Doing the Work of an Evangelist in Preaching, Part 2

Introduction: The Importance of Sermon Construction and the Evangelistic Mandate

0:03 Now, this past semester, brethren, has found us occupied with what is, without doubt in my mind, the most technical and the least devotional of all the units of pastoral theology. In it, we've sought to identify, justify the three major kinds of sermons, and then to give you a working model of how to construct each of the species of sermons, assuming that we are working with the basic framework of each sermon being composed of an introduction, the body or the argument of the sermon, and its conclusion.

0:42 However, having come through the material for the fourth time, I'm convinced more than ever, though it is technical and lacking in devotional content for the most part, I've never been more convinced than ever that unless we grasp these elements of, in sermon construction, we will not consistently preach edifying sermons. We may occasionally come up with a sermon that edifies, but we will not consistently preach edifying sermons unless we have a handle on the principles of effective sermon construction.

1:21 And as I move about and listen to people speak, those happy, contented sheep are generally found in churches where they can go everywhere. Every Lord's Day, confident, no matter what the text, no matter what the subject, no matter what the book or theme that is presently under consideration, they go confident that they're going to receive an edifying exposition of the Word of God. It produces contented, happy, and, by God's grace, healthy sheep. But having concluded our discussion of the actual steps of sermon construction, we began two weeks ago to consider,

2:01 the vital theme of doing the work of an evangelist in all of our preaching. And I tried to liken this emphasis at the end of this unit to that which we ought to weave back in to the texture of everything that has gone before. And in opening up this vast and vital theme, we considered in our last session three lines or three units of thought, the duty and privilege established, that is, the duty of doing, the work of an evangelist, 2 Timothy 4, 5. Then the duty and privilege fulfilled.

2:37 We fulfill the duty by constantly seeking to overcome men's ignorance with respect to the law, and men's ignorance with respect to the gospel. And then we concluded with some practical suggestions concerning this duty and privilege of doing the work of an evangelist. Now today, I wish to address one more aspect of this ministerial work, and this unspeakable ministerial privilege of doing the work of an evangelist. And this aspect I've entitled, The Disposition Essential to Fulfilling this Duty and Privilege.

Defining 'Disposition' and 'Evangelist'

3:17 The Disposition Essential to the Fulfilling of this Duty and Privilege. So having established the duty of doing the work of an evangelist, having mapped out, how we are to fulfill the duty and privilege, giving you some practical suggestions about cultivating the spiritual art of doing the work of an evangelist, we now come to the fourth major heading, The Disposition Essential to Fulfilling this Duty and Privilege. Now before we get into the heart of our subject, let me first of all do some defining and limiting.

4:01 In using the word disposition, I'm referring to the prevailing frame of mind and spirit, or if you will, the dominant attitude of the soul.

4:17 Webster defines the word disposition as, quote, one's customary frame of mind, end quote.

4:27 Now we use the word quite frequently. For example, we speak of someone with a sullen disposition, or a cheerful disposition, or a generous, or a sweet, or a sour disposition. And when we use the word, what do we mean? Well, we're using the word disposition to describe the prevailing frame of mind or spirit, which that individual manifests.

4:55 We're using it to describe the dominant attitude of the soul or of the psyche, that the person is in. The person is projecting, whether it's a cheerful psyche or a glum and a sullen psyche, a sweet or a sour soul, disposition, frame of mind. It's in that sense that we're using the word. And then in using the word evangelist, I'm referring today as I did two weeks ago, not to one who may occupy such an office, if such an office still exists, or I'm not referring to one who, as his primary task is engaged in the work of evangelism,

5:38 but to the pastor-teacher who, in the fulfilling of his manifold duties, is convinced that he must also fulfill the mandate of 2 Timothy 4, 5. Now, having focused your attention upon the precise issue before us by way of definition and limitation, I want to proceed in opening up this subject to the question of how to fulfill the mandate of 2 Timothy 4, 5. By asserting that preaching involves the engagement of the entirety of one's redeemed humanity in the proclamation of God's message of mercy to sinners.

The Centrality of Disposition in Preaching

6:19 Preaching involves the engagement of the entirety of one's redeemed humanity in the proclamation of the message of mercy to sinners. Now, within the total complex of our redeemed humanity, few things are of greater importance than the disposition out of which our message is conveyed.

6:50 Now, assuming that the content of the message is accurate, that it is indeed biblical, that insofar as the passage warrants it is full of Christ and of Him as the Crucified One, assuming that the form and substance is reasonably clear, and forceful in its structure,

7:13 I think I'm prepared to stick by this statement that nothing is of greater importance than the disposition with which that message is conveyed to our hearers, particularly in its evangelistic thrusts and concentrated addresses to the minds and consciences of the unconverted. Assuming that the content is accurate, assuming that the content is accurate, that the form is reasonably clear and well-structured, nothing is of greater importance than the disposition with which that message is conveyed to our hearers.

7:59 And particularly now is this true in those aspects of our preaching where there are concentrated addresses to the minds and consciences of our hearers with reference to the evangel. Now it is this matter of the disposition of the evangelist that will influence with great power the full range of the components of preaching, from the choice of the precise words, the modulation of the voice, the emotional energy expressed in the preacher's eye, and in the entire range of physical and mental action.

8:41 It is the preacher's disposition, that gives a flavor, a smell, a cast, a hue to the entire act of preaching. And what I want to do, having as it were eased you into the field by definition and a few of these rather exaggerated, what may appear exaggerated statements, though I'm convinced they are not, I want to carry this theme into several avenues of specific concern. Since the disposition is not simple but manifold and complex, we have 4 heads to the lecture today. And in this matter of cultivating and manifesting a proper disposition

Disposition in Relationship to the Message Conveyed

9:24 in doing the work of an evangelist, let me assert first of all, the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the message he conveys. We're going to consider the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the message he conveys then we'll deal with his disposition in relationship to what's he conveys. the magnitude of his task, then the disposition in relationship to those to whom we preach, that is, our hearers, and then the disposition in relationship to the ultimate triumph of our task. So, first of all, then, the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the message he conveys.

10:08 What ought to mark the prevailing state of the soul, disposition, with respect to the message itself? When the great issues of the law and of the gospel, of Christ and him crucified, the summons to repentance and faith are proclaimed, what things ought to characterize the conscious sensibilities of the soul of the preacher in relationship to these truths that he has presently conveyed? Let me suggest that at least three things ought to be present as the prevailing disposition of the gospel.

10:49 The soul of the preacher, with respect to the message, number one, a burning conviction as to the objective reality of the truths conveyed. A burning conviction as to the objective reality of the truths conveyed. When John took up his pen to write his first epistle, he said, that which was from the beginning, that which we have heard. That which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands handled concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare

11:33 unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you. John is saying in this introduction to his epistle, to bear witness to anything other than that to which I bear witness is to deny the most fundamental faculties of my consciousness as a human being. What I am declaring to you I have heard with my ears, seen with my eyes, touched with my hands. John wrote out of the matrix of a burning conviction as to the objective reality of

12:17 the truths he was conveying. Now, granted, as an apostle, there was a uniqueness of his seeing and hearing and touching. It was physical sight and physical hearing and physical touch. But though the revelation has come to us in a different framework, that is, by the Spirit, bringing us to the conviction that what is given to us in Scripture is true, the conviction as to the objective reality must not be one whit less than that of John.

12:55 There must be a burning conviction as to the objective reality of the truths conveyed.

13:11 You see, Paul could say in Galatians 1, The gospel I preach I did not receive by men, from men, but I received it by revelation of Jesus Christ. Yes. When he writes to Timothy, Timothy, who did not receive it by direct revelation, Timothy, who heard no voice from heaven, Timothy, who did not see the risen Christ, yet he says to Timothy, 2 Timothy 1.13, Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me in faith and love that is in Christ Jesus.

13:51 Hold the pattern of sound words that you have heard. Heard from me. He received it on the same basis we do. Apostolic testimony.

14:01 He did not see with his eyes, hear with his ears, touch with his hands. He had received apostolic testimony. And Paul goes on to say with respect to that testimony in chapter 3 and verse 14, Abide in the things which you have learned, now notice, and have been assured of, knowing of whom? Of whom you have learned them.

14:28 And that from a babe, a brephos, you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation. Timothy was in the same sphere in which we are. The only fundamental difference is he had a living apostle passing on the deposit of truth. We have dead apostles passing it on in an inscripturated revelation.

14:51 And may I say, brethren, our position is more enviable than his. Because? Because Timothy's memory could slip.

14:59 But once it was inscripturated, once it was written, and we have not merely the epistles written to Timothy, but the full corpus of the New Testament revelation along with the Old Testament God-breathed scriptures. And in our interaction with them, there must be as part of the disposition of the preacher doing the work of an evangelist, there must be in relationship. There must be in relationship to truth this burning conviction as to the objective reality of the truths conveyed.

15:35 We must be certain that we have not merely been swept along by the groundswell of biblical and reformed convictions with which we've been surrounded, but that these things have been written upon our hearts by the finger of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so that when we speak of them, it is out of a dispositional complex of burning conviction as to their objective reality. In a marvelous sermon in this choice book, Faith in Life by B.B. Warfield, the sermons that he preached to the students at Princeton on a Sunday afternoon,

16:17 and if you're not familiar with the book, please get it and make it your diet and get familiar with it. Warfield was not only a profound theologian, but he was a...

16:27 model homiletician. Excellent, excellent model of good expository preaching. And in the text that he's expounding called the Spirit of Faith, 2 Corinthians 4.13, but having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, I believed, therefore did I speak, we also believe, and therefore also we speak.

16:50 Listen to Warfield, who moves from theologian, exegete, and homiletician to eloquent exhorter. On page 240. Finally, it will be of interest to us who are charged with the same duty of proclaiming the gospel of salvation with which the apostle was charged, to take special note that he attributes that supreme faithfulness and steadfastness which preeminently characterized his work in the gospel to a spirit-wrought faith in the gospel which he preached. The secret, he tells us, of his ability to continue, throughout his dreadful trials in the work to which he had been called,

17:32 the secret of his power to faint not, that is, not to play the coward, but to renounce the hidden things of shame and refuse to walk in craftiness or handle the word of God deceitfully, the secret of his power to preach a simple gospel in honest faithfulness in the face of all temptations to please men, and to preach the saving gospel in the face of all persecution, was simply that he had a hearty and an unfeigned faith in it. When we really believe the gospel of the grace of God, when we really believe that it is the power of God unto salvation, the only power of salvation in this wicked world of ours,

18:15 it's a comparatively easy thing to preach it, to preach it in its purity, to preach it in the face of a scoffing neigh of a truculent and a murdering world. Here is the secret. Here is the secret. I do not say now of a minister's power as a preacher of God's grace, but of a minister's ability to preach at all this gospel in such a world as we live in.

18:38 Believe this gospel, and you can and will preach it. Let men say what they will, and do what they will. Let them injure, ridicule, persecute, slay. Believe this gospel, and you will preach it.

18:53 Men often say of some element of the gospel, Oh, I can't preach. I can't preach that. Sometimes they mean that the world will not receive this or that. Sometimes they mean the world will not endure this or that.

19:05 Sometimes they mean they cannot so preach this or that as to win the respect or the sympathy or acceptance of the world. The gospel cannot be preached. Cannot be preached. It can be preached if you'll believe it.

19:20 Here is the root of all your difficulties. You do not fully believe this gospel. Believe it. And then it will preach.

19:27 It will preach itself. I tell you, that's holy eloquence. God has not sent us into the world to say the most plausible things we can think of, to teach men what they already believe. He sent us to preach unpalatable truths to a world lying in wickedness, apparently absurd truths to men, proud of their intellects, mysterious truths to men who are carnal and cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.

19:53 Shall we despair? Certainly if it is left to us, not only to plant in water, but to give the increase. Certainly not if we appeal to and depend upon the Spirit of faith. Let Him but move on our hearts, and we will believe these truths.

20:10 And even as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore speak. Let Him but move on the hearts of our hearers, and they too will believe what He has led us to speak. We cannot proclaim to the world that the house is a fire.

20:28 It's a disagreeable thing to say, scarcely to be risked in the presence of those whose interest is not to believe it. But believe it, and how quickly you rush forth to shout the unpalatable truth. So believe it, and we shall assert to the world that it is lost in sin, and rushing down to an eternal doom, that in Christ alone there is redemption, and through the Spirit alone can men receive this redemption. What care we if it be unpalatable, if it be true?

21:00 For if it be true, it is urgent. Believe it, and He says it will preach itself. Well, you see, brethren, this is something that can't be feigned. If the disposition, that is, the prevailing condition of your soul, in contact with the message, particularly those aspects of your preaching in which the central issues of the law and the gospel are being discussed, are being heralded, you must have a burning conviction as to the objective reality of those truths.

Disposition in Relationship to the Magnitude of the Task

21:34 Without them, there will be no, it is unlikely that there will be any sustained conviction conveyed to the hearts of your listeners. But then, secondly, as to the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the truths conveyed, not only must we have a burning conviction of the objective reality of the truths conveyed, but secondly, we must have a present pressure of the immediate necessity and urgency of the truths conveyed. A present pressure as to the immediate necessity and urgency of the truths conveyed.

22:18 And here there are many examples in Scripture, but I think particularly of 2 Corinthians 5. And for years this passage puzzled me because it was written, written to a church, and it seems as though Paul suddenly writes as though he were preaching to a group of unconverted people. And I shall never forget the expositions of this passage by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson in which he moved on the premise that Paul was so taken up with the gospel that in an epistle written to a church he, as it were, forgets himself and becomes an evangelist.

22:54 There in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And he says, beginning with verse 18, But all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors, therefore, on behalf of Christ. As though God were entreating by us, we beseech you on the behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

23:31 Him who knew no sin, he made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And working together with him, we entreat also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he said in an acceptable time, I hearkened unto you, in a day of salvation did I succor you. Behold now is the acceptable time.

23:54 Behold now is the day of salvation. Here is something of that present pressure of the immediate necessity and urgency of the truths conveyed. Now is an acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.

24:13 We entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Brethren, as we are in the act of preaching, and we are finding those avenues out of the text, or out of the subject, in which there are dense and constant and concentrated evangelistic thrusts, my thesis is that in those places particularly, we must have a present pressure upon our own spirits of the immediate necessity and urgency of the truths conveyed. Do we believe John 3.36?

24:49 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believes not or obeys not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God is abiding upon him. Do we believe that?

25:05 As we preach and look out upon our people. Well, if we do, will be all the difference in the world that there is between going to a neighbor at an appointed time to discuss with him the availability of fire insurance for his house, and being awakened at three o'clock in the morning by the smell of smoke, and seeing that your neighbor's house is on fire, and yet, no windows are open, no doors are open, you have reason to believe everyone is in that house and about to be charred. Now, is there any difference in the way you'd deal with your neighbor? In one, you are giving out objective information as to the availability of fire insurance.

25:46 In the other, you would be passionately committed to doing anything short of killing yourself to get them out of their immediate danger.

25:58 Well, I fear so often we present the gospel as though we are setting forth the availability of a certain framework, a contractual arrangement whereby future possible problems may be avoided. Instead of preaching it as though we were indeed our brother's keeper, committed to seeing them rescued from fires that lick about their heads even as we preach.

26:30 So there must be then a present pressure as to the immediateness of the fire insurance. Necessity and urgency of the truths conveyed. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. The persuasion takes its tone from the sense of the terror.

26:50 And it's the terror that leads to the persuasion. Knowing therefore the terror or the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.

27:01 And then the third heading under this first division, the disposition, in relationship to the message conveyed. Not only must we have a burning conviction of the objective reality of the things conveyed, present pressure from the truths conveyed, but an assured sense, an assured sense of the ultimate authority behind the truths conveyed and our position in conveying them. An assured sense of the ultimate authority behind the truths conveyed. And our position in conveying them.

27:42 We come right back to the passage we just alluded to. We are ambassadors, therefore, on the behalf of Christ. We are sent in the name and in the room instead of our sovereign, as though God were entreating by us. The apostle had an assured sense of the ultimate authority behind the truths conveyed and of his own disposition in conveying them.

28:11 He was conscious that he was not on a mission of his own choosing. He had an official capacity. He was an ambassador. He was duly marked out by the sovereign and sent on that mission.

28:26 And this element is vital in all preaching, but particularly when we would lay the claims of the law and the gospel upon the consciences of men. We must, we must do so with the assured sense of the ultimate authority that stands above and behind and over those truths and our position as being sent by the sovereign in conveying them. I shall never forget that incident in the Christian college several years ago when I began to preach the first morning and the young woman sat up in the balcony preening her hair and I waited to get her attention and when I didn't, I had the temerity to point to her. I didn't know her name so I couldn't call her by name but I said,

29:11 young woman in the balcony, I said, I demand that you give attention to the word that is being preached. And she did. And the air became electric and afterwards the young man came up to me and very cheaply said, who in the world do you think you are to demand that people listen to you? Well, I could have belted him in the mouth and said, learn your manners, son.

29:37 But I didn't. God gave me grace to say, well, it's not a matter of who I think I am. It's because I know who I am that I demand a hearing. And he looked at me incredulously.

29:49 I said, I am here as one who has been duly recognized by Christ's church and has a legitimate call to the work of the ministry and to the preaching of the gospel and therefore I regard myself as sent by Jesus Christ, my sovereign Lord, and I demand a hearing for his message. End of discussion. It shut that smart Alex Moth. And by the end of the week he came and was humbled and apologized for his temerity.

30:20 Who do you think you are? And I said, it's not a matter of who I think I am. It's a matter of what I know myself to be. That's what I'm talking about, brethren.

30:31 And that has nothing to do with your fundamental personality or anything else. It'll take the most natively timid man who is convinced that the authority of almighty God is riveted to his message and is going to be and is going to be and is going to be and that he stands as a messenger not with a direct call to be a prophet or apostle, but he is nonetheless in the language of Romans 10 a sent one. And that'll take the most natively timid man and give him a ragged edge of boldness and holy intransigence that will put something into his message that nothing else will. I have seen it again and again.

31:07 Men who by temperament out of the pulpit are backward and retiring and shy, but they understand and undergo nothing short of a total metamorphosis of their entire personality when they stand to preach. Why? It's because this truth is victim.

31:26 And the Holy Ghost has come upon them attesting that they are not self-appointed servants of Christ and they become another man. And when they're out of the pulpit they go back to that other personality and they are, in a sense, you'd think they were schizophrenics. And people can't figure it out. They say, it doesn't look like he's working that up.

31:44 It doesn't look like the tricks of an actor. It seems to be real. And yet, look at the guy. And if they don't understand his principle they can't figure it out.

31:54 Maybe that's part of what Jesus meant when he says, the world will not know you, doesn't know me. John says, the world knoweth us and not because it knew him not. It couldn't fit him together. On the one hand, meekness and lowliness and on the other hand, driving out the money changers.

32:11 This is my father's house. And there was something awesome about that authority. They didn't even challenge it. They didn't even gang up on him to stop him.

32:20 It paralyzed them. Well, that's the note I'm talking about, brethren. Especially when we are laying out the claims of the law and of the gospel. And this will come as we cultivate an assured sense of the ultimate authority behind the truths conveyed and our position in conveying them.

32:39 Now, when these things comprise the dispositional complex of the preacher in relationship to the truths conveyed, it is impossible that he will convey them with a bland, objective detachment. The man and his message are now one.

33:00 And you can't have the message confront you without the whole man confronting you. They've become one.

33:10 When in relationship to the message, there is this conviction, this is objective reality, if the whole world in the next ten minutes should rise up and say there is nothing to it, and every professing Christian should deny it, the man says, if I must stand alone on this earth confessing these truths, here I stand, so help me God, I can do no other. I would have to deny my own consciousness of existence to deny the objective reality of what I preach. And then add to that present pressure as to the immediate necessity and urgency

33:54 of the truths conveyed. We know not what a day may bring forth. Men are under this horrible, thickening, dark cloud of divine wrath and anger, and it could break upon them in a moment. And when we tell them of their guilt and tell them of the Savior's mercy, we speak a word which rivets itself to the very throne of God.

34:18 And in spite of all of our felt weakness and sin and incompetence, we stand conscious that we have been sent by the Sovereign. When that disposition marks the man doing the work of an evangelist, I say he cannot, he cannot speak saving truth in a bland manner of detachment. Man and message are one. That which is ultimate and undeniable truth to a man is his life.

34:52 That which is ultimate and undeniable truth to a man is his life.

35:02 That which is of supreme and immediate importance to a man is his passion.

35:11 That which is of supreme and immediate importance to a man is his passion.

35:21 And that which is his trust from God, spoken in the name of his God and by the authority of God is his boldness and unflinching testimony.

35:38 That which is his trust from God, spoken in his name and by his authority is his bold and unflinching testimony. So by prayer, meditation, and I don't know what else to call it, but holy soliloquy, we must be brought to this frame again and again if indeed the elements of impassioned evangelistic proclamation and entreaty are once again to be brought to mark our pulpits. There is no shortcut to true, real, genuine, spirit-wrought evangelistic passion and concern in preaching

36:22 apart from these realities percolating through the soul. And I say it's to be done by prayer, by meditation, by holy soliloquy, talking to yourself, tell yourself every Lord's Day, this may be the last time I ever speak in my Master's name if He'd reveal to me that this would be indeed my last legacy to a dying world. What would I say? How would I say it?

36:52 By holy soliloquy, talk to yourself. Bring near the day of judgment. Sitting upon the platform while the collection is being taken, look out upon your people and enter into soliloquy with your own soul. Look upon them as those who in a short time are going to be are going to stand before their God.

37:12 This is what I mean from the cultivation of this element of the disposition. But then we must hurry to the second category of the disposition. That's why I guess dispositional complex is the best way to describe it. And that is the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the magnitude of his task.

37:33 The disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the magnitude of his task.

37:41 Perhaps the best text on which to focus as we take up this line of thought is 1 Corinthians chapter 2. It's a familiar text to all of us. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 in which the apostle looking back over his time of initial ministry at Corinth says,

38:03 And I, brethren, when I came to you came not with excellency of speech that is conforming to the traditional and standard expectations of the orators of Corinth I did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom that is speaking in the categories approved by the great philosophers rather I came proclaiming to you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified and I was with you I was towards you in weakness and in fear and in much fear

38:48 trembling weakness and fear and trauma we get our English word trauma I was with you in much trembling now what was the cause of this felt inadequacy this sense of dread weakness fear and in much trembling well certainly it was not from the fear of men he tells us in Galatians 1.10 I should yet be the servant of men I should not be the servant of Christ he tells the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2.4

39:32 we preach this gospel we received as a stewardship not as pleasing men but God who tries our hearts and Paul says very clearly he did not fear men he said in Acts 20.24 he said I count my life dear unto myself that I may finish my course so it wasn't the fear of men and he didn't tremble and have felt inadequacy because he had a sense of uncertainty about his message he tells us in Galatians 1 he knew his message was given to him by direct revelation and it certainly was not because of his inexperience he went to Corinth Acts 18 read before all the varying situations in which he found himself so it wasn't the trembling rooted in the fear of men

40:15 uncertainty of his message inexperience and it certainly wasn't because he was uncertain of his call Acts 20.14 Acts 26.18 and following he was conscious at every stage of the heavenly vision and he says I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision but preached first of all Damascus and then Judea and then to all the Gentiles so there was no uncertainty and nor was it apprehension about his success in the eyes of men this is why a lot of people tremble in fear will I be quote successful in the eyes of men those to whom I preach and others but Paul could say and this is a text that God has given me that God has exegeted for me in recent days by experience 1 Corinthians 4.3 it is a very little thing for me if I be judged of you

41:00 or of man's judgment he says you folks want to get together and have your little caucus and come up with your opinions about me when you're all done send it to me formal statement notarized he said it will go into file draw 13 it doesn't bother me it's a very little thing very little thing to me if I be judged of you or of man's judgment it's wonderful to come to that place where you can honestly say it's a little thing it's a little thing it's a little thing well then what in the world was it? well let me suggest that it was a present intelligent awareness of the real factors that are involved in preaching particularly in gospel preaching he believed that the God of this world was presently actively blinding the minds of men

41:44 2 Corinthians 4 if our gospel be veiled it is veiled in them that are perishing in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving Paul did not have a naive view of the present power of the devil in his very commission in Acts 26 one of the things the Lord made known to him was that every time he preached he was engaging the devil he said I send you to the people and to the Gentiles to do what? to open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and for them to see and to see from the power of Satan unto God

42:28 so Paul knew that every time he preached particularly in preaching gospel truth the God of this world was actively at work blinding the minds of men he was fully aware of the native deep-seated prejudice of the Jew and of the Greek he writes about it in 1 Corinthians 1 he said our gospel is to those who are perishing foolishness to the Greeks they say to say in this personage who came out of Nazareth there is the answer to all of the great questions that our philosophers have wrestled with for centuries that he is the wisdom of God the power of God foolishness

43:12 and to the Jew to say that the carpenter out of Nazareth was Messiah it was the great death trap it was the great scandal on the great scandal the great stumbling block well he knew that there is the devil blinding there is deep-seated prejudice in Jew and Greek causing them to reject his message as unworthy of serious consideration then he was very conscious of what he was as a frail human being 2 Corinthians 5 he says we have this treasure this gospel treasure in an earthen vessel in a vessel of clay then even further he was conscious

43:54 that utterance in preaching was a divine gift to be given or withheld sovereignly Ephesians 6.19 one of the most amazing prayer requests to me he says in all your praying for all the saints watching thereunto with all supplication pray for me that utterance may be given well what do you mean Paul you are an experienced polished preacher he says pray for me that utterance may be given utterance may be given utterance may be given he was conscious that whatever utterance is whatever it is to preach with boldness that utterance in preaching was a divine gift

44:39 and then add to all of this the present awareness of the God of this world blinding men's minds the native prejudice of men's hearts loving darkness rather than light awareness whatever it is to preach with boldness that it was rooted in a divine activity that was to be given or withheld in terms of divine sovereignty and then add to all of this the present awareness of the God of this world blinding men's minds the native prejudice of men's hearts loving darkness rather than light awareness that the treasure was in a clay vessel

45:22 convinced that utterance was given by present divine activity or withheld in divine sovereignty there was that haunting sense of his accountability as a watchman I take you to record I am pure from the blood of all men Acts 26.20 language extracted from Ezekiel's call and commission as a watchman to Israel 2 Corinthians 5.10 follows hard on the heels of verse 9 where he says we make it our aim to be well pleasing unto him why? for we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ that we may be able to we may receive the things done in the body whether good or bad

46:06 knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men now when a man believes those things and they are making a present impression upon his soul the magnitude of his task is such that he will always be marked by the disposition of weakness and fear and much trembling that's part of his disposition he doesn't strut up into the world into the place of proclamation particularly when he comes to deal with the root issues of men's fundamental relationship to God and feel that he's got a handle on everything there is a sense in the presence of the magnitude

46:50 of this task of felt inadequacy of dread and of much trembling you see a man who believes these things can never have the confident relaxed composure of the lecturer who's given his talk fifty times in fifty different circumstances and really has a handle on his job know the acid test that this disposition at least is beginning to be worked into the fabric of our souls will be our prayerfulness before, during and after preaching that God would come

47:35 and restrain the enemy that the light of the gospel would penetrate into the darkness that God would indeed give us utterance that God would break down prejudice and resistance there will be eminent prayerfulness not only before but while we preach that's one of the most amazing things in the act of preaching your mind can be doing about seven different things all at once and one of them that it ought continually to be doing is praying as you're coming to those central truths of the gospel and proclaiming them out of the conviction of their objective reality feeling that you're in the pressure of the urgency believing you speak them with the authority of God and in the name of God yet the awareness

48:20 unless God comes and by an act of creative grace does something that you cannot do you may as well be talking in Chinese you will pray as you preach as well as pray before you preach and then you will submit to every discipline which brings you to more conscious weakness 2 Corinthians 12 that's what you're doing but Paul knew when he prayed Lord take this thing away God said no my grace is sufficient my strength is made perfect in the midst of weakness and once Paul got the message what was the conclusion he drew most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ

49:04 may tabernacle over me may spread its tent over me that I may be intended in the power of Christ and he said that will be in the context of conscious weakness we don't like to be weak so what will God do all those hours you blocked out to do that kind of final preparation that would have meant the difference between a rough axe hewn sermon and a well sanded smooth polished sermon God will bring some distressed soul and you're ministering to one of your sheep and you come with such felt weakness he said only if I'd had three more hours I feel I have a handle on this

49:48 and you'll come and God will make you weak by sovereignly cutting into your preparation time God will make you weak by causing your kid to get the flu Saturday night and you come Sunday morning you can't even put the three names that you were given in the hospital put them in the right order and God has everything in his universe at his disposal to keep you consciously weak and if you don't want that what you're saying is I don't want the power of Christ to rest upon me if you keep thinking around the corner everything's going to get nice and get it all lined up I hope God never lets you get it so lined up that you're in any other posture but consciously weak consciously weak

50:33 consciously weak because when I am weak in myself and feel in the present moment that weakness then I'm driven out of myself to look to him whose strength is made perfect in weakness and then the third indication that we've really by God's grace have some handle on this matter is not only our prayerfulness our submission to every discipline that brings us to conscious weakness but we will jealously guard God's glory one sows another waters but God gives the increase and when there is this disposition in relationship to the magnitude of the task

51:17 that recognizes God alone can dispel the doubt the darkness God alone can overcome the prejudice God alone can take this earthen vessel and make it an instrument of life and salvation God alone can give utterance and God alone can help me to deliver my soul to be a faithful watchman when God is pleased to own it and bless it in the salvation of sinners the truth that you understood the magnitude of the task will be seen that you're not so stupid as you are as to lay any of the glory at your own feet. Human instrumentality is never so effective in this work when it is most conscious of its own weakness

52:01 and keeps itself most out of sight. It is the secret agency of God that accomplishes it and that no flesh may glory in his presence. It is not of him who wills nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. His power shines in triumphs.

52:19 It's an influence from above designed to prostrate the creature in the dust and give everlasting glory to him who died. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and show it unto you. If there's anything in which man is nothing and God is all, it is in the great work of quickening those who are dead in trespasses and sins. So understood our good friend Gardner Spring.

Disposition in Relationship to Our Hearers

52:46 Well, we must hasten on now and I'll touch on the third strand of the disposition and then we'll take a break. We'll take a break and take up the last.

52:55 Not only must there be this disposition in relationship to the message we convey, the magnitude of the task, but thirdly, the disposition of the evangelist, the pastor evangelist, in relationship to those to whom we preach or the disposition in relationship to our hearers.

53:19 And as I've reflected in reworking the lecture,

53:23 I'm convinced now as I was three years ago, it is perhaps, perhaps here that the most work needs to be done in many of our hearts. If our evangelistic labors are to be marked by those apostolic elements, then there must be the living, earnest, loving, pleading, entreating element suffusing our preaching. And as we try to analyze what is involved in that, let me give three particulars. First, in relationship to those to whom we preach, to our hearers, what should the prevailing state of our souls be, our disposition?

54:07 Well, it must be one, first of all, of a disposition with respect to the pitiable state of our unconverted hearers. Our disposition with respect to the pitiable state of our unconverted hearers.

54:26 Now, on the one hand, Scripture makes it clear that men in sin and in wrath, are culpable, blameworthy, and utterly inexcusable before God. Romans 3.19 What things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be brought under the judgment of God. Scripture makes it clear that men in sin are culpable.

54:52 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. They are blameworthy. They are inexcusable, even those who have only the right of general revelation. Romans 3.19

55:02 So that they may be without excuse. But, but,

55:08 their condition is also a condition that should evoke pity from the perspective of those who once were part of that mass of lost humanity. And so Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.26 and what does he say? The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.

55:51 It's a pitiable thing to see people taken captive unto the will of a tyrant. And Paul says to Timothy, that's how you're to look upon those that oppose themselves in unbelief. And in impenitence. Titus chapter 3, verses 2 and 3.

56:07 The exhortation that Titus is to give to the Cretans.

56:14 They are to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, gentle, showing meekness to all men. Why? We also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love, love toward man appeared, he said the whole complex of disposition to those that are under wrath should be one that evokes pity.

56:44 We were once with them and part of them, but grace has sovereignly rescued us. It is the disposition of our Lord who looks out upon men, culpable, blameworthy, inexcusable, and yet it says, he was moved with compassion. And you know from your study, of that Greek word, in both its noun and verbal form, that it speaks of a stirring of the depths of the inward being. He was moved with compassion toward them.

57:15 Why? He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Guilty, lost, culpable, yes, and yet pitiable. And in the face of that pitiable state, there will be in our whole demeanor the spirit of gentleness, meekness, patience, the spirit of our Lord who said, Father, forget them, for they know not what they do.

57:42 The spirit of a Jeremiah who says in Jeremiah 9-1, Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep night and day for the slaying of the daughter of my people. Brethren, seldom, if ever, are sinners scolded, needled, or bullied into the kingdom.

58:04 They must be warned. They must be warned. They must be loved. They must be urged.

58:12 But it's doubtful you can scold them, needle them by ridicule, or bully them into the kingdom.

58:21 And here again, given the full range of diversity of personality, the disposition that must mark us with reference to our hearers is one that reflects that we have to some degree come to grips with their pitiable state. And we feel that, as we preach, so that they sense that we feel they are to be pitied in their unbelief and in their impenitence. But then, there must also be an element in our disposition that reflects an awareness of their dangerous state. Our disposition with respect to their pitiable state, then our disposition with respect to their dangerous state.

59:07 Scripture emphasizes again and again the reality of their danger. Thou hast set them in slippery places. Romans 2.5 is one of the most horrible images anywhere in Scripture.

59:21 Those who are despising God's long-suffering and forbearance, and every day they despise it. What are they doing? It's commercial language. They are treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

59:34 Every day of impenitence, they put more capital into the bank of heaven that is gaining interest. And when capital, and interest are all let loose upon them, it will be in a measure of tribulation, and anguish, and wrath commensurate with the abuse of those privileges. They are in a dangerous state. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

59:59 Our God is a consuming fire. And therefore, in the face of this, our disposition must be one in which we fear for them. That's what caused John to say to those Pharisees, Who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath? It's coming!

60:15 Like mighty waves, it's on its way! Who's warned you people to flee? Has anyone had the guts to warn you people? You, the great religious leaders!

60:25 You, the learned ones! You, the knowledgeable ones! Who warned you? Apparently, no one had had the courage to warn them.

60:35 John did. We must fear for them. And fear will lead to warning, to entreating, to admonition. It will be manifest.

60:47 On the other hand, by compassionate and earnest pleading, we admonish you day and night, Paul says, with tears, Acts 20.

60:59 And if we do not preach, particularly when we touch on central gospel truths, reflecting a disposition moved to dread, to fear and grief, at the thought of our hearer's dangerous state, what makes us think they will be moved to dread, to fear or grief at their state? We profess to believe it.

61:23 They may not.

61:26 You see, the problem with our hearers who are unconverted is they really don't believe what their true condition is. Do we?

61:34 Then as surely as their believing it would result in their fleeing from the wrath to come and seeking salvation in Christ, so our believing it must elicit from us some indications that we're convinced they're in a dangerous state.

61:54 But then there is a third strand of this disposition in relationship to our hearers. Not only that which touches their pitiable state and their dangerous state, but this is the glory of gospel preaching. Our disposition with respect to their salvable state. Our disposition with respect to their salvable state.

62:17 Now I am not in using that terminology falling into the horrible heresy or error, call it error, not heresy, but error, not heresy. Error of Arminianism that would say the death of Christ only made men salvable. No, we believe the death of Christ secured salvation for all of the elect of God. But God has wisely hidden from us those upon whom his electing purpose is focused.

62:50 It is hidden from us. But what he has not hidden from us is a warrant to preach the gospel to every creature. To warn, to warn every man and to urge every man to stack arms and to flee to Christ.

63:06 And all we can say from the word of God without presuming to make a judgment on who they are is that there is only one sin that is unforgivable and that's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, whatever it is and whoever has or may or may not commit it. But we are warranted to say every manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven the sons of man. And when we think about it, we believe that looking out upon our unconverted hearers, every one of them is salvable. That affects your preaching.

63:40 It gives a sense of joyful confidence that there is none whose sin has put him beyond the bounds of the power of God's grace. Only if God has given them up to judicial blindness and we cannot make that judgment, therefore for all intents and purposes, those that are sitting before us concerned enough to be there under the sound of the gospel in the judgment of charity, we have warrant to assume there's not an unconverted person before us who's not salvable.

64:14 Until they die in open impenitence, there is yet hope.

64:19 Hence all to whom we preach are salvable until they die impenitent. And when we believe that, a disposition will be manifest. It will show itself in these specific ways. We'll be willing to bear all things for their salvation.

64:36 Second, Timothy 2.10, wherefore Paul says, I endure all things for the elect's sakes that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. But in enduring it for their sakes, he endured it for a whole bunch of people who evidently finally proved themselves non-elect.

64:58 But since the Lord hadn't put a red mark on their forehead, he had to endure it for all men. 1 Corinthians 9, I become all things to all men. That I might by all means save some. He knew.

65:11 He knew better than you and I do. We've learned it from him. He knew the doctrine of election. The remnant according to the election of grace within ethnic Israel and the elect among the nations that would constitute the fullness of the Gentiles.

65:26 And yet he says, I endure all things for the elect's sake. Well, he didn't endure it just from the elect. While they were under wrath, he endured it from all men. Some of whom eventually proved themselves to be of the number of God.

65:38 But he had that perspective of the salvability of all men. So we will be willing to endure all things for their salvation. We'll be constrained, secondly, to cry to God for their salvation. Romans 10, 1, My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

66:01 And as God is bringing unconverted people under our ministries, we will cry to God for their salvation, believing every one of them, the unsalvable.

66:13 And then thirdly, we'll make evident our desire to spend and be spent for their salvation. 1 Thessalonians 2, 8. A text that at times, when I allow myself to meditate upon it, never ceases to pierce me. 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 8.

66:34 Even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you not the gospel of God only, but also, but also, but also, but also, but also, but also, but also our own souls, because you were become dear to us. In other words, he said, in giving you the gospel, I gave you myself. You see, we come back to what I said earlier. When these things so grip us, then the man and the message are one.

67:02 And they were with Paul. He said, in giving you the gospel, because you were dear to us, my hearers became dear. They were the stirrings of compassion. It was evident that his desire was to spend and be spent for their salvation.

67:16 for their salvation. And brethren, it is that aspect that I find when I must go and do evangelistic preaching, I find a recoil, because I know that when I'm asked to come and preach evangelistically in a concentrated way for four, five, six, seven services in a row, there's a recoil in me because I know if God does what I pray that he will do, something goes out of me that will never be put back again. That I must be willing to have God ring me out over the people and take the frail humanity and ring it out over the souls of men.

67:57 And after five or six days in a row of that, I just feel I've had it. And I'm made to feel as never before we have the treasure in earthen vessels. Well, in those times when God enlarges your heart in the course of regular, consecutive, textual, topical, consecutive expository preaching, and you're taking that avenue of gospel application be prepared to have God ring you out, to have something of your soul as it were spattered over the unconverted. Something of the blood of your soul spattered upon them and to feel the loss of it.

68:34 I don't know how else to describe it, but pray that God will give that element in your ministry, that disposition of such attachment to those to whom you preach that you're prepared with Paul to say we are willing to give you not the gospel of God only, but our own souls because you were become dear to us.

Disposition in Relationship to the Ultimate Triumph of the Task

69:00 Well, it's 20 minutes till. Let me just, it'll only take me a moment. Let me touch the fourth head, all right? And then we can conclude.

69:13 Let me touch more briefly now on the disposition of the evangelist in relationship to the ultimate triumph of his task. The disposition of the evangelist, and again, that's the pastor evangelist, in relationship, to the ultimate triumph of his task. As week after week, and sometimes it may be month after month, you proclaim, plead, warn, entreat. What is to be the disposition with respect to these endeavors?

69:45 What will keep you from becoming discouraged if you don't see visible fruit? Well, perhaps these few texts will help to put this into perspective. John 10 and verse 16, in that great chapter in which the Lord identified Himself as the good shepherd of His sheep, who lays down His life for the sheep, He affirms in words that just bristle with confidence and certainty. John 10, 16, Other sheep I have, I have them by divine purpose and donation.

70:24 They've been given to me by my Father, which are not of this fold. That is, they are not to be gleaned from ethnic Israel, but from among the Goyim, among the nations. Them also I must bring, or I must lead. Here's the compulsion of the great shepherd who says, I must bring them.

70:45 I must lead them. They are mine, and I am absolutely certain they are mine by divine decree and donation given to me by the Father. But nonetheless, that will not give me comfort until I bring them, until I lead them. And they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock under one shepherd.

71:12 Oh, the certainty in the heart of the Son of God, so that when He says in this context in the following verses, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. And having already said, I lay down my life for the sheep, there was that element of absolute certainty that He could go forth to all, all of the agony and shame and rejection of His trial of Golgotha and all of the horrors of that experience of the cross with this certainty beating within His breast. Other sheep I have, them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice.

71:54 They shall become one flock, one shepherd. Now then, how do they hear His voice now that He's gone back to the right hand of the Father? He says they shall hear. Well, they hear His voice when those whom He sends speak the gospel in His name.

72:09 Romans 10, 13 to 15. Romans 10, verses 13 to 15.

72:17 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? They must hear the shepherd's voice.

72:35 Before they are gathered into His fold. So how shall they call upon one in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

72:53 That's all. Then say brilliant man. Then say clever man. Learn a preacher.

72:58 And how shall they preach except they be sent? And when we are sent by a proper biblical call and commission through the church of Jesus Christ, wonder of wonders, Christ's certain promise is to be fulfilled through me.

73:17 My vocal cords that once spoke foul language and cursed and maybe even cursed His name will become His voice to His sheep. Isn't that an amazing thing? They shall hear my voice how shall they call on Him whom they have not heard? And they can't hear Him without a preacher.

73:39 But when a preacher preaches it's Christ's voice that they hear. So Paul can write to the Ephesians who never saw Christ, never heard Christ and yet he could say in Ephesians 2.17 He came and preached peace to you that are afar off and to them that were nigh. Christ came to Ephesus and preached peace.

73:58 And when did He come? He came in the person of His sent ones. His representatives. His ambassadors.

74:06 Well, when something of the glory of that takes hold of us then we can say with Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 Thanks be unto God who always leads us to triumph in Christ. Verse 14 of chapter 2 Thanks be unto God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and makes manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place. We are a sweet savor of Christ unto God. In them that are saved, and in them that perish.

74:43 And without going into whether or not He's using the imagery of the returning conqueror with His conquered chain to His chariot and the censers going before. Some of that I believe is rather untenable though it's a popular interpretation. This much is clear. Paul says I never, never go about as a man in defeat.

75:05 I am confident that I'm being led in triumph. And he says the triumph is this. That God is sniffing wherever I go. And as I'm true to my task He smells the savor of His own Son being preached.

75:21 And He is pleased. We are a sweet savor of Christ unto God. Again, the imagery is overwhelming. God is sniffing every time a gospel preacher is preaching.

75:34 And when He smells His Son in your sermons He's pleased. He's pleased. He's pleased. And He's pleased.

75:41 Even though to some it's a savor of death unto death to others it will be a savor of life to life. Those who are His sheep will hear His voice. And God will be pleased whether they hear or do not hear. And Christ will be satisfied because His true sheep shall hear.

76:01 Now my brethren does that do something to your disposition? How in the world can you have the I even I only and left disposition? Nobody wants to gospel. Nobody is going to hear the gospel.

76:14 I'm going to give it to you anyway. That's enough to make sinners say man at least can get a little something more with a bottle of wine than that guy is offering me. But when a gospel preacher convinced in his own soul filled with some measure of the wonder of gospel privileges preaches in that confidence he doesn't necessarily tell people this but he has that confidence that if Christ has His sheep out there there aren't enough demons in hell to keep them from hearing His voice and running after the Savior and coming to Him on His terms falling at His feet owning their sins stripping away all of the layers of their pride and their self-righteousness

76:58 because He said other sheep I have and I must bring them. They shall hear my voice and some of them are going to hear His voice through my vocal cords. I don't know whether it's going to be one, ten or ten thousand but I know this much. All that He's determined to hear His voice through my voice are going to hear.

Practical Fruits of Confidence in Ultimate Triumph

77:17 They're going to hear. Now, when that's true what will be the practical fruits of that confidence in the ultimate triumph of our task? Well, let me give you again three practical expressions of it. Number one you won't tamper with the message to make it more acceptable to men.

77:35 You won't tamper with the message to make it more acceptable to men. Paul concludes this statement in this very paragraph verse 17 We are not as the many making merchandise or corrupting the word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

77:56 1 Corinthians 1, 18-25 is the masterful exposition and application of that principle. Though he was fully conscious of the magnitude of Greek and Jewish prejudice he said we preach Christ believing to those who are called. He will be the wisdom and the power of God. And you see it's when men really don't have confidence in the ultimate triumph of the task that they start tampering with the message to make it more palatable.

78:24 They'll hear his voice unadulterated and undiluted so we can preach the gospel of Christ with all of the flesh withering human pride shriveling dimensions and elements of that gospel convinced that his sheep will hear his voice. So we won't tamper with the message. Secondly, there'll be no crippling discouragement when we appear unsuccessful. There'll be no crippling discouragement when we appear unsuccessful.

78:54 1 Corinthians 15, 58 Be ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? For as much as you know, you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. We are led to triumph always in Christ.

79:13 In due season we shall reap in the work of the Lord. If we faint not. One of the things I didn't tell you that it's appropriate to put in here about that ministry down there in Piscataway a few weeks ago. A woman came up to me after the service beaming all over.

79:29 She said, Pastor Martin, I've been waiting for years to meet you. I said, oh. She said, yes, do you remember back and it's at least probably 12 years ago. You preached at such and such a wedding.

79:40 I said, well, I really can't remember. She said, well, I was there on that Saturday and this is what you preached on. And God brought me under such conviction. I had no rest, no peace.

79:49 And the next day God brought me to faith in His Son. And I've been walking with Him ever since. Well, God wasn't under obligation to let me, but He pulled it back. I believe there are going to be a lot more surprises when I get to Heaven.

80:01 But God doesn't need to let me know them. But that shouldn't rob me of the joy of knowing that I'm not laboring in vain.

80:11 And therefore, I will not be crippled with discouragement. Discouragement is one of the most crippling, paralyzing things in the world. And, an old woman said to a young preacher when he came into the church, a wise old woman took him aside and said, young man, beware of the demon of discouragement. Beware of the demon of discouragement.

80:33 And then, of course, there'll be no carnal pride when success is granted. 1 Corinthians 3. One sows, another waters. God gives the increase.

80:42 So then, neither is he that soweth, what? Anything. Zero. Zilch.

80:47 Neither he that watereth. Zilch. But God, who gives the increase, he's everything. Well, if he's everything, what's left for you?

80:54 What's left for me? Nothing. Not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. Well, that disposition in relationship to the triumph of the task, then, you see, fosters on the one hand a constancy, even in the midst of apparent barrenness.

81:13 And then, it will be joined to a humility in the midst of the most apparent fruitfulness.

81:20 And then, you'll be a mystery. It's the people. Because they won't understand. But you understand.

81:27 Well, brethren, you see how vital it is, then, to cultivate and continue to nurture a proper disposition. It will cast its flavor through the entirety of our preaching, but particularly when we come to those central truths of the gospel. And when we come to pleading and warning and entreating sinners, I say, the dispositional complex in relationship to the truth itself, in relationship to our hearers, in relationship to the magnitude of the task, and in relationship to our confidence in the ultimate triumph of the gospel, that dispositional complex cultivated and increasing and percolating

82:12 through our preaching, by God's grace, will help us greatly to be the kind of men we ought to be as we seek to do the work of an evangelist. And I, I pray that legacy for you, and I trust you will pray that I will know in measures that I've never experienced the very things that I've sought to convey to you this morning, because one can't give a lecture like this without being smitten in his own conscience that I'm talking far beyond what I experience constantly. And I say that to my shame and also to stir myself up that I may know more of these graces in my own heart.