If you will, let's turn to Mark
chapter 6. Mark chapter 6, and we're going
to be studying today from verses 7 through 13. And he called unto him the twelve,
and began to send them forth by two and two. and gave them
power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should
take nothing for their journeys, save a staff only, no script,
no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals and
not put on two coats. And he said unto them, in what
place soever you enter into an house, there abide till you depart
from that place. And whosoever shall not receive
you nor hear you when you depart then shake off the dust under
your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day
of judgment than for that city. And they went out and preached
that men should repent. And they cast out many devils
and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. The
Gospels reveal that the Lord Jesus Christ sent out men to
preach at least three times. This was the first time, this
passage which we've just read, the first time when he sent out
men to preach the Gospel. If you look in Luke chapter 10,
the second time he sent 70 out. In Luke chapter 10, verses 1
through 3, And after these things, the Lord
appointed other 70 also. In other words, besides the 12,
he appointed 70 others also and sent them to and to before his
face into every city and place, whether he himself would come.
Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but
the laborers are few. Pray you, therefore, the Lord
of the harvest that he would send forth labors into his harvest. And then we know after his death
and resurrection, he sent out his disciples into all the world,
go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Now, when Matthew, in the parallel
passage that we're looking at today, Mark chapter six, a parallel
passage in Matthew, It seems that he gave more instructions
and this may mean that there was other occasions when he sent
out men to preach the gospel or that Matthew just joined all
these times together and put them together with the instructions
given there. But we know the first time he
commanded them not to go into the way of the Gentiles nor enter
into any city of the Samaritans." Well, that was certainly different
from his command to go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature after his resurrection. And also in that passage there
in Matthew, we have these words. He told his disciples, you shall
not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man
be come. You shall not have gone over
the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. Now the Son of Man that is spoken
of there in that passage is not his coming that we are looking
for today, not his second coming when he will come and receive
his own unto himself. But that coming had reference
to his coming in A.D. 70 by the armies of Rome to destroy
Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. He came about 30 years. If he died in A.D. 33, then about
30 years later, about A.D. 70, a little more than 30 years, The Lord Jesus Christ came in
judgment. He came in the persons of those
soldiers of Rome and judged the nation of Israel for their not
receiving Him, for their rejecting Him, for their crucifying of
Him. They reaped what they had sowed,
and that is their destruction as a nation. Now, as we consider
these verses this morning, I'm going to divide my message into
four parts. I want us to look first at a
call, and then second, at trust, and third, at importance, and
lastly, at the ministry. First, the call. Notice if you
have your Bible still open here to Mark chapter six, verse seven,
the first thing we read is, and he called the twelve. Now, you know it's true that
in this number of 12, there was Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. In John chapter six and verse
70, the Lord Jesus said this, have not I chosen you 12, that
is these 12 disciples, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you
is a devil. Now the Lord knew from the beginning
who it was who would betray him. And Judas was never saved. He was never chosen to salvation. He was chosen to the office of
an apostle, but he was never chosen to salvation. He wasn't saved and then lost
his salvation. How unbecoming of God such a
teaching of that is. to think that God doesn't have
the power and the purpose to keep those that he has chosen,
that he has redeemed, and those whom he calls, because he does. But Judas was one of the 12 chosen
to be an apostle, never chosen to salvation. The word apostle
means messenger, he that is sent. Think about that. That's what
the word apostle means. These 12 men, these 12 disciples
were made apostles, 12 apostles, just as there were 12 children
of Jacob that made up the nation of Israel. So this spiritual
Israel, we begin with these 12 apostles and the word itself
means to be sent or a messenger. In Hebrews chapter three and
verse one, The Lord Jesus Christ, He is called an apostle. And think about it. What does
the word apostle mean? It means to be sent. The Lord
Jesus Christ was called an apostle. Hebrews 3 and verse 1. We read,
wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be an apostle? It means to be sent. And God
sent his son into this world. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10,
here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And the word also
means a messenger. And we know in the last book
of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, we have him
speaking there and saying, Behold, I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before me. Now that messenger, of course,
is John the Baptist. I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek
shall suddenly come to his temple. Now listen, even the messenger
of the covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the surety of the covenant. He is the mediator of the covenant,
and yes, he is the messenger of the covenant. What covenant?
God's everlasting covenant, his covenant of grace. But the point
I want to make this morning is that he called, I'm going to
emphasize that word called, and he called the 12. The Lord continues till today. He continues to call men to be
his messengers and sends them out to preach. Now he gave these
12 power, so he anoints those that he calls into the ministry
with the power, the ability to preach the gospel. Remember Paul
said, our sufficiency is of God. No man who is called of God to
preach the gospel claims any self-sufficiency to this work. If he does, he's surely not called
of God. No man is sufficient for the
ministry of preaching the gospel. But our sufficiency is of God. He gives us that power just like
he gave these twelve power. So he gives men today that he
calls into the ministry the power to be his messenger. Now I've
been asked over the years a few times, how does a person know,
how does a man know if God is calling him to the ministry of
preaching? And I have a few answers, not
necessarily in order, but that I like to mention when I'm asked
that question. Number one, do you have a desire? a desire. And I ask that because
Paul says in his words to Timothy, this is a true saying, if a man
desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. So the
first thing, do you have that desire? That desire to serve
the Lord in preaching the word of God. Now, Paul said, if any
man desire the office of a bishop, let me just add this, that there's
three words, three English words in the New Testament, which all
refer to the preacher. And that is a bishop, an elder,
and a pastor. They all refer to the same office
of preaching the gospel. So number one. Is the Lord calling
me to preach? Well, do you have that great
desire to serve the Lord in preaching the gospel? Now, not everyone
who has that desire is called to understand that. I think all
of God's children desire to preach. All desire to share the gospel,
and all of us can share the gospel. with others, but to preach, to
be a pastor. Do you have that desire? Someone
asked me this morning, do you have any plans for retirement?
And I said, yes, I do. Heaven is the place I want to
retire to. Now, I don't know what God's
plans are, but I can say this morning standing before you that
I still have a desire to preach. a desire that the Lord gave me
many, many years ago now, over 50 years ago, in fact. Number
two, has he given you the message? Now, God hasn't called a man
to preach who doesn't have the message, the gospel message. Paul said, again, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels. That's what the preacher is,
just like you and everyone else. a pot of clay. He made us from
the dust, our bodies from the dust. That's all we are. But Paul says we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. Now listen, that the excellency
of the power may be of God. The gospel, the message that
is committed unto us, that is of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Is that a treasure to you? Is
that a treasure, a treasure to you? If you are called of God
to preach, you realize what a treasure he has entrusted with you. A
greater treasure than if you had all the gold in Fort Knox,
my friends. A treasure, the gospel of Jesus
Christ, to be able to preach the word of God. to preach of
Christ and Him crucified. And remember, Christ and Him
crucified, that's the center of the message. When a man approached the tabernacle,
remember the tabernacle of old, God gave instructions to Moses. When a man would come to worship
God and approach that tabernacle, the first thing that he would
see would be that altar. that brazen altar, that altar
upon which the animal had been sacrificed, had been burned,
his blood had been poured out, that was the first thing that
you would see. And in preaching the gospel,
the heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ, who He is, and His crucifixion. He did not die in vain. He died
to redeem those people that the Father had given unto Him, and
He has redeemed each and every one of them. The message, has
He given you the message? And number three, providential
doors being opened. Has God opened the doors? One
of the men that I respect more probably than any other pastor
that I've known, The way he was put into the ministry was so
providential. It was so providential. And I
learned from his experience, don't try to force yourself into
the ministry. God will open the door. A man's gifts will make room
for him. Now there are other things we
could mention. And I would recommend to anyone who might have that
question, It's the Lord calling me to the ministry to read this
book, The New Testament Missionary by Cliff Heller, one of the missionaries
that our church supports. It's an excellent book. It was
written specifically for missionaries and the called mission work,
but it is applicable to pastors as well. Now the Lord sent these
12. He sent them out two by two. There's some practical thoughts
in that. Remembering the words of Solomon,
two is better than one. And then he gives these reasons.
Two is better than one because if one falls, the other is there
to help him up. Two is better than one because
if one gets cold, the other may give him heat. And two is better
than one because two are harder to overcome than one. And then, of course, we remember
in the Old Testament, a matter was established, a serious matter
was established in the mouth of two, at least two witnesses. So he sends his disciples out
to preach the gospel two by two. Now that's the call. Second,
the trust, the trust. What do I mean by that? I mean
that the Lord Jesus Christ taught these disciples to trust God. Don't take anything with you.
Notice that in verses eight and nine. He commanded them that
they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. No script, no bread, no money,
but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats. There are three lessons in those
commands that I see. Number one, they must learn to
trust the Lord to provide for them. They were to take nothing. Usually, if you are going on
a journey, just a few days journey, you're going to take something.
You're going to pack a back sack, or a knapsack or something along,
but no, the Lord said, don't take anything. Don't take any
bread, don't take any money. That word script, of course,
is a bag in which they would carry things. Don't take anything. They must learn to trust the
Lord. Number two, they must learn that
a workman is worthy of his hire. You know, in the Old Testament
law, God provided for the ox. You shall not muzzle the ox that
thresheth the wheat. He provided for the ox who plowed
and threshed the wheat. And Paul in the New Testament
applies that to those who preach the gospel. Those who preach
the gospel are to live of the gospel. I've always believed
there is a dependency between the sheep and the shepherd. The
shepherd needs the sheep. and the sheep need a shepherd.
And so these men must learn that a workman is worthy of his hire. And number three, they must appear
unto men to be pilgrims. And I see that because only here
in Mark, the Lord said, take a staff. You can take a staff. Or you are to take a staff, I
should say. Now, when a man travels with
the staff, we usually, in our minds at least, associate that
with a pilgrim. And that's what we are in this
world. All of us are pilgrims and strangers
in this world. We're just passing through. We're
like our father Abraham in the sense that he was seeking a city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Our rest is not in this world. When I think of these commands,
I'm reminded of two groups that I read about. You've probably
read about this in church history. And this was before Luther. This
was before Luther and the reformation that is usually associated with
him. This is back in the 1300s. But
first there was a man by the name of Peter Waldo. He lived
in lines. He was a very wealthy man, a
merchant. And my memory is that he was
at a banquet one night, and the man sitting next to him just
dropped over dead. And Peter Waldo got up and gave
himself to Christ, gave away all of his money, and those men
who assembled around him that he taught the word of God, they
began to go out in Europe two by two preaching the gospel and
they were known as the Waldensians from Peter Waldo. And then in
England from John Wycliffe. Now Wycliffe is called the Morning
Star of the Reformation because he too preceded Luther. He had a group of people that
he trained, men that he trained. They were known as the Lollards,
the Lollards. And they, too, went two by two.
They were also called the poor priest. Now, remember that to
get an education, any kind of an education at that time, you
almost had to become a priest to go to a university. That's
why the universities were there, to train men for the priesthood.
I was amazed the other, it's been about two weeks ago, and
reading a book on the Reformation I had not read before, when this
one man, he was a Roman Catholic priest, he was already in the
priesthood, already serving as a priest, he had never once read
the Scriptures. Isn't that amazing? And not only
had he never read the Scriptures, but he was afraid to read the
Scriptures. And the reason he was afraid
to read the scriptures is because he had been taught that if he
read the scriptures, he might be led astray. That's amazing
to me. He was one of those men called
the radical reformers. The Mennonites are actually named
after that particular man. But before Martin Luther and
John Calvin and and these other men that are associated with
the Reformation. God has always had, the Lord
Jesus Christ has always had believers in this world. He said upon this
rock, I will establish my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Now like those Lawlords, those
followers with John Wycliffe, they suffered such persecution
Such persecution, and this was before King Henry VIII. There was another king, a previous
king by the same name of Henry who persecuted them. Many of
them were burned at the stake in the 1300s. And so they went
underground. They had to. Just no doubt as
in countries today, there are churches and believers who are
underground. They have to be underground because
of the authorities. Thank God we live in the country
we do. But we should recognize, I believe
this is so relevant today, we should recognize that these liberties
are gradually being taken away from us and will be taken away
from us if the Lord doesn't intervene. We should certainly be thankful
for the liberty we have today. I do, that I can stand and preach,
and I can preach from any part of this Bible. Any part of this
Bible that the Lord leads me to preach from, I'm going to
preach from it. And they're going to call it
hate speech or whatever, but it's God's Word, and it doesn't
change. It's not going to change. His
Word is settled forever in heaven. So that's the second thing, trust. They were taught to trust the
Lord for your needs. I don't know if you read this
past week, but that pastor who was sentenced to six years in
prison this past week for fraud. And he's a pastor, they said,
of a mega church with 14,000 members and I was mentioning that to my wife
and she said, well, if each member just gave a dollar, $14,000 a
month, I mean, why was he involved in trying to get more money? No, God calls his man to preach
the gospel and to live of the gospel and be content with such
things as you have. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. There's many people in this world
who have so much. We all have so much, right? But
I mean there's some we think of them having millions of dollars
and then you read that they can't live. They have to have drugs
trying to keep themselves asleep and they can't face life. Money is not the answer. The
things of this world is not the answer. Christ is the answer. Always has been and always will
be. And I tell you what, He's enough
to fill your heart. He is. You don't need these things
of this world. I don't need these things of
this world. And our Lord is teaching these
early disciples immediately, trust in the Lord. He'll take
care of you. Now the third thing is the importance,
the importance. He revealed unto them the importance
of their work, verses 10 and 11. He said unto them, in what
place soever you enter into an house, there abide till you depart
from that place, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear
you, when you depart thence, Shake off the dust from your
feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day
of judgment than for that city. Now Matthew, his instructions
as he recorded them help us here. He said into whatsoever city
or town you shall enter, inquire who is worthy. who is worthy,
and there abide till you go thence. Now what is meant by who is worthy?
Well, no one is worthy of the gospel. No one is worthy. No son of Adam, no fallen son
of Adam is worthy of the eternal son of God being made flesh,
coming into this world, and giving himself a sacrifice to redeem
us. In fact, the gospel is not for
the worthy, it's for the unworthy. The unworthy. Men who see themselves
as worthy, they just deny themselves the privilege of the gospel.
He said, I didn't come to call the righteous to repentance,
but sinners to repentance. Paul in Romans 5 said, for yet
when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. None of us have any strength
in ourselves, any goodness, any righteousness in ourselves that
would cause God to have mercy upon us. So when we read, make
sure there's someone worthy there. He's not talking about a person
being worthy in himself, but that word refers to the fact
of a person being hospitable, hospitable. He's going to open
his house or she's going to open her house. Remember in Acts chapter
16, it was Lydia, Lydia who, who, uh, prevailed upon Paul
and Silas to come to her house. Well, don't go into a house where
a man doesn't want you to come, who's not liberal, who's not
hospitable. But no, go into one because you
don't have any bread. You don't have any money. You're
not to take that. You find a house where the man
is hospitable. And you go into that house and
don't move from house to house. Act as though you're always looking
for a better place, a better situation. You know, be content. If that man's hospitable to you,
then go there and remain there until you leave that city. Now, where you are not received,
and this is where I say the importance. The importance. It's a serious
thing to hear the gospel. It's a serious matter to preach
the gospel, and it's a serious matter to hear the gospel. These
men went forth preaching. If they won't hear you, then
you shake off the dust of your feet when you leave that place. And our Lord said, in the day
of judgment, It's going to be more tolerable for those in Sodom
and Gomorrah that God destroyed in the days of Abraham. Why? Because of the privilege they
had in the gospel coming among them. Now there's only one place
in the scripture where we are told that the ministers of the
gospel shook off the dust of their feet. And that was Paul
and Barnabas when they left the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia. We read this, they shook off
the dust of their feet against them. That was the Jews there
who had rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now the last thing,
the ministry, they preached that men should repent. Verses 12
and 13. They went out and preached that
men should repent. The Lord gave them power over
unclean spirits and healed the sick, but first they were to
preach. Preaching was their main business. The casting out demons and the
healing of the sick, that was secondary to the main business. The main business was preaching. God is chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now we read here, they
preach that man should repent. And that word repent doesn't
mean just turn from your sin or change your mind. It does
mean that, it includes that, but it means be converted, that
man should be converted. The negative part of conversion
might be repentance, but the positive part of being converted
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's always been
the message. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray God would bless this word
to those of us here this morning. I'm thankful for the gospel,
aren't you? I am. I'm thankful. Let us sing this
hymn. It is well with my soul. When we sing the third verse,
I believe it is my sin. Oh, that's so precious, isn't
it? My sin. Not in part, but the whole. It's nailed to the cross, and
I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. It is well with
my soul. Let's stand as we sing number
256.