Entrusted with the Gospel

1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, Paul
writes, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. I don't know when I've read a
verse of scripture that had a more profound impression upon me personally
than this verse that I've just read to you. The moment that
I read it, I wanted to preach on it. The moment that I read
it, I felt that it was the message that God would have me deliver
to the 13th Street Baptist Church on this Sunday evening. I want
you to look at it again carefully. I have looked at it and read
it and reread it, and every time I read it, I feel a little more
insufficient. I feel a little bit more overwhelmed. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust, what does the word in trust mean? This is what it means. It means
to deliver something to someone for care, for use, or for disposal. To deliver something into the
hands of a person, to entrust them. And we were allowed of
God to be entrusted with his gospel. You think about it. I'm
not talking about the angel of the Lord, the messenger, the
sweet messenger of the covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
says he came to preach the gospel. Isaiah wrote it, Isaiah 61. He
came to preach the gospel to the poor. The gospel can suffer
no loss in his hands. The gospel can suffer no loss
in his preaching, for all things are enhanced by his beauty. All
things are enhanced by his person, by his own glory. We're not talking
about the gospel being entrusted to him. It was. And we're not
talking about the gospel being put into the hands of Michael
or Gabriel, the angels of God. One of them came to Mary, preached
the gospel to her. He said, the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, and that holy thing, which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God, divine incarnation. The angel preached
the gospel to Joseph when he said, Fear not to take unto thee
Mary to be thy wife, for that child which is in her is the
Son of God, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. The angels preached the gospel
to the shepherds out there on the hillside that night. They
came and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. We bring you glad tidings, gospel,
good news, glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people
unto you as born this day in the city of David, a Savior,
Christ the Lord. The gospel put into the hands
of the messenger of the covenant, The angel of the Lord will suffer
no loss. It cannot be compromised. It's
pure, unadulterated, glorious gospel, the gospel entrusted
into the hands of God's special servants, Michael, Gabriel, the
angels of God. Well, the gospel can certainly
not be violated by one of them. But I'm talking about the sons
of Adam. It says here, but we, we, persecutors, injurious, blasphemers,
formerly children of wrath even as others, men of like passions,
disobedient, gamesayers, rebels, Christ crucifiers, lawbreakers. These are the hands into which
the gospel has been entrusted. We were allowed of God to be
entrusted with the gospel. We. And it says we were allowed
of God. Now, to make us objects of grace
was not our idea. It was His. We didn't seek Him. He sought us. We didn't choose
Him. He said that you didn't choose
me. I chose you and ordained you that you should bring forth
fruit. We didn't love him, he loved us. John said here in his
love, not that we loved God. No man can boast of his love
for God because it's so slight compared with his love for us.
To redeem us was his plan, not ours. It was his purpose, not
ours. To put this treasure, the gospel,
into these hands was certainly not my idea. It was his idea. It was his choice.
He could have justly passed us by. Do you believe that? I not
only believe it, but I am confident of it. And he could have righteously
condemned us forever. He could have left us in our
darkness. He could have left us in our state of confusion. He could have left us in our
self-righteous rags, in our religious tradition, but he wasn't pleased
to do that. He was pleased to make us his
people. That's what Samuel said, it pleased
God to make you his people. And it pleased him to make Christ
a surety for us before we were ever born, the surety of eternal
covenant, the blood of the everlasting covenant. It pleased him to bruise
Christ for our sins and to use our hands to do it. Ye with wicked hands crucified
the Lord of glory. It pleased Him one day to reveal
Christ to us. We thought we knew Him, but we
didn't. We thought we knew God, but we didn't. We thought we
were children of God, but we weren't. We were children of
wrath. We thought we had a corner on the truth, but we didn't.
There was a way that seemed right to us, but it led to destruction
and distress. It pleased Him to reveal Christ
to us, but more than that, not only to teach us the gospel,
not only to reveal unto us the gospel, but to actually entrust
us with it. Woe unto the man who has been
entrusted with such a sacred, honored treasure, and violates
it, and allows it to be prostituted in his hand. We were allowed
of God, but we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the
gospel. Think of it, heaven's greatest
treasure. The law is not heaven's greatest
treasure. It seems to me that there's more
preaching on the law today than there is the gospel. We respect
God's law and love God's law. And no saved person could ever
say anything but, I love the law of God. But the law of God
compared with the gospel is an artificial diamond compared with
a real one. I'm not talking about the philosophies
of the Scripture or the doctrines of the Scripture. I'm not talking
about the prophecy of things to come. I don't think there's
very many to whom God has entrusted that. He said, in fact, even the angels of God know not
the day or the hour when Christ will come. But He has entrusted
in our hands, we've been allowed of God to be put in trust with
the everlasting gospel, that gospel he entrusted to Abraham. Abraham saw my day, Christ said,
and was glad. Abraham preached the gospel.
That gospel of which Moses wrote, Moses wrote of me, that eternal
gospel which was promised afore by the prophets in the Holy Scripture,
that's the gospel that's been entrusted to us. Abraham was
faithful in his day. By God's grace, may we be faithful
in ours. Moses was faithful in his day,
and the opposition we encounter is nothing compared to the opposition
he encountered, hated, despised by even those whom he led from
captivity. The gospel which David typified,
the gospel of which Isaiah wrote, he was wounded for our transgression
by his stripes we are healed. That's the gospel that's been
entrusted to us. Peter, James, John, and Paul,
what illustrious company. They gave a good account. Paul
said, the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight.
I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith. I have not
shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I've kept
back nothing profitable unto you. My hands are totally free,
he said, from the blood of all men. I've preached the gospel. That's the gospel which he has
entrusted into our hands, the gospel that Abraham preached,
and David, and Moses, and Isaiah, and Peter, James, John, Paul. These are the men in their day
who were trusted with the gospel, the everlasting gospel, the gospel
concerning his Son. Pick out in this world, in this
entire world, your entire life, from the time you were born,
the person who means the most to you, who has meant the most
to you, pick out the person who is nearest and dearest and most
precious to your heart. And then entrust into someone's
hand, that one is dead, and you entrust into someone's hand to
write the biography of that person, to speak a word for that person, to declare
that person's generation. To whom would you entrust this
most precious honor? Huh? Just anybody? Would you
stop someone along the street and say, say, this wife of mine
who is so close to my heart, or my dad, or my mother, or my
brother, or my sister, or my friend, my closest companion
of 40 years, I want you to get up before the world and say something
about it. To be entrusted with heaven's
greatest good news, to be entrusted with the gospel of God's Son,
the gospel concerning His Son, to be ordained of God to go into
a blasphemous world, a world of enemies and friends, and tell
who He is, and tell what He did. and tell why he did it and tell
where he is now and tell when he's coming or how he's coming.
Go out into the world and tell about his son. Go tell about
my son." That's the reason Paul trembled and feared and said,
who is sufficient for this task? But that's what we've been entrusted
with. We were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel,
not a religious creed or religious catechism or a religious tradition. We've been entrusted, in our
hands, has been put for use, for care, for disposal, for accurate
description. His gospel. What a sacred trust. That's the
reason Paul said, If any man preach any other gospel, let
him be a curse, even if it be an angel from heaven. The most precious treasure that
God has, the thing that's nearest and dearest to the heart of the
Father, His Son, His Son's work, His Son's glory, His Son's redemptive
purpose, it's been entrusted in our hands. What a solemn trust. That's the
reason Paul says, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For a minister who claims to
be a minister of God to get in this very holy place and preach
any other gospel, woe is unto him. You can banner with him
and argue with him all you want to. Paul says they're under God's
curse. That's what it says. even if
it's an angel from heaven. But, brother, so-and-so is such
a charitable man, brother, so-and-so is such a honorable man, brother,
so-and-so is such a respected man. More honorable than an angel?
More respected than an angel? More gracious than an angel?
And Paul said, if an angel from God speaks any other gospel,
let him be accursed. the gospel of redemption, the
gospel of substitution, the gospel of the cross, the gospel of the
blood of Christ. We were allowed of God to be
put in trust with that gospel. What a solemn trust and what
a serious trust. Our Lord said when these disciples
went out for the first time to preach it, he said, and he that
hears you hears me. And he that despises you despiseth
me, and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me."
Now you wonder why anyone with any serious thought at all or
any conception of the weight of this, the responsibility of
it, would tremble at the reading of it, but as we, unworthy, insufficient,
incapable, ignorant, We, sinners ourselves, we were allowed of
God. It was a holy decision. It was
a divine choice. We didn't seek the office. It
was given to us. We were allowed of God to be
entrusted with the gospel. And we're going to give an account
of that stewardship. And Paul makes some very timely
statements. I think some statements that
are timely in 1977, right this very moment. concerning this
gospel. The first thing he says about
it is this, and how we ought to rejoice. He says the gospel
is not preached in vain. In verse 1 he says, Brethren,
yourselves know that our entrance in unto you, it was not in vain. Those who have learned Christ
know it was not in vain. God hath chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. By the gospel, men are convinced
of sin. By the gospel, men are stripped
of their self-righteousness. It takes a while sometimes. By the gospel, men see the mercy
of God in Christ. Mercy, pure mercy. By the gospel,
men are brought to faith. And sometimes God is pleased
to open the eyes of a sinner immediately, as he did the Philippian
jailer. And sometimes, in the case of
the Apostle Peter, he says to him after three years, when you
are converted, strengthen your brethren. I read about a man
who heard George Whitefield preach when he was 15 years old and showed no interest at all
in the message. In fact, he even left England
and moved to America. And one day, when he was 75 years
of age, he was sitting on the front porch, and that message
which he heard 60 years prior to this day came to his mind. God brought the seed forward.
And he sat there and thought about that message he heard as
a 15-year-old lad preached by George Whitefield, who evidently
thought in that man's case he'd preached in vain. But God Almighty
anointed that message to that man's understanding, and according
to his own testimony, he was brought to repentance toward
God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, My word
will not return unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I have sent it. It shall accomplish that which
pleases me. I don't believe the gospel and
the power of the Holy Spirit is ever preached in vain. Sometimes
we think we preach in vain. Men reveal so little interest
and they show practically no response. But turn to 2 Corinthians
2, and I want you to look at this verse right here a minute.
In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul says, beginning with verse 16. He says
in verse 15, we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, a sweet
incense, a sweet smell, a sweet odor, a sweet fragrance. In them
that are saved, and we've also got a ministry to them that are
lost, that perish, to the one To the ones that perish, we are
the saver of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of
life unto life. He says, in other words, when
I preach, there are men there in darkness, and this preaching
will increase their responsibility and also their darkness. There
are men in death, and it will add death upon death, judgment
upon judgment, and in In our congregation are those who've
been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and our message to them
is a sweet fragrance of life. To some it's the fragrance of
death, to others the fragrance of life. But to all men, if it's
preached in the power of the Spirit, according to the Word
of God, it's something. You don't hear indifferently.
Everybody who hears the preacher that God sends preach the message
that God sent. It accomplishes something. It
either brings that person to life and life or it adds to his
condemnation. It will either soften and break
the heart or it will add to the hardening of the heart. Every
new message that Pharaoh received hardened his heart even more
and increased his responsibility. Moses was not an unsuccessful
messenger to Pharaoh. He was a successful messenger.
That's when Paul said, and who's sufficient for these things?
That's when he said it. We are, as a saver of death unto death
to some, and life unto life to others, who is sufficient for
this responsibility? Our Lord said, my sheep will
hear my voice. God's servants are on the trail of his sheep.
His message is not preached in vain. His word is not proclaimed
in vain. It will accomplish that whereunto
he sent it. It will either be the announcement,
the good news, the proclamation of life, or to those who reject
it and refuse it and rebel against it, it will add to their condemnation. Look at verse 2. The gospel,
first of all, will not be preached in vain. We do not labor in vain. Those who labor as they go forth
in the vineyard of the Lord do not labor in vain. We go and
preach a meeting or a Bible conference or witness to one individual
and there's no response and there's no interest. and there's no faith,
and we go off with our heads bowed and our hearts heavy, and
they should be heavy for that person. But we didn't go in vain
any more than Moses went to Egypt in vain, any more than Paul stood
before Agrippa in vain, any more than the Apostle stood before
Festus in vain, any more than our Lord stood before Pilate
in vain. It was not in vain. You think
our Lord preached in vain down at the country of the Gadarenes
when they told him, leave this place and don't come back. Do you think he preached in vain
in Samaria? Do you think the apostles ever
preached in vain? Not when they were sent of God.
And then secondly, the gospel must be preached boldly. Look
at verse 2. But even after that we have suffered
before and were shamefully entreated, you know, at Philippi, you know
how they treated us. You know how we suffered, you
know how shamefully we were treated. You know how we were persecuted,
hated and despised. I heard a preacher say one time, I tried preaching sovereign grace, But people began to quit coming
to church, and we lost some of our faithful members and some
of our tithers, and I just quit preaching. The Apostle Paul went
down to Philippi, and they mistreated him and hated him and ran him
out of town. If he'd have sat down like some
of us and said, well, I'm not getting the job done, I got run
out of Philippi and run out of Colossae and run out of somewhere
else, I reckon the next place I'll soften up a little bit on
my message. I'll kind of cut the edges off of it a little
bit. I won't go in there and tell them everything I know."
No, so listen to him. They ran me out of Philippi,
but we were bold in our God. We were bold by the grace of
God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much opposition. All who preach the gospel of
substitution are going to encounter opposition. All who preach the
gospel of redemption by grace alone are going to encounter
opposition, opposition from Satan. Do you think Satan is going to
permit the gospel of redemption to be preached without opposing
it? Do you think the world to whom the gospel is foolishness,
foolishness, sheer nonsense, do you think the world is going
to allow nonsense to be preached in their churches, on their streets? or in their gatherings, they
don't want to hear nonsense, they want to hear sense. They
want to hear logic, they want to hear philosophy, they want
to hear these things that appeal to the ear. And that's the reason
Paul said in the latter days, they will heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears. The ears of the people itch for
something, not nonsense, not foolishness, Their ears itch
to hear what they want to hear, and the preachers will tell them
what they want to hear because they like to hear the praises
of me. They both have itching ears. Do you think the gospel
of redemption, the gospel of substitution, is not going to
encounter opposition by the religious strongholds? To them, the cross
is a stumbling block. Who wants the preacher on Sunday
morning and Sunday night to present a stumbling block to people?
Preach a gospel that men in their natural wisdom can understand.
Preach a gospel so simple that a little child can understand
it. That's what they're saying. That's the phraseology. Oh, he
just preached so simple that a little child could understand.
What do you mean? That a natural man, apart from the Holy Spirit,
apart from revelation of God, apart from the new birth, apart
from regeneration, can understand what you're preaching? Then you're
not preaching the gospel. It can't be. If that religious
man who clings to his righteousness, and clings to his piety, and
clings to his works, and clings to his reformation, and clings
to his heritage, and his tradition, and his religious customs, if
he appreciates what you're preaching and understands it, you're not
preaching what Christ preached. Because when Christ preached,
they called Him a devil. They called Him Beelzebub. They
martyred all the apostles, the religious people did, not the
world, the religious world. Cut off Paul's head. Exiled John
to the Isle of Patmos. Christ said, turn to John 16.
This is what He said before He went to the cross, before these
men went out on their own. This is what He said to them
in John 16, verse 1. These things have I spoken unto
you, that you should not be offended, upset, disturbed. I'm going to
forewarn you, He said, what you're going to encounter. They'll put
you out of the synagogues. It doesn't say they'll put him
out of the beer joints. Out of the synagogue. It doesn't say they'll put you
out of their organization. It says out of the synagogue,
out of the church. The time will come when whosoever
kills you will think that he's doing God a service. He's a godly
man, this man that kills the apostle. That's right. He worships God. He reads God's
Word. He claims to follow God's law.
These were the Jews he's talking about here, the hyper-super-religious
people, the moral people, the law-abiding people, those who
go through the ceremonies and the rituals and seek to establish
a righteousness. They'll kill you, Christ said.
And when they kill you, they'll think, they'll sincerely think
they're doing God a service. I don't think that people who
make war on the gospel do it out of hypocrisy and deceit all
the time. I think they're really serious.
I think they're sincere. I think men who hate election
are sincere. I think men who hate the doctrine
of total depravity are totally sincere. I think people who despise
and reject an effectual sacrifice on Calvary and salvation by grace
and grace alone, I believe they're totally sincere. And if they
could shut the mouth of every grace preacher, and if they could,
within the law, destroy him and kill him, I think they really
believe that they're saving God's church. That man is going to
split our church. When I preached the grace of
God over at the Pollard Baptist Church, 1951 to 1955, There were people sincere. There
were people who were moral, religious, faithful, who so hated and despised
that message that they began praying that God would kill me.
Many of them withheld their offerings. Some of them met in little groups
and said, now we'll keep our offering back and we'll starve
him out. We'll starve him. We'll fix it so that he and his
family can't eat. And then they'll leave. You say,
that's awful. No, they were sincere. They saw
their structure, they saw their superstructure being destroyed. They saw their religious monument
to God being destroyed. They saw their refuge being destroyed. They saw their hope being destroyed.
They saw their reputation being destroyed. And they felt that
their reputation was God's reputation. God pity them. But he says, they'll
think they're doing God's work when they kill you. And these
things will they do unto you, verse 3, because they don't know
the Father. They don't know the Father. All
who preach the gospel of substitution, pure substitution, I'm not talking
about Christ plus anything, I'm talking about substitution, the
Lordship of Christ, His Lordship in creation, in providence and
grace, his lordship and salvation, his sovereign mercy, his effectual
death, his right to do with his own what he will, the glory,
the indisputable, immutable glory of Jesus Christ in redeeming
sinner. They're going to encounter opposition.
I know Gerald won't mind me saying this, but for five years he lived
second door from this church. He wouldn't dare come in this
place, would he? No way. No way. Now he lives 15 miles
from it, and God brings him here every service. But he hated it,
and he was sincere. He was deadly sincere, perfectly
sincere. And this is what Christ is saying
here, that these people are sincere. But he says, though we encounter
this opposition and this hatred, and it's not It's not intentional, really.
They feel that, like when they burned the heretics, they thought
they were doing God a favor. They were helping God. And Paul
said, though we encountered this opposition, yet we turned right
around, went down to Thessalonica, and we were bold to preach that
same gospel. That same gospel. Why? Look at it. Because he said in
verse 4, we're not men-pleasers. That's not our intention. We
seek to please God who tries our hearts. We preach the good news of Jesus
Christ, not to please men, but for the glory of God. All right. Thirdly, in closing,
The gospel must be preached, and it won't be preached in vain.
God will honor it. We're looking for his sheep.
They're going to hear it. They're going to hear it. It may take
a while. And his sheep may be like a wild ass's coat that takes
the Holy Spirit a while to conquer him, but he'll conquer him. If
he belongs to the Lord, he'll whip him. Apostle Paul might
hold the coat while they stone Stephen, but he wanted God's
own. And he may go to the high priest and get letters to go
down and kill some more Christians, but he wanted God's own. Someday,
Saul, someday, God's going to conquer you. Someday, God's going
to break you. Someday, God's going to put you
in the dust. Some of these days, God will
whittle you down. I don't know who you are or where you are,
but if you're one of His, He'll get you. And he'll do it through
the preaching of the gospel. He's not going to bargain with
you or compromise with you. You're going to give. You're
going to die. You're going to be stripped. You're going to
be slain. You're going to be whittled. It'll be God doing
it all, and you're going to be broken. God finds you, and he'll do it
with the preaching of the gospel. That's the way he'll do it. He's
not going to bargain with you. He's not going to educate you.
He's going to slay you. He's going to kill that sinner.
Somebody said to Brother Barnard one time, said, Barnard had preached
a real rough message. He just got real rough. Like,
he didn't get rough too much, but sometimes he did. And a lady
came to him and said, Brother Barnard, said, I got a suggestion
for you. He said, yes, ma'am, what is
it? She said, you'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Well, he said, there's just one
thing wrong with that. He said, I ain't catching flies,
I'm killing sinners. I'm killing sinners. That's what
we're doing. Sometimes folks feel like, well,
the preacher shouldn't be so rough. But you know, a surgeon,
there ain't no delicate way to split a man open. There's no delicate way. It takes
a knife and it's pain. There's no delicate way to pull
an abscessed tooth. You just got to get a hold of
it and yank it out. There's no way. There's no delicate
way to slay a man, to strip him. There's no delicate way to strip
a sinner. Everything's got to come off. And sometimes we feel
like, well, the preacher ought not get on the Catholics, or
the preacher ought not do this, that, and the other. Well, if
you're so good at it, you're welcome to take it uncharged
next Sunday. But the only thing that the Word of God is sharper
than a two-edged sword, and it cuts both ways. And it's not
delicate, and it's not gentle, it's slave. Look at Paul lying
there in the dust, blind as a bat. These extreme measures, what,
Lord, who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Look at the Philippian jailer
lying there broken at the feet of Paul, on his knees, trembling,
shaking like a leaf. Look at that woman following
them down there in Philippi, lying there wallowing in an epileptic
fit. Ain't nothing pretty about that. Ain't nothing pretty about the
death of a proud sinner. And I'll tell you, the prouder
he is, the more God's going to work him over. That's right. And I'll tell you what he'll
do. He'll take you right to your point of rebellion. And that's
where he'll expose you. And the third thing, the gospel,
verse 3, must be preached from a pure motive. And this is what
the Amplified Version says about verse 3, our preaching, our exhortation
was not of deceit or fraud or guile. Our preaching comes out
of a pure motive. Now, everybody who handles the
gospel is involved right here. Now, listen to it. And I'm not
talking about only handling the gospel from up here. I'm talking
about handling the gospel where you discuss it. Every preacher, every teacher,
every witness must examine his motive in setting forth the gospel. Now, I list in order, and I'm
not going to take long. My time's gone. But I'm going
to give you, in order, my motive for preaching. In order. First
of all, we preach for the glory of God. I believe that's the
first reason to preach. The first reason is not to win
souls. I beg your pardon. If we labor
as Judson for seven years without one convert, we're still going
to preach. If we labor like Noah for 120 years and don't have
one person join our assembly, we're still going to preach that
gospel. He says over here, listen to
Peter, 1 Peter 4, 11, he says, If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles, the answer, a witness of God. If any man minister,
let him do it as of the ability which God gives him. that God
in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. That's
the purpose, that's the reason, that God may be glorified. Paul calls the gospel the gospel
of God's glory. That's the first reason for preaching,
the first reason for doing anything. Whatever you do in word or deed,
do it why? To accomplish a purpose, no second,
for the glory of God. Do it why? To increase the Church,
to increase the Kingdom of God. No, sir. Whatever you do in word
or deed, do it first of all for the glory of God. That's what
Scripture says. Secondly, we preach out of a
regenerated heart. Look, turn to Acts 4. I want
you to look at this. And this is my second reason.
I've thought a long time on these now, and this is, I'm speaking
from my own heart. We preach for the glory of God.
Secondly, we preach out of a regenerated heart. The apostles, they told
them not to preach anymore in the name of Christ. And they
said in verse 20 of Acts 4, we cannot but speak the things we've
seen and heard. I'll tell you, brother, if something
is real to you, it'll leak out on you. And no way you can stop
it. If something is important, if
something is great, If something has possessed you, if some good
news has become such a part of you that it occupies your thoughts
and your love and your affections and your desires, it's going
to come out. You can't help but preach. You
can't help but talk about Christ. I wish we could get as interested
in Christ and the gospel as we are in a lot of other things. And John said, that which we
have seen, and that which we have heard, and that which our
hands have handled, declare we unto you. There's no way to stop
it. A well's going to, the water's going to burst out. If that water's
coming forth, it's going to burst out. You can't hold it back. And then thirdly, in 2 Timothy
2, verse 10, here's the third reason why we pray. For the glory
of God, out of a regenerated heart, and thirdly, Paul said,
I endure these things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain
the salvation which is in Christ. We're on the trail of his sheep.
We're out here looking for his sheep. That's why we're preaching.
I don't know who they are, I don't know where they are, but I know
they are. They're out there. And I know that God has, the
end is to make them like Christ, and the means is the gospel.
And the way he does it is through the preaching of the gospel.
That's why we got those missionaries running around down Mexico, these
little Pueblos, looking under rocks and behind trees. They're
looking for God's elect. That's exactly right. That's
why they're there. Our Lord said, Paul, you stay in this city.
I've got much people here. That's the reason why you're
going to stay here. You can't leave now. You've got to stay
there. I've got much people there. They won't hurt you because I've
got some people there. Woe be unto the town the day
that it is said God doesn't have any people there. We ought to be encouraged, every
one of us, and delighted that God's been pleased to raise up
this witness here. He must have some people here.
The Morris's are looking for a church in Richmond where they
can just go and hear the hymn song and can't find it. The Howard
girl is looking for a church in Winchester, Massachusetts,
or Boston, just where she can hear the gospel. What's the harm?
I can't find it. Right here in our state of Kentucky,
I've had people call me and say, in the western part of this state
and around Lexington, they've looked for a church where they
could just hear the gospel of Christ. and can't find it. And yet here in this little town
of Ashland, we got a place where God's pleased to preach his gospel. He must have some people here.
And that's the reason he lets us, maybe this is all of them,
I don't know. Maybe we're just here to send
the message out everywhere, by television and And by missionaries,
maybe he's got some folks where we've got missionaries in Ireland
and Spain and France and where Bill Clark's ministering, Mexico.
Maybe he'll raise up another missionary somewhere and say,
13th Street Baptist Church, I got some people over here in Italy,
and here's a man. Send him a little money, let
him pray. I got some people over there. That's why we're doing
it. Our Lord said of Zacchaeus, he also is a son of Abraham.
Why do we preach? Well, we're commanded to preach.
That's the fourth reason. Our Lord said, go preach the
gospel. He said over here, turn to Ezekiel.
I want you to look at this scripture. I preached too long, but you
don't have anywhere to go. Ezekiel, look at chapter 2, just
a minute. I want you to listen to this.
In Ezekiel 2, verse 3, he said to me, son of man, I send you
to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation. They rebelled
against me, they and their fathers have transgressed against me,
and to this day they're impudent, stiff-hearted. I send you to
them, and you shall say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, and
they, whether they hear or whether they will forbear, they are a
rebellious house, yet they'll know that they've heard a prophet. Now look at chapter 3, verse
4, he said, Son of man, go. Get thee to the house of Israel
and speak my words to them. You're not sent to a people of
strange speech. They know what you're saying,
hard language. I'm sending you to the house of Israel. And not
to many people of a strange speech and a hard language whose words
you cannot understand. Had I sent you to them, they
would have hearkened unto you. But the house of Israel are not
going to listen to you, for they wouldn't listen to me. They're
impotent and hard-hearted, but you go anyhow. How'd you like
to get some orders like that? Lord said, you go down here and
preach to these folks, they're not going to hear you. They're hard-hearted
and stiff-hearted and they're not going to hear you, but you
go preach. Well, what would you do? I've heard preachers say,
well, if I didn't see people saved every Sunday, I'd quit
preaching. Well, not this preacher. I'm going to preach for the glory
of God and because it bubbles in my soul, and because God's
gonna elect people, and because He told me to pray.

Entrusted with the Gospel

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