Deuteronomy chapter 18. We're
going to look at the first eight verses, but let's begin and read
the first five verses together. Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse
5. And let's look at this tonight
from the sense of maintaining public worship, because I think
this applies to the public worship as much as anything else, and
we will see that in other parts of the scripture. Deuteronomy
chapter 18 and verse 1, the priests, the Levites, and all the tribe
of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. They
shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no
inheritance among their brethren. The Lord is their inheritance,
as he hath said unto them. And this shall be the priest
due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether
it be an ox or a sheep. And they shall give unto the
priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the ball, they
tell us that is the stomach, the firstfruits also of thy corn,
and thy wine, and thine and the first or best of the fleece of
thy sheep shall they give unto him. For the Lord thy God hath
chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name
of the Lord him and his sons for ever." I think this shows us, and as
we will look over in the other portions of Scripture, the value
that the Lord placed on public worship. One of the most important
aspects of the Jewish life, and you see this all the way through
even in the New Testament, was public worship. When they came
into the land of Canaan, these were instructions to maintain
public worship. And the priests and the Levites
were a big part, probably the chief part, in maintaining public
worship. The tribe of Levi, was used greatly
of God to maintain public worship. Now, you remember who the tribe
of Levi was. Jacob had twelve sons. One of
his sons was named Levi. And out of that tribe, the Lord
chose them to maintain the public worship. The priests came out
of this tribe. Aaron was the first priest, the
first high priest. He was a Levite. And all the
other priests came out of the family of Aaron. So here you
have the priests. They were Levites, and you have
the Levites. And verses 1 and verse 2 tells
us that the tribe of Levi had no inheritance with Israel. Now, they could buy small sections
of land, small plots of land. They could buy their houses.
They needed small plots of land. They needed houses. They could
buy that, especially in the suburbs of some of the larger cities.
But the tribe of Levi was not given huge plots of ground. When the Lord divided the land
of Canaan and a portion of the ground east of Canaan, they gave
it to the eleven tribes. They divided it to the eleven
tribes, but they left Levi out. He had no inheritance with the
children of Israel. They were chosen of the Lord
to minister in public worship, and therefore God commanded the
other eleven tribes to maintain this tribe of Levi. The priest's
duty mainly was the sacrifices. He had other duties that he attended
to, but mainly his duties were to offer the sacrifices, to kill
the beast and offer the sacrifices. Among his other duties, that
was the main duty. Then in the priest you have the
high priest. Remember the high priest? They
chose a high priest out of the priesthood, and it was the high
priest only that could go in to the holiest of holies on the
Day of Atonement to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. The
Levites' job mainly was to maintain the temple. They had other jobs. They taught and did other jobs
in the ministry, but that was their main job was to maintain
the place of worship. And now verses 3 and verse 4
describes the portion of their support. This is not all their
support, but they were to have the shoulder, the maul, the stomach,
and he tells us here in verse 3, the two cheeks. And then they were to bring certain
meals to them, the first fruits that came out of the field and
the wine and the oil and things like that. This wasn't all their
maintenance, but this was a portion of it. And here in verse 5, he
tells why the Lord commanded these other tribes, the ten tribes,
to provide support for the tribe of Levi, because He chose them.
He chose them to minister before Him all the days of their lives
and their sons. So therefore, they were to take
care of the tribe of Levi. Now can you imagine how important,
don't this show us how important the importance that God put upon
public worship? That he set aside this whole
tribe and their work mainly and mostly was to maintain the public
worship. If the other tribes were neglectful
in supporting the tribe of Levi, what happened? then the Levites
couldn't maintain the worship. What happened if they couldn't
maintain the worship? Then the public worship of God
was diminished. And that happened so often. Sometimes
Israel, under backslidden condition, would forsake the Lord. And the
evidence was, when they forsook the Lord, that the public worship
suffered. The temple became empty. They would cease to support the
priest and the Levites and the place of worship would fall into
disarray and the doors would be shut and God would cease to
be worshiped publicly. Now that's why this is so important,
this lesson tonight. I want you to take your Bibles
and read some places with me and I just want to familiarize
you with this just for a little bit so when you read your Bibles
you'll be aware of this. Look in 2 Chronicles. Chapter 29. There was a wicked king by the name
of Ahaz, and he hated the Lord. He hated the worship of the Lord.
He collected all the holy vessels in the temple and cut them up. He used the temple for a trash
heap. He literally let them bring him
the trash and dump it in the temple. It got so indisarrayed
that finally he closed the doors and boarded them up. Nobody attended
public worship anymore in the temple. That was a sad, sad hour
in Jewish history. But here in the 29th chapter
of 2 Chronicles, his son by the name of Hezekiah, I want to just
read this to you because it tells its own story. He began to seek
the Lord. He was a lover of the Lord. The
Lord had saved this man. It opened his heart and saved
him. And he purposed in his heart that he's going to restore the
public worship of God, the covenant God. And here's what happened.
Look in verse 1, 2 Chronicles 29. We'll skip through these
places and just read the highlights. Hezekiah began to reign when
he was 5 and 20 years old, 25 years old, a young man. And he
reigned 9 and 20 years, 29 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's
name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all
that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign,
in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord,
and repaired them." And notice the first thing he did after
that. And he brought in the priest and the Levites, and gathered
them together unto the east street, and said unto them, Hear ye,
hear me ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify
the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth
the filthiness out of the holy place. For your fathers have
trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord
our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces
from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also
they have shut up the doors of the ports, and put out the lamps,
and have not burned incense, nor offered burnt offerings in
the holy place unto the Lord God of Israel. Wherefore, the
wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered
them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as you see with
your eyes this day. And then he tells them to call
for the other priests and the other Levites, and he gets them
together. He sends out word for the priest
and the Levites. Why did he send out word for
the priest and the Levites? They were the principles in maintaining
public worship. The house was full of filthiness.
Who else was to clean it up but these priests and these Levites?
So look in verse 15, And they gathered their brethren, and
sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment
of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house
of the Lord. And the priests went in unto
the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and
brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple
of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the
Levites took it to carry it abroad unto the brook of Kidron." Remember,
this was the same brook our Lord Jesus passed over the night He
went from the garden of Gethsemane. Remember that? He went into the
garden. He passed over this brook. That's where they threw this
trash out of their houses, out of the temple. Now look in chapter
30. Hezekiah is having a revival. He calls for the priests. They
cleanse the temple. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel
and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that
they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep
the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. For the king had taken
counsel and his princess and all the congregation in Jerusalem
to keep the Passover in the second month. For they could not keep
it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves
sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together
to Jerusalem. And the Fang pleased the king
and all the congregation, so they established a decree to
make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Bathsheba even
to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the
Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, for they had not done it of a
long time in such short sort as it was written. Then the post
went out, telling them that the King has a message. Everybody
is to come to Jerusalem. Well, look in verse 10. This
reminds you of the Gospel, doesn't it? When the Lord Jesus sent
His servants out and said, Come, for all things are ready, the
kings made up Feast for His Son. Come for all things are ready.
But look in verse 10. So the poles pass from city to
city throughout the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even to
Zebulon, but they like them to scorn and mock them. Come to
the public worship. We've sanctified the temple.
The priests and the Levites have carried out all the rubbish.
We're ready to celebrate the Lord's presence. We're ready
to celebrate the Passover. But they said, you go do it yourself.
We've got our own lives to live. And they mocked them to scorn.
Verse 11, Nevertheless many of Ashtor, and Manasseh, and Zebulon
humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the
hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandments
of the king and of the princess by the word of the Lord. And
there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast
of unleavened bread, in the second month a very great congregation. Now look in chapter 31 and look
in verse 2. And Hezekiah appointed the courses
of the priest and the Levites after their courses, every man
according to his service, the priest and the Levites for burnt
offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks
and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord. He appointed
also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings,
that is, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and
the burnt offerings for the Sabbath and for the new moons and for
the feast days, as it is written in the law of the Lord. Moreover,
he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the
portion of the priest and the Levites that they might be encouraged
in the law of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment
came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the
firstfruits of corn, and wine, and oil, and honey, and of all
the increase of the field, and the tithe of all things brought
they in abundantly. And concerning the children of
Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also
brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy
things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and
laid them by heaps. They got heaps of them they brought
in so much. In the third month they began to lay the foundation
of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. And when
Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed
the Lord and his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned with
the priest and the Levites concerning the heaps. And as arrived the
chief priest of the house of Zadok, answered him, and said,
Since the people begin to bring the offerings into the house
of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty,
for the Lord hath blessed his people, and that which is left
is this great heap." See how they maintain public worship.
It was in awful disarray, and here comes this man Hezekiah.
He got the priest and the Levites together. They cleansed the temple.
They invited the people to come back to the public worship, and
those that God gave a heart to came back, and they celebrated
the Passover, and they began to bring all the offerings in
the house of the Lord. The portion for who? The priests
and the Levites. They were doing everything necessary
to maintain the public worship of the Lord. That's what they
were doing. I want to show you one more passage
in this area. I want you to turn right over
to your right, just a little bit further. Keep turning, and
the next book you'll come to is the book of Ezra. Then the
next book is the book of Nehemiah. Now I want you to look in the
thirteenth chapter. You see this happen in different places as
you read the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Israel. They'd fall
into this awful, backslidden condition. They would forsake
the public worship of the Lord, and the priests then and the
Levites would forsake their duties, or sometimes it went right the
reverse. Sometimes the people kept bringing
the offerings in to the priests and the Levites. And what the
Levites did, they were ungodly. I'll give you a good example
of that. Remember Eli the priest and his sons? Remember when Eli
was an old man and his two sons were priests? They were sons
of the devil, the Scripture says. Sons of Belial. And they were
supposed to not eat the fat. They were forbidden to eat the
fat. They brought the sacrifices and they burned the fat. These
two men were so ungodly, they sent their servants to people's
houses and out in the courtyard where they were cooking the sacrifices
and said, tell them we want the raw meat with the fat. And they
told him, they said, you can't do that, you've got to burn the
fat. And they said, if they don't give it to you, take it. That
was these two priests. Then they brought the fat and
fixed it for themselves and ate the fat. And the people began
to despise the sacrifice. They said, why even go up to
Jerusalem, to the temple, to worship and offer these sacrifices?
It's so corrupt up there anyway. So they quit going. So you had
to write the reverse. The priest is the one that began
the downgrade controversy. But here, in Nehemiah chapter
13, Nehemiah came back out of captivity, him and a great host,
to build the wall. The temple had been built. They
came down to build a wall, and they had a rotten priest. Eliab,
I think, was his name, if my memory serves me right. But Tobiah
was this Ammonite, a wicked man. And they had a place on the edge
of the Lackalene Tube, you could reckon it, on the side of the
temple. It was a place where they kept
the offerings for the priest. And this guy, this priest, he
cleansed that out and made a room for his friend, this Ammonite,
that was forbidden to even come into the worship of the Lord.
And boy, Nehemiah was gone for a while and he came back. He
came back. And you talk about a rough fellow.
I wish somebody would make a movie out of this sometime so we could
watch the reality of how rough this man was. Well, he came back
and he saw what had happened. And look what he did in verse
7. And I came to Jerusalem. Chapter
13 and verse 7. I came to Jerusalem and understood
of the evil that Elisha did for Tobiah. in preparing him a chamber in
the courts of the house of the Lord. And it grieved me so therefore
I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded that they cleanse
the chamber. And further brought I again the
vessels of the house of the Lord with the meat offerings and the
frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites
had not been given them. For the Levites and the singers
that did the work were fled every one to his fields." See what
happens? See what happens when the people
didn't care about the public worship? They quit bringing their
support to the Levites and the priests. So what did the Levites
do? They said, we're going to starve
to death. So they left the temple. They left their jobs and they
went to till the land, to grow some vegetables and fruits to
live on. And verse 11, Then consented I with the rulers, and said,
Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together,
and set them in their place, and brought all Judah the tithes
of corn, and the new wine, and the oil, and to the treasure. These are some interesting stories,
and I guess we could ask the question right here, what does
this have to do with us? in the New Testament age, in
the New Testament time? Well, maintaining the public
worship of God. God our Savior is just as important,
it's just as critical for us today as it was for Israel of
old. And where the public worship
of God is forsaken, it's indicative of a sick church. It's indicative
of a sick church. Many things are involved in maintaining
public worship. Let me give you two or three.
What's involved in maintaining the public worship? We know what
was involved of old around the temple and the priests and the
Levites and the people. What's involved in maintaining
the public worship in New Testament times? Well, first of all, there
has to be saints, don't it? There has to be those who are
saved believers. those who God has called out
from this world and revealed the Lord Jesus Christ to them.
You've got to have saved people to have a public assembly where
people gather to worship God. If there's no saints here tonight,
there's no public worship. It's vain. God is worshiped in
spirit and in truth, and no lost man can worship God that way. Paul said this, upon the first
day of the week when the disciples were gathered together." The
disciples of Christ were gathered together. It is saints that come
together. Lost people are more than welcome.
We beg people that are lost to come to the public worship. But
I tell you, where there are no saints, there is no church. And where there is no church,
there is no worship. where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. So the apostle
tells us in Hebrews 10, 25, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together. He is speaking of the saints.
Assemble yourselves together. And for 2,000 years now, believers
on the Lord's Day, especially on the Lord's Day, This is like
icing on the cake here tonight. This is a little extra, but I
love it. This is one of my favorite services, midweek services. But
for 2,000 years on the Lord's day, the saints have been gathering
together to maintain the public worship of the everlasting God. For 2,000 years that's happened. That's what we're doing here
tonight is maintaining public worship. That's the first thing.
You've got to have some saints. You've got to help save people.
And I tell you, brothers and sisters, I'd rather be among
two or three of God's children that know and love Jesus Christ
and His gospel and worship with them than I would a cathedral
full of lost people. The second thing that's necessary
in maintaining public worship of God is this, a place. A place. In the Old Testament,
they had a temple. They have their synagogues, that's
where they gather, the public place. We must have a place. Now there's a few people, I know,
I bet there's not a one here, but there's a few people that put no interest, put no
concerns upon a place at all. We don't need a place. You keep
talking about a place. But you know that only applies
to those people in public worship. They'd never say, I don't need
a place to live. I don't need a table to eat at.
I don't need a bed to sleep in. I don't need a place to work.
It just applies to the public worship, doesn't it? There must
be a place where the saints gather together. You and I know something
about not having a place to worship, don't we? Remember when we used
to go from house to house? You don't remember that, do you?
Yeah, you remember that, don't you? Yeah, you remember that.
You know, looking back on those days now, that frightens me.
And what frightens me is because that's just not God's way to
go from one place to another place. There's a place that's
designated for God's people to worship. The Bible teaches a
local church, doesn't it? There was the church at Corinth.
There was the church at Odyssey. Fallen into disarray, but it
was there. And when you went into these
towns and these communities, you would say, where does the
church of Christ meet? And they'd say, they've got a
place right over here. Over here is the place where they meet.
Paul said, when you come together unto one place. There's a place. There's a place
designated where the Lord's saints gather together. And when you
saw the temple neglected, that's a bad sign, wasn't it? That's
a bad sign. Boy, when you went and the Jews
hadn't come out of the communities and gathered there at the temple,
you went there and there's just a handful of people there, boy,
that's a bad sign, wasn't it? That's a sign that something
was going on in the hearts of the people that wasn't good.
Public worship is critical. Doesn't it mean something to
us? It means something to God. That's what these passages are
teaching us. We have our private worship.
How blessed it is to be alone with the Lord Jesus Christ, just
to steal away in some portion of the day, to be in His presence,
to know His presence. But those who know His presence
in private want to know something about His presence in public
worship too, don't they? And I think the same Spirit of
God that leads us into private worship in our studies, in our
closet, is the same Spirit that leads us into public worship,
maintaining public worship. People, you've got to have saints,
you've got to have a place. It may be in the house. It may
be in a building like this, but there is a place. There's a place. And thirdly, it's a public worship,
and it's maintained in many different ways. One is by giving of our
finances. We don't say very much around
here about that. We don't have to do it. But the Bible says
a lot about that. We take time out of our busy
schedule, our jobs, our cares, our pleasures, and we assemble
ourselves to worship God publicly, and when we do, we give of what
God has given to us. Paul said, 1 Corinthians 16,
2, Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay
by him in store, as God has prospered him. That is what we do with
that little box back there. Curtis came up to me, son, and
said, what do you guys give around here? And I said, there's a little
box there. Drop it in the box. We give of
our finances as God has prospered us. Why do we do that? It maintains
the worship. You can't pay the bills on this
building. You can't give money sometimes
to the poor. You can't support the missionaries
if people don't give. And the Lord's people love to
give. because they know what God is
going to give. We gather in decency. We gather
in order to maintain public worship. We sing and make melody in our
hearts to the Lord. We sing aloud to the Lord with
our lips. We pray. We read. We preach. We teach. We seek
the honor of our God in Christ to edify one another. to encourage
one another to love and do good work? And this is of vital importance
for the New Testament church, just as vital as it was to Israel
of old. How vital was it that they maintained
their public worship? It was crucial, wasn't it? It
was crucial. But it's just as crucial in the
New Testament church to maintain public worship as it was for
them in those days. This is the most important aspect
of my life. Public worship. Public worship. Sometimes there's physical labor
in maintaining the worship of the Lord. Not as much, I guess,
of old men. They had to carry the sacrifices.
Sometimes they rode on horses or donkeys or walked for miles.
to get to the public worship. But there's still physical labor
in maintaining public worship. I'm just sharing some of these
things with you. Some of you may not know this, but somebody
has to take care of the offering that's put in that box back there.
Somebody has to take that offering to the bank. Somebody has to
keep record of it. Somebody has to write checks and pay the bills.
Somebody has to clean this building. Somebody has to mow this yard.
There's physical work to be done. All of that's involved in maintaining
the public worship. You say, I don't want to do any
of that. Well, Israel didn't either when they baptized. They
didn't, did they? They wanted to stay home. They
quit attending public worship. They didn't have a heart to it.
But boy, when the Lord visited His people and they had their
awakenings and their revivals, There was these heaps. Everything
that was done needed to be done, and everybody had a heart to
maintain public worship. What does it take to maintain
public worship? I don't know what all it takes.
God give us hearts to do it, whatever it takes. Whatever support,
whatever work that needs to be done, the Lord give us hearts
to maintain public worship. If we quit worshiping in public,
I'm sick. I'm a sick man. The Holy Spirit
is grieved. And you and I will look back
on the good old days and may never see them again in this
life if we close the doors to this place. I talk to people sometimes, know
some churches in different places. It comes to my mind. There just
used to be large congregations, used to be some like this. But
now they're just down to four or five people left. And they're
ready to close the doors. And ain't that sad? That is really
sad. That saddens me. And it grieves
me. But what saddens me most is not
just for the people, but for the glory of God is not publicly
worshipped in that place anymore. I want you to turn back to our
text for the second thing and the final thing. Deuteronomy
chapter 18, verses 6 and 8. These eleven tribes were to support
the tribe of Levi, the priest and the Levite. And the tribe
of Levi, in turn, was to serve in the ministry. And they didn't
get in the ministry just to make a living. They got into the ministry
because the Lord put them there. The Lord chose them to it and
called them to it. I want you to look at this. Here
is a perfect example of a good Levite. Look in verse 6, 7 and
8 of Deuteronomy 18. And if a Levite come from any
of thy gates out of all Israel where he sojourned, and he come
with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord
shall choose. The first thing about these messages,
what was it? Boy, he had a burning desire
in his heart to minister to the people. He didn't say, I need
a check. He didn't send a letter to them
saying, let's work up a package. If you can satisfy me, then I'll
come. Why did he go? God had put it
in his heart. He had it in his heart to preach
the Gospel, to teach of the glory of God. It was in his heart.
Boy, you see these people getting into the ministry just to earn
a check. There have been people who did that until they faced
the reality of what was involved, and some of them have had nervous
breakdowns. Being in the ministry is a serious thing. If God hasn't
called you, you'll probably go crazy. If any man desires the office
of a bishop, he desires a good work. That's what this man wanted. Boy, he had this burning desire.
Verse 7, Then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God. He's not talking about himself.
He's not talking about what he's experienced, what his opinions
are. He's speaking in the name and
for the glory of the Lord his God. He's going to tell you what
the Lord said. That's what he's going to do. as all his brethren the Levites
which stand before the Lord. Look in verse 8. And they shall
have like portions to eat beside that which cometh of the sale
of his inheritance, his patrimony. He had some kind of inheritance. I don't know if it had been left
to him. They were allowed to buy houses or plots of land. But he sold it. He sold it. He sold his house, he sold his
little garden plot, and he said, I'm going to Jerusalem. And I'm going to preach. I'm
going to minister there at the temple. He wasn't dependent upon man. He was dependent upon the Lord.
And when a man steps out by faith, he better be looking to God,
hasn't he? He better not let man call him to preach or to
teach or to minister. He better be a looking to the
Lord for that. This man was. He was. So then what does the Lord command
them to do for this man? In verse 8, they shall have,
he shall have like portions to eat besides that which cometh
of the sale of his inheritance. They were to take care of this
man. They were to supply the tithes and the offerings to feed
Him. And the first sharing of the
sheep they gave to Him to clothe Him. They took care of this man. So He preached to them, and they
took care of Him. If He didn't do His business,
it wouldn't long, they wouldn't be doing their business. But
if they didn't support Him and take care of Him, it may not
be long. He quit preaching to them, too. I'm not pointing my
finger at me. I have to turn down. You guys
offered me raises. I don't know how many raises
in the last two or three years you've offered me. I don't need any
money from you. You've taken very good care of
me. And I appreciate that. I need your prayers. I need your
presence. I need your love. Your support in so many other
ways. But I don't need any more of your money. I'm not a televangelist
or anything like that. I want you to look right quickly.
This is such a blessing. I want you to look in 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. You can let your text go over
and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I was raised in a little free
will Baptist church. And they didn't believe in supporting
your pastors. They didn't believe in paying
preachers. They would give them a little free will offering,
and I've seen it laying on the altar. It wasn't very much. They said, we don't believe in
paying preachers. Well, looking back on that now,
I thought, how utterly ridiculous. You'd pay him to come and dig
a ditch. You'd pay him to build a barn or build you a house. But you won't pay him to take
some extra time and study the Word of God? You won't give him
some financial relief to help him, to give him some liberty
to study God's Word and know more about it, that he can come
and preach the gospel more clearly to you? Your ditches and your
barns and your houses, but not the gospel? Ain't that other
ridiculous? You know, from the very beginning,
our text teaches us that the Lord tells His people to support
the ministers of the Lord. Of all people, they're the ones
that need support. And look how Paul says it. Let's
just read some here in 1 Corinthians 9. Let's just begin reading in
verse 1 how he says it. It refers to our text in this
chapter. Am I not an apostle? Sure He
was. Am I not free? Yes, He was. Christ made Him
free. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? He saw Him on the road
to Damascus. Are not ye my work in the Lord? Yes, they heard
Him preaching and believed His gospel. If I be not an apostle to others,
yet doubtless I am to you. For the seal of my apostleship
are you and the Lord. My answer to those that do examine
me is this. There was these false apostles
coming to say, Paul is preaching for money. That's why he's preaching. And there's very few of these
people in this church that rose up to defend this blessed old
apostle. Very few. Ain't that sad? They
were examining him and putting him on trial and trying to convict
him of evil motives, preaching for filthy lucre. In verse 4,
he said, Have we not the right? the power to eat and to drink?
Have we not the right to lead about a sister, a wife, as well
as other apostles? Peter had a wife as the brethren
of the Lord and Peter. Are I only and Barnabas? Have
we not the right to forbear working? Can't we just quit working, stop
preaching, and let you support us? Who goes to warfare any time
at his own charge, at his own expense? You don't go into the
army and have to buy your own ammunition, do you? They support
you. Who plants a vineyard, and eateth
not of the fruit thereof? Or who feeds a flock, and eateth
not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man,
or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the
law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care of oxen? Or
saith he it altogether for our sake? For our sake, no doubt,
this is written. that he that plows should plow
in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partakers of
his hope. If we have sown into you spiritual
things, is it a great thing that we should reap your material
things, your carnal things? If others be partakers of this
power over you, are not we rather? We have not used this power,
but we suffer, we endear all things, lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things, the Levites and the priests, they
live of the things of the temple? And they which wait at the altar
are partakers of the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But
look at this, but I have used none of these things. Not with
them he hadn't. He quit taking a dime off of them. Two or three
people sent him money. Neither have I written these
things that it should be done unto me. For it were better for
me to die than that any man should make my glory in void. For though
I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is
laid upon me. Yea, woe is me if I preach not
the gospel. He wasn't preaching for money,
was he? The Lord called him to preach, and that's why he was
preaching. But of all men, this man should
have been supported by all the churches. But this rotten church
here at Corinth let these rotten disciples and false prophets
come in and say, He's preaching for money. So he said, Don't
send me any of your money. I'll send it back to you. Had that to happen with Henry
Mahan one time in the church where we were. They ran him off. Then they sent him an offering. Boy, he sent it back to him with
a scathing rebuke. You're not sending me money to
soothe your conscience. You've turned the gospel away
from you. Look in another place right quick.
Look in Acts chapter 20. Look in verse 33. This is where
the Apostle Paul, and I'll quit with this. I've kept you away
too long. Acts chapter 20 and verse 33. This is where the Apostle
had gathered the Ephesian elders. They're at Miletus
and he says, you'll not see my face anymore. And here in verse
33, this is the last words he spoke to these dear people. Look
what he says, I have coveted no man's silver or gold or a
pearl. Yea, you yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to
give than to receive. Can you imagine this apostle
saying this? You yourselves know that these
hands have ministered to my necessity. Every awakened hour we never
find any place where this great apostle did not redeem the time Nobody traveled farther than
he traveled. He went all the time, established
more churches. He said, daily, the care of all
the churches come upon me. Writing epistles and all the
work that he did every awakened hour, where did he find time
to earn a living? To make tents and earn a living? I tell you, he was a great apostle.
He was a loving apostle, wasn't he? He was like this Levite. It was in his heart. His heart
burned to preach the Gospel of Christ. And no matter if anybody
supported him, it didn't matter. He wasn't looking to man. He
was looking to the Lord. And he said, my hands are labored.
Boy, I tell you, that had to be a rebuke to the Corinthian
church. Who would you rather be? Would
you rather be in this Corinthian church that had Not risen up
to defend him when he suffered these false accusations. Would
you want to be in that Galatian church that broke his heart when
they left the gospel and turned back to the works of the law?
I'd tell you a church I'd want to belong to. I'd want to belong
to the Philippian church. You know what Paul said to them?
None of the other churches communicated with me concerning giving and
receiving but you only." And he said, time and time again,
when I've been here in prison at Rome, you have sent unto my
necessities. And he said, when I got your
offerings, it was like a sweet-smelling savor, an offering to the Lord. That's the kind of church I want
to belong to, ain't you? One that sees the necessity of public
worship, of maintaining the public worship of God, and whatever
is needed to maintain that worship. Our presents, our finances, our
hearts, our prayers, our preaching, our reading, our teaching, whatever
it takes, God give us hearts. Because, brothers and sisters,
I think the most important aspect of our life, our public life,
It is right here where we are tonight. And the Apostle tells
us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in public
worship, especially as we see the dreadful time coming that
we've got to face. May the Lord bless His Word.