You can put a marker there to
hold your place for a few minutes. I want to preach to you tonight
on the subject, The Making of a Prophet. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
had accomplished redemption for us by the shedding of his blood,
when he had fulfilled all righteousness for us by his obedience to the
Father, when he had put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself,
he went again to heaven's glory, wearing human flesh. And he was
enthroned forever upon the throne of grace, king of glory. And
the scripture tells us in Ephesians 4, verse 11, that he received
gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. And the apostle, writing there
by inspiration, quotes from Psalm 68, a prophecy concerning the
ascension and glory of Jesus Christ, our King, the King of
Zion, the head of his Church. In that passage, in Ephesians,
the Holy Spirit tells us that our Lord's ascension gift to
his Church include apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists,
and prophets. Now, I have to concede that latter
theme has always been a bit of a difficulty to me. It's obvious
there are no continuing apostolic or prophetic offices in the strict
sense of the word. The last apostle in the official
capacity of an apostle, in the strict usage of the word, was
the Apostle Paul. The last prophet in the official
capacity of the word, in that strict usage of the word, was
John the Baptist. Evangelist. There's a lot of
confusion in our day. Folks think of an evangelist
as an itinerant preacher. Usually, a freelance preacher
who gives accounts to no one and has a responsibility to no
one, that's not an evangelist. An evangelist, as the term is
used in Ephesians 4, refers to what we commonly call missionaries. Brother Walter Gruber, Kote,
those are evangelists. They are men whose business it
is to establish gospel churches, whose business it is to raise
up elders and train them and teach them and establish them
in their places in various fields of ministry. pastors and teachers. Actually, the word probably is
best translated, if you could write it out in your mind this
way, pastor slash teacher. That's what the work is. A pastor
is the teacher of God's people in a local assembly. Pastors,
teachers, are those men called and gifted of God for the work
of the ministry, the preaching of the gospel, the teaching,
the edifying of God's saints in a local church. That is not
to say that there are not other men gifted and qualified and
called of God and placed of God to teach in his kingdom and in
his church. But there can't be but one voice
of instruction in a church. We have many men here who are
gifted of God to teach, many men here who are gifted to preach,
but none are in the position of being responsible for the
instruction of the church. And for that reason, they graciously
teach, recognizing their place in the congregation. It is the
pastor's responsibility to be the teacher in the kingdom of
God in that local place where he is put. And yet we come to
this term prophet because the term is given as an ascension
gift of Christ to his church. It's obvious that the word prophet
in Ephesians 4.11 does not refer to an office which ceased to
exist with John the Baptist before the Lord ascended. He says he
gave some apostles and prophets. It's very difficult to find anything
useful either being written or said today concerning the ministry
of these men. And as I look at this, I have
for years asked, what is a prophet? I believe the Lord's given me
some help. As it's used with regard to the New Testament era,
the prophet is a man with extraordinary gifts. They're men who have remarkable
understanding in the scriptures, men who have a keen awareness
of the times in which they live and the message required to meet
the need of the hour in which they minister. The work of the
New Testament prophet certainly is shrouded in indefiniteness
and lost in a fog of haziness because we ignore so much that's
written, and yet there's not a great deal written. If you
come back to Acts chapter 11, I'll have you look at a passage
here. We know the old definition of a fourth teller rather than
a foreteller. Folks say in the Old Testament
prophets were foretellers, in the New Testament they're foretellers,
and that's all right. We generally apply the term to
preachers and spokesmen as being spokesmen for God, they foretell
the revealed Word of God. But here is a distinctive calling,
a calling that is obviously separate from that of evangelist or pastor
or teacher, though certainly all of these offices may be joined
together in various circumstances. A prophet, in this distinct sense
of the word, appears to be a man distinctly gifted of God to lead
his people in crucial times, to lead them with boldness, with
authority, with confidence, that only God can give. Clearly there
was such a man in the early church. Look here in Acts chapter 11.
The apostle was writing to us, or Luke, rather, was writing
to us here about the church at Antioch, and in these days, verse
27, came prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch. and there stood up
one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that
there should be great birth throughout all the world, which came to
pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. There's a man who was
a prophet, come from Jerusalem up to the church at Antioch to
speak a word of prophecy. In chapter 13, in verse 1, there
are six more prophets named. And now there were in the church
that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas and
Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaan,
which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. Now, there have never been many
prophets, at least not many true prophets. But is there none? Is there not a prophet today?
Our times cry for extraordinary men with extraordinary gifts.
Are there none today to stand in the gap who will dare speak
for God and speak plainly for God? Never was there a greater
need, and never was the supply smaller. The prophet is a voice
in the wilderness. It's his business to sound the
trumpet, to proclaim the ideal, to declare the word of God plainly
and clearly. not to work on details or set
up programs. He doesn't devise ways and means. Other folks are gifted for that.
He doesn't belong to boards and committees. He's a solitary soul
and does his best work alone. He's not a parent. He's not a
puppet. He's not a promoter. I told somebody
the other day, I recall seeing an old preacher one time, an
older preacher anyway, much older than I was at the time, And he
was just standing by watching a creek just flow. He was just
watching it run. I looked at him, I walked up
to him, I said to him, what on earth are you doing? He said,
I'm just standing here admiring something. I don't have to push
prime or four to get it to move. Well, prophets are not promoters.
Prophets are not men who just puppet theology and puppet what
they've learned in school. is nothing but a puppet. That's all. If he tries to be
or do anything else, he's an embarrassment to himself and
everyone around him. He's not popular with politicians,
either in the state or in the church. He's not touted by dignitaries,
if necessary, for the glory of God and the good of his people,
only if necessary. But if necessary, he will look
here and square in the face and call him a fox, knowing it'll
cost him his life to do so. of prophets. He's an unreconstructed
rebel. He's an odd number in a day of
regimentation. He has no more patience with
mere religion than Isaiah had when he thundered out his words
in his day, or Amos had when he called Israel to come again
to Bethel. It is the prophet's business
to say what others cannot, will not, or at least dare not say.
The politician has his eye on the next election. instead of
the nation's welfare. Anyone here doubt that? The politician
has his eye on the next election, not your welfare. They're not
concerned about your welfare. If they're anywhere there's an
exception, I beg their pardon, but the exceptions are rare.
And the fact is most preachers are just like politicians. They're
more politician than prophet. They're more interested in your
approval than in your soul. They have their eyes on denominational
promotion, the next rung of the ladder. They walk and seek to
have the high seat in the synagogue, and love for you to call them
rabbi and father or doctor or something of the kind. The prophet,
he's only got one ax to grind, and it's the ax of holy scripture.
And he lays it to the root of every tree in the groves of man's
idolatry and seeks to lay the trees down. His subject never
varies, and he won't compromise. He won't compromise. I said to
the men of this congregation when they first came to speak
to me about coming here as pastor, and I said to you as a congregation
when I first came here to preach to you, if we have to compromise
the Word of God to make this thing go, we'll close up the
doors as far as I'm concerned. We'll pack it in. Quit. We're
not going to compromise God's Word, not for anybody, not for
any reason. Not going to do it. For the glory
of God's estate, there ain't no alternative. We simply do
not cow to men. The prophet knows his message
and it never varies. He declares to men, repent for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He looks men square in the face.
He doesn't seek to soothe men. He doesn't seek to make men feel
comfortable in religion, but rather to disturb them. His purpose
is not to give assurance, but to shake up false assurance.
His purpose is not to make men be at ease, but rather to make
them be disturbed if they have no reason for ease. His purpose
is to destroy every false refuge and direct you to the truth.
He requires all flesh as grass. He never pampers and honors and
seeks to promote flesh. I'm so sick of this religious
age in which we live. This God-hating, God-dishonoring
age where men honor everything under the sun except God and
his word. The prophet says, Behold your God, and lifts him high
for men to behold. The prophet calls men to behold
him, bow to him, worship him, trust him. Behold the Lamb of
God! He alone takes away the sin of
the world. As far as God's prophet is concerned,
the grass is no greener in the next pasture. He seeks no man's
office, no man's position, and no man's honor. His concern is
for the will of God, the glory of God, and the truth of God.
His concern is for God's kingdom, for God's people. Churches today
look for, seek, and want everything but a puppet. Churches these
days look for and get hirelings. I was sitting in a restaurant
a while back. I don't know whether Shelby overheard
them or not. I forgot even where we were, but we're sitting in
a restaurant And fella, here's somebody here locally, I forgot
who it was, good thing I did. The old man talking about, he
was preaching when they hired him another preacher. He said
they hired me one time. I thought that's a pretty good
description, what they did for you. Hirelings are hired, prophets
are not. Hirelings are bought and paid
for, prophets are not. Churches are looking for scholars
and specialists and socializers and showmen. What we need is
seers. some prophets who, like Isaiah,
have seen the Lord high and lifted up, who've seen God in his holiness,
themselves in their sinfulness, and the land in its uncleanness.
Oh, the prophet doesn't pack the house, he doesn't even cry. He doesn't produce impressive
statistics, he's not interested in counting noses. He may get
but a poor response when he preaches But whether folks hear or don't
hear, whether they hear or whether they forbear, one thing's certain,
those who know him, those who hear him, know that a prophet
has been in their midst. People don't crowd churches to
hear prophets. They'll crowd churches to listen to fellas
talk to them about Y2K, and they'll crowd churches to listen to fellas
talk to them about Saddam Hussein, and they'll crowd churches to
listen to fellas talk to them about the moon, or talk to them
about Pokemon, but not to your prophets. They'll crowd churches to watch
folks in this silly religious age. It's going to happen. Just hang on. You're going to
have folks already going to have live Christmas trees, grown men
and women. I mean, I'm talking about folks
as big as you and me, Joe. Go on, men and women. Standing
around with little candles in their hands, make live Christmas
trees and call it worshiping God. And folks will crowd in
to hear it and see it. Wasn't that wonderful? No, it
was abominable. It was abominable. And I hope
everybody in this town hears this tape next Sunday morning.
It's abominable. It's abominable. Doesn't matter
who does it or who promotes it, God's not in it. God's not in
a thousand miles of it. in this day of ear-rich religionists. Most everyone calls God's prophet
troublers in Israel. Folks have been calling me a
troubler since the day I first opened my mouth for God. That's
all right. I count it as an honor. It calls trouble. It calls trouble.
Wherever a prophet's voice is heard, I'll guarantee you trouble
comes, one kind or another. one time or another, is a trouble
in your heart, bringing you to repentance and faith in Christ,
a trouble in your heart of rebellion that will not bow to Christ.
You read this book one more time, wherever a man like John the
Baptist went, wherever the Apostle Paul went, one or two things
always happened, either a riot or revival. Nobody was indifferent
to God's prophets. Nobody. The prophet, never popular
with Pharisees, and it doesn't want to be. He doesn't kowtow
to them, he doesn't cater to them. Organized religion is never
so well organized as when it tries to silence the voice of
God's prophet. Never. I've watched it over and
over throughout the years. Man, you want to get folks organized?
You want to get them together? You announce. I guarantee you,
I guarantee you, thank God I had no concern for it happening,
but if you were to announce Ninja Campbell gets on the phone tonight
and starts calling on Wednesday night. We're going to have a
meeting and we're going to see if we can get Don Portman out
of the building. We're going to see if we can put him out.
We're tired of listening to him. I'll guarantee you everybody
who's ever thought about walking through the doors will be here.
Everybody, let's get it done. We're behind this thing. I see
it over and over again. Man, if they could, they'd pull
folks out of the grave and bring them in. Men are organized when it
comes to silencing God's prophets. Our Lord Jesus said, which of
the prophets had not your fathers persecuted? You are the children
of them that killed the prophets. So said the greatest of the prophets
to the Pharisees of his days. He said, from Abel to Zechariah,
prophets had been stoned while they were living and honored
when they were dead. We don't have much of it here,
but over in Europe and England particularly, There are statues
all over the place. We went over to Bedford Prison.
Our Bedford, where John Bunyan was in jail there, you can't
hardly call it a prison, just a little closet under a bridge,
and spent 12 years in prison. You know what they got there?
Got a big statue of John Bunyan. You know who built it? The folks
who put him in prison. Oh, but we honor the prophets.
No, no, you're just trying to cover up the sins of your fathers.
If you honored the prophets, you'd hear those who speak as
the prophets did. We love you mean our history, we love our
history. No, you love your name. If you
loved what was preached back then, you'd love it today. It's
exactly right. Prophet's not popular anywhere,
but especially not at home. All four of the gospel writers
tell us of our Lord's pronouncement, a prophet is not without honor,
save in his own country. and in his own house. Isn't it
strange that fellows today would imagine to fare better than our
Lord said they would? But the prophet does have his
reward, and so do those who hear them, follow them, and befriend
them, even if it's just a cup of cool water. And what our Lord
said, just a cup of cool water offered in the name of a prophet
has the prophet's reward. God will not overlook the prophet's
chamber where his unpopular persecuted servant is made to feel at home
and at ease as in his own family. These days there are lots of
candidates for the ministry. Oh, everybody wants to get in
the ministry. Lots of candidates for preachers. Everybody wants
to go to preacher school. Every mama wants her boy to be
a preacher. But there are not many candidates for Elijah's
mantle. His path is a tough path to walk in. There are many ways
of getting rid of prophets. John the Baptist's head is no
longer brought out on a silver charger for folks to look at.
We're refined. That would be repulsive. There
are smoother, more skillful, more cunning ways of silencing
lone dissenters like Micaiah in these days of refined malice
against God. Don't dare hang somebody up and
burn them at a stake, set a torch to them and watch them burn and
laugh. No, no, no, we're refined. We're refined. We're better than
that. No, your malice is just covered better. Some can even promote men into
silence. Success has stopped the mouths
of many when persecution couldn't stop it. Like John the Baptist,
the prophet. has a purpose. He's out to pull
down high places, build up low places, and make a way for the
Lord. His business is not so much theological
interpretation and precision as it is burning, penetrating,
personal application. He doesn't lecture about mustard,
He just makes a mustard poultice and puts it where the sower is.
The prophets. Others come to comfort when afflicted. The prophet comes to afflict
the comfortable. We're trying to accomplish these
days by pep and publicity and propaganda and promotion what
used to be done by preaching. Everything today, everything
under the shining sun is popular in religion except preaching.
Everything else, everything popular. You can make anything go except
preaching, gospel preaching. The world is full of trained
religious personnel. They call themselves preachers.
But we live in an age that cries for prophets. in whom the word of God burns
like fire in their bones. Men who carry in their souls,
in their hearts, the burden, the heavy, heavy, all-consuming
burden of the word of the Lord. Any young Elisha in line for
Elijah's medal will need the mind of a scholar, the heart
of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros. He may hurt those who like to
preserve the status quo, because he is a disturber of Israel. But nobody else can take his
place. Oh, may God give us some prophets. Maybe there's sitting
here some young Samuel. Maybe, as Rex indicated the other
night in his reading, when I'm dead and gone and my name is
long forgotten, there'll be some young Samuel. And the Lord will speak to him. And he will speak what he hears
God speak. That's what a prophet is. A prophet,
Gary, is a man who gets a word from God and he delivers it.
He delivers it. He doesn't just lecture on religion.
He doesn't just lecture on morality. He doesn't just lecture on theology.
He seeks and finds a way from God Almighty to speak to men
that they must hear. They must hear. Now let's look
briefly at Luke chapter 3. And I mean very briefly. And
I'll show you something about the making of a prophet. If you
learn nothing else, learn this. Prophets are made, called, gifted,
raised up by God at the time and in the place where they're
needed to prepare the way of the Lord. Now in the 15th year
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor
of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip
tetrarch of Ithcaria, and the region of Trachonitis, I presume,
and Messenius the tetrarch of Abilene, and Caiaphas being the
high priest, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias,
in the wilderness. And he came into all the country
about Jordan, preaching baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah
the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every
valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
ways shall be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation
of God. Here's the first thing. God raises
up a prophet when a prophet is desperately needed. He doesn't raise any up unless they're
needed. I can't think of a time in Scripture when God raised
up a prophet to twiddle his thumbs and sit team with old ladies,
coach little league ball teams, run businesses, or any of the
other nonsense that other men can do. God's prophets are raised
up to meet the crying need of his people. God raised up Moses
when Israel must come out of Egypt. That certainly was the
case here. In verses 1 and 2, the Holy Spirit
tells us that John the Baptist was sent into the world at a
time of abounding social, political, spiritual decadence. These men
who are described here Tiberius, Caesar, Pontius, Pilate, Herod,
and his brother Philip. Never has the world known more
abominably wicked men to be rulers in any time. Never. These fellows
would make Bill Clinton and the fellows we've got up here in
Washington today look like an Augustinian monastery. I mean,
these fellows were abominable. If these men were the rulers,
what must the people have been? And the church was in just exactly
the same sad shape. Caiaphas and Annas were both
high priests. Wait a minute, God's word said
just one high priest, told us who he was to be. But these were
enlightened days. These were days of great, great
understanding. And the word of God was irrelevant. The word of God didn't matter. The church and the priest and
the preachers and the religious leaders of the age did everything
They made every judgment, formed every doctrinal statement by
opinion polls, the opinion polls made among reprobate, unregenerate
men who had no regard for God. We must never be in despair regarding
the truth of God and the cause of God, no matter how bleak the
world may appear. That may be the time God sends
John the Baptist. Let us never allow the wickedness
of the age to deter us from work, which God's given us to do. This
is the age which he's raised us up to do the work in. And
what God has done in the past, he can do again today. When darkness
abounds, it's only a good background for him to show forth his blazing
glory in the face of Jesus Christ. A prophet is a man distinctly
called of God to his work. The word of God came to John. A message from heaven came upon
his heart, seized his soul, captivated his mind, and took over his life. He was separated to the work.
Paul said, I'm separated to the gospel, separated to it. God
has separated me to the work, and I keep separating myself
to Let nothing interfere. Let nothing, let nothing interfere. Let no other care intrude. I'm separated to the work. Prophet,
he's a man who knows the word of the Lord. The message of the
gospel burns in his soul. He's gifted of God to preach
it, apt to teach, and God puts him in the work. John was in
the wilderness and the word of the Lord came to John. God gives
him a healing. And God engages him in what he
has him to do. In verse 3, God's prophet is
a man with a message. A message from God demanding
the surrender of rebels to the throne of the great king. He
came into all the country, Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. That is preaching exactly what
you hear me preach here three times a week. The baptism of
repentance, confessing Christ as Lord. Confessing him because
I have repented of my own righteousness and my sin, I turn to God, trusting
him alone for life, salvation, and grace. Trusting his son alone
for righteousness and redemption. The baptism because of the remission
of sins. Not baptism so I can get my sins
remitted by ducking in some water. That's nonsense. But the baptism
because of the remission of sins. And God's prophet He's a man
who knows who he is and what he must do. He tells us in verse
4 and 5, a voice. Just a voice. Just a voice. Don't ever call me Dr. So-and-so. I'm kind of like that old boy
who got one of those doctor's degrees and a friend of mine
met him. He said, it's kind of like putting whipped cream on
fried onions. It just don't go. Dr. So-and-so. Reverend so-and-so,
what abomination, what abomination. For what are you? A voice, oh
God make me a voice, a voice from God to you. The voice by
which God Almighty speaks to men. Cry and prepare ye the way of
the Lord. I'm here to tell you, you must
prepare to meet God. You must prepare to meet God.
In his blazing glory, in his strict holiness, in his absolute
unbending, uncompromising justice, you must prepare to meet God.
Are you prepared to stand before God Almighty? I don't know, but
I'd find out. I'd sure find out. I'm here to
tell you the way, the path by which he comes to you, and by
which you must come to him. It's the path of absolute justice,
absolute righteousness. He will meet you only on terms
of justice satisfied, or else in terms of wrath and justice
executed. He'll even meet you on the terms
of righteousness brought in, on the terms of righteousness
consuming you. It's my business as God's ambassador
to your souls, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness
to fill up every valley, to pull down every barrier, to make every
crooked thing straight and every rough thing smooth, which stands
between you and God Almighty. What's a preacher? What's a prophet?
He's like that signpost in the Old Testament who had just been
nailed in the fork to the road that says, Refuge this way. That's
the way you get there. pointing to Jesus Christ the
Lord, God's prophet, is a man who goes about his work with
the confidence of absolute success, knowing full well that all flesh
shall see the salvation of God. You're going to see God's salvation
in Jesus Christ. Everybody here, everybody here,
you're going to see and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is to the glory
of God the Father. Now you've got two choices. You
can bow to Him and acknowledge Him as Lord, Savior, God's salvation
right now in repentance or faith. Or you can live with your fists
shoved square in God's face until you stand before Him in judgment
and He casts you into hell while you bow before Him and say, Amen!
He's Lord. He's right. Which will it be? Which will it be? God help you
now to trust his son for Christ's sake. Amen.