay up all night, preach and
drop dead with a heart attack rather than go unprepared. Nothing
more important to my soul than what I'm about to do for your
souls. Turn with me now to Luke chapter
15. We'll begin at verse 17, and I want, oh, I pray God will
enable me to talk to you for a little bit about what sinners
get when they come to Christ. Okay, verse 17. And when he came
to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's
house have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father,
and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he arose and came to his
father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and
had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed And the
son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in
thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Now watch
this. This is what you get when you
come to Christ. But the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand. and shoes on his feet, and bring
hither the fatty calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry."
When poor sinners come home to God, when we believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, not only does the Lord God run to greet us, fall
on our necks and kiss us, He freely gives every repenting
sinner all the fullness of his bounteous infinite grace in Jesus
Christ. He doesn't hold back one thing,
not one thing. Now look at four things set before
us here. First, there is a clear display
of the marvelous intervention of our God and his grace in the
lives of his people. The opening words of verse 22,
we see the prodigal coming in humiliation, broken, bent, bowing
to the ground, begging for life, begging that he might just live
as one of the father's hired servants. But the father would
hear nothing of it. Verse 22 begins with these words.
but the Father said. No sinner will ever be saved
unless God Almighty steps in his way, unless God graciously
intervenes in his life, unless God stops him and turns him and
brings him to himself. You will never know God unless
God steps in your way. Now that word, but, is used frequently
in the scriptures in just this way. Let's look at a few of them.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. You see, the grace of God is
not a divine offer. The grace of God is a divine
intervention. Salvation is not something God
offers to you and asks you, will you pretty please have this nice
present I have fixed up for you. Salvation is the operation of
God's grace for you, in you, and upon you. Look here at 1
Corinthians 6, verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. But, but, not anymore. Not anymore. Not before God. You are washed,
but you are sanctified. But you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Look at
Ephesians 2. It's a very, very familiar passage
where Paul describes the believer's experience of grace. He tells
us in chapter 1 all the bounty of God's grace. Now in chapter
2 he tells us how we come to experience God's grace. And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You hath
he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation. This is how we live. This was
our manner of life in times past, in the lust of our flesh. fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. Now this is what that means.
You and I were just exactly like everybody else in this world.
Just exactly. But God, who lives rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, God stepped in. I was running fast as I could
to hell, but God stepped in. I was running fast as I could
and as far as I could from God and all authority, but God stepped
in. As he commands the rivers and
holds them in their place and commands the oceans and says,
hitherto shalt thou go and no further, so the Lord God says
concerning his own. All right, I want to lay the
reins on your neck. And you go ahead and run like
a wild ass is caught wherever you are determined to run. But
this is where you're going. And no further. No further. But
God. Look at Titus chapter 3. Paul
said, I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, an injurious, but
I obtained mercy. Titus chapter 3, verse 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy." What a way to describe man by nature. And that's how men without God
live, in malice and envy. Not some of them, all of them. Living in malice and envy. and hating one another. But,
what a word, after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. The picture before us then displays
most vividly what the Apostle Paul states clearly in Romans
chapter 5, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Let's look at the picture again,
Luke 15. The next line here, But the Father
said to his servants. The Father said to his servants. Who are these servants? These
servants who are commanded by the Father and given the privilege
of bringing out the best robe and putting it on the prodigal.
Fetching the family ring and putting it on his hand, bringing
out the shoes he needs for his feet and spreading the feast
before him. Now were the word servant here
used in singular terms? I wouldn't hesitate. I'd declare
immediately, this is talking about God the Holy Spirit. It
is God the Holy Spirit whose work it is effectually to apply
and irresistibly to apply the finished work of Christ. But
the word servant here is in the plural, servants. These servants
are men who are called and sent of God to serve the interest
of your soul, to serve the interest of his kingdom and his glory,
to serve immoral souls through the ministry of the word. by
the preaching of the gospel. Now perk up and pay attention
one more time. God Almighty never bypasses his
ordained means to accomplish his purpose. You can write that
down, underscore it, and remember it. I know we'll tend to forget
it. God Almighty never, under any
circumstances, for any reason, bypasses his ordained means for
accomplishing his purpose. He just doesn't do it. Now if I make some plans, and
I'm planning to take off and drive down the road here, take
the highway mapped out to go over to Louisville and preach
for Brother Parks next week. Let's just use that for an example.
I'll go down the road here until I hit 151, cross over to 64,
drive down there to Redeemer. And you know what would cause
me to change that plan? Either if in my dotage I forget
where I'm going, or lose my way, or something comes up I hadn't
expected, or I get in a bind and have to go another way. That's
the only way it's going to happen. That's the only way it's going
to happen. God Almighty never gets in a bind. You understand
that? No need for him to change his
purpose. He never gets in a bind. And this is God's purpose. He
has ordained that faith comes to men by the preaching of the
gospel. The way, the means, the method
by which God has been pleased to confer his grace upon chosen
sinners is the preaching of the gospel. Turn to Romans chapter
1 for just a minute. I mentioned Brother Lance Heller
a minute ago. He's fixing to take his family back to Papua
New Guinea in the most barbaric, primitive conditions imaginable
on this earth in this day. To live there. I'm not gifted
for that. If God sent me to it, God prepared
me for it, but I'm not gifted for it. Not one of you would
want to do it. Not one of you. Doesn't matter
what kind of money they paid you, you wouldn't want to go
down there and live. No. Not one of us. Not one of us. Why
on earth would a man do that? Only one of two reasons. Either
because of self-righteousness, or because God called him to
preach the gospel, because that's how God saves sinners. Why would
you go down there? Why not just fly over the top
of the place with a helicopter and throw out gospel sermons?
Because that's not what God ordained. Why not just pray that God calls
those fellows somehow to turn to Him? Because that's not what
God ordained. That's not what He ordained.
What did He ordain? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God. Look here in Romans 1.16. Paul
writes to these Romans, he says, I'm coming to you, for I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth." It's the power of God. I've told you before, you probably
have it written in the margin of your Bible. If you don't,
write it down. The word is dynamite. If you were to transliterate
it, that's the word here, dynamite. When I get a chance to watch
one of those Clint Eastwood westerns, I like them. Especially when
he's smoking that cigar and riding on his horse and lighting dynamite.
You know what he does with that dynamite? Throw it and get out
of the way. That's all. What do you do with
the gospel? You preach it, get out of the
way. Just wait. It'll do its own work. The preaching
of the gospel is the dynamite, the explosive power of God that
nobody can resist unto salvation to everyone who believes. Look
in 1 Peter 1. Now the work is God's work, but
the instrument he uses is the preaching of the gospel. I'm
not a chemist, but I'm told if you take two compounds and put
them together, and they won't mix, they do nothing. And then you introduce
a third compound, it's called a catalyst. That's what makes
it all work. Now, God's grace and our depravity,
God Almighty and our corruption, here we are and there's no bringing
us together except by this catalyst that God has ordained. Look at
it. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. How are we born again? What does
the book say there? Of incorruptible seed. Not as
the result of a man's seed coming from his loins, not of something
in us, not because you connected with me, but of incorruptible
seed. What is that? By the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever." What word is he talking
about? You've got it in your lap. By
the word of God. Well, how are we born again by
this word? Now look at it. For all flesh
is grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away. Now watch it. But
the word of the Lord endureth forever. Some of you say, well,
that's Christ. Okay, that's all right. He's revealed in this
word. And this is the word, this word by which you are born again,
this is the word which by the gospel and in no other way is
preached unto you. The preaching of the gospel is
indispensable by divine arrangement, indispensable to the salvation
of God's elect, indispensable to the edification of your soul.
Now I stress this. Because I want you to understand,
I want especially for you young
people listening to me to understand, there's nothing more important
than that you hear the gospel of God's grace. Nothing. I have a very dear friend, I'll
tell you a couple of stories. Brother Marvin Starnaker's son
Gabe, several years ago, Gabe's talented, some of you know it,
tall, good looking fellow. and got talent running out of
his ears. And he lived down in Nashville and he knew all the
right people. He was on the road to a country-western singing
career. He called me out to his truck
one night. We were down in Cherokee, North Carolina at a Bible conference.
He had just been out to the Iowa State Fair and opened for one
of the big name shows out there. I forgot who it was. And he cut
a demo tape. He wanted me to hear it. And
I listened to it. Man, it's good. It's good. And I said to him,
buddy, I hope you're just good enough to have a little fun with
this, make a little money with this, and just bad enough that
you can't possibly make a career out of it. I could tell he didn't
like it much. He was 18 years old, had the
world by his tail on a downhill pull. About two years later,
they were over here at the house. Decabe and I stayed up talking
late one night. And he said, you remember our conversation?
He reminded me of it. He said, you know, I didn't like
that. I said, I didn't think you would. He said, I'm so thankful
you told me that. I know exactly what you meant.
I talked to a fellow this past week. I met him back in the summer
in California, professional ballplayer, plays professional baseball.
And he's just chomping at the bit to get on one of the big
teams. He plays minor league ball. And I said to him, I said,
I, uh, I can look at you and tell you're an athlete. You work
hard. I hope you can enjoy it. And
I hope you can make a decent living at what you're doing for
a little while. But I tell you what I'm going
to do, I'm going to pray God will never let you be a good
enough ballplayer to play professional ball. Well, that's what I've
been planning all my life. I know. But you can't worship
God and play ball every Sunday. You can't do it. You can't do
it. I know some professional ballplayers,
I can point you to them, you can't do it. When you start setting
your mind on where you're going to live, what you're going to
do, what your career choices are going to be, you set your
mind to worship God, to hear his word. Nothing is important
compared to it. Nothing. Nothing. You see, gospel
preachers are the servants of God. It's the preacher's business,
every preacher's business, to set forth in the ministry of
the Word the righteousness of Christ, the everlasting love
of God, to direct believing sinners to a life of consecration, becoming
the gospel, and to set before them the rich provisions of the
gospel. And these servants are ordered
to bring forth, to bring forth the things of God to men. This
is how God saves his own. This is how God edifies his own. The preacher is not called to
take this poor particle away from the Father's presence as
if somehow he would be rejected, the Father wouldn't have him. The preachers, these servants,
they're not told to terrify and frighten this prodigal with the
curse and condemnation of the law. They're not told to give
a warning of God's wrath and judgment if he should fall again.
They're not told to chastise him and correct him or bind him
and put him in a fence so that they can protect him. No, not
at all. On the contrary, the Father says
to his servants, you bring here all the honor that a son of mine
can have. All of it. And put it on him. Now wait a minute. This is no
Count Rascal. You know it. You know it. You
know what he's been. And you know it's still in him.
You know what a wretch he is. Bring all the honor that a son
of mine can have and put it on him. Put it on him. Bring all
the high favors and blessings of my own boundless mercy, love,
and grace and give it to my son. Every high honor which belongs
to a favored, well-pleasing, perfectly obedient son, give
it to him. Now that's what gospel preachers
are supposed to do. I can't confer grace on anybody,
don't pretend to, but I can proclaim it. I can't give peace and pardon
and righteousness, but I can and must bring it out. And as
I will show you just a little bit, if God gives you these things,
If God the Holy Spirit gives you faith in Christ, we can and
must put the blessings of his grace upon believing sinners. Turn to Isaiah 40. This is God's word to every preacher. Some years ago I was in a meeting
with a young preacher who I knew he was real good at
ripping the hide off and pouring in salt and liked to preach with
a lot of acid. And it was destroying the congregation.
And I sat down and talked to him and took him to this passage
of Scripture and explained it to him just as I'm about to explain
it to you. I said, I'd highly recommend you. Before you preach,
every time before you get in the pulpit, turn to Isaiah chapter
40 and read verses 1 and 2. And let that be the inspiration
of what you've got to say. He didn't pay any attention to
me. He said, I ain't going to do that. I'm not going to do that.
He liked the acid. He liked seeing folks squirm.
But this is what God sends preachers to do. Comfort ye. Comfort ye my people. Comfort
them. Comfort them. Sayeth your God,
speak ye comfortably. That word, he says, speak to
the heart of Jerusalem. And you can't do it. I can't
speak to your heart. But if I don't speak to your
heart, I got no business talking to you. I can't do it. I can't speak to your heart,
but it's my responsibility to. How on earth are you going to
accomplish this? Oh God Almighty. Speak through this empty, worthless
vessel. And if God will speak through
me, I'm going to speak to your heart. Cry unto her that her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. She
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now
look at verse 22, back in our text. The next line here, verse
22. And let me show you something
about the provisions of the Father's house. But the Father said to
his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him,
and put a ring on his hand. and shoes on his feet. Do you
believe God? Do you trust Christ? Right now,
right now. I'm not talking about yesterday.
I'm talking about right now. Are
you reconciled to God? At peace with Him? Delighted
for God to be God? Do you confess your sin before
Him? Open your heart to Him? Has God
revealed his son in you? Do you trust Christ alone for
acceptance with him? Do you trust Christ alone? Anne came up to me after service
this morning, forgive me if I embarrass you a little. She wants to be
baptized when her dad is next week. This one thing I ask of
you. Do you trust Christ alone for
acceptance with God? Same thing of him. Now, do you? Do you, Bob Duff, trust the Son
of God? Well, if you do, God Almighty
has sent me here to you today and says to me, his servant,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him. You fellas go
to the suit store, if you have gotten beyond going to the outlet
store and you dare go into one of the men's stores and try on
a suit, you know what they'll do? They won't hardly let you
pull it off the coat hanger. They'll pick that thing up, put
it right over you. They'll even button it for you.
That's what I'm sent here to do, to put the robe on you. He didn't send me here to put
a good robe on you. There are a lot of good robes,
good in the eyes of men, morality, religious reformation, self-denial,
charity, philanthropy, benevolence. The Lord has sent me here with
the best robe, a better robe than Adam had in innocence or
could ever have had if he had never sinned. A better robe than
the angels of heaven wear. A better robe than that worn
by the scribes and Pharisees in their self-righteousness.
A better robe than the garment of your own good works. This
robe is the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness. Hold your
hands here and turn back to our text we looked at this morning,
Zechariah chapter 3. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. Look here in
Zechariah 3, verse 4. He answered and spake unto me,
or spake unto those that stood by him, saying, Take away the
filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe
thee with the change of raiment. In Revelation 19, we're told
exactly what this is. It's fine linen, clean and white. It's the righteousness of the
saints. Not righteousness you perform. No, no, no, no. Righteousness
given you. This is the robe of Christ's
righteousness. You see, it's the best robe. As a matter of
fact, if you look closely at our text, when the Lord says,
the Father said to his servants, bring here the best robe and
put it on him, the word really is bring the first robe. Bring
the first robe. You see, this is the robe that
was woven for us in the eternal purpose of God Almighty. This
is the best robe, that one that was the first. And this is the
preeminent robe that God Almighty has before Him, wrought for us
in the personal obedience of His Son. This robe covers our
naked souls, covers all our sins. This robe protects us from all
injury, saves us from all wrath, adorns us. and makes us beautiful
and perfect in God's sight. This splendid robe of Christ's
imputed righteousness exceeds all others. And this robe is
a robe that has to be put on you. Put on you. Put on you. All the time, put on you. Put on you. Don't you like to
come in here and have this robe put on you? Put on you by the imputation
of God's grace. I can't do that. God does that. But put on you by the preaching
of the gospel. You come in here dirty, corrupt,
you feel so naked, so cold, so lifeless. And if God will let
me preach the gospel to you, put on a robe and you, ah, now
I'm warm. Now I'm clean. Oh, everything's
all right. Everything's all right. This
robe of Christ's righteousness is to be put on the believing
sinner quickly, without delay. The text might be translated
this way, hurry! Put it on him quickly! Put it
on him quickly! Why is that? Because there's
to be no doubt in the mind of any sinner who believes God. Oh God, teach me this. There is to be no doubt in the
mind of any sinner who believes God. There is to be no doubt
in the mind of any sinner who trusts Christ of his total, complete,
immediate acceptance of God by his soul. Folks talk about having faith and then growing
into assurance. And usually what they mean by
that is you believe on Jesus and then you start to look at
yourself and you say, boy, I broke off that bad habit and I broke
off this bad habit and I don't just read a verse or two a day
now, I read three or four chapters a day now and I don't just I've
prayed good many times here today. Now, now, now I know I'm a believer
because look how good I am. Oh, no. No, that's not assurance. That's self-righteousness. That's
self-righteousness. That's anything but faith. How
are you accepted with God? By Christ. How is that acceptance conveyed
to you? As a sinner believes, that moment
for pardon he receives. That's it. He who looks to Christ
is born of God. Not maybe he is, he is. He who
repents is accepted. He who confesses his sin is forgiven.
All sin. He who comes to Christ is accepted
in Christ. He who believes the Son of God
has everlasting life. He's worst and altogether cliche. The great God of grace and the
great grace of God never put sinners on probation. He gives
sinners salvation. Did you get that? He doesn't
put us on terms conditional. but turns absolute and gives
us eternal life. And then he speaks of the ring.
God has sent me here to put a robe on your hand. Can you reach out and touch him
with a hand effect? If right now you stretch out
your hand to him. He sent me here to slip a ring
on your finger. I'm forbidden to put it on your
finger except you reach out and touch me. I remember well when
I slipped that ring on that lady's finger. If I'd had the power
to do so, I would not have taken her hand and pulled her finger
out and forced this ring on her. I wouldn't have had her, didn't
want her, if she didn't want me. Oh, now, if the Lord Jesus
has graciously made you want Him, and you reach out to Him. Lord, save me, I perish. Here's
a ring. It's a ring with no beginning
and no end because it represents everlasting love. A covenant
that can't be broken. And right here's the family seal.
It says God Almighty did that right there. And this is my son. He gives you a ring and the Lord
commands me to put shoes on your feet. Bring the shoes. Bring
out the shoes for my son. What's that talking about? Or
Paul tells us plainly, he's talking about the gospel of God's peace.
Shoes, with rare, rare, rare exceptions, shoes make feet look
a whole lot better, don't they? Not many folks got pretty feet.
Shoes dress them up. Shoes make us walk upright there. I know my wife's a country girl
and she likes to go barefooted. I can't get her to wear shoes
around the house for nothing. She just won't wear them. I can't
walk around the house without them. But I'm a little heavier
than she is, a little bigger than she is. And if I walk 20
feet without his shoes on my feet, my feet hurt. Put some
shoes on. I walk all day. Well, not all
day anymore, but I used to. I walk good ways with no pain.
Shoes keep us from slipping and falling. These shoes keep us
from slipping and falling into eternal ruin. And they protect
us from the heat of this burning world. and the thorns and briars
and thistles of its curse. And these shoes, why these shoes
will never wear out. Children of Israel walked for
40 years through the land of Canaan and the shoes never wore
out. They never wore out. These shoes
of God's grace, they never wore out. Walk in them and walk in
them with confidence. And then he describes the work
of the ministry again. I'll just touch on it briefly.
Look at verse 23, and bring hither the fatty calf, kill it, let
us eat and be merry. Gospel preachers are responsible
to bring forth the fatty calf and kill it. Every time they
stand in the pulpit to speak in God's name, every time. If you know a preacher who's
interested in preaching the gospel, get this tape and send it to
him and ask him to listen to it. So many times I've listened to
men recite truth and what they say is true. But when they get done, if I
had walked in that door and sat down back there where Danny is
right now and didn't know anything about God, how to understand
the right doctrine, this doctrine, that doctrine, the other doctrine,
and still walk out not knowing anything about God. Preaching
is setting forth the fatty calf slain to be eaten by faith. Preaching is setting forth the
sacrifice, the peace offering, the burnt offering, the sin offering,
Christ Jesus the Lord by whom God is accepted, by whom God
Almighty accepts sinners, by whom we are accepted of God.
He is our sacrifice, and the sacrifice is the priest's food. All the priests take the sacrifice,
have a piece of steak, eat the sacrifice. All of them. All of
them. And we're God's priests. We who
believe. Christ is the very best that
God can give, and he's the best that we can desire. And the Lord
commands his servants to bring him out and kill him. What? Kill him? But he was sacrificed once. Yes,
yes, yes. But in the preaching of the gospel,
we proclaim Christ crucified constantly, setting him before
men. And we spread a feast, bidding
and encouraging sinners, hungry souls to eat, and feast upon
him. The father feast, and the son feast, and the angels
feast. John Gill says here the father
said let us eat and be merry. He said there's no mirth without
eating and drinking. Let's eat and be merry, be rejoicing. The Father rejoices in Him. The
servants rejoice in Him. The Son rejoices in Him. Now
let me give you one more text. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
9. Oh, if you're hungry, come to
Christ and eat. Feast on the sacrifice, His blood
and His righteousness. And as you go through this world,
go through this world feasting on this bread. Ecclesiastes 9
verse 7. Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Do you see it? For God now accepteth thy works. Let's eat and drink and be merry. Amen.