Let's turn together to Luke chapter
9. I think I can safely say in preaching I know when God's given me a
message. Seldom do I know the reason why
he's given a specific message. Seldom do I know what aspect
of the message is needed by the individual. But I'm confident
when God's given me a message. And I am confident he's given
me a message tonight. It may seem strange to many because
it's a message about preaching, preachers, prophets. And you
say, well, we're not preachers and prophets, just two or three
here tonight. That's so, but the work of the
minister of this congregation is not the work of this man preaching
to you. It's the work of this congregation. The ministry God's given us is
our ministry. I'm able to go and preach because
you give generously, supply my needs, and provide for me to
go wherever God opens the door. God has graciously given us some
influence for some reason in our age. And I think it's needful. I don't think it, I know it's
needful that you understand something of what's involved in the work
specifically of the man who ministers to you and of others. Now let's
read together verses one through six. Then he called his 12 disciples
together and gave them power. and authority, power and dominion. He gave it to them. Gave them power and dominion
over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them, sent them to
preach the kingdom of God, preach that God is king. preach the kingdom of God, and
to heal the sick. And he said to them, take nothing for your journey. Neither staves nor script, that's
a little bag you put money in. Neither bread, neither money. Neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house you enter
into, stay right there. There abide. And thence depart. And whosoever will not receive
you, when you go out of that city, don't let it bother you
a bit. Shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony
against them. and they departed and went through
the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now let me just echo in your
hearing the message I believe God has preached to my heart
and it may be profitable to you. As I began to prepare this message
I read those words and I thought about them a good bit, and I asked myself this question
as I thought about these men, these men, these men sent to
God, these men insignificant nobodies. There wasn't a significant
man among them. There wasn't one man among them
that you'd look at and say, boy, he'll do something. He'll accomplish
something. Just insignificant nobodies. Oh, how God. how God used them. Not mighty
men, not learned men, not talented men, not men that you'd look
at and say, well, boy, I wish I had some of his gifts. Not
a one of them. Not a one of them. But God Almighty
has used them for 2,000 years, and he's still using them. And
I asked myself this question. Are there any like these left? And that's the title of my message.
Are there any like these left? I know this. Along with the ministries
of evangelists and pastor teachers, the New Testament tells us in
Ephesians 4 about the ministries of apostles. and prophets. Now I'm fully aware, I'm fully,
fully aware, that in the strict sense of the words, There is
no such thing as the office capacity of an apostle or a prophet in
the sense that these men were prophets or apostles, or in the
sense that John the Baptist was a prophet. There's no such thing
in our day. We do not have an apostolic succession
in that sense of the word. No matter what the charismatics
claim, no matter what the papists teach, Those claims are contrary
to the word of God, who suggests and tell us that men today are
receiving a fresh word of revelation from God. You say, what's wrong
with fellas? What can be so bad about a man
saying, I have a vision from God? God's given me a word. He
gave me a word of prophecy. If God gives a fresh word, Lindsay,
to Lindsay Campbell, his word is just as authoritative as this
word. That's what's wrong with it. It makes the inventions of
deceiving men to be paramount with and take precedence over
the written word of God. We have the full revelation of
God Almighty given us in Holy Scripture and we do not look
for nor will we receive another. Somehow you better get that strapped
down good. You better get strapped down
good. We live in this age when men and women have so long ignored
and despised the word of God that you're, this generation
is just, it's ready to receive anything, to swallow hook, line,
and sinker that just looks good, looks fancy, sounds impressive.
Any man comes and tells you he's got a revelation from God, you
run from him. Run from him. Don't pay any attention to him.
But look what he does. I don't care what he does. Look
who's following him. I don't care if the whole world's
going after him. No matter what men say, it is
contrary to scripture. It is not true that there is
any man today who has those supernatural gifts by which the apostles of
Christ in the New Testament and the prophets of God in the Old
Testament were identified and confirmed as God's prophets and
our Lord's apostles. That is, there are none today
who have those miraculous gifts of healing that he gave to those
men. None. There's not any. Now, somebody
may have such gifts. They may have such gifts. But
you read 2 Thessalonians 2. They may call down fire from
heaven. They may do it. They may do it. They may perform
wondrous works, but it's not of God. It's Antichrist, and
it's the devil. That's right. Oh, you can't say. It's time somebody stands up
and tells the truth. It's Antichrist. Our God tells us as plainly in
2 Thessalonians 2 that signs and wonders and miracles in this
last age are as certainly an indication of messengers of Antichrist
as they were of Christ in the New Testament. We have no need
of signs and wonders and miracles because the Word of God is already
established and complete. What about tongues? There's no
such thing in this age. Now folks have pretended it.
They've been pretending it since the apostles died out. It's fake. It's fake. I don't
mean folks aren't sincere. People get caught up in all kinds
of nonsense, and they're sincere as they can be, but they're still
wrong. Brother David Edmondson down in Madisonville, one time
I tell him about Tim James, when he was a Pentecostal, said he
never could get it. He'd go down, he'd pray, and
he'd go down, he'd pray, and he never could get it. Finally,
one of the fellas told him, said, you have to practice. What do you mean? He said, tie
my tie, tie my bow tie. Now I'll say it real fast. Tie
my tie, tie my bow tie. Tie my tie, tie my bow tie. And it's fake as a $3 bill. It's
fake as a $3 bill. Now you mark it down. Those men
who spoke in the New Testament gifts of tongues spoke a language
that they had never heard by which they were gifted of God
immediately to preach the gospel to men so that those men from
all parts heard every man the word preached in his own tongue
or in his own language. Now having said that, Let us
not relegate to the past this portion of scripture or any other
portion dealing with prophets and apostles. There is a sense,
a sense in which the apostles are men who were chosen, taught,
and sent by Christ. Men who had seen the Lord himself
and seen him after his resurrection. In that sense, as the messengers
of God, all who are sent of God to preach the gospel are indeed
messengers of God to men's souls. Now, in this passage we have
read, the Holy Spirit tells us specifically that there were
12 sent out. And when I read that, I thought
to myself, I sure wish you'd have said the 11. I just wish it made my job a
lot easier. But he said 12. Because one of
them was a deceiver. And there's good reason for that.
There's good reason for that. Our salvation, our acceptance
with God does not in any way depend upon the quality and character
of the man who preached the message to us, but the message God spoke
to our hearts. A man just, he couldn't preach
and preach effectively in my heart if he didn't know God.
Find me scripture for that. Find me scripture for that. Judas
Iscariot was a deceiver, a devil, and a liar from the beginning.
But there is no indication anywhere in scripture that Judas had any
less power, any less influence, any less effectiveness, any less
fruit than any of the other apostles. The fact is in the kingdom of
God, tares always grow with wheat. always. Goats are always mixed
with sheep, and it's not by accident. And our Lord tells us plainly,
you don't know one from the other, quit trying. Would to God we'd
learn that. Well, he said, not your business
to even think about it. That's just right, just not. I was in Preacher's home one
time and his wife told me, so I can tell in five minutes whether
or not the person is safe. She hadn't been around a long
time now. Long since departed by the way. Oh no, no, no. You can't tell wheat from tares.
You can't tell sheep from goats. Only the shepherd can. Only the
man who planted and harvested the wheat can tell. He's the
only one. We leave both grow together.
We don't try to separate them. When the apostles were sitting
at the Lord's table the last night, when our Lord established
the Lord's Supper at the last Passover with his disciples,
and he said, one of you shall betray me this night. This night,
one of you gonna betray me. Not one of them, not one of them
looked over at Judas and said, I always thought you would. Not
one of them. If one of them said, Lord, is
it I? And then Judas, just to keep up from showing his true
colors, he said, Lord, is it me? One of them was a deceiver. But
there were here 11 prophets. 11 messengers of God. 11 men who
spoke for God in their generation. 11 men by whom God Almighty was
pleased to triumph over the gates of hell. 11 men by whom God was
pleased to minister to the souls of men. 11 men by whom God was
pleased to establish His kingdom in this world with nothing but
the word of His grace. Now I don't know much about prophets,
don't know much about the office. Scriptures tell us plainly about
the ministry of pastor and teachers. Pastor is one who speaks for
God. He's the appointed teacher in
a congregation. We have other men who are gifted teachers,
but in every congregation there is one voice by which God teaches
his assembly and others serve with him. But it is my responsibility
as your pastor to teach you the things of God. It is the pastor's
responsibility also to do the work of an evangelist. That is
to do what he can, not only to instruct God's saints and build
them up in the faith, but also to do what he can to establish
God's kingdom in the hearts of other men, to do what he can
where there are no gospel churches to establish gospel churches.
That's what a pastor is supposed to do. And somehow, somehow,
somehow, He's got to do it. He's got to do it. Speaking to men with the power
and authority that only God can give as God's message. As a prophet. As a prophet. I want to be. I want to be. A faithful, effective, proper pastor. I don't want to just like Saul
be numbered among the prophets. Oh God, make me a prophet. A
prophet. Prophet in this generation, so
that when a man hears the lips of this man speak, he knows there's
a prophet been among him. A prophet. I'd rather do anything
than just be numbered among them. But if I'm numbered among them,
that means I want to be what? A prophet. A prophet to speak
for God to your souls. They're rare, I know. There's something mysterious
about this thing of a prophet in the New Testament sense of
the word. I believe I had been honored and privileged of God
to walk with a few, to have a few as my friends, two or three,
to hear them, to be ministered to by them. They were prophets
to my soul. I don't know who wrote this. I wrote it down a
long, long time ago, but it's very good. is a voice in the wilderness.
It is his business to sound the trumpet, to proclaim the truth,
not to work on details or set up a program. He doesn't devise
ways and means, others are gifted for that. He doesn't belong on
boards and committees. He's a solitary, lone soul. He does his best work alone.
He's no parrot, puppet, or promoter. He's nothing but a prophet. And
if he tries to be anything else, he's an embarrassment to himself
and everybody else. And that's so, that's so. Prophet. This fellow said a prophet is
not popular with politicians in the state or in the church.
He's not cowed by dignitaries and he'll call Herod a fox if
need be. He's an unreconstructed rebel,
an odd number in a day of regimentation. He has no more patience with
mere religion than Isaiah had when he thundered or Amos had
when he called on Israel to come to Bethel. It's his business
to say what others cannot, will not, or at least do not say. The politician has his eye on
the next election. And it's possible for a preacher
to get his mind on promotion. The next run of the ladder, a
high seat in the synagogue being called rabbi. The prophet has
just one ax to grind. And that's the gospel of God's
grace. That's all. For him, grass is no greener
on the next pasture. He doesn't seek any man's office.
He's content to labor where God puts him, doing what God's called
him to do. These days, churches start to
call preachers. They want to look for preachers.
They look for scholars, specialists, socializers, showmen, entertainers,
organizers, businessmen, promoters. What we need is a prophet. A man like Isaiah who's seen
God in his glory, Christ on his throne, redemption accomplished,
himself in his sinfulness, and Israel in their desperate need. The prophets of man are not likely
to pack houses. doesn't produce impressive statistics,
and he just doesn't give a flip. He just doesn't care. He doesn't
care. He's not interested in impressing men. He doesn't care
whether men know anything about him or not. He's a voice. He's
a voice. A prophet, very likely to get
but a poor response from those who hear it. But whether they
hear or whether they forbear, those who hear it will know that
a prophet has been among them. These days, as the apostle said,
it would come to pass men seek teachers having itching ears. That's what they mean. This ear-rich
generation seeks to find a preacher who will say to them, what is
it you want to hear? Oh, let me tell you what God
told me. And he'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. churches
have pulpits filled with them all over the world. They're not
interested in profit. A prophet like John the Baptist,
he pulls down high places and builds up low places to make
straight the way of the Lord in this land of desperate need. He doesn't lecture. He doesn't
give men lectures on religion. He doesn't give men lectures
on revival. He doesn't give men lectures on church history. He's
not a lecturer. He's not an entertainer. He's
not one who just stands up to fill your head with facts. He's
a man with a message. He doesn't talk to you about
mustard poultices. He just makes the poultice and
sticks it on the soul. Other folks come to make you feel good. The prophet has come to afflict
the comfortable. Here in Luke chapter nine, our
Lord Jesus sent the first, you understand now the way I
use this, the first prophets of the New Testament out to preach
the gospel of the kingdom of God. And when he sent them out,
he told them what to do. He told them how to live. He
told them how to conduct their business. And he gave them power. Now let me share with you what
I believe the Lord has for us in this passage. I'll give you
my message in seven statements. I'll wrap it up quickly. Number
one, those men who are sent of God to preach the gospel are
men who possess a God-given authority and power with which to do their
work. They are men who possess. Who
possess. They seek it, but they possess
it. They cry to God for it, but they
possess it. They plead with God never to
take it from them, but they possess it. A God-given power and authority,
a God-given power and dominion by which their labors are sure
to succeed. What a word. What a word. Our Lord Jesus said, now I'm
sending you out here. to do my work. I'm sending you
out here to do my business. I'm sending you out here to establish
my kingdom. I'm sending you out here to fight
my foes. I'm sending you out here to do battle in my name.
I'm sending you out here to this warfare. Now, if you do right,
if you live right, if you behave right, if you think right, if
you study right, then maybe you can get power and authority so
you can get through the task. That's not what he said. He said,
bro, I give you power. and authority over all hell. Forget verse one. Then he called
his 12 disciples and gave them power and authority over all
devils and to cure diseases. Now I'm not talking about showmanship. I'm not talking about trumped
up authority. I'm not talking about demagoguery.
I'm not talking about a man saying I'm gonna have my way. Our God
gives his messengers power. and authority, power and authority
by which they do indeed prevail over Satan, the gates of hell,
the demons of hell, and the influence of hell in their generation,
in the hearts of chosen men. What is this power? It's at least
these things. Number one, The power and authority
Christ gives his servants is the power of the gospel we preach. Paul said the gospel of God.
I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ because it's the power of God to salvation. We preach
Christ crucified to bend beneath the power of God, the power of
God. The Word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. The power of God by which
we serve Him is not the power of our learning, it's not the
power of our speech, it's not the power of our logic, it's
not the power of our reason. The power by which God establishes
His kingdom in the hearts of men is this book, His Word. And all God's prophets had the
same message. All of them. Read the first nine
verses of Isaiah chapter 40. Ron preached a message, a very
good message to you on it a few weeks ago. Might be a few months
now. I'm at that age. I don't remember.
But I remember hearing the tape. Very good message. The message
we preach, the message all God's prophets preach is this. Redemption accomplished by that
man sitting yonder on the throne of glory for the comfort of the
hearts of believing sinners. We preach Christ crucified. See
him? He has spinkled the mercy seat
with his blood and obtained eternal redemption for us. And we preach,
every one of God's prophets preach. What shall I call the preacher
saying? All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. You remember Jesse Jackson when
he was, I hate to use him for an example of a preacher, and
I hope somebody send this tape to him and tell him I said so.
He akin to one. But when he was running for president,
talking about a joke, when he was running for president, I
heard him at a rally one night, he was up talking, he said, repeat
after me, I am somebody, I am somebody. Everybody just, I am
somebody, whoopee, hallelujah, I am somebody. You ain't nobody,
nothing, just withering grass. But look at me. That's the flower
of the grass. Still just grass. But look what
I've done. That's the flower of the grass.
Wait till God blows on your flower. The message we preach, behold
your God. Quit looking to yourself. Behold
your God. Holy, righteous, just, and true,
gracious, merciful, kind, and good. Behold your God. And that's the power by which
God causes his servants to triumph over others. This power, this
authority, is the power of the anointing of God the Holy Spirit
upon that man by whom he speaks. Paul said, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and the power. Our word, our gospel came not
to you in word only, but in power, and in much assurance, and in
demonstration of the Holy Ghost. And thirdly, turn over to 2 Timothy. No, let's go to Galatians 1,
Galatians 1. This power, this authority arises
from a confident faith, confident faith. I remember sitting in services
one time at a Bible conference with my old pastor, Brother Tamley
Davis, sitting beside me, and some fellow got up and took some
deep text and was going to impress everybody with his learning and
his theological acumen and his knowledge of the Greek and the
Hebrew. And when he got up there, he'd been talking a little while,
and he was trying his best to work something up, and it wouldn't
work. And Chandler leaned over, and he said, he hadn't been up
there five minutes. I knew he had soaked the wooden
lather. The reason is just this. Men
speak dilly-dallying with the things of God and dilly-dallying
with the souls of men. attempting to impress men, attempting
to get the applause of men because they have no confidence that
they themselves have been taught of God. You've been listening to me preach
for 22 years. Not one of you has ever heard me stand up here
or sit in my office and say, you know, I've been studying
and I've searched this thing out and I've come to a new position. I don't deal in positions. I
leave my study in Back Yonder. I come out here with something
God's taught me. And I speak to you with confidence because
I've been taught of God. And if I hadn't been taught about
God, I don't tell you. I'm not here to debate things.
I'm here to help your souls. Look in Galatians 1 verse 11. Paul is confronting the Judaizers
at Galatia. He's confronting those men who
dared to come, though they had the backing of the religious
world behind them. Though they had the backing of
the Jews themselves. Going among the Gentiles, Paul
comes and confronts them head on. face to face declaring salvation
by free grace alone, and this is how committed he is. He confronts
them like a man confronting a lion without the least bit of shaking
in his boots. And he says this, I certify you,
brethren, the gospel which I preach is not after men. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He is not suggesting I never
heard a man preach the gospel. He heard Stephen preach it. I
don't want to say it. He's saying what I heard Stephen
say is not how I learned it. He's saying the voice of Stephen,
not one who taught it. I didn't learn this thing by
studying books. I didn't learn this thing at the feet of Gamaliel.
I didn't learn this thing because I took what I had been taught
and I finally worked it out and figured it out and I came up
with this doctrine. Oh no, I heard God speak and God wrote it on
my heart. And therefore I've come here
not to debate with men but to tell you this how it is and spoke
with authority. The authority God gives to his
servants, the power by which they preach, is the power and
the authority of true, genuine meekness. Now I don't know how on earth
to deal with this properly. But I'm going to tell you this,
the meekest man of whom the scriptures speak was the most confident, influential,
powerful, feared man who walked on the earth in his day. His name was Moses. But what is this meekness? It
is the meekness of a man who knows whose he is. who he is and what God requires
him to do. That means you better get out
of the way, the steamroller's coming. That means he's not going
to count anybody. That means he's not going to
bow and scrape to anybody. That means he's not going to
try to figure out a way to get you to pretty please accept what
he has to say. That means he's not going to
come to you and say, now, if I say this wrong, if I don't,
Oh no. Lord, what shall I say to Pharaoh?
And what shall I say to Israel? Moses, you go tell them, I Am
has sent you. What? Go tell them, I Am has
sent you. I believe I will. And soon he walked out of Israel,
or walked out of Egypt with four million Jews behind him. Walked
out, dry shot, used of God. All right, now secondly, and
I'll be very brief for these next things. God's prophets are
men who know their work and stick to it. Verse two, he sent them
to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. I don't know
anything about anybody else's work, don't pretend to. Fellow lives long enough to do
anything, get to be 50 years old, he ought to learn that he
doesn't know much about anything. But I don't pretend to be a man
of learning, I don't pretend to be a theologian, I don't pretend
to be a historian, I don't pretend to be a man with a gigantic mind,
but I know exactly what God's called me to do. I know exactly
what I must do as God's servant to your soul. I know exactly
what this congregation's responsibility is. I don't have any hesitancy
about it. And I know that for me, the Lord
God has committed the glorious gospel of his dear son to my
trust and to the trust of this congregation. What an awesome
thing. God's committed the gospel of
his glory to this assembly, to this preacher. That I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And that requires
three things from me. Three things. It requires incessant
study. studying the scriptures, seeking
to know the mind of God revealed in scripture, seeking a message
from God for you day by day as we gather here, seeking a message
from God for the places where he sends and opens a door for
the gospel to be preached. It involves prayer. I don't know much about this
thing of prayer. But I know that most everything
I've ever heard men say about it is wrong. I know that most
everything I've ever read about it is dead wrong. Totally contrary
to the spirit of the scriptures. Totally contrary. But I know
this much about it, buddy. Prayer is walking before God. Recognizing your utter inability
to do anything, seeking his direction, seeking his will, depending on
him earnestly with all your heart, and in doing so, making intercession
for his people. It's not, it's not kneeling down
and saying, well, I read something the other day about a fellow,
an old man, and I don't mean by this to say something bad
about him. I just, I know the influence
of religion. Doctor told him he was, he's
going to die. Said he only had 30, 45 minutes
to live and he'd be gone. And the old man, He said, well,
get me out of the bed. Let me get on my knees and spend
my last 30 minutes in prayer. It'd be all right, spend it in
bed. You can pray just as well in bed as you can on your knees.
The act of bowing down and repeating words is not prayer. It just isn't. Prayer is the
cry of a heart. God is touch. And he finds in
his heart to call on God. When God puts prayer in your
heart, you only guess about it. Kind of like when God gives you
a message to preach. You only have to guess about
this. God did it. God did it. And it involves preaching. Preaching. Just preaching. Just preaching. Oh, would to God preachers might
learn to give themselves to study and prayer and preaching incessantly. God helping me, I'm determined
for the glory of God, for the gospel sake, for your souls,
for this congregation. for the kingdom of God at large
to let nothing and no one turn me aside from this glorious work. Too important, too important. If they elect liberals in every
political stand, from here to Washington, around the world,
who despise all things that we consider to be right and upright,
ain't gonna change what I do. If they open abortion clinics
on every corner of every city in the United States of America,
ain't gonna change what I do. If they have strip joints and
porno shops on every corner in Danville, Kentucky, ain't gonna
change what I do. I'm here to preach the gospel
to you. And if the gospel of God's grace finds root in your
heart and brings forth fruit of life to your soul, the strip
joints and the liberals and the politicians and the porno and
the abortion and all the nonsense, not going to affect you one bit.
It's just not going to affect you. Thirdly, those men who are called
and sent of God to preach the gospel, are men who care for men. These
apostles went forth preaching the gospel and healing the sick. I can't heal your diseases, and it's best that I can't. I can't do it. But I tell you what I can do. And honestly, by the grace of
God, I do. Not like I want to, not like
I should, but I do. I carry your needs in my heart. When you hurt, your pastor hurts. When you weep, your pastor weeps.
Often he weeps when you walk to and don't know it. I care for your bodies and your
souls. Care for the needs of your family,
your sons and daughters, the young ones and the older who
are scattered. I pray for them. Care for the needs of your hearts. That's called pastoring. And for that reason, I relentlessly
give myself to this work of study and prayer and preaching. Because
you see, running around and trying to visit with you, now don't
misunderstand this. If you need me, you call me any
hour of any day. If I can be of help to you, I'm
there. But just running around, socializing, sipping coffee,
and visiting old ladies and old men, and sitting down and talking
to folks who've got nothing to do, and spending all my time
doing that, is not ministering to your soul. That's the reason
deacons were appointed, to take care of those things. So that
pastors can give themselves continually to prayer, to doctrine, and the
word. Because if I minister to your
soul's needs, Rex, heal. I've ministered to your life's
needs, achanda. And if I don't minister to your
soul's needs here by the word, everything else I do is just
playing games with your soul, and I haven't ministered to your
life's needs, achanda. Fourthly, men who are called
and gifted of God set out to preach the gospel. must live
for the gospel and by the gospel. Our Lord told them to take nothing
for your journey. Take nothing for it. Don't put any money in your bag.
Don't take the bag with you. Don't take too close. Don't even
provide bread for yourself. Well, how are we going to live?
They didn't even ask the question. They just took off. He sent me. He sent me. And he told me not
to provide a thing for me. That means I'm his. You'll take
care of it. You'll take care of it. And he did.