Pastor as an Evangelist

Introduction: The Pastor and Expository Evangelism

0:04 It is a great privilege for me to be here with you again and to share in this brief conference on the general subject of evangelism. And as I'm sure you can readily understand, the announced subject matter for my part in this conference is a very broad one. I think it goes something along these lines. The pastor and his role as an evangelist or the evangelistic responsibility of the church, something along that line.

0:30 And under that general theme, we could well touch such issues as the pastor and his individual work as an evangelist, that is, his work in the neighborhood as a common Christian seeking to evangelize his own neighbors, his work in evangelism in his other normal contacts than his work in evangelism in many facets of church life. We could think of his role in connection with evangelism, with reference, to giving directive to the people of God, making available to them the necessary tools for their own evangelistic outreach, both in instruction, literature, guides for home Bible studies, etc.

1:15 But what I want to do is to limit myself to one aspect of the pastor's role in evangelism, namely, the pastor as an evangelist in his regular preaching and teaching ministry. Or more briefly, the pastor, the pastor and expository evangelism. I haven't heard the term before, and I hope just the uniqueness will stick in your ear and cause the thoughts that we seek to share to remain with you. The pastor, expository evangelism.

Setting the Subject in a Biblical Framework

1:49 Now, as we think our way through the subject, and this is a lecture and not a sermon, I hope there will be elements of a sermon in it, insofar as there will be some exposition, and I trust application with the assistance, of the Holy Spirit. It's basically a lecture, and so, to think our way through the structure of the lecture, we shall first of all try to set the subject in a biblical framework. Secondly, we will attack the subject with four very basic questions, and then if time permits, we shall draw some conclusions, and make some practical observations and applications of what has preceded. First of all, then, to set this subject within a biblical framework, First of all, then, to set this subject within a biblical framework, First of all, then, to set this subject within a biblical framework, First of all, then, to set this subject within a biblical framework,

2:33 I ask you to turn with me to three sections of Scripture. The first section is found in the first and second letters of Paul to Timothy. As we seek to bring our minds around to a biblical concept of the pastor and expository evangelism, much rich material is to be found in Paul's directives to Timothy, and also, of course, to Titus. In 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verses 3 through 5, As I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine,

3:17 neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questionings, rather than a dispensation of God which is in faith, so do I now. But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfamed. Here we have a statement of the purpose for which Paul has left Timothy at Ephesus. He is to maintain the purity of doctrine, even in terms of an aggressive attack upon false teaching, with a view to establishing the people of God in practical godliness.

3:57 The end of this charge is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfamed. In other words, Paul was not concerned to maintain doctrinal purity as a thing in abstraction from the life of the people of God. His concern was that doctrinal purity might be maintained because it alone is the soil of godly living. But it is the soil of godly living, and truth is truth which is according to godliness.

4:30 Then in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, we see Timothy's responsibilities further delineated. But these things I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. He has just given him very detailed instructions about the recognition of office bearers, the function of women and of men in the stated public worship of the church.

5:03 And so he says to Timothy, My concern is not only that you maintain the purity of truth with regard to the maintenance of practical godliness, but that you involve yourselves in the detailed matters relative to proper church order. The matter of having biblically qualified elders and deacons, women who function within their creative order, with all the blessings of redemption, men who also function within their creative order, is not a secondary issue to the Apostle Paul. He considers it a matter of such importance that he takes an evangelist and a missionary companion off the task of direct evangelism

5:46 and leaves him in Ephesus to carry out such apparently mundane issues as the organization of the visible church according to the directives of Christ the head. So we see added then to Timothy's task of the maintenance of purity, the pure doctrine, the establishment of people in practical godliness, the concern of leading them into and establishing them in proper church order. ...all of this as though those tasks were not enough.

6:20 In his second letter the Apostle Paul says these words to Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 2, And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Maintain purity of doctrine, Timothy. Establish the people of God in practical godliness, Timothy. Establish the church in proper church order, Timothy.

6:50 But you must not stop there. You must seek to discern those who prove themselves to be faithful men and commit the body of truth, the faith, unto them that when you go and pass off the scene the work of God will go on because well-trained faithful men have been left behind. Now let me ask you a very simple question. If you had those tasks laid upon you, would you not think that that's enough to keep anybody busy 24 hours a day and not even take time for sleeping?

7:22 To be aware, to be doctrinally sensitive to all the cross-currents of error that infect the assembly in which you labor? To be concerned with the practical issues of godliness in the lives of God's people all the way from the aged women down to the young men and the young women and everyone in between? Then add to this this concern of having proper church order and seeking to train true elders and true deacons? And then to seek out those who evidence gifts and graces for the work of the ministry?

7:58 Isn't this enough to keep any man totally occupied with the affairs internally of the church? Well, you would think so. But Paul lays one further great task upon Timothy in chapter 4 of his second letter. I charge thee in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season, with rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but having itching ears will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts, and will turn away their ears from the truth

8:43 and turn aside unto fables. But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, and now here's the added task, do the work of an evangelist. Do the work of an evangelist fulfill thy ministry. And there seems to be a direct connection between these two imperatives.

9:08 Do the work of an evangelist fulfill thy ministry? Indicating that unless Timothy adds to all of these previous duties, which have a primary focus upon the saints of God, unless he adds to those duties, this work of an evangelist, he is not fulfilling the ministry laid upon him and committed to his charge. Now if anyone could claim exemption from doing the work of an evangelist, it would be a man who is strapped with these many responsibilities that Timothy has. Or, to approach it from a different standpoint, any man who has theological gifts

9:51 and is able to penetrate the wiles of error and establish men in the truth, any man who has such practical pastoral gifts as to establish the people of God in practical godliness, any man who has such teaching gifts as to train young men for the ministry, and such ruling gifts as to lead the church into proper church order, you would say certainly that man in giving himself to those gifts has done more than enough. And yet Paul says, Timothy, doing all those things is not enough. You are to add to them this matter of doing the work of an evangelist. Now let's spend just a few minutes

10:35 seeking to define this concept of evangelist. I'm sure most if not all of you are aware that the term is found only three times in the New Testament. In Acts 21.8 it speaks of Philip the evangelist.

10:49 Ephesians 4.11 where evangelist is mentioned as one of the gifts of the ascended Christ to his church. When he ascended on high he gave gifts unto men and he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, and then the reference here in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Now without going into the moot question of whether or not evangelist is a functional, official term or an official term, whether it refers to a temporal gift or office or a permanent office or gift, and that's a very involved debate and has been carried out in the history of the church, one thing is clear.

11:33 The word is one who announces the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, particularly to those who have not heard or have not savingly responded to that message of good news. Whether we think of evangelist in terms of office, permanent or temporary, whether we think of it in terms of function, this much is clear. When Paul says to Timothy, do the work of an evangelist, he's saying Timothy in all of the exercise of your role as a teacher, as a ruler, as a leader, as a trainer of others, give yourself to proclaiming the evangel.

12:16 Never think that your task is done simply by establishing the saints in purity of doctrine, simply by establishing the saints in godliness of life, by establishing the church in proper order, simply by training other men for the ministry. Timothy, if you are to make full proof of your ministry, you must do the work of, and so I would say by way of deduction from this passage, there is no one among us who assumes the role of a teaching, ruling elder in the church of Christ, who has any grounds to say, well, my teaching gifts are such

12:59 that my exclusive function is to build up the saints into godliness, or my theological gifts are such that my exclusive task is to build up the saints in purity of doctrine, or my organizational and ruling gifts are such that my task is primarily that of straightening out confused churches and leaving those churches with biblical or governmental strife. Someone else might say, well, my particular gift is simply that of training others, finding faithful men, and entrusting truth to them. No, my brother, there is another task laid upon you and upon me, and that task is to do the work of an evangelist.

13:43 In the midst of all of these things, with no thought of the so-called professional evangelist as we know him today, a role which I think is very much suspect in the light of the scriptures, but in the midst of all of this work, bound up in the total life of the church, Timothy, do the work of an evangelist, proclaim the evangel with a view to seeing men embrace the Savior who is the sum and substance of that good news. Now, the second passage that I trust will set the biblical framework for our study this afternoon is Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10.

14:20 There's one under here, through a curve at me. Whoever that belonged to, I'm sorry I stole your water. I thought that was mine, and mine was under here. All right.

14:37 Romans chapter 10, beginning with verse 11. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth in him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him.

14:56 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him? Whom they have not believed. And how shall they believe in him?

15:08 And the proper rendering as you have it in the 1901 edition. How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

15:24 And how shall they preach except they sent? Now, without going into a detailed exposition of the context and the flow of thought, for it's not really necessary to the basic principle that I wish to extract from this passage, and it's this. Men cannot call upon an unknown Lord. And he cannot become known without hearing.

15:52 And there is generally no hearing without a sent vessel. There's the basic structure of the apostle's argument. Whoever calls is saved. But they cannot call upon an unknown Christ.

16:06 And the way an unknown Christ becomes a known Christ is generally through the proclamation of the gospel by a sent vessel. How shall they preach except they be sent? Vessel is not all of the people of God in general. There may be secondary applications in this concept to all the people of God, but I believe Professor Murray is right in his exegesis of this passage when he says, and I now quote, in the last clause of verse 14, the apostle is thinking of the institution which is the ordinary and most effectual means

16:50 of propagating the gospel, namely, the official preaching of the word by those appointed to this task. Verse 15 reflects upon 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 spokesmen, and only the person upon whom He has laid His hand may act in that capacity.

17:23 How shall they call upon Him whom they have not heard? They cannot call upon Christ until Christ speaks to them. And how does He speak? Through those whom He commissions to speak in His name, namely, the sent ones.

17:44 And so as we trace out the evangelistic thrust of the early church in the book of Acts, you will find that almost invariably men are brought to repentance and faith and into the visible church not through the general witness of all the people of God, though I would not demean this, and those of you who know me know that I abominate clericalism and do all within my power to rout that heresy from our own generation. But nonetheless, a careful study of the book of Acts will reveal that the majority of God's elect whose calling into participation of gospel privileges is recorded in the Scriptures

18:27 by sentiment and passage of Christ. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost comes to the entire 120. The 120 go out amongst the multitudes gathered in Jerusalem and in these various languages they are proclaiming the mighty works of God. The general testimony of the general saint was used to create general interest, but you do not read that it was effectual to their being brought to conversion.

19:02 It was after Peter stood up in the midst as a peculiarly commissioned one and expounded the word, then we read, when they heard this they were pricked to the heart and said, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter's answer was, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation,

19:43 then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. And I say that's the specimen passage and all the way through the book of Acts, the general way that God calls his elect through the sent one proclaiming the message. Even in the one-on-one encounters, it is the record primarily of sent ones, those with special needs, those with special commissions. Now I am not in any way downgrading the responsibility and the privilege of every believer to bear witness to his faith in Christ.

20:26 I thank God that I am privileged to be a pastor in a church where there is aggressive evangelism carried out by the people who sit in the pews week by week. I am not demeaning that. I am not discarding it. I am simply saying that if we take our dominant emphases from the Scripture, we will see that God primarily calls through sent ones.

20:49 And the third passage to set the perspectives of this lecture in a biblical setting is 1 Corinthians 1.21. I love this chapter for a number of reasons. It's one of those wonderful digressions.

21:04 The Apostle Paul starts out in verse 10 to deal with the subject of divisions. And in the course of developing his argument, he uses their baptism as a lever to show them the folly of their divisions. And he says, Why are you going around saying, Well, I'm tied in with Paul, and I'm tied in with Paulus, and I'm tied in with Cephas? He said, Were you baptized in the name of Paul or Cephas?

21:26 He said, Of course not. He said, You were baptized in the name of Christ and unto Christ. And he said, I thank God I baptized none of you, for God did not send me primarily to baptize but to preach the gospel. And when he said gospel, he lost his train of thought.

21:41 He just took off. The moment he said gospel, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And then he takes off all the way through the end of chapter 1, verse 18, through the end of the chapter, and on into chapter 2, and right on into chapter 3, and then in verse 1, he gets back on the track again. What a wonderful thing to have such an overflowing love and involvement with the gospel that the very mention of the word gets you off your track.

22:10 If we have some kind of unstructured sermons, let that be the cause of them. Now, in the midst of that blessed digression, he says in verse 21, For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it is God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. Now, I'm fully aware that we have that unique word that one must always mention if he's to be the in kind of a person in theological circles today. He must talk about the krigma if he's to be looked upon with any kind of intellectual respectability.

22:52 And Paul uses the word here. But the thing I want you to see is this. It was God's good pleasure by the krigma, by the thing preached. So that the translation by the foolishness of preaching is not accurate or merely by the thing as though the emphasis were upon the content of the message.

23:15 The krigma is the proclamation by a herald, not by anyone, but by a cherub. He opens his mouth who is giving the krigma. And so the concept of an official function in the work of preaching cannot be stripped from the biblical concept of the krigma. Now, Paul says it was God's good pleasure by this proclamation of the message by a herald to save them that believe.

23:49 Now, when we put these three passages together I believe we have sufficient warrant, certainly not exhausted warrant, to see that God's good pleasure is in the work of preaching. Now, Paul says that God's purpose, calculated design, is to call his elect primarily through the authoritative of a commissioned representative, a sent one. So then, if we are functioning as teaching, ruling elders, serving as pastors in the midst of the flock of God, our responsibility to do the work of an evangelist is buttressed by this whole biblical perspective that this is God's way,

24:32 of calling out his elect himself. In the week-by-week ministry of the Word there should be a conscious, constant, and God-blessed effort to evangelize, to proclaim the good news of salvation through Christ, and to press upon men seeking to set this lecture within a biblical framework. Now we come to four very practical questions relative to the subject in hand, the pastor and expository evangelism.

Who is the Object of Expository Evangelism?

25:17 Since these other four goals of the Christian ministry that we've extracted from 1 and 2 Timothy are to be realized by the exposition and the application of the Word, it goes without saying that the primary task of a teaching elder is to preach the Word, to penetrate the mind of God in the text of Scripture, and then to proclaim the mind of God in the pulpit, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Now in the midst then of that great task, these other four duties being accomplished by the exposition and application of the Word, let's ask four questions about this fifth duty, namely doing the work of an evangelist.

26:02 Question number one is this, who is to be the object of this kind of expository evangelism? Secondly, we'll ask how is this work of expository evangelism to be done? Thirdly, why do some men refuse to do it? And fourthly, what is the goal or what are the goals in the work of expository evangelism?

26:30 First of all then, who is the object of this kind of evangelistic ministry? And I would suggest there are at least three classes of people sitting in front of you every single Lord's Day who are to be the objects of this kind of evangelism. One, the children of our church members. Our children may have the privilege of Christian nurture at home, though they ought to have and I trust they will have the privilege of Christian school nurture.

27:04 There is absolutely no substitute for the authoritative proclamation of the Word and Christ's voice heard through the preaching of a sent vessel. And I think one of the greatest privileges any pastor has is that of standing before the children of his church members week after week and being an evangelist unto them. And being an evangelist to those children involves some of the following things. Pressing upon their young consciences the necessity of their conversion to God.

27:44 If you give a child the impression that he'll get to heaven bypassing conversion, you're telling him a lie. And I'm not going again into the moot question of the precise standing of children within the covenantal framework that has nothing to do with the necessity of conversion. The necessity of conversion rests squarely down upon the statement of our Lord, except you be converted you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. We need to press upon our children the necessity of their conversion to God.

28:21 Secondly, the necessity of the new birth. Jesus was speaking to a perfect son of the covenant when he said, except you are born again you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus had everything that the covenantal community could afford him at that point in the unfolding of the redemptive purposes of God. He had everything.

28:44 And yet Jesus said to him, except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter. Except he's born of the spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God. The necessity of the new birth needs to be pressed upon the consciences of our children. Thirdly, the possibility of their being early in a state of grace.

29:05 Oh, what a privilege to tell your children in the congregation of the tremendous privilege and possibility of being early in a state of grace. Expounding the words of Christ, suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not. Holding forth the exhortation of Solomon, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. In the fourth place, we are to set before the children of our church members and our own children the duty of an immediate repentance and faith.

29:40 God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. And that means the children. This is his commandment that ye believe on the name of his Son. This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

29:53 Then in the fifth place, and this is particularly relevant to the children of our Christian parents, we need to press upon them in our evangelism the tragic possibility of squandering their privileges and intensifying the weight of their own damnation. Press upon them the warnings of Hebrews 10, 28 and following. Press upon them the warnings of Hebrews 12. If they escape not who said it not in Moses' law, how shall we escape if we turn away from that greater voice that is spoken in Jesus Christ?

30:28 Set before them the perspectives that David set before Solomon. And I read now from 1 Chronicles 28 and verse 9. And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou that the God of thy father, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.

30:52 If thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Children need to hear that, not just in the family worship when it's appropriate in the study of the scriptures and in our catechizing of our children to instruct them and to warn them, but by the sent messenger of Christ looking those children right into their tender, upturned faces and with tears warning them and pleading with them not to squander the privileges of their covenantal training and the blessings their opportunity. Just the other night I had occasion to thank God that at least in some little way amidst all of our failures some of these principles

31:36 are coming through to our children. We're having our family worship. Beth who is six and a half and Heidi who is eight and a half now and my son is eleven and a half. We're sitting there with Mrs. Martin

31:45 and I was leading family worship. And at that point we were doing our catechism work. And I was sitting there with Mrs. Martin and I was leading family worship and at that point we were doing our catechism work.

31:53 And I was sitting there with Mrs. Martin and I was leading family worship. And I happened to notice because sometimes we have sort of a little contest when we have the review to make it interesting. And I noticed that Heidi was looking over at the catechism that my wife was holding.

32:07 And she didn't know that I saw her looking. And when a certain question was asked and the other two couldn't get it she said, well I know it. And when she answered it I said, but Heidi you were looking at the catechism. And she said, no daddy I was just looking right up above it.

32:26 And I said, Heidi you're lying to death. I said, up in your room. So we went up in the room. I was banged for it.

32:33 I was loved afterwards. And then we came down and I noticed that Beth was crying. And I didn't know what was particularly troubling her except she hates to see anybody with tears. It's just a funny hang up she has with anybody with tears.

32:45 But my wife told me yesterday what happened. When I went upstairs with Heidi because Heidi had lied she turned to my wife and she said, mommy is Heidi going to go to hell? Because she lied. You see she had a very clear biblical connection between liars and hell.

33:02 And she was not going to think that she was exempt from that connection because her daddy was a preacher. And because she learned catechism. And because she knew her Bible stories. The Bible puts a separable relationship between liars and hell and your children need to have that relationship in their minds.

33:24 For the scripture says all liars have their part in the lake of fire and the brimstone. God have mercy upon us if we give any other impression to our children than that those biblical connections are valid not even in the midst of all of the great privileges that they have. Regardless I say of what our view may be of the implications of the covenantal relationship as it pertains to the family. Oh I plead with you young men going into the ministry don't forfeit this privilege of standing as a sent one and influencing the pliable tender minds of the children in your congregation.

34:06 Don't be guilty of silence in applying the gospel which gives the impression that they're not included. I sat through services where half the congregation were children and there wasn't one application made to children in the sermon. So no wonder by the time they get to be teenagers they sit and they write notes and you wonder what's wrong with my rebellious teenagers. You've told them all through that years the bible had nothing to say to them then all of a sudden because they're 13 you think they're going to conclude when the bible has something to say to me?

34:46 They may not remember a thing but at least they're getting the idea. There's something in that book for me. When the preacher talks about heaven and the glories of Christ and the blessings of the gospel he looks at us and he has something to say to us. All of this must have something to say to me.

35:09 So in answer to the question who is to be the object of this expository evangelism? The children of our church members. Secondly, second category, the doubting and the deceived among the members of the visible church. The word of God means that not all in the visible church are truly regenerate.

35:27 Upon that fact I think all of us would agree. Hence we must look upon such as valid objects of evangelism. Others who may be the people of God but because of bad teaching because of temperamental weaknesses they have dim views of the grounds of a sinner's acceptance. I'm amazed how many apparent mature Christians have never really grasped with 20-20 vision the biblical doctrine of their acceptance in the beloved.

35:57 The grounds of sanctification. I'm amazed the longer I preach the less I assume that people have a clear 20-20 vision of the most fundamental issues of the gospel. And so with the doubting and the deceived amongst our members and those who adhere to our ministries here is another fruitful segment which demands evangelism. We must look upon them as needing this authoritative proclamation of the good news of salvation and press upon their consciences the necessity of immediate repentance and faith.

36:36 That could be a subject for a whole lecture. I'll leave it just giving that thought. And then the third segment need this evangelism in our regular expository ministry are the visitors in our congregation. And your visitors will basically break down into two categories over the weeks and months and years of your ministry.

36:59 First of all you will have from time to time the uninvited the untaught visitor drawn by various providential factors. And while we do not share the Arminian activist view that unless quote we get him saved this may be the last chance we don't share that view. We realize that one may sow another may water but God gives the increase. In reacting against that perspective we do want those who come amongst us but once to know what is our great concern for them.

37:36 Mainly that they repent and believe the gospel and be identified with the visible community of God's people. So that somewhere in the course of the exposition and application of the sermon I don't care how the passage may seem to be exclusively applied to the people of God but rather to those who come amongst us and if we have but a sentence that goes something like this and to those of you visiting amongst us today who wonder what in the world is all this about if you boil it all down this is what it's all about. God so loved the world that he gave

38:21 his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not see life he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth upon him. And in 45 seconds you can give a pointed specific application to the conscience of that visitor. But then there is the second category the invited prepared visitor brought through the witness of your own people. Current in our day and again it's a reaction against clericalism the idea the church is a place for saints to be made then you bring them in to get them built up.

39:02 You see that bypasses the fundamental perspective of which we started today. Namely God generally calls his elect through the authoritative proclamation of the word by a duly commissioned vessel. And so we must not look upon the issue as either or. The other idea of course is wrong when people pray in prayer to get the people and get them in and get them saved in their living rooms and in the sanctuary Lord we're paying in good helping to get the job done.

39:36 Now that's a cursed perspective. But may I say the other extreme is equally wrong. Lord the pastor's just there to build up the saints. We must go out and be the ones who are the spiritual midwives and see people brought to the birth and that's the only way it can be done scripturally.

39:54 No, no. What a wonderful thing to see this people actively witnessing in their neighborhoods in their places of business and in conjunction with their witness they're inviting people to come out to hear the word. Why? Because they know that wherever you are in the scripture in every sermon you're going to address some pointed barbed arrows to the unconverted.

40:18 And so they're excited at the possibility of getting their friends their neighbors their work associates out. Why? Because they know there is in that pulpit a man who's going to do and he's going to do it every time he stands to preach. What a wonderful thing when the pastor in preparation knows my people are out there doing their job.

40:39 There's going to be unsaved people there next Sunday. Woe be unto me if I don't deliver the goods. Woe be unto me if I don't have something in the sermon that they will be able to sit there saying Lord thank you that's just for my friend Harry thank you Lord thank you for laying that on our pastor's heart Lord drive it home. Sure.

40:57 And what a thrill it is as you get to know your people and enter into their witness opportunities and they come back and share them Wednesday night prayer meeting and they say pray we have our neighbors coming out next Sunday morning this is their present situation this is their present understanding and you stand up to preach and there's that new couple with the people you know. Why you're involved in that thing and as you're laying the word on the conscience you see that look of heavenly joy on the faces of your people their prayers are being answered and your prayers are being answered and there's this wonderful favoring together with Christ and with one another conversion of the souls of men. Some men say well my people don't bring me on

41:42 and say well why should they? You preach as though there were none there. Why should they? They get discouraged.

41:53 They work and labor and get someone out they may do a little sanctified manipulation of schedules and say well look you come on out for supper Sunday night and we will take you on to church and so they do something special and they bring them out and they sit there and in 45 minutes of preaching there's not one pointed direct word to be unconverted. No wonder they give up. Wouldn't you? Sure I'd give up too.

42:18 And so it's your responsibility as a preacher to do the work of an evangelist and as your people know that you're going to do that work if they have any grace at all in their hearts they'll go to work to make sure some sinners are there to hear those gospel applications to their hearts. And I speak from blessed and humbling experience of having that joy every single Lord's day counting on anywhere from 15 to 20 visitors brought not by me being out pounding on the doors there capitalizing on their natural contacts and bringing them under the sound of the word of God. Well we must hurry on to the second question.

How is Expository Evangelism to be Done?

43:02 Having considered then who are the objects of this expository evangelism we must then ask ourselves how is this work of expository evangelism to be done? Well I want to answer the question by as it were summarizing some basic biblical principles and then I want to illustrate the answer to the question. First of all then in answer to the question how is this work of expository evangelism to be done my answer is basically this. Jesus Christ in the uniqueness of his work as a mediator is the central

43:47 and comprehensive theme of Holy Scripture. Jesus Christ in the uniqueness of his person and the sufficiency of his work as a mediator is the central and comprehensive theme of Holy Scripture. 24 verses 27 and 45 and following are perhaps the clearest statements of this principle where Jesus opens unto the world opens unto them all the things in Moses and in the Psalms and the Prophets concerning himself. The Apostle Paul understood this that's why when he came to Corinth he could say 1 Corinthians 2

44:31 2 I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified. That's not a statement of an exclusive focus of preaching that's a statement of Jesus Christ in the gospel. You've gone beyond Christ in the glory of his person and the sufficiency of his work you've gone beyond the gospel. Now if that principle is true and I believe it is then attached to it is this second one teaching that word of which Christ is comprehensive theme teaching that word the task of the minister is one of the qualifications

45:15 a man must be apt to teach he must be able to penetrate the mind of God the central theme. And preaching the word of God, of which he is the theme, is the great task. Preach the word and not evangelize. Christ is not only set forth in the scriptures as a savior adequate to every need of his people to land them safe in glory, but he is constantly proclaimed in the words of Paul in 1 Timothy as the savior who came into the

45:54 world to save sinners. As we would speak to men and preach to men. Let me quote from Packer's excellent little book. And I hope you never get so sophisticated that you can't read little 80-page paperbacks after you get your B.D. There's an awful lot of good

46:22 in little 80-page paperbacks. There's a lot of junk in a lot of paperbacks, but there's a lot of good stuff too. And this little book of Packer's Evangelism of the Sovereignty of God, I go back to it again and again because...

46:34 He has spoken with such clarity to such fundamental issues relative to the subject of evangelism. I quote now what he says on this very point. How do you do this work of expository evangelism? Here's his answer. So, and most important, there are the regular

46:52 services Sunday by Sunday in local churches. Insofar as the preaching at our Sunday services is scriptural, those services will of necessity be evangelistic. It is a mistake to suppose that evangelism is a service of God. It is a mistake to suppose that evangelism is a service of God. Evangelistic sermons are a special brand of sermons, having their own

47:12 peculiar style and conventions. Evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he's preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what is in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man's salvation. All scripture bears witness in one way or

47:40 another to Christ. All biblical themes relate to Christ. All proper sermons will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion and be more or less directly evangelistic. Some sermons, of course, will aim more narrowly and exclusively at converting sinners than do other sermons. But you cannot

48:01 present the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bible presents Him, as God's answer to every problem in the sinner's relationship with Himself. and not be, in effect, evangelistic all the time. The Lord Jesus Christ, said Robert Bolton, one of the great Puritans of a bygone age, quote, is offered most freely and without exception of any person every Sabbath, every sermon, either in plain and direct terms or in pliantly at the least. End of quote.

48:35 Inevitably, wherever the Bible is preached biblically and there is something terribly wrong in any church, any man's ministry to which Bolton's generalization does not apply, if in our churches evangelistic meetings, in quotes, and evangelistic sermons, in quotes, are thought of as special occasions, different from the ordinary run of things, it is a damning indictment of our normal Sunday services. So that if we should imagine the essential work of evangelism lies in holding meetings, of the special type described out of church hours, and so to speak, that would simply prove that we had failed to understand

49:18 what our regular Sunday services should be. End of quote. Mr. Packer is simply stating in succinct and in summary form what I've sought to establish from the several scriptures that I referred to.

49:35 Now, having stated the principle, let me illustrate it. For it is here that, with so many disciplines and many skills, things are better caught than taught. And I have no reservation in saying that the great examples in literature of expository evangelism are the Puritans and those who drank from the well of the Puritans. Now, I know that to some the very mention of the name brings up all kinds of sights and conjures up all kinds of thoughts, and I hope you will be objective enough to hear me out.

50:13 I have never used the term neopuritanism. That's a tag others have used to try to kill something that they neither know whereof what they are speaking, generally.

50:25 And it's always, it's the mark of ignorance or fear to give something a tag that you're suspicious of before you investigate it, and then from a distance, shoot at it. And I say that without any direct reference to individuals. I simply say it as a principle, which I believe is very well established, established in church history, both past and the history that is being made in the present. But now, coming back to the Puritans, one of the things that I found most helpful to me was that in reading their expositions, and their expositions certainly were not surface, if anything, they were prolips, and they were at times very, very technically involved as they sought to penetrate to the heart of a matter.

51:07 But the thing that amazed me was though they might be on sub-point C under... Second heading D, under main heading 1, under general proposition 35, on Ephesians 4.13,

51:22 they never lost sight of taking you from that text to save the violence. I shall never forget the experience I had the first time I read through Owen's exposition of Psalm 130 in volume 6 of his complete works, as they have been reprinted by the banner of truth. I would say without much fear of being, without much fear of being contradicted, that this is perhaps some of the purest, most free, warm, and any other adjective you can think of that should apply, gospel preaching I've ever read. In expounding Psalm 130, there is forgiveness with thee

52:06 that thou mayest be feared. He has a whole section on exhortations unto believing forgiveness, in which he does everything, everything, but drag the sinner by the back of the neck and throw him on the lap of Christ, and throw him on the lap of Christ, or to reverse the figure, he does everything but cry open the jaws of sinners and pour in the water of life. The most free, warm, urgent, tender, gospel preaching, and that is characteristic, the cream of the Puritans, and when I use that term, I'm speaking of the standard Puritans who are known for their trustworthiness in exposition and in practical matters, Goodwin, Owen, Sibbes,

52:51 Bunyan, and those who drank of that same stream. We're speaking of Manton, we're speaking later on of Spurgeon, and of Ryle. I think of Hugh Martin.

53:02 If you're not familiar with his book, Shadow of Calvary, Hugh Martin, of course, is the great Scottish divine, the 1800s. This was one of the most profound books I've read in the past four or five years. As he takes you by the hand into Gethsemane and opens up the mysteries of Gethsemane, but in the midst of this most profound exposition that is, strong meat for mature Christians, he shifts so beautifully into tender gospel pleadings. Let me quote as an illustration.

53:32 Having spoken of Gethsemane as a prayer chamber, and since Christ wrestled in that place, we now have a solid basis to approach God. He then turns and he says to sinners, Was his soul exceeding sorrowful under the imputation of the sins of sinners? And what shall your sorrow be if you awake in eternity with your sins upon your own head, on your own head forever? Would it be fair or righteous that with other sins lying to his charge, his soul should be heavy, crushed within him, pressed down to death with sorrow, and your sorrow should be less?

54:12 And then he goes on to reason with sinners, saying, If God treated his son this way when our sins were imputed to him, what will he do with that sinner of whom he has never, this is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased, in whom my soul delights? And he reasons, he constantly pleads with men to face the awful tragedy of their state and concludes with the exhortation, Choose ye this day whom ye will accept, the agony of prayer in a time of acceptance, the agonizing to enter in at the straight gate in the day of salvation, or the agony of sorrow with nothing but a fearful looking for, a bending, and a fiery indignation.

54:56 Read these men who are models how to take expository material that is feeding the saints, establishing them in doctrine and in holiness, and in the midst of that, they are doing the work of an evangelist.

55:14 May I just, from my own experience a week ago, to bring it up to date and make it relevant, not setting myself forth as the epitome of attainment in this area, but to show, something of the practical discipline of this. Knowing that we had a number of Christians who, people who have been brought to the Lord in the past year, for whom this past Easter was their first Easter, I felt perhaps I should digress from my regular expositions in Ephesians 1, Sunday mornings, and bring a more directly related, a message more directly related to the Easter theme. And someone had given me Goodwin's book on the glories of Christ, which is an exposition of Romans 8, 34. And one morning I did something I rarely do.

55:54 I got up quite early, and read a hundred pages or so before breakfast. And seldom do I go to a book before I go to my Bible, but that morning I somehow felt I needed to have my heart warmed by someone else's insights to Christ and His glory. And that text so gripped me that I said, well, maybe I ought to preach on that Easter morning. And so I began to work on the text, and to make a long story short, it's already been, what, three or four sermons, and we're still working on it.

56:22 It's a great text. A great text. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

56:33 Well, it's obvious that this is choice, dainty delights for the saints of God. Well, how are you going to preach to sinners from that? Well, I sensed that the Lord was pleased in some measure to encourage the hearts of His children as we were dealing with these things. But then when I came to the end, this is what I said.

56:50 I said, there's some of you sitting here. I didn't say, if perhaps there might be. I said, there are some of you sitting here, strangers to all these choice delights of the saints of God. You sit there and you say, Mr. Martin,

57:02 that's all well and good to talk about if God be for us, for us in election, for us in predestining us to be like His Son, and for us in calling, and for us in justification, for us in glorification. But what is there for us? I then went on to say, there are many of us who believe that we come into that orbit of God for us, that we were elect, that He has predestined to make us like His very Son, that He has called us. You know how we got there?

57:33 We didn't sneak up to God's throne and thumb down through the alphabetical listing of His elect to see that we were foreknown and forelocked, predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. No, no. At some point in time, we came to the painful discovery of our own sinfulness. And through the preaching of the gospel, we came to the discovery that Christ was a willing and an able Savior for all who come unto God by Him.

57:58 And the only reason we can say we believe we are the elect of God is because we were brought in repentance and faith to embrace the Savior. And the only way you'll ever know that you're in that blessed class is to come, come as a guilty sinner, not with any questions about your election, but with this profound question, what must I do to be saved? How to get out of the state of condemnation into the state of no condemnation? What a wonderful text from which to preach the gospel.

58:30 And I say a man is sick spiritually if he cannot take what seems to be exclusive choice meats for the saints of God and find some avenue out of that text into the hearts of the neediest sinner. Well, then, last Sunday evening we made a tremendous switch from that text into Proverbs 2, 16 to 19, one of the three purposes of the wisdom, promised in Proverbs 2, in the first 11 and 12 verses, to those who seek it, hunt for it as for hid treasure, cry out to God for it, to keep thee from the evil woman, from the foreigner that flattereth with her lips. And it was a warning against immoral women.

59:14 Well, you say that's good for young Christian people, but how do you preach the gospel out of that text? Well, again, it is essentially embodied in Christ who is made unto us wisdom. Why, then, you can't help it. But preach the gospel from that text.

59:30 The only way to be preserved from all the influences that would drag one into the terrible quagmire of immorality is to have Christ as our wisdom dwelling within our hearts, exerting His power over the mind and over the affections. And then you've gone into preaching Christ legitimately and earnestly to the hearts. I remember a couple of weeks ago, as I was preaching on Ephesians chapter 1, for this cause I also, having heard of your faith, in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the saints, ceased not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in our prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

60:14 And knowing that there'd be unsafe people there, that our people would bring them, I said, now, how? How can I find a word for the unconverted there? The first verse there is basically an illustration of the two great ingredients of Paul's prayers, the conscious object of his prayer, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the constant attendant of his prayers, we cease not to give thanks for you. And I felt I had something to instruct the saints of God in the doctrine of the Trinity and its relationship to true prayer and the doctrine of thanksgiving, but there was no word for sinners.

60:50 But I kept looking at the text, and I said, here's the key. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't call God Father until you can say Jesus is my Lord, and He is my Lord as God's anointed Messiah, who has come to bear the sins of people such as I am. And then, you see, in a text that is basically instructive to the people of God, you have an avenue into the heart and conscience of the unconverted.

Why Are Men Negligent in Expository Evangelism? (Problems of the Head)

61:23 Well, this, of course, is just a pitiful summary and terribly inadequate to develop the theme, but I hope it will be sufficient to convince you that this can and must be done. All right, having addressed ourselves then to the question of who are the objects of this expository evangelism, secondly, how is it to be done, third question is, why are men negligent in this great privilege and duty? And my answer would be, it's because they've either got problems in their heads or in their hearts. First of all, they've got problems in their heads.

61:57 That is, there is defective thinking. And let me give three or four subheadings very quickly. First of all, they have established in their thinking a wrong dichotomy between evangelistic sermons and teaching sermons. Mr. Packer spoke of this issue.

62:15 I believe it is accurate to say all true evangelism involves teaching, the truth about God, about sin, about Christ, about repentance and faith. All true evangelism involves teaching. And all true evangelism involves the overtones of evangelistic passion and entreaty. When you teach truth about God, you're a professional word machine.

62:42 Here are some men, you'd think that's all they were. Just as well program a computer to perform as they perform in the pulpit. Everything is accurate. Everything crossing the T's, dotting the I's.

62:59 True things in the presence of men, hence the backdrop of it. So when you're teaching truth, you're teaching truth in a climate of entreaty and pleading in God's name. With the awesome shadow of the great white throne cast across your pulpit, you're teaching truth in a climate of entreaty and pleading in God's name. With the awesome shadow of the great white throne cast across your pulpit, you're teaching truth in a climate of entreaty and pleading in God's name.

63:32 You preach with the consciousness of the shadow of the great white throne across your pulpit and your people, and you'll never just be a professional word machine. There'll be urgency, there'll be entreaty, and you'll find that road out of every text that leads to the feet of a needy sinner, seeking that he should be led to the feet of a seeking savior. Second problem in the head, a wrong overreaction against Arminian free-willism and activism.

64:06 It's the whole matter of the pendulum. Again, it moves swiftest through the center of its arc, and it's always stationary at both extremes. Some of us were over here, fit in Arminian activism, free-willism, that gave the impression God's voted for your salvation, the devil's voted, you cast the deciding vote. Some of you perhaps even said that.

64:28 And with shame, you look back upon it. And having come to see that there is a distinct particularism in Holy Scripture, that there is an immutable counsel of God with reference to the salvation of men, you're not going to give the least impression that that's not true, and rightly so. But you haven't adjusted to your new theology. And in principle, you become a hyper-Calvinist.

64:52 Not in theory, but in principle. And I'm using the term in its historical significance. A hyper-Calvinist is a man who says there is no logical consistency between biblical particularism and the...

65:06 free offers of the Gospel, urging Christ upon all men, and urging men to embrace the Savior. You become like the man Spurgeon describes. He says, the hyper-Calvinist is like the little boy who has the apple in his pocket, and he says to his buddies, see my apple? And he says, yeah.

65:24 And he says, that's all you'll ever see of it.

65:33 Spurgeon went on to say, some are a little bit freer than that. They take the apple out, and they polish it, and they hold it up, and they say, see my apple? And the little fellow's, you know, mouth is watering. And he says, that's all you'll ever see of it.

65:44 That's all you'll ever have of it, puts it back in his pocket. But he said, brethren, we do not only take the apple out, and polish it, and hold it up, we press it to the lips of men, and we say, eat. We say, eat. That's true, historic, biblical Calvinism that sets forth a mighty and an able Savior, but then entreats men to embrace it, and lets them know again and again that Christ turns none away.

66:15 Who casts themselves free. Who sets themselves upon him. So that's a problem of the head. And I would not judge a man's heart, a man who sees the biblical doctrine of particularism, and does not want to give the impression that somehow God's hands are tied until men will untie them.

66:30 And so I say this sympathetically. I preached just two weeks ago at a group down in Roanoke, a group of some 60 to 70 ministers, most of whom have come into Calvinistic truth in the past couple of years. And many of them, I spoke on the free offers of the gospel, came to me afterward and said, what a helpful thing it was, because having come out of the other and overthrown this, they just didn't know how to adjust their new theology to the actual context of preaching evangelistically to men. There's a man with two earned doctor's degrees, who stood in the question and answer session in Leicester less than a month ago, three weeks ago, and he said, he said, Mr. Martin,

67:08 I have a problem. He said, I'm done with the old way of evangelizing that was rooted in my Arminian theology, but tell me how do I become a Christian? Tell me how do I preach evangelistically as a Calvinist? And he wasn't being a smart aleck.

67:20 He's a 52-year-old man, a brilliant man, with an earned doctorate in the Old Testament field under, I forgot who it was, and in the New Testament under Bruce. I mean, this man is dead in earnest. He said, but how do I adapt my new theology to evangelism? Can you tell me how?

67:36 Well, I referred him to the same books that I've referred you to. I said, it's better caught than taught. Read the last three or four paragraphs of Spurgeon's sermons. See what it is to entreat with men.

67:47 That's a problem of the head, this overreaction. Thirdly, there's ignorance as to how it can be done. And this I've already touched on, so I'll not say anything more. And fourth of all, and I think this is a crucial matter, we were talking about this before we came in, some of us outside, assuming too much regarding the spiritual state of our hearers.

68:10 Some people don't evangelize because they know everybody by name. And they think, well, if I know them by name and they've been here three times and I'm a gospel preacher, they must be saved. This is the kind of person that when he closes his prayer in the morning, he says something along these lines. And I don't mean to be irreverent in making mockery of prayer, but something like this.

68:28 And oh God, should there perhaps be one amongst us who is not a Christian, as though that were a remote possibility. And as I told Dr. Miller, I'd like to take a person like that and just bang his head against the wall and hear if there was anything other than just a hollow noise. .

68:46 Should there perhaps be one amongst us who has a totally distorted view of the power of your preaching, or a totally inadequate view of the deceptiveness of the human heart? Our Lord of the Twelve had a Judas, and of the great multitude, most of them turned back and followed him again. The Apostle Paul had his Demas. The church in the Ephesus area had its Alexander and Hymenaeus.

69:21 . It is rather more accurate to assume in any congregation there are not only the uninstructed and the unenlightened, but the deceived and the doubting. A doctor who's got a potent remedy for a very rare disease will never be too concerned about pulling it out of his satchel and urging men to take that pill, unless he's convinced some in his auditory have the disease. And I'm convinced the reason some men don't do the work of an evangelist in their expository ministry is they really don't believe.

69:55 They're unsaved people in the congregation. I'd be a fool to think everyone here was saved today. In the judgment of charity, there are probably some of you here that are playing games. And you know it.

69:59 Others of you are deceived. You think all is well, and it isn't. And God in mercy may arrest you before the day of judgment. You'd be greatly surprised if that day does not reveal that some of you won't be arrested until then, when it's too late.

70:10 And you'll join those many who say, Lord, Lord, did we not preach in thy name? Only to have no proof of it. And you'll join those many who say, Lord, Lord, did we not preach in thy name? Only to have no proof of it.

70:14 And you'll join those many who say, Lord, Lord, did we not preach in thy name? Only to have no proof of it. This is a problem in the judgment. It is only to have Him say, depart from me, I never禁e.

Why Are Men Negligent in Expository Evangelism? (Problems of the Heart)

70:30 This is a problem in the judgment. But then there are problems of the heart, as well. And I'll touch on these just briefly. Why don't men do this work of an evangelist in the exposition of the word?

70:47 Well, not only problems in the head, but problems of the heart. First one, failure to feel the weight of eternal issues as we preach.

70:59 Paul felt that eternity hinged on each sermon. Hence he could say, as he does in 2 Corinthians 5, 9-11, Wherefore we make it our aim that whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing unto Him, for we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We look not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen.

71:23 For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. What does he say to Timothy as a young preacher? I charge thee in the sight of God and of the Lord Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead. Timothy, carry out your mission, not only routing the heretics, establishing the saints, training young men, instituting church order, but in the work of an evangelist.

71:49 Timothy, remember. That awful day will stand before God. I am convinced that there will be no sustained evangelistic passion that is genuine, not something tacked on because we know it's right to do, but something that flows out of the reflex response of a gracious heart. There will be no sustained evangelistic passion in our expository work unless we feel the weight of eternal issues.

72:21 And some men don't feel that. Hence, they don't do the work of an evangelist. Secondly, there is the lack of compassion for the souls of men. I'll not take the time because I've already gone too long, but let me give you the references.

72:35 Compare Romans 9, 1 and 2, 10, 1, 11, 12 to 14, and you'll see this trilogy of spiritual experience in Paul. In Romans 9, he says, I have this heavy burden upon my heart, great sorrow, continual heaviness. In chapter 10, he says, My prayer to God is...

72:59 And then in chapter 11, he says, If by any means I may provoke my fellow Jews to jealousy and save some. That's the trilogy of spiritual experience in the heart of a preacher. Concern, which leads to prayer, which leads to sanctified efforts to win those who are the objects of our concern and the subject of our prayers. If you have true desire for the salvation, and that desire is driving you to your knees in your closet, it will drive you to sanctified efforts on your feet.

73:35 Win them to the truth of the gospel. And then the third problem of the heart is estrangement from the power of the gospel in the life of the preacher.

73:46 It is sad but true to say that the lack of evangelistic thrust in some men is due to their own spiritual death. They love ideas, and they love words, and they love outlines. But they have no...

74:00 They have no real compassion for the souls of men because they've never been awakened from the stupor of their own spiritual death. And having never wept over their own sins, and having never been ravished with the sight of a glorified Savior who came to that place of glory by way of a virgin's womb, a cross, and an open tomb. They can never be excited and urgent and tender in offering that Savior to us. Well, I close now with just several thoughts on this fourth question.

Goals of Expository Evangelism

74:32 What are the goals we ought to have in this activity of expository evangelism? Well, with reference to ourselves, our goal should be that we are clear from the blood of all men, Acts 20.26. And secondly, that we long to exercise the unspeakable privilege of being mouthpieces of Christ about His elect.

74:59 Though God did beseech you by us, Paul says, be ye reconciled to God. That's your goal when you come into that pulpit to expound that passage and you're going to do the work not only of a teacher establishing men in the faith and in the truth of the gospel, but the work of an evangelist. What's your goal? To be free from the blood of men and to have the unspeakable privilege of being a mouthpiece through whom Christ call out His elect.

75:32 What is the goal with reference to our people? Well, we desire that they know the blessings of saving grace. We desire that they know the blessings of saving grace. Secondly, we desire that they escape the curses of God upon the lost.

75:48 Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Who hath warned you to flee the wrath to come? And then thirdly, with reference to God, it's that he might be satisfied with the savor of Christ preached freely from our pulpit. There's a great concept set out there in 2 Corinthians 2.14 and 15,

76:10 and I can't go into it. I'll only go into it in a minute. I'll only give two or three suggested thoughts on it. Paul says, Thanks be unto God who always leads us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place, for we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God in them that are saved and in them that are perishing.

76:31 And the picture is this. Paul says, Whenever we preach and we hold forth Christ in the gospel, there is a fragrance of Christ that goes out with the preaching of Christ. And that fragrance is always sweet to the nostrils of God. Even though men despise the Christ preached, God is pleased because He smelled the fragrance of His Son in the gospel.

76:58 And I know of nothing that will keep you more from getting discouraged or angry with unsaved people that you may preach to week after week than to know that as you hold Christ to them and hold Him up before them, though they despise you, though they despise Him and ignore Him, God smiles and is pleased. The fragrance of a freely offered Savior in all the glory and sufficiency of His saving merit has been set before them once again. What a wonderful thing to please God by preaching His Son to needy sinners. And that should be our goal, that God may be pleased.

77:36 Well, possibly in some questions that come up, I can touch on the whole third area that I never got to. It's the first time I've brought the lecture. I just worked on it for this time. And so I never know how much time it's going to take or where we're going to go.

77:48 So I'll end two-thirds of the way through. All right?