Let's turn to Luke 4, and let me read the text again, in which our Lord said, verse
18, "...the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach." Now, this is a day of words like
this, sharing, input, group therapy, and this sort of thing. And I'm
sure that there's a place for these things. I'm certain of
that. But I plan to use all the influence
that I have, wherever and whatever that may be. And every effort
that God can enable me to use to restore to prominence and
to restore to religious circles, conferences, meetings, and so
forth, the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. This church has just been blessed
to enjoy a whole week of preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching.
As I say, there's a place for witnessing, there's a place for
music, there's a place for socializing. There's a place for sharing,
there's a place for exhorting, there's a place for encouraging
one another. There's even a place for entertainment.
But I'm saying that preaching occupies a supreme place in the
program of God for the salvation of sinners. We have this week
heard 16 sermons. I'm talking about since last
Sunday morning, 16 sermons in one week. Actually, when the
week was over, I was encouraged because many people came up to
me and expressed their desire to see it continue another week.
I had several people say to me, let's have another week, let's
just go on through next week. I said, haven't you had enough?
They said, no. Like Peter on the mountain, I
could camp here forever, just stay right here in this atmosphere
of rejoicing in Christ and preaching the gospel of his glory. Well,
I can tell you this. I can tell you this. And you
can put this down. This is true. I can tell you
this, that love for the preaching of the Word of God is good evidence
of the grace of God in your heart. Love for the preaching of the
Word of God. Now, I can make good on this,
but love for the preaching of the Word of God, love for the
preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is good evidence of the
grace of God in your heart. And an absence, and an absence
of love for the preaching of the Word is good evidence of
an absence of grace. Now you can get mad about that,
upset, all you want to, but I tell you this, our God puts great
honor on the preaching of the Word. He said it pleased God. Paul said it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And I can
go through the Word. I did this the other day. Noah,
Noah, he wasn't called a builder of the ark, he was called a what?
A preacher of righteousness. That's exactly right. He's more
famous for the art he built with men, but with God he was called
a preacher of righteousness. That's exactly what Scripture
says. Noah was a preacher, a preacher of righteousness. David. David was king of Israel. He
was the sweet psalmist of Israel, but he said, I preach righteousness
in the great congregation. David called himself a preacher. Solomon. When he wrote the book
of Ecclesiastes, turn over there just a minute to the book of
Ecclesiastes. I want you to see this. I read
it in my Sunday school class this morning. But in Ecclesiastes
chapter 1, chapter 1, what does he put first? Solomon was one
of the wisest men who ever lived. Solomon was king over all of
Israel, one of the greatest, richest, most powerful kings
in the world. But what did he call himself
first? Verse 1, Ecclesiastes 1, the words of the preacher,
the son of David, king in Jerusalem. The first thing he said, I'm
a preacher. I'm a preacher. Jonah was sent
to preach, God said, the preaching that I'll bid thee. John the
Baptist, the scripture says, came preaching in the wilderness
of Judea. The Apostle Paul said, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without an input? No, without a preacher. Without
a preacher. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Now, I know we're living in a day We're living in a day,
someone said not long ago, I believe it was Bishop J.C. Rowe, even
in his day, a hundred or so years ago, preaching has been relegated
to the scrap heap. And people come together for
social purposes, they come together for worship purposes, which is
fine. I'm not discounting these things,
please believe me. Paul said, God sent me not to
baptize. He wasn't belittling baptism.
But he was putting baptism in its proper place. He said, God
didn't send me to baptize, he sent me to preach the gospel.
That's why God sent me to preach the gospel. He wasn't belittling
baptism. He said, I thank God I baptized
none of you but one or two or three or four. But he said, God
sent me to preach. This is paramount. Preaching
the gospel. And here in 1 Corinthians 15,
listen to what he says here, brethren, moreover brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which
I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, and by which you are saved. If you keep in memory
what I preached to you, what I preached to you. For I preached
to you, I delivered unto you first of all that which I received."
We don't have an original message, we preach what Christ has taught
us. So Noah was called a preacher of righteousness, David called
himself the preacher of righteousness, Solomon called himself the preacher. Jonah was sent to preach. John
the Baptist came preaching. Paul said, they can't hear without
a preacher. And he said, I preached the gospel
to you, and it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. But perhaps the strongest argument,
perhaps the strongest argument for the honor and the importance
of preaching is given by our Lord in Luke chapter 4. Our Master
came back to Nazareth. where he was brought up. As his
custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day
and he stood up to read. And he selected Isaiah chapter
61, verse 1, which is a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy written
regarding himself and his office, the Christ, the Messiah. And
he said, verse 18, Luke 4, quoting from Isaiah 61, verse 1, the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed me to
preach. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. My friends,
I give you Jesus Christ the King, sovereign, omnipotent, with all
authority and all power over all the universe. God hath decreed,
God hath designed that he shall be Lord, that at his name every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that he's Lord
to the glory of God the Father. I give you Jesus Christ the King.
Supreme, Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Almighty
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's Christ our God whom we
worship and extol forever and forever. I give you Jesus Christ
the priest, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
having neither beginning of days nor end of days, having neither
mother or father nor pedigree. He's a priest forever. He is
our advocate. He is our mediator. He is our
intercessor. Jesus Christ is our great high
priest because of Christ and through Christ and by Christ
we have access into the holy of holies, into the very presence
of God, before the very throne of grace that we may find mercy
and grace to help in our time of need. Christ is our mediator. But I also give you Jesus Christ
the preacher. That's what he says here. He
says, the Lord hath anointed me, the Lord God anointed him
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. David was but a type of Christ
the King. Solomon in all of his glory and
wisdom and power is but a picture of Christ the King. God anointed
Jesus Christ to be a priest. Aaron is but a type of Christ.
And every high priest that went through the veil into the Holy
of Holies and offered an atonement upon that golden mercy seat covering
the ark and the broken law was but a picture of Christ. All
of the priests with their holiness to the Lord on their foreheads
and with their breastplates and with their white linen, with
their washings and with their atonements and sacrifices, all
of the high priests who ever offered sacrifices, all of them
put together are but pictures of Christ and even Melchizedek. Even Melchizedek in his place
of honor and prestige is but a picture of Christ and an unworthy
picture at that. But in his offices, there's one
we must not overlook. He was a preacher. That's what
he said, verse 18 of Luke 4. He stood before that crowd of
people on that Sabbath morning, and he said, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. Four things I want you to see
in this message, the first of which is this. Our Lord did preach. Our Lord did preach. Turn to
Matthew 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached. I know today the office is looked
down upon and a lot of people have caused that. A lot of people
have brought shame and reproach upon the office of pastor and
preacher. I regret that. And I know a lot
of people hold preachers in contempt. And I know out at the steel mill,
if a fellow gets religion and maybe he reads his Bible on his
lunch hour, somebody will call him the preacher or the deacon.
And that indurision and ridicule. Some boy has a good voice and
he goes to Sunday school on Sunday and all the mamas want to make
him a preacher. And I know the office has been
brought to a very abusive position. I know that, but our Lord was
a preacher. Our Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Matthew 4, verse 17,
from that time, Jesus Christ began to preach. From that time, Jesus himself,
our Lord, began to preach. And he preached always. He was
always preaching. Our Lord preached from the mountains,
One time they pushed the boat just a little ways from the land
on the sea and he stood out there in the boat so the people couldn't
crowd around him. They pushed the boat out here
in the water and he stood there on the boat in the water and
preached to the people on the shore. Our Lord preached in the
temple, he preached on the porch, he preached in the streets, he
preached in the homes. Our Lord preached when he spoke
and he preached when he was silent. Our Lord preached to the poor,
and He preached to the powerful. Our Lord preached to kings, and
He preached to Pharisees. Our Lord preached in His miracles,
and He even preached from that bloody tree. He was always and
ever the preacher, because God anointed Him to preach. Turn
to Luke chapter 9. Now watch this, Luke chapter
9. And our Lord Jesus Christ sent his disciples to preach. That's what he sent them to do.
That's what he sent them to do. He didn't shave their heads and
put them in monasteries. No, he didn't. He didn't dress
them up, them and the ladies, in some unusual garb, make them
look like penguins and ball-headed hermits and put them in monasteries
and convents. He didn't do it. He didn't do
it. They dressed just like everybody else and wore their hair just
like everybody else and they went out and preached. They went
out and preached. He didn't clothe them in long
gowns, ridiculous, colorful, red and gold and silver and purple
and blue gowns and teach them to say Mass. and speak in language
that nobody can understand and swing a censer and bless the
breweries. He didn't send them out to regenerate
babies by sprinkling water on them. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He didn't send them out to dress
in some funny-looking outfit and hold up crosses and march
in processionals and chant words that nobody could understand.
No, he didn't. He didn't send them out to build
schools. He didn't send them out to clean
up governments. He didn't send them out to straighten
out the social atmosphere of a community. He didn't send them
out to entertain religionists on their road to hell. His instructions
were clear. He sent them out, Cecil, to preach. His disciples he sent to preach. Listen to him in Luke 9, he called
his 12 disciples and gave them power and authority over all
devils to cure diseases and he sent them to preach. He sent
them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and
this power to heal, this power to heal was a sign and credentials
that God had sent them, the same power he had. To heal diseases
and to give sight to the blind and to raise the dead, God gave
him as credentials to prove his authority and to prove that he
came from God. He gave the disciples the same
credentials. Hold that Luke 9 a minute and
turn to Hebrews. Let me show you that. Hebrews. I don't need these credentials.
All I need is the Word of God. Our preachers today don't need
anything to prove that God sent them except to tell the truth
about God. Preach the Bible. Preach the
Word of God. That's all we need. The New Testament,
when these disciples went out, wasn't written. They didn't go
out and say, now turn to Luke 4.18, I'll read you my text.
They didn't have a text. They took the Old Testament and
showed how that Christ was the fulfillment of every prophecy
and promise and picture. And everybody had every right
to say, well, who are you? Where do you get this stuff,
you know? And here they raised a dead man or gave sight to a
blind man or like Saul or Paul. Paul was sitting by the fire
and one of those coral snakes latched on him and bit him. And
he shook it off in the fire. The coral snake shook it off
in the fire. And they just stood there waiting
on him to die. Matter of 30 seconds or 45 seconds, you're dead. Well,
he just went on doing his business, eating, you know, or talking,
whatever he's doing. And they were amazed. They said, a God's
among us. He said, no, a servant of God's among you. I've come
to preach. And they listened to him. He
had credentials. But look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any
time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompensive reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great
salvation, such a great gospel, which at the first began to be
spoken by our Lord, and was confirmed unto us by the apostles who heard
him, God also Also, like he did Christ, bearing them witness
that they were servants of God, both with signs and wonders and
different miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
his will. That's why he sent them with
a pyre to heal. They came back saying, well,
the demons are subject unto us. He said, don't rejoice that the
demons are subject to you. That's nothing really. Rejoice
that your names are written in heaven. So look at verse 2 again
of Luke 9. He sent them to preach. He sent
them to preach, and he said in verse 3, take nothing for your
journey. Don't take staves, nor scrip,
nor bread, nor money, nor two coats apiece. When you enter
into a house, there abide. The people will take care of
you, and then depart. And whosoever will not receive
you, when you go out of that city, just shake the very dust
from your feet for testimony against him. You're my preachers.
You're my ambassadors. The preacher's not supposed to
have a big bank account. He's not supposed to have a lot
of property and houses belonging. He lives by faith. He lives on
the gospel. He lives by the gospel. The people
of God take care of him. If they won't take care of him,
you should shake the dust off your feet and go where they will
take care of you, where they will hear you. Well, they will hear
you. And they departed and they went
through the towns doing what? Preaching the gospel. Preaching
the gospel. His instructions are clear. Look
at Mark chapter 16, if you will. Mark 16, in verse 15. He said unto them, our Lord had
been crucified and buried and rose from the tomb. He's meeting
here with his disciples before he ascended back to heaven. And
he said to them, go into all the world, go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. It's wonderful to have the singing
and have fellowship and handshaking and welcoming and our young people
have things to do and picnics and gatherings. But brethren,
I'll tell you something, it all heads up in this right here,
in prepared, empowered, serious, sober, scriptural preaching. Got to have it. Preaching. That's what our Lord sent us
to do, to preach. Somebody said Jesus Christ lived,
the Prince of preachers. He died and became the theme
of preachers. He arose and ascended, and He's
the Lord of preachers. He's the Prince of preachers,
He's the theme of preachers, and He's the Lord of preachers.
Now back to our text. I don't want to wear you, but
let's go back to the text a minute and look at something here, the
second thing. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel. Now brethren, let me tell you
something. And I know you might think that
I write this too much. But I don't believe that it do.
I think I've got too many opponents on the other side. I think we
need to be extremist on this matter because there's too much,
too powerful, too many powerful forces on the other side. Our
Lord did not stoop to secular themes. No, He didn't. Now, He'd
sometimes answer the questions of the lawyers. And he'd sometimes
answer the questions of the Herodians and the Pharisees, but he soon
got back to his major theme, and that was the gospel. Now
let me show you that in Matthew chapter 22. And you know what
I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about.
I'm saying this, that our politics and our social obligations are
decided at Calvary. That's where they're decided.
our politics and social obligations. I've made these mistakes and
that's the reason I know something about them. The pulpit ought
never endorse political candidates. The pulpit ought never get in
political races. The pulpit ought never, never,
never, the church ought never endorse any political party. Never. Never. You can do what the Lord allows
you to do, but this pulpit's got no business playing politics
in any shape, form, or fashion. Now watch in Matthew 22. This
is what I'm saying, Matthew 22. It says in verse 15, the Pharisees
took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent
out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master,
we know your truth. They'll brag on you. And we know
you speak the way of God, and you don't care for any man, you
don't regard any man's person. Tell us, what do you think? Is
it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? Christ said, verse 18,
He perceived their wickedness. He perceives the wickedness of
Satan. Satan will sidetrack a minister if he can. He'll sidetrack a
ministry. He'll sidetrack a church. And
he'll do it in a devious manner. He'll do it even with popularity
and influence and power. Yes, he will. And Christ perceived
their wickedness, and he said, why do you tempt me, you hypocrites?
You tempt, that's what you're doing. And he told, he showed
them, he said, show me the tribute money, and they showed him a
penny. And he said, whose image is on there? They said Caesar's.
He said, you rendered to Caesar things that are Caesar, to God
the things that are God. And you know how this conversation
went on. You know, then someone else came. He put them to silence,
and the same day the Sadducees came. Verse 23, they didn't believe
in the resurrection. They wanted to get him on Armageddon
and prophecy and these things. on the millennium and this sort
of thing. So they ask him a question. And then another fellow came
to him, verse 34, the Pharisees heard he's put the Herodians
to silence and the Sadducees to silence. So one of them, who
was a lawyer, asked him, what's the great commandment? Let's
get on the law here. Let's get sidetracked here on
the law. and decide which is the greatest commandment, which
carries the greatest penalty, the greatest punishment. Let's
see these things. He answered them. And then verse
41, listen. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ, whose
son is he? Our Lord always came back to
his theme, the gospel. And I'll tell you, our ethics,
our politics, Our social obligations, our principles, our moral behavior
is all learned at the feet of a crucified, risen Redeemer.
That's where it's learned. We do not so much preach what
men ought to do for God as we preach what God has done for
men. That's our message. And I'll
tell you this. I'll tell you another thing.
I talked to a preacher who had been to another conference of
recent dates. who came to this conference.
And I said, how was the other conference? He said, too intellectual,
too deep. He said, it seems to be that
they're trying to impress men with their learning, with their
spiritual wisdom, with their intellectualism, with their theology. Let me tell you something. We
are theologians only as far as our theology exalts Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, intellectualism
is not of God, it's of man's natural wisdom. And a man who
stands in the pulpit and preaches to impress men is no servant
of Christ. A man who stands in the pulpit
preaching to impress men with his learning, with his knowledge,
with his credentials, with his wisdom, is a fool. That's what
he is. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11, verse
3. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached so that men, they may not believe
him, but they did understand him. And that's more than you
can say for today's preachers. You go out after they finish
their oration and somebody turns to another and says, that was
beautiful. Yeah, what did he say? I don't know, but it was
beautiful. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3,
Paul said, I'm afraid lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity, from the oneness that is in Christ Jesus. There's nothing in the world
simple about the gospel that's profound. There's nothing simple
about God becoming a man. There's nothing simple about
God dying in flesh on the cross. There's nothing simple about
the resurrection from the dead. There's nothing simple about
redemption, regeneration, justification, sanctification, but it can be
simply stated. And that's all there is to it. Turn back to the text. He said,
The Lord hath anointed me He hath anointed me, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, hath anointed me to preach the gospel.
And you know what that word is in Isaiah 61? If you care to,
turn over to Isaiah 61. That word there in verse 1 of
Isaiah 61, that word gospel in the Old Testament Messianic prophecy
is good tidings, good news. That's why it says, look at Isaiah
61.1, "...the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good tidings." Good news! What is that good news? It's
good news of an everlasting covenant. As one preacher said during our
conference, before there was a sinner, there was a Savior.
Before there was a sinner, there was a surety. Before there was
a sinner, there was a Redeemer. ordained, anointed, appointed
by God. Beloved, Paul said, God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit belief of the truth. And this gospel we preach is
the good news of everlasting mercies. Secondly, it's the good
news of incarnation. The angel said, we bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people under
you as born this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the
Lord. The word became flesh and dwelt
among us. That's good news, because that's
the only way God can save a sinner. A preacher said not long ago,
and God helped him, this is error. It's error. He said there are
thousands of ways God could have saved sinners, but he chose to
do it through Christ. That's a lie. There's only one way that God's
justice can be satisfied, His righteousness honored, and His
law honored, and that's for Christ to become a man and do for man
what the law requires and what justice requires, and satisfy
the holiness of God. If there's any other way that
God could save a man other than crucifying his only begotten
well-beloved son, then God's a monster, because he should
have chosen another way. You say, I ought not to say that.
So? It's so, isn't it? That's a bloody awful way to
redeem sinners, to nail your son to a cross while people spit
on him. There is no other way. If there's
another way, then it's dishonoring to Christ to claim that he's
the only way. And this is the good news of
a perfect righteousness. Paul said in Romans 5, by the
disobedience of one, many were made sinners. By the obedience
of Christ, we were made righteous. This gospel is the good tidings
of a perfect sacrifice. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. A
perfect sacrifice. I'm talking about good news.
Good news. Now, if salvation is partly of
God and partly of me, there's no good news because I can't
keep my end of the bargain. If salvation is partly the obedience
of Christ and partly my obedience, I'm done in. There's no good
news. But this good news is the good news of a perfect righteousness
provided and imputed and imparted, and a perfect sacrifice already
accomplished. The debt's paid, it's finished.
Hebrews 10 verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, and we sat down in him and with him. from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath past tense perfected forever them that are sanctified."
And God said in verse 17, "...and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more." Now where remission is, where forgiveness
is, where pardon is, there is no more offering for sin. And brethren, the next line says
it's a good news of a faithful high priest. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, into the very presence
of God, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which
Christ consecrated, made for us through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near. Let us draw near. It's a good
news of an eternal hope. Because I live, ye shall live.
He hath anointed me to preach the gospel." The good news, good
news. And I'll tell you what I'd love
for you to do. I told my Sunday school class this morning, and
I wish everybody would, if you'll sometime today read Ecclesiastes
chapter 1 and chapter 2, in which Solomon, Solomon was So powerful. Solomon was answerable practically
to nobody. He had possessions and wealth
and wisdom and anything at his fingertips, anything at his disposal. And he said, I gave myself to
a lot of things. Gave myself to wisdom. He said, I studied all the philosophers
and the intellectuals and all these folks. I gave myself to
knowledge and wisdom. I gave myself to these things."
And some of you may be tempted in the same direction, but he
said, I found out when it was over, it was all vanity. Just
vanity and vexation of spirit. He said, I gave myself to pleasure.
I didn't leave off anything. I gave myself to pure pleasure.
Anything I wanted, I took. I gave myself to laughter and
to mirth. I delved to the bottom of it
and rose to the height of it, and I found out that that's vanity.
He said, I gave myself to wine. I gave myself to drink, I gave
myself to building great buildings and great vineyards and gardens
and said I had servants and I gave myself to building great cities
and all this sort of thing. He said when I came to the end
of it I found out that wisdom and wine and pleasures and laughter
and mirth and great works and building is all nothing, vanity,
vanity. And we need to learn that. We
need to learn that so badly, so desperately. This world, it
promises pleasure, it promises prosperity, it promises peace,
it can't give any of it. All the world can do is finally
bring you down to poverty and old age and death. and six feet
in the ground in a fancy coffin rotten from within, and put your
soul in hell. But I'll tell you what's important,
and that's the gospel. The gospel. We come to preach
the good tidings, the good news, the glad tidings of Christ and
hope eternal. All right, look at the next line
in Luke 4. I'll try to bring this to a close.
He said he sent me, he inaugurated me to preach the gospel to the
poor. To the poor. And a lot of writers
give several names to these folks who are recipients and hearers
of the gospel. One fellow, Calvin I believe
it was, called them the gentle. He sent me to preach the gospel
to the gentle. And it says over in Isaiah 61,
the meat. Someone else says the humble. Someone else says the
afflicted. But it all comes down to one
thing. One thing. And Arthur Pink, I think, summed
it up better than anybody. He said, the poor in spirit are
those who know they have nothing, are nothing, know nothing, and
deserve nothing. He sent me to preach the gospel
to those people. The poor, people who are aware,
who've been made aware of the holiness of God and their poverty,
their own sinfulness before him. David said, my sins are ever
before me. People who know their filth and
guilt and iniquity in God's sight. I'm not talking about in the
sight of the world, in God's sight. People who know that they deserve
nothing from the hand of God, but his condemnation and judgment. People who realize their inability,
their bankruptcy spiritually, their inability to please God
or honor Him or keep His law in any fashion, they cry with
even Paul the great apostle, O wretched man that I am. If you're good, the gospel's
not for you. If you're deserving, you'll find
no good news in the gospel. If you're keeping the law, the
gospel's not for you. The gospel is for the poor, the
poor in spirit. And Mr. Spurgeon said, the more
sin you have, the more blessed the good news of a Savior. The
more diseased you are, the more you welcome the great physician.
The poorer you are, the more certain you can be of the riches
of his grace, because Christ receiveth sinful men, even me,
with all my sin. Isn't that good news? He said,
come, for all things are ready. Mr. Spurgeon wrote one time,
I read it years ago, it just occurred to me, he was invited to a lady's house
to have tea. She was a very poor widow. And I'm glad today we have programs
and Social Security and these things so that our older people
are cared for. But back in those days, 140 years
ago, 130 years ago, a woman who lost her husband, just, they
had no programs to take care. She was, he told about her, he
said she was a faithful member of his congregation, but very,
very poor, lived on pittance. And she invited him to come to
her house for tea. Now the English, they don't drink
tea. In other words, if you come to
my house for tea, all you expect to get is a cup of tea. But over
there, they eat tea. They always serve something with
tea. In other words, tea actually
is the evening meal for most people. One friend of mine, I
believe it was Leanne Walmsley, When she invited somebody over
for tea and all she had was tea, they came for supper. And they
were kind of insulted that she didn't spread some food. But
Spurgeon was invited for tea and he was in the kitchen at
his house getting ready to go talk to his wife. And he said
to his wife, he said, she's so poor, I better slip something
in my pocket and take along. So he slipped some cookies. Suzanne,
that was his wife's name, Susanna Spurgeon, had baked some cookies
and cake. He just slipped them in his pocket and took them along. When he got to the widow's house,
he went in and sat down. And she went back and got the
tea, and she brought the tea in on a tray, just a pitcher
and a teapot and two little cups. And she went back in the kitchen,
and he saw there was nothing, and he got out his cookies and
spread them out there on the table, on the tray. And she came back with her cookies.
They weren't much, but she had them. And she saw those, she
picked his up and dropped them in the waste can. She said, I
invited you for tea, not to provide the tea. He said he learned a lesson.
And I'm telling you this, you listen to me well now. When our
Lord says to sinners, come and dine, he doesn't mean for you
to bring the cookies. He doesn't mean for you to bring
the bread, nor the meat. You come empty-handed, he furnishes
everything. Now, don't you insult. The virgin
said, I insulted that woman. No matter how poor she was, I
insulted her. And he said, I was a young preacher
and I learned my lesson. I'll never do that again. She
threw his cookies in the waste can. I didn't invite you. She was highly insulted. I didn't
invite you to provide the tea. I invited you to have tea. And
my Lord doesn't invite you to bring your sordid rags, your
dirty, filthy, sordid rags of righteousness to his feast. He'll
throw you out. You come like you are. And he'll
not only furnish, he not only furnishes the tea, not only furnishes
the meat and the bread, he furnishes the wedding garment for you to
wear. What do you furnish? The naked sinner. That's all. Empty hand. He said, he sent
me to heal the brokenhearted. And I'm quitting with these comments.
I've heard people say, He died of a broken heart, not speaking
of Christ, but of someone else. So-and-so died with a broken
heart. Well, I know that's possible,
but I'm telling you this, the greatest blessing of all is someone
who doesn't die with a broken heart, but who lives with a broken
heart. The Scripture says the Lord is known to them of a broken
heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. Do you have a broken heart? Are
you broken hearted because of your sin? Are you broken hearted
because you repent that you can't repent like you ought to repent?
That's right, do you? Are you broken hearted because
you don't have faith that you ought to have? Are you broken
hearted because you can't keep God's law? Are you broken hearted
because you don't love God with all your heart and you don't
love your neighbors yourself? Are you broken hearted because
you can't pray like you ought to pray and you don't praise
God like you ought to praise God and you don't worship like
you ought to worship God? Are you broken hearted because
you think things you shouldn't think? Well, I don't care what
breaks your heart, just so it's broken. Just so it's broken. And I'm telling you this, if
you can find it, If you can find it in your heart to believe Him
and to trust Him and to turn to Him, He'll heal the brokenhearted. He will. He delights. He said,
The Lord hath anointed me to preach the good news, the glad
tidings to the poor, the poorest of poor, and to heal the brokenhearted. Well, I tell you this, before
God this morning, I can furnish the poor in spirit. I can furnish
the poverty-stricken sinner, and I can sure furnish the broken
heart if he can furnish the Savior and the Great Physician. And
I'm going to trust him just that way. No frills and no fancy talk. I'm just going to trust him just
that way. And I believe for his glory, his eternal praise to
manifest the riches of his grace, I'll be one of those trophies
of his grace someday that he'll show off in glory, and you will
be too if you can lay hold by faith only on Jesus Christ. Our Father, bless the message,
the word, to the hearts of these, thy people. Use it for your glory,
to accomplish your purpose. O Lord, teach us to preach. Enable
us to preach. Open doors for us to preach.
Give our people a love for preaching, and give it the place it ought
to have, and the place it deserves, and the place our Lord gave it,
the place of prominence. And use it, if you please thee,
for Christ's sake. Amen.