the first chapter of Romans. Now this congregation, this church family, whether I'm here or away, is
always on my mind and heart, continually. And I borrowed the words of the
Apostle Paul in Romans 1, verse 8, to express one thought to
you this morning. Paul says in verse 8, first,
first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. Literally. Your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. Your faith, your grace, your
generosity, your gospel, literally is spoken
of throughout the whole world. There are few churches in this
world that are as well known and well-loved and respected
more than the 13th Street Baptist Church of Ashland, Kentucky.
It's astounding to me when I hear from places all over the world
and visit in different places, people are not only aware of
this congregation, but they're knowledgeable of this congregation. Just this past two weeks in my
absence letters have come here from England, not from the missionary,
from some other people in England, along with the missionary from
Ireland, from the West Indies, from Mexico, from other places,
Australia, in New Guinea, a long letter from Calcutta, India, this church is ministering
in Calcutta, in a preacher's school in India. Your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. Verse 9, For God is my witness,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without
ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Not only
asking God to bless you, Not only asking God to minister to
you, but thanking God for you. Thanking God for you and for
your loyalty and faithfulness and dedication to him and to
his word. Another scripture I'd like to
read is 1 Thessalonians 1. 1 Thessalonians 1. Again, the words of the Apostle
Paul, and he's speaking of an assembly, of a congregation,
of a church. I know people say, don't brag
on people. I'm not bragging on anybody,
I'm thanking God for somebody. And I'm also giving thanks to
somebody without whom I wouldn't have a ministry or a place to
preach. or the opportunity to preach.
Paul did it. He said, I thank God for you.
Notice here in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 2, we give thanks to
God always for you all. Who's he talking to? Church of
Thessalonica. Making mention of you in my prayers. Remembering without ceasing.
I remember your work of faith. I remember your labor of love.
I remember your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God and our Father. And I know, brethren, beloved,
your election of God. I have evidence of it. Our gospel
didn't come to you in word only, but in power. Life-changing,
heart-gladdening power, Holy Spirit power, assurance. Verse
6, and you became, you came to be followers of us in the Lord.
In verse 7, you became examples to other believers, examples
in your faithfulness, in your generosity, in your love, in
your attitude. In verse 8, from you, from you,
from this little assembly, has sounded out the word of the Lord,
not only in Ashland, Boyd County, the state of Kentucky, Macedonia,
but in every place. Your faith to God is spread abroad
so that we know not to speak anything. I have this week also received
word, and this to me is astounding. It's astounding. I've received
word that our Sunday School lessons, this thing has just gone so much
further than I expected. Through your support and help
and enabling, Bill Clark wrote and said they're already translating
our Sunday School lessons, those Bible class commentaries, into
French and Portuguese. that they're so pleased with
the books that have been printed in English, and all six of them
will be finished this year. But they're already translating
Bob Romans into French, which will cover all of Africa, and
Portuguese. That's the 13th Street Baptist
Church Sunday School lesson. And that thrills me. And our
tapes all over the world, and our I received a letter from
a pastor on St. Kitts. This is not Dan Shanks.
This is our friend, Brother Connors, who pastors the First Baptist
Church on St. Kitts in the West Indies, a black
pastor, a beloved pastor of a congregation that has been there 25 or 30
years. You'll like this. He said, Dear
Brother Mahan, this letter comes to you from the big, black, bashful,
busy, broke bachelor, baptized Baptist Bishop of Bastair, West
Indy. This is my first letter to you,
and I want to thank you for writing to me. I wrote him and sent him
our books. I visited his church last month. Your visit to our
church that Sunday was a real blessing. It was an honor to
have the servant of the Lord in our little village Baptist
church. His church is bigger than this church. It's four or
five hundred people there that Sunday morning. Your television
program has been a rich, quite a rich blessing to this new nation,
and we look forward to hearing you each Lord's Day." That's
13th Street Baptist Church preaching in the West Indies. I say those
things, I thank God for your vision, for your faithfulness,
for your generosity, for your support. I thank God for the
men who fill this pulpit. And what makes my heart leap
with joy is when I call home and I say, how was the services?
And the people I talk to say, just great, the message was such
a blessing, such power in the delivery of the Word. Bill Parker
and Ron and Scott Richardson and Don Fortner, all just glorified
Christ and preached with liberty and such dedication of spirit,
such able men preaching the Word of God. How was the attendance?
Good, very good. And nothing thrills me more. and the loyalty and faithfulness
of this congregation. And God's opened doors for your
pastor to preach in other places. And I say every year, I'm going
to stay home. I'm not going. I'm going to cut
out on meetings. But how do you say no when you're
invited just last two weeks? I preached Wednesday night in
Houston. Two churches came together. I preached Friday night. in Yobain,
Mexico, Saturday night in Ticalo, Mexico, Sunday morning in Merida,
Mexico, and looked out there at a church being built, the
roof of it put on there by the 13th Street Baptist Church. The
kindness and gifts, that thrills me. And my heart says, thank
you, Lord, for the 13th Street Baptist Church. And then Sunday
night preached out in Issa Mall, and Monday, twenty or twenty-five
native pastors gathered, and I spoke to them for an hour and
a half. And then down in Chiapas, God is opening doors, and next
week I'll be in, or next month, or in a couple of weeks, in Tyler,
Texas. Never been there, but a pastor
has come in the last two or three years to an understanding of
grace, and he's preaching it in a small church. He wants me
to come preach for him in Savannah, Georgia, a pastor I've never
met. He listened to one of our tapes
on the Trail of God's Sheep. He said, I listened to it a hundred
times. Would you come preach for me? How do you say no? I'll
tell you what you say. I'll be there, and our folks
will be praying for me as I come preaching to your congregation.
And here's the thing that encourages me, and I say this to you. The
thing that encourages me about all of this, the television ministry
and our letters this week, Ron, hundreds of tapes went out the
last two or three weeks. And these tapes go into all the
foreign countries and it's open doors. The thing that encourages
me is the realization that none of this is promoted. We've promoted
none of it. It hasn't been sought. We do
not send out brochures and resumes and invite ourselves or our church
anywhere. We actually put forth as little
effort as possible to create any kind of contact or situation. That way we know it's of God.
Do you see what I'm saying? We make ourselves available,
but we do not promote, we do not solicit. And the thing that
makes me so happy is that this is all coming to pass by the
hand of God. And quite often, to be perfectly
honest with you, especially of late, I long for a less complicated
life, I long for quieter I long for a slower lifestyle and just
meet with this congregation and have a Bible class during the
week and just rest a little, play a little golf, you know,
just slow down. But several things keep me on
the present course, and I've thought it over and prayed about
it and struggled with it. But there are several things
that keep me on this course. I'll give you four. I want you
to listen to these and weigh them. It is evident to me, it is evident
to me, clearly evident, I believe to some of you, that this Thirteenth
Street Baptist Church is more than a local ministry, by God's
grace. It is more than a local ministry. It is a ministry and a church
which God is pleased to use to minister the gospel of divine
grace all over the world. Now, there are some local congregations
and local pastors that are being effectively used where they are.
There are some even with a broader range. But this church for reasons
known only to God in his divine wisdom and in his divine purpose,
is a church with the gospel message and the tape ministry and a book
ministry and these things, and traveling just today. Two of
our young men are up in Cottageville preaching. One is down in Albany,
Georgia. One is over in Louisa, and your
pastor travels everywhere. This church has been given by
God's divine grace a worldwide ministry. That's a fact. It is an undisputable fact that
this is not only a local congregation. Don't expect the aspects of a
local congregation alone. I've had people say to me when
I go places to preach, And they say, you're on the road a lot.
What does your congregation say about that? Well, I say, strangely,
they say good. They like for their pastor to
go to other places and preach the gospel. And they enjoy hearing
these other men. They enjoy benefiting and being
blessed by the ministry of other men. Secondly, things that keep
me on the present course, secondly, we're committed We're committed
to a TV ministry. It's expensive, but my friends,
we're ministering the gospel, the gospel of grace. And I'll
tell you this, if we were saying what these other men are saying,
I wouldn't spend this money. I watched last night trying to
raise money for Channel 61 to become a Christian television
station 24 hours a day. We don't need it. That's the
biggest waste of money in the world. Every time you turn your
radio on or turn on your TV, somebody's singing a huang huang
gospel song, or some preacher's up there talking about man's
free will. We don't need any more religious
stations, any more religious. We don't need ours unless we
preach the gospel of God's grace. That's the reason we must stay
on the air. Because we're unique boys, we're
different boys, we're a different message. If I was saying the
same thing as Swagger and Graham and Falwell and Copeland and
those fellas, I wouldn't waste the money or the time. But we're
not saying what they're saying. And if you don't see the difference,
you've got some problems. That's just fact. They don't
have the problem, you got the problem, if you don't see the
difference. We must maintain this ministry,
we must maintain this tape ministry. And missionaries, this church has the major responsibility
for some missionaries, about 10 or 11 of them, you carry the
major load. And I feel good when I can go
down to Mexico and talk with Brother Gruber. And he said to
me, he said, the school fund is getting quite low. You know,
we have the preacher's school, and the building was built, which
you in the major part financed, and they meet each Monday, and
these Walter teaches these men, Alfonso teaches them, they go
out and preach the gospel to all the Pueblos. There are about
20 or 25 of these preachers. The school fund furnishes their
books and material and their meals and their bus fare and
these things to come in and help buy their tires for their motorcycles
and things. The school fund is low. He said,
it's running down. I got it up until the last minute
of June. I felt perfectly confident. totally confident to say to him,
the 13th Street Baptist Church will bring that school fund back
up where it ought to be. I'm sure you will. I have that
confidence in you. That's the reason I thank God
for you, that your pastor doesn't say, well, I'll go back and we'll
have a vote, and we'll get a motion and a second to decide whether
we can help $25. No, I know this congregation.
I announced Sunday a week ago, or two weeks ago, that there
was a preacher in need up in West Virginia. The service was
over. I put a plate down here and one
in the back. This congregation gave $650 just dropping money
for a preacher they don't even know. Thank God for you. You've been given a responsibility,
and I'll tell you this, you're fulfilling that responsibility.
And we cannot let these missionaries down. We've got to help. I'll
tell you another case. Brother Jack Shank said to me
that his son, Danny, wrote him. They bought a, they have a van
that they drive that we help buy, but they bought another
van from the church in St. Thomas, West Indies. It paid
$1,500 for a little white Volkswagen van. It's broken down. He said
they need to fix it so they can run the van in the other direction
to bring people to church. And I told him this. It cost
$900. I said, we're going to pay half
of it. I said, well, 13th Street will pay the other half. I know
they will. I know they will. I just know that. And because
you feel that the missionaries' ministry in all these places
is your ministry, because it's your Lord's ministry. Here's
the third thing. The thing that encourages me
to keep on this present course is God has brought together here,
here in this place and friends in other places, God has brought
together these people who are talented, gifted people. We have gifted men in this pulpit. We have gifted people in that
office, gifted people in that taperoom, gifted people on these
instruments, gifted people out here. God has gifted you, first
of all with the knowledge of Christ. That's a gift, the gift
of God's eternal life. Secondly, he has gifted you,
he has blessed you financially. The Thirteenth Street Baptist
Church is able to give because God enables us. And I'll tell
you this, God enabled you in order that you might give. You
know something? There's a sea called a dead sea. You know why it's a dead sea?
Because everything flows in and nothing flows out. It's a dead
sea. It just sits there dead. It has
no exit. I don't know what you'd call
it, but it has no outflow. It comes in, but nothing goes
out. The water that's the freshest and the water that's the safest
to drink and the water that produces its tree and its season is that
flowing water. The water flows into the lake
and the water flows out. And it keeps fresh water in there
all the time. And I'll tell you this, as God
abundantly supplies our need, as he blesses us, we don't use
it on ourselves totally. We provide with need, the need.
But we give it out. We send it on to somebody else,
reach in, take it and hand it out, like this, you know. You
could stop a dime and buy your ice cream cone once in a while,
you know. But you reach up and get it and hand it out, and that
keeps fresh, the fresh water in that lake. That's right. If
this church ever stops giving, God will stop blessing. Now,
he doesn't bless because you give, but you stop giving and
say, I don't know how to explain that. But that's so. The fountain dries up, the source
will dry up. And you're such, you're talented
people who work, who give, who pray, who preach, who make this
ministry possible. I am most aware of anybody here,
you may not know it, but I'm more aware of it than anybody
here, that I couldn't stand in those pulpits in Mexico last
week were it not for you. I give God the glory, but I know
God uses means. Now, here's the fourth thing
that keeps me on this present course, is this. We're nothing,
and I know it. We're nothing. I can say with
the Apostle Paul at least one thing. He said, Who is he that
planteth? Who is he that watereth? Who
is he that does these various things? We're nothing but ministers
of Christ. Nothing. God has never needed
any man except the man Christ Jesus. God has never needed any
man. He's never needed any group of
men. But God is pleased to use men. And I'll tell you whom God is
pleased to use. In his miraculous purposes, in
his miraculous grace, he'll use men whom men won't use. God's going to use that which
is foolish in the eyes of men. God is going to use the base.
God is going to use the despised. That's what he said, God hath
chosen that no flesh should glory in his presence. You say, who
are you and who are we? Nothing, that's what I said.
But God's always used nothing in order that he might get all
the glory. That's why he does it. If we
were special, if we had credentials, if we were somebody, if we commanded
the attention and affection of this world, God would not use
us for his glory. He wouldn't do it. But God will use whom he will
to accomplish his purpose, and he'll do it by his divine power
and grace. And we must remember one thing,
chiefly, importantly, Let's stay nothing. Our day of usefulness
may be near its end. I don't know. I don't know. We may never have another great
conference. Nothing else may ever happen.
God raises up people for a turn. Somebody said, well, God must
not have been in a certain church because it folded up. Churches
in Ephesus folded up too, but God was in it. Where is Spurgeon's
church today? Where is Jonathan Edwards' church
today? Eighty percent of the people
in Northampton, Massachusetts, don't even know who Jonathan
Edwards is. But they knew one time. They knew one time. And I say our day of usefulness
may be near its end. I don't know, but until then,
until then, may God give us the grace With all the temptations
to sit down, with all the temptations to, well, the pastor's not there
today, I'll just stay home. With all the temptations to,
well, oh, they just always need money down there. Yeah, unfortunately,
people always need money. They always do. But let's keep
on. May he give us the grace to be
faithful. And I'll tell you something I read by an old preacher just
yesterday. This is worth writing down. I
may put it in the bulletin. The soul's best and truest foundation is the love of Christ and love
for Christ. Once a man or woman knows and
loves Christ, and the truth of the gospel of
Christ, there's no turning back. Do you believe that? Once a man
or a woman knows and loves Christ and knows the truth of Christ,
there's no turning back. The world and self and error
have no more place in that person's heart. I can't go back. The disciple
said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life. Now, in 1 John 5, 20, I want
you to look at something in closing. Here's the fifth thing. Here's the fifth thing that gives
me the determination to pursue this present course, till God
winds it up. of 1 John 5, and we know, and
we know that the Son of God is come. I know that. The Lamb of
God slain before the foundation of the world, the surety of the
everlasting covenant, the seed of woman whom God announced in
the garden, that prophet of whom Moses That great priest after
the order of Melchizedek, that seed of David, who is the Christ? He is the Son of David, the one
called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, he has come. Mike, he has come. He has come. He was born of the
Virgin Mary, walked this earth in absolute perfection and righteousness
on behalf of a chosen people, went to that cross and bought
our redemption and paid it in full, was buried and rose again
as our justifier and ascended to the right hand of the majesty
on high where he is seated, expecting till his enemies become his footstool.
I know it. I know it. You do too. You know that. You know that. And secondly, we know the Son
of God has come and he has given us an understanding. He's given
us an understanding. We didn't learn it in school.
Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father
revealed it to you. He has given us an understanding. A heavenly understanding, a supernatural
understanding, a spiritual understanding, an understanding of what? What
Brother Fortner preached, was it last Sunday night, Romans
8? That God's on the throne, sovereign, immutable, infinite
in all things. That man's in the gutter, ruined
by the fall. That God did elect the people.
God verily did. He did. He chose a people and
gave them to Christ, and Christ died for them in effectual work,
that he walked this earth in perfect holiness, imputing to
us a perfect righteousness, that he redeemed us by his blood,
he justified us by his grace, and the Holy Spirit regenerates.
I don't understand it completely, but I do understand it in part.
God has given us an understanding. That God has from the beginning
chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. And God's people will persevere.
They will be preserved and they will persevere. And there's plenty
of room in heaven, but there's no vacancies. And every place setting will
have a sheep. And they'll all sing the same
song unto him who loved us and washed us from his blood. He's
given us an understanding. Look at the next line. Where
we are, he said, he's given us an understanding that we may
know him, not just know about him, but know him, and we're
in him. Where are we? In him. We're in
Christ. I in them and thou in me, Christ
said. We're in Christ. We're in him
by covenant mercies. God put us that. We're in him
by representation. In Adam, all die. In Christ we're
made alive. In Christ. We're in him as the
branches in the vine. We're in his loins as a son is
in the loins of a father. We're in him in his perfect life,
in him in crucifixion, in him in resurrection, and in him seated
in him in the heavenlies, in Christ. We're in him. All that he is, we are. All that
he has, we have. We're in him by faith. God miraculously
gave us faith to believe. We believe that the art of Christ,
we know he has come. He has come and he's given us
an understanding that we may know him that is true, not just
a God, but the living God. And we're in him, in him by covenant
mercy, in him by representation, in him by full satisfaction,
in him in perfect holiness, accepted in the beloved. And watch this. And my friends, this is the true
God. And this is eternal life. And
anything else is a false religion. I don't care what name it goes
under. I don't care what rule or standard it advocates. It doesn't matter how generous
and supportive it is of humanitarian purposes, this is the true God. This is eternal life. He has
come. Jesus, this is a faithful saying,
and it's worthy of acceptation by all men, of all nations, tribes,
kindreds, and tongues, that the Son of God has come! He has come. And our understanding
and knowledge of God is in him. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him. And we're in him. A preacher said on television Friday
night, free will is the passport to salvation. Your free will
is the foundation of your salvation. And salvation is up to you, it's
not up to God, it's up to you. That's not true. That's not the
true God. He has come and he gave us an
understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are
in him. We are not in our church or denomination or religious
profession or in our own free will. We are in him, accepted
in the Beloved, redeemed in the Beloved, justified in the Beloved. What do I do, preacher? Look
to him. Seek him. Call upon him. Fall upon your face before him. If you want water, come to the
fountain. Don't try to make you one. If
you want life, come to him. He is life. If you want forgiveness,
come to him. He's the merciful one. Don't
come to me. Don't raise your hand or come
to the front or come to the pool. You take a bath at home. or come
to the elements, come to Christ. Lay hold upon him. Look to him. Embrace him. Cast yourself at
his feet. If you go to hell, you're going
anyway. You can't lose anything. All you can do is gain. That's
what the lepers said. We cast ourselves on the mercy
of our enemies, we've got everything to gain, nothing to lose. We're
going to starve anyway. So I tell you, cast yourself
on the mercy of Christ. He may save you. He doesn't have
to, but nobody else can. He may. He hasn't turned anybody
away yet. You may be the first one, but
I don't believe it. I don't believe it. We are thankful. You've blessed us above all people
on the face of this earth. What we have is a gift of your
love, a gift of your sovereign grace, an unchangeable gift in
Christ, such a precious gift the gift of life, the gift of
Christ. What we have here in this fellowship is a gift of your love, the talent is all by your grace,
gifts of these people in ourselves who are nothing, know nothing,
have nothing, deserve nothing. But in Christ we have all things
and we can do all things. Lord, give us a vision. Without
a vision, the people perish. Increase our faith. Give us a
love for thee and for one another and for folks we don't even know.
Give us a pity and compassion on those outside and for them. Open new doors and responsibilities
and privileges and opportunities for us and make us faithful to
them. Speak to the hearts of people
by your spirit. Reveal Christ to their hearts
and bring them to love him. Lord, we'll preach your grace
if nobody believes, but we pray that they might believe. and
come to the Savior. We pray in His name and for His
glory. Amen.