Anatomy of a Man of God: His Feet, Part 1

Introduction: The Anatomy of a Man of God Series and Today's Focus

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 20th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now in the language of the hymn we have sung together in God's presence, we have pleaded for the presence and ministry of the Spirit. Let us seek to gather those same conscious expressions of our dependence upon God in the language now of prayer, as together we plead the Lord's promise, If ye who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Let us ask together.

0:50 O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for those encouraging words of our Lord Jesus, which lead us to believe that your heart is... is large towards your children, that your hands are ready to dispense the good things that we so desperately need.

1:15 And we confess that above all else, we need in this hour the present and powerful ministry of the very person of the Holy Spirit. And so we ask you, loving Father in Heaven, out of the measure...

1:33 out of the measure of your infinite love, grounded in the work of your Beloved Son, give us copious measures of the Spirit, that we may be taught of you in the matters that will engage our minds from the Scriptures. We plead through Christ our Lord. Amen.

2:02 We come this morning to the ninth message under the general hymn, The Heading of the Anatomy of a Man of God. This series of studies began on the Lord's Day of September 11th of this fall, in conjunction with a special evening worship service in which the new students of the Trinity Ministerial Academy were given an opportunity to introduce themselves to the congregation. And on that occasion each year that we commonly call Academy Night, the ministry of the Word is always geared at addressing some vital aspect of the work of the Christian ministry. And on that occasion we began this series of studies, The Anatomy of a Man of God. And the rationale for carrying it on to this day and God willing completing it next Lord's Day is very simple. Since it is our goal to see God raise up men of God in our generation, and since the Academy functions within the life and ministry of this assembly,

3:20 it is vital that all of us, students in the Academy, instructors in the Academy, members and friends of Trinity Church, have a biblically based and unified understanding of what our goal is. A biblically based and unified understanding of our goal. What makes a man worthy of the designation a man of God? What are those distinguishing traits of a man equipped and called of God to labor in the proclamation of his word and in the oversight of his church? Well, in seeking to answer this question from the scriptures, we have used the analogy of the human anatomy as our organizing framework and have considered together some of the leading features of a man of God. We have examined the head of a man of God, his eyes, his ears, his heart, his mouth, his backbone or spinal cord, and his body. We have examined his hands, and then we move downward to examine his knees.

4:46 Today we move down to the lowest extremities of the human anatomy and we consider together from the scriptures the feet of a man of God. And as we do, our pivotal text this morning is found in the book of Romans, chapter 10. Will you turn, please, to this portion of the word of God. In Romans, chapter 10, I begin reading at verse 12 and read through verse 15.

The Uncomely Nature of Physical Feet vs. The Beauty of Spiritual Feet

5:22 Romans 10 and verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and is rich unto all that is. That is, there is a division of the law of the world between the faith and the law of God. That is, there is no division of the law between the faith and the law of God.

5:45 The law of God is the power of God. Look at this verse. There are three different ways of reading the book of Romans, that is, the first way are of speaking the truth, and the second way are of speaking the truth, which is an open word that is the spirit of the northern spirit, and the third way is that you can speak the truth of the Lord and the holy spirit. We have discussed the south and the south.

5:57 And then we will go on to the south, where God has a parallel perspective. The north is the heaven. The south is the heaven. And we will go to the right in a moment, which is the holy spirit of God, And how shall they preach except they be sent?

6:11 Even as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. Now this particular passage, and I refer of course to the statement of verse 15, is quoted in part or is a partial quotation of a passage found in Isaiah the 52nd chapter and the 7th verse. And this passage informs us concerning the feet of a man of God, that they are, Now for many of us, our physical feet are often the part of our body that we think about when we read in 1 Corinthians 12 about the uncomely parts of our body. And for many of us, whatever attractive features we may have, or whatever not so attractive features we have, I think if we were to say, I think if we were to take a vote on what we regard to be our most unattractive members, most of us would vote for our feet.

7:33 You don't find poems written about people's feet. There is very little in one's feet to excite poetry. The eyes of one's beloved, the hair, the neck, the other parts of the anatomy do indeed incite poetry. They become the occasion of love songs and the expression of artistic ability, but seldom do you find feet being the object of separate works of sculpture or works of art.

Prerequisite 1: Feet That Carry a Man Sent by God

8:11 And yet in the realm of the spirit, the text says that the feet of a man of God are in every case beautiful feet. In every place where a man of God is found, gaze upon his feet, and God says, you will find them to be beautiful. Now before we take up the obvious question, what makes the feet of a man of God beautiful, we must note from the passage read in your hearing the two necessary prerequisites if the feet of a man of God are beautiful. If the feet of a man of God are beautiful, if the feet of a man of God are to be beautiful feet. And the first prerequisite is that these beautiful feet carry a man sent to his task by the living God. These beautiful feet are such because they carry a man sent to his task by the living God. Look at the language of the first part of verse.

9:24 And how shall they preach except they be sent? Even as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. And the clear assumption of the text is this, that the feet described as beautiful feet are carrying a man who is sent upon him. It says nothing of a man who is not equipped and commissioned by the living God to function as a herald, that is, one who officially proclaims the message of his sovereign. Now we certainly agree with the sentiments expressed so clearly and powerfully by a preacher of another generation, by the name of God, Gardiner Spring, who, speaking about the authority of preaching, states that every believer has both the privilege and the obligation to convey God's saving truth whenever he has the opportunity to do so,

10:43 that ultimately the saving power of God is mediated by the truth of his word. And every single believer has both the obligation, and the privilege, of conveying that truth to others. However, and here I quote Gardiner Spring, while these truths are truths that ought neither to be forgotten nor abused, and I've just summarized the truths he has laid out, it is equally true that no private Christian is authorized to utter the truths of the gospel in God's name and as his commissioners. He is a commissioned ambassador.

11:26 He may and ought to speak for God in his private capacity, but not as a minister of the gospel. When two nations are at war, the private citizens of both who are resident in the land of the enemy may in their private capacity urge the claims of their own land, while as commissioned ambassadors they have no authority. And in that capacity, they have no claim to be heard. This world is at war with God.

12:01 Every friend of God in this revolted empire of his dominion is bound to act the part of a friend, and in his capacity as a private citizen of the divine kingdom, to urge men to cease from their rebellion and become reconciled to their injured and offended Lord. But, he has no instruction, to do this as God's special ambassador. The legitimate occupants of the pulpit claim this as their prerogative. They are appointed by God himself to this responsible service.

12:42 God has invested them with this high office, and they have ever claimed and exercised it in every age of the world. Now you see, this is all bound up in the word sent. How shall they preach? Except they be sent.

13:02 It does not say except they go, but except they be sent. And if one is to be sent, there must be a sender. And bound up in that concept is the biblical doctrine of the unique, place of one who is commissioned by the living God himself to be an official ambassador of the king of kings and the Lord of lords, and to speak his word in his name with his uniquely conferred authority that is riveted to the very throne of heaven. And while it is not my purpose to open up the biblical doctrine of what constitutes, a legitimate call to this office and function, suffice it to say, that a sent one is at the most minimal level, one who is equipped by the ascended Christ with the gifts and graces essential to the office and function of a preacher.

14:15 He is one who has been recognized by the church and formally set apart to function, as a preacher of the word and don't ever omit this third element. He is one who is endowed spirit with that unction and authority essential to the work of preaching the word of God. The beautiful feet of Romans 1015 are the feet first of all and fundamentally of a man who is, sent to his by the living God. Professor Murray captures this truth very forcefully in his comments on this verse, writing as follows. Verse 15 reflects on the necessity of God's commission to those who undertake this office. The presumption of arrogating to oneself this function is apparent from what had just been stated. Those who preach are, Christ's spokesman and only the person upon whom he has laid his hand may act in that capacity.

15:37 Now, why do I take the time to underscore this first prerequisite of these beautiful feet? Well, for the simple reason that we live in a day that has denigrated the office of a preacher. We live in a day when it is thought that anyone armed with his, Bible and a few commentaries or at least the amplified version of the Bible, is as competent as anyone else to say what the scripture says and to stand and to be an official teacher in Christ's church. However, our text clearly indicates that the beautiful feet are not beautiful in the case of those who run unsent, who go on and who Sally forth without a divine. Commission. And so the first prerequisite of the beautiful feet of a man of God is that they carry a man sent to his task by the living God. But then the second prerequisite of the beautiful feet.

Prerequisite 2: Feet That Carry a Man Proclaiming Glad Tidings

16:44 Is this that they carry a man actually performing defined by the word of God, not only in his task by the call of God, but a man I finally, performing his task as defined by the word of god look again at the text how shall they preach except they be sent even as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them and then you have a participle which if we were to render it literally would be rendered as followed how beautiful are the feet of them that proclaim glad hidings of good thing the feet of a set

17:42 when he is found of the good jesus christ and his a task in which did to held as an ambassador of the king to proclaim authoritatively in the name of the king the glad hidings of the good that god for sinners in the the person and work as christ you see the feet are not beautiful simply because a man has a title has a job has a ministerial when they carry the good thing of the good of god's mercy

19:03 to rebel sinners so here then are the two requisites of the full feet of a man of god and let me say by way of application they underscore the absolute necessity of every man who would ever bear the title man of being prepared nothing in seeking to clear the legitimacy of his call to the office of a preacher feet are beautiful in the man of god only when they are feet by the living god and they underscore that no matter what pressures are brought to bear upon us to alter our message to the people of god and to the people of the message either in its content or its manner of proclamation our feet are beautiful only when he quit and commissioned by the living god are engaged in the past to which he has called us and that is the past not for a poll picking men to give us the

20:26 order of sharing a few thoughts with them but the task not our own not our own ideas not our own dreams and fancies but heralded glad tidings of the good things for sinners in the person and work of the lord jesus christ now then having looked at the two prerequisites to having beautiful feet what i propose to do is to answer the question what then makes the feet of a man of god beautiful feet and i have three parts to the answer one this morning and God willing the next two next Lord's Day if the Lord is pleased to spare us and bring us together again in his presence. What then makes the feet of a man of God beautiful feet? The man who is equipped and commissioned by the sovereign to be his messenger and as the messenger of the sovereign is engaged in the task of heralding the glad tidings of good

What Makes the Feet Beautiful: They Bring Christ Himself to Men

21:46 things. What makes his feet beautiful? Well the answer of scripture is this. First of all they are beautiful feet because they bring the Lord Jesus himself to men in the proclamation of the gospel.

22:05 They are beautiful feet because they bring the Lord Jesus himself in the proclamation of the gospel. As we have been studying the gospel of Mark for several years in our morning meditations for the most part have we not many of us again and again said oh if I could only have been there to be involved in one of those incidents so graphically described by Mark in his account of the life and death and ministry of the Lord Jesus. When we have looked at some of those strokes of intimate detail in Mark's gospel our hearts have yearned oh that I could be just one in the crowd when he did this or that mighty work when he spoke this or that word of grace or rebuke or expose of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the others who sought to trap him in his words. Well the truth is my dear brethren is that the only way in which you will confront the Lord Jesus prior to the end of your life is that you will confront the Lord Jesus prior to death and judgment is as he comes to you in the good

23:26 tidings proclaimed by one of his authorized messengers. Look carefully at the preceding context of verse 15 in Romans chapter 10. You will notice that a line of argument begins at verse 12 in which the apostle makes an assertion there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all which unto all that call upon him. Now fact number one when it comes to the great concerns of the soul we need not think well the difference between Jews and Greeks in privilege and background and mindset and culture is so radically different we must look for two different saviors. No there is one exalted Lord who has come to his place of exaltation by way of Mary's by way of his perfect life by way of the validation of his identity by mighty signs and wonders the greatest

24:45 being his own resurrection he has come to his throne by way of the humiliation of the cross and there is but one Lord and he is rich unto all all upon him whether Jew or whether Greek there is but one savior perfectly suited for every of man that's fact number one. Now verse 14 look this Lord is rich unto all that call upon him for verse 13 I'm sorry whose shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You see Paul has made an amazing assertion there is one Lord suited to every sinner rich tools upon him and it's as though someone says but that sounds too good to be true he says all right i'll buttress it with a proof text from the old testament and so quoting from the prophet joel chapter 2 and verse 32 he buttresses that assertion with a divine word previously given

25:53 or any whosoever shall call up one lord is suited to the need of every and any sinner shall say case dismissed no other argument all right he's established that great truth there is one lord for all men and that lord is rich unto any who call upon him he buttresses it with a promise whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved but now there's a problem look at it in verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed to truly call upon him with a call that results in salvation one must first of all believe some fundamental things about him would you call upon a lord for salvation if you did not know that he was suited to be your savior if you were not convinced that he was both able and willing to save you would you call upon him with any intelligent call of course not so paul says all right

27:15 right i've established whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved but how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed is not the product and the expression of a faith that is founded upon some facts about him how then can they call in anything other than a blind superstitious subjective mystical kind of calling if the calling is to be the calling of intelligence and faith must be a faith based upon fact learned about him how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed now that being so then that poses another question now look at verse fourteen b how shall they believe in him not of whom how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard not of whom shall they believe in him whom they have not heard To call upon him, one must believe some fundamental things about him. Now he says, to believe fundamental things about him, one must hear.

28:39 Look at the text. That's what it says. How shall they build from whom they have not heard? But how, if they are to believe upon Christ, and that belief is to give birth to a calling upon Christ?

29:07 First of all, hear all upon him in whom they have not believed. How shall they believe? He says, him whom they have not asked, hear the voice.

29:29 Well, then that poses a problem. How are we going to hear his voice?

29:34 Is an angel going to fetch him out of heaven and accompany him in a grand heavenly chariot and bring the Lord Jesus down here this morning, let him off in the parking lot and have him come up through the foyer and amongst the pews and speak directly, speak to him. Thunderous. Thunderous voice.

30:01 No, look at the next part of the verse.

30:06 And how without preacher.

30:23 But wonder.

30:35 They believe the things he proclaims about him.

30:41 They call upon him. And calling upon him, they are saved. And it's in that closely structured line of argumentation that we have our word. How shall they preach?

30:57 Excess. Dissent. How beautiful are the feet. Of those who bring glad tidings of good things and what makes them.

31:11 It is this.

31:13 Eat are beautiful because they carry the Lord's proclamation of the gospel. No wonder God says that the feet of a man of God are beautiful feet. For by the carry and a fish representative and commissioned and author of the word. It is not just the teaching of this particular passage, but I want you to look at several other passages that clearly confirm that this is indeed the teaching of the word of God and how I've cried to God that by the spirit he would open our eyes to lay hold of the glorious wonder of this truth. Will you turn to the book of Ephesians?

Scriptural Confirmation: Christ Preaches Through His Messengers

32:20 The book of Ephesians. You remember that in chapter two, Paul has described the great salvation that comes to dead sinners and then he begins in verse 11 to show that this salvation not only brings the individual sinner into a right relationship with God, but in that salvation wrought in the work of Christ, the ancient barrier between Jew and Greek is broken down and in Christ God is broken down. And in Christ God is making a new humanity comprised of saved Jew and Gentile, forming them into one spiritual temple built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ himself, the chief cornerstone. But now, how do sinners hear and come to believe the message by which they are saved and incorporated into this one new humanity? This new living. This new living temple comprised of Jew and Gentiles.

33:27 Look at verse 17. Speaking of the Lord Jesus through whom enmity has been slain, Paul writes, and the Lord Jesus came and preached to you that were false have our access in one spirit unto the Father. Now, he says the same is the Christ. You children, something who've read your gospel. Records and listened in Sunday school. Did Jesus ever leave Palestine in the days of his flesh to preach?

34:30 Did Jesus ever leave the land of Palestine and go preach somewhere else in the Roman Empire? And the answer is no. Even those that he commissioned in his lifetime, the 70 and the 12. He said, go not anywhere but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

34:47 Go not into the way of Gentiles yet. And after his resurrection, he said. Now go out and make disciples among all the nations. Be witnesses unto me to the ends of the earth.

34:59 But Jesus never went to Ephesus. And yet Paul says he came and he preached peace to you who were afar off. Well, how did Jesus come to Ephesus and preach peace to them? Well, you can read about it in the book of Acts.

35:17 For there we have a record of how under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, having been forbidden. Of the spirit to preach the word in two other directions. Paul and his companions are shut up to a course which ultimately leads them to the city of Ephesus. And there in Ephesus, he preaches first of all in the synagogue.

35:39 And then when driven out, he rents a hired hall, the school of Tyrannus. And there he labors and preaches the word of God until it says that all Asia heard the word of the Lord. When Paul writes about. Their conversion, he says.

35:57 It was not just this hook-nosed Jew, the former proud Pharisaic, blind, ignorant person who preached to you.

36:19 Himself came to his servant. And when his servant preached the good tidings of the good things stored up for sinners in the person and work of the Savior. It was the Savior himself coming to men. In the chariot of the gospel centered upon himself, therefore, in chapter four, it's not surprising that he picks up the same thread of thought and he is exhorting the Ephesian Christians, verse 17, no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk, he says, to do so would be contrary to what you learned on the threshold. Of your.

37:08 Christian experience, verse 20, but you did not so learn Christ now notice if so that you even as the truth is in Jesus, he said for you to live like the Gentiles is to live contrary to what you learned when he came in the proclamation of the. For what you learned of him was that he came to save his people upon a waves, not in. Then he came to deliver us out of this present evil world. He came to redeem us that we might be a people's zealous of good works. That's what he said to you in the word and proclamation of the gospel.

38:17 You did not so learn Christ if so be that you heard him. If you truly heard his voice in its saving. Did in such a way. Is to know that you've been called to a life of holiness and nonconformity with the world, but you heard him.

38:44 And this is but a fulfillment of our Lord's previously uttered word. I want you to turn to the third confirming witness in the gospel of John. The gospel of John chapter 10. In this wonderful chapter in which the Lord Jesus sets himself forward as the good shepherd.

39:04 The gospel of John chapter 10 in this wonderful chapter in which the Lord Jesus sets himself forward as the good shepherd. He says in verse 15. Even as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Referring obviously to those that are afar off the Gentiles that are his sheep.

39:32 They're already his sheep in terms of the Father's eternal purposes of electing grace and mercy. Already his sheep in that they have been entrusted to him. He has undertaken all of their liabilities and obligations. He has said I'm about to lay down my life for my sheep.

39:54 And some of them are not of this fold. Them also I must bring. As surely as I must die to secure their life and gather them into my fold. And how is he going to do that?

40:14 How is he going to do it? Look at the next part of the verse. And they shall hear my voice. They shall hear my voice.

40:27 Who's he speaking about? The other sheep not of this fold. Those Gentiles. Blessed be God.

40:35 Speaking of many of us. He spoke those. Yet we were there when he spoke that part to the other sheep. The masses of the going.

40:53 The nations. The young Gentiles that we were. And he says they shall hear my voice. Then he says they shall become part of the one flock.

41:09 Under the gracious rule and saving power of the one shepherd. You see what he's saying? And oh may God grip us with it. As surely as no sheep has his salvation provided in any other way.

41:25 But by the death of the shepherd. No sheep is ever gathered into the fold. Apart from the voice of the same shepherd who died. Reaching him and bringing him in.

41:41 You see that in the text? I can't reach it. Do you see it in the text? I look for the sheep.

41:54 Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them all must bring. They. He does not say someone speaking for me.

42:09 One speaking in my behalf. A sinner will hear the voice of Christ. This side of death and judgment. They will hear his voice.

42:26 Through his authorized messengers. Through his appointed heralds. Through those whom he sends to men. Proclaiming good tidings of good things.

42:42 Concerning the great shepherd. Now then perhaps we're prepared to appreciate with I trust a little more solemnity. Such words as Luke 10 and verse 16. Luke 10 and verse 16.

43:05 Our Lord is appointed the 70 to send them out. And notice the solemn words with which he concludes their commission in verse 16. He that hears you hears not an echo of me. A representation of me.

43:27 Or a word down of me. That is you as my delegates. My representatives. Speaking my word by my authority.

43:45 And in my name hears you hears me he says. And he that rejects you rejects me. And he that rejects me rejects him that sent me. See that?

44:03 Sent me. I am the one sent of the Father. I do not speak my own words. I speak the things I hear of my Father.

44:14 I do the things that I see with my Father. I'm a sent one. You are sent one. And as you speak the message.

44:24 Under the canopy of your sentness. Those who hear you hear me. Hearing me they hear the Father. Those who reject you reject me.

44:35 And those who reject me reject the Father. Ah, but someone says that was peculiar to the 12 and to the 70. You think you can make that stick? Turn to John chapter 13 and verse 20.

44:50 For what he says explicitly to the 70. Notice how he now broadens its implication. John 13 and verse 20. Verily, verily, here is one of those unusually solemn sayings of the Lord Jesus.

45:10 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that receives whomsoever I send receives me. He that receives whom? That publish good tidings of good things.

45:46 And it's very interesting. When you check the quote from Isaiah 52 in its context. You see that this very emphasis is there in the initial context. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 52.

46:03 Isaiah chapter 52. God's people are in captivity. They've experienced the excessive cruelty of their captors. God is calling them to rise up out of the dust of her shame.

46:27 And now God says, verse 5 of Isaiah 52. Now therefore what do I hear, says the Lord, seeing that my people is taken away for nothing? They that rule over them do howl, says the Lord, in my name continually all the day. Therefore my people shall know my name.

46:50 Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak. Behold, it is I, or here I am. And what's the next word? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings.

47:10 How does God fulfill his promise to calm him down? He comes when the feet of a sent one are seen coming over the mountains. Publishing salvation. Publishing good tidings of good.

47:35 Saying unto Zion, thy God. Well I trust I have brought forward enough scripture to establish this first and vital point. Why are the feet of a man of God beautiful? Because they carry the Lord Jesus Christ himself to men in the proclamation of the gospel.

Application to the Unconverted: Christ Comes to You in the Gospel

48:03 Now having established that from the scriptures, I want to use the remainder of our time to make three very specific categories of application. First of all, I want to speak to every unconverted man, woman, boy or girl sitting here in this room. I want to start with my humble opinion, and I want to be clear that is the same as I write this account here. If I ask you, and I doubt if there is a one of you, perhaps there is a one who has wandered in from the community and has never heard the gospel preached, But I doubt it.

48:34 Many of you, I know, have heard the good tidings of the good things stored up in Jesus Christ, For sinners, you have heard them, ten, twenty, a hundred, some of you, a thousand, no other Savior but the Lord Jesus. You've heard about the uniqueness of His person, the sufficiency of His work. You've heard His sincere, well-meant offer and entreaty and gracious commands to come to Him, to believe upon Him, to throw yourself upon Him, to do what sailors used to do in the midst of a raging storm when they thought the ship would break to pieces. They knew that the most stable thing on that ship was the mast sunk in its socket in the keel of that ship. And they would literally lash themselves to the mast, saying, in essence, I'll not go down to my death unless the mast itself is snapped and itself cast out to sea. And that's what you've been urged to do, to lash yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified for sinners, raised from the dead, saying, if I perish, I'll perish.

49:51 And you've heard about the uniqueness of His person, and you've been urged and entreated and begged and commanded to flee to Christ, and yet today, you still, as it were, stand on the bow of the ship, tempting Almighty God with your... going...

50:17 and you're to hell. And why don't you go to my Jesus? You say, oh, but Pastor, if the Lord Jesus were to come in those chariots you spoke about earlier and come down the center aisle and come over to my pew and stand...

50:33 stand in front of me and stretch out His hands and say, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You say, if the Lord were to come and stretch out His hands in front of me, surely I would not say no. I'd rather burden of sin.

51:02 I'd rather go on sitting at the bow of the ship of life,

51:11 you say, I'd never say that to Him if He were to stand in front of me and show me the prints in His hands and the wound in His side. My friend, listen to me. He's never going to come in a chariot to our parking lot and up through our foyer and down through these aisles. There's only one way He's ever going to stand before you without stretched hands, and that's as we, His sent ones, say to you in His name, come unto me.

51:40 He's not going to come to you any other way. Any other way. And when He comes to you that way, you're not rejecting us. Yes, we go home with a broken heart when you don't come to our Savior.

51:55 We go home.

52:15 You think we go home and deacons will say we worked up a sweat, we earned our pay. No, no, that's not what we're all about. We come to you and say the Lord Jesus promises Him that comes to me, I'll in no wise cast out. We beg, we entreat, and you say, but oh, if He were to come, and He is here this morning in the only way you'll ever have Him before you, in the word and proclamation of the good things of His saving mercy.

52:59 Oh, my unconverted friend, how else do you expect Christ to come? He is not going to come in any other way until the heavens are parted and amidst the voice of the archangel and the voice of the angel, the trump of God. He comes upon clouds of glory to stand before you saying, come and I'll give you rest, but to summon you before His bar of judgment and say, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire.

53:34 He gathers His own as they hear His voice, and His voice is not heard thundering from the heavens. It's not heard in visions and theophanies, but it's heard when His sent ones beg you, beseech you, plead with you, command you in His name to repent and to believe the gospel. Oh, my unconverted man, woman, boy or girl, do you see the truth? You're not just spurning Pastor Martin, Pastor Nichols, Pastor Lamar.

54:12 You're spurning the only one who can save you. Don't spurn Him any longer, but as He comes in the word of the gospel this morning, say, oh, Lord Jesus, I come in all my need. I come in all my undone-ness. I come in all my emptiness, my confusion, my guilt and hell-serving-ness.

54:40 Lord Jesus, I would be lashed by faith to the mast of Your own perfect righteousness, to Your own,

Application to Believers: Do Not Despise Preaching

54:52 Lord Jesus, save me ere I perish. Then I would say a word to You as God's, as God's people. If you ask the question this morning, why was I made to hear His voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? Do you see the answer?

55:25 Other sheep I have. Them I must bring and they shall hear my voice. My friend, if you've heard the voice of Christ, turned your back upon your sin and the determination to run your own life and do your own thing, live by your own will, in Jesus Christ found forgiveness and pardon, and you gladly own Him as your sovereign and your Lord and master. You ask why?

56:02 Who makes you to differ? The answer is that while His voice was preached, His voice was preached, His voice was preached generally in the gospel, secretly yet powerfully. That voice was heard specifically in your own heart. And you've heard the voice of the Son of God and you've come to life.

56:25 I do not mean that you've had some special revelation. I do not mean that you've heard audible voices. All I mean to say is what the scripture says, that it is not of Him that runs, or of Him that wills, but God that shows mercy. And my friend, listen to me.

56:46 As with the vast majority of you, if we were to take a poll this morning, I have no question, because I've heard your testimony in elders' meetings, many of you, you would say that God used the preaching of the Word to be the instrument of bringing His very Son to you. Hear me now. That is exactly the same thing. That is the same framework within which He continues to bring Christ Himself to you.

57:16 It's in the proclamation of His own Word. Don't ever think lightly of preaching. Don't ever despise preaching. Don't ever get an itch for something to rise.

57:35 You're saying I no longer want Christ to rise right through our assembly. I'll have something else. Or someone else but Christ. And the day preaching takes second place to anything in Trinidad and Tobago is on the way out without a preacher. I pray, God, some of you of the younger generation who have been brought to faith in Christ, that you will determine sitting here this morning

58:40 that you're ready to spill blood before anything will take the place of preaching in this place when some of us are rotting in our graves. Waiting the day of resurrection. Christ Himself comes in the chariot of His preached Word. And that's His chosen vehicle of coming.

Application to Ministers and Aspirants: The Glory of Being Sent by God

59:04 Don't ever try to construct another. And then I say finally to you who are in this solemn position, this awesome position, you men aspiring to that position, oh, may you understand something of the glory, something of the wonder, something of the majesty of what it is to be sent by the Sovereign to preach His Word. Think of it. I am one whose feet can be the instrument of bringing Christ Himself to men in the proclamation of His Word. What a glorious concept of the ministry. No wonder Cotton Mather wrote as follows, the office of the Christian ministry rightly understood is the most honorable and important that any man in the whole world can ever sustain. And it will be one of the wonders and employments of eternity to consider the reasons why the wisdom and goodness of God assign this office to imperfect and guilty man.

60:22 The great design and intention of the office of a Christian priest and preacher are to restore the throne and dominion of God in the hearts of men, to display in the most lively colors and proclaim in the clearest language the wonderful perfections, offices, and grace of the Son of God, and to attract the souls of men into a state of everlasting friendship with Him. It's a work which an angel might wish for as an honor to his character. It's an office which every angel in heaven might covet to be employed in for a thousand years to come. It's such an honorable, important, and useful office that if a man be put into it by God and made faithful and successful through life, he may look down with disdain upon a crown and shed a tear of pity on the brightest monarch on earth. I shed my tears of pity for President-Elect Bush. His influence is nothing compared to the influence of a sanctified Christian pulpit filled with a vessel of clay in which God has deposited the treasure of the gospel. Oh, men in the ministry and aspiring to the ministry, how can you ever exercise a light,

61:49 a flip into careless, casual, jokesy and folksy ministry when you know your sins and the Lord of lords and a bearer of the Son of God Himself to men? In the word and proclamation of the gospel, one has captured the wonder of it and written as follows, between Christ's victory at the cross and the open tomb and the consummation at His second coming lies an empty space of waiting. It is in this space, this gap, the empty space, that preaching sends forth its voice. Again, the time between Easter and the second coming is the time for preaching. Preaching supplies the living Christ with both feet and a mouth. It is the word that provides the feet by which Christ walks when He makes His approach to us and reaches us.

62:58 Preaching has but one aim, that Christ may come to those who have assembled to listen. Again, preaching is not just talk about a Christ of the past, but it is a mouth through which the Christ of the present offers us Himself today. You see why we speak with authority when in ourselves, many of us, we are the essence of cringing timidity and the lack of self-confidence. What is it that makes us bold?

63:38 What is it that makes us demand? What is it that makes us labor? Having secured a rivet truth upon your mind, it's the conscience that between Easter and the second coming, preaching is ordained of God to be Christ's feet and Christ's mouth. One again stated it so seriously, so simply, it struck me by the power of its simplicity, Christ's word, Go!

64:11 becomes His act of coming. He says to His servants, Go! He comes and preaches peace. Whitefield understood this.

64:27 I close with this rather well-known illustration from Whitefield's life, but if you've not heard it, perhaps it'll whet your appetite to read the briefer biography of Whitefield that's recently come out by Mr. Dollimore. He had complete confidence in his authority as a servant of Christ, and he was determined that it should receive the respect it deserved when he preached. Once in a New Jersey meeting house, writes his biographer, he noticed an old man settling down for his accustomed sermon-time nap.

65:02 The man had the reputation for taking his weekly nap in the midst of the sermon. Whitefield began his sermon quietly without disturbing the gentleman's slumbers. But then in measured, deliberate words, Whitefield said, If I had come to speak to you in my own name, you might rest your elbows upon your knees and your heads upon your hands and drift off to sleep. But I have come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.

65:37 And he clapped his hands, and stomped his foot, and said, I must and I will be heard. Woke up startled. I must and I will be heard. When I had the temerity to rebuke a proud, vain young woman sitting up in the back row of a balcony in a Christian college a few years ago, who dared to sit there and preen her hair while I was preaching the word of God, and I waited for her attention, and she did not give it to me.

66:19 And when I had what the students regarded as the gall to point to her and say, young woman, preening your hair, I am not here on a fool's errand. I am here with the message of my sovereign, and I demand a hearing. I was accosted at the end of the sermon by a young college student, said, Mr. Martin, who in the world do you think you are to demand a hearing?

66:44 Well, I was in good enough shape to take him and put him over my head and my knee and spank his bottom for his cheekiness, but I didn't. And I answered and said, young man, it's not a matter of who I think I am, it's a matter of what I know I am. I'm a sinner who deserves to be in hell. That's who I am.

67:06 But I'm a sinner saved by grace and commissioned by the king, sent as a bearer of the kingdom of God. And insofar as I was standing to open up the word of the king, not only was it right for me to demand a hearing, it would have been sin to do anything less. My friends, that's what preaching is all about. In preaching, you're not dealing with a fellow mortal who happens to have the gift of gab and thought it was his thing to go into the ministry.

67:43 You're dealing with the God of heaven who could have sent you along with the preacher crashing into hell with no way of mercy. But he has so loved the world of rebel sinners that he sent his only begotten Son, and in him a way of salvation and life has been opened, adequate for every sinner who will come. And he says to his servants, go proclaim in my name the terms and the offer and the well-meant invitation to choose life in place of death. How beautiful are the feet of those that publish glad tidings of good things. What makes their feet beautiful? This supremely, their feet carry the Lord Jesus himself to men in the proclamation of his word. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer: Mercy for Sinners and Faithfulness for Preachers

68:49 Oh, our Father, we confess that the wonders of your grace and the ways of your sovereign administration of the salvation of your Son leave us at times confused and baffled, overwhelmed with a sense of awe when you could have chosen angels who would have stood with all the brightness and the glory of their sinless spirituality fleshed out in some visible form that would astound and capture every eye. But, oh, Lord, you've taken clay pots and you've put the treasure in such that the excellency of the power might be of you and not of men. And, oh, how we pray that in this place you give sinners today to understand that your dear Son has come again, even to them in the word and promise and overtures of the gospel. May they no longer spurn him, but may their hearts run out and may they cry, Lord Jesus, have mercy.

70:12 We pray for your people in this place that we will have a well-grounded conviction about the uniqueness of preaching in the place of that economy of grace by which you are determined to make us a holy people. Oh, may we never despise preaching. May we never get a loss for something to rival preaching. But, oh, Lord, we pray until the coming of your dear Son in this place, preaching by your sent messengers will ever be central to our life, that Christ himself will be precious to us and that we may be more and more like him.

70:56 We pray for the men preparing for the ministry, those in the ministry. Oh, God, have mercy that not a one of them shall run unsent, that not a one of them, having been sent, would ever turn aside from his legitimate task of being but a voice crying in the wilderness of this world, behold the Lamb, behold the Lamb. Oh, God, raise up an army of preachers, we pray, for this needy generation. We see our own nation sinking fast into hell, with the letting loose of every bond of decency and every concept of morality and uprightness.

71:41 And, oh, God, we know there is no hope unless you will send preachers full of the Holy Ghost and of power, give them a voice, and then, oh, Lord, give men hearts to hear. Will you not answer our cry, oh, blessed God, and so work in our generation that our Lord Jesus will again have his rightful place in men's hearts? These mercies we plead, not for our sakes, but, oh, that he may see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Hear us then, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom alone we draw nigh to you this morning. Amen.